Puzzle

Naughts & Crosses [SNES Special System]

Naughts & Crosses is puzzle game for the Super Nintendo, that was assumed  to be cancelled, but it was later found out that the game was added in special SNES systems for Airplanes and Hotels.  As Evan G From SNES Central has wrote in the U64 Forum:

I found out that Naughts and Crosses is not really an unreleased game! The game was designed for this SNES system used in airplanes. Nintendo used to have a website for the system, and there were a couple of other games made for the system (the only one I can recall is Hangman). Unfortunately, I didn’t bother to save the website describing the system, and it will likely be lost forever.

As OfAnAwesome as added in the same topic:

Naughts and Crosses, along with Hangman, are in commonly in SNES hotel units.

Thanks to SNES Central for these images!

Images: 

Donkey Kong Plus [GBA – Cancelled]

dk2gbalogo.jpg

Donkey Kong Plus is the name of an unreleased game demo developed by Nintendo as a demonstration at E3 2002. Nintendo had planned for the game to be an extension / sequel of the Donkey Kong Game Boy game. The player would have the ability to design and create levels on the GameCube, and play them on the Game Boy Advance using the GameCube cable. The user-created level could be tested out on the GameCube, then saved on a memory card.

Although the game was never released, it did inspire the gameplay of Nintendo’s Mario vs. Donkey Kong, for Game Boy Advance. A level editor was not officially available in this game, but it was included in the sequel, Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis for the Nintendo DS. [info from Wikipedia]

An hidden level editor was found by Martboo48 in Mario vs. Donkey Kong, but to unlock it you’ll have to edit one single byte in the games memory code. It’s unknown why Nintendo hidden this editor from the final game, but it seems that Donkey Kong Plus and Mario vs. Donkey Kong could really be seen as the same project.

Thanks to Hiccup for the contribution!

Images:

Videos:

 

Balloon Trip / Yoshi Touch & Go [DS – Proto]

Yoshi Touch & Go is a platform / puzzle game developed and published in 2005 by Nintendo for the DS. According to Nintendo assistants Hiroyuki Kimura and Keizo Ohta, Yoshi Touch & Go was originally planned to be designed for the Nintendo GameCube as “Balloon Trip”. A demo of the game, already ported to the DS, was first exhibited during the E2 of 2004 and gained positive response. Thereupon, the executives of Nintendo green lighted the final project. [Info from Wikipedia]

Images: 

Bound High [VB – Cancelled]

Bound High is a cancelled game for the Virtual Boy consists on manuveuring Chalvo, a robot that can roll itself up into a bouncing ball, around a series of levels while avoiding various hazards. Bound High would have been the first second-generation game for the Virtual Boy, but the poor sales of the console caused to be put on hold numerous times before eventually being cancelled altogether.

Of all the cancelled Virtual Boy games, Bound High was the closest to completion. Bound High was exhibited in Shoshinkai at Famicon Space World in 1995. Bound High was exhibited in the “Symbolic Zone” which was a special exhibition area for outstanding titles on about ten Virtual Boy units. Hiroshi Yamauchi, the president of Nintendo at the time, mentioned Bound High as the most promising Virtual Boy title in his keynote speech.

The basic gameplay of Bound High consists on moving the bouncing Chalvo around, jumping on enemies and avoiding the various crevices, spikes, and “shockers”.

[source: Wikipedia / Planet Virtual Boy]

Thanks to Megazoid and Celine for the contributions!

Images:

Videos:

 

Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers [GBA – Cancelled] (It’s Mr. Pants [GBA – Beta])

Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers was a puzzle game developed by Rare Ltd. and announced by Nintendo in 2001. The title featured both an isometric gameplay grid and Donkey Kong-themed levels and modes. In 2002, it was cancelled when Nintendo sold their share of Rare Ltd.

Original announcement from Rare:

If Diddy Kong’s heading off to make a name for himself on the Game Boy Advance, DK wants in on it too! So here he comes with his very first foray into the puzzle game world, which, like all classic puzzlers, works around one simple principle: in this case, score points by creating shapes – specifically, squares and rectangles. DK’s coconuts fall towards the game board in various formations, and fortunately for you he’s taken the time to fill them with paint…

Naturally, there’s a bit more to it than that. The paint comes in two colours, and while you can cover one colour with another, you can’t drop, say, red on red or green on green. Plus you’ve got some opposition in the form of those dastardly Kremlings, who can never keep their snouts out of business that doesn’t concern them. Even as you’re rotating and dropping the coconuts and building up your shapes, there’ll be a lone Kremling sneaking around the outer edge of the game board, rendering useless any square it crosses and giving you less and less room to work with. Fortunately for you, finishing off a shape will call in one of DK’s animal buddies to drive the scaly troublemaker back and reclaim some of that lost space.

Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers comes with a whole barrel-load of playing modes, including an addictive adventure across the crazy terrain of Kong Island, head-to-head battles with boss Kremlings and a series of challenges set by everyone’s favourite grouchy monkey, good old Cranky Kong. You can even take on your friends in a multiplayer showdown to see just who really is king of the jungle. Yep, DK really has thought of everything…

Images:

Video:

In 2003, THQ decided to publish a reskinned version of Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers. As It’s Mr. Pants, the game featured Rare’s very own mascot. The isometric view was scrapped as it made the puzzle tiles difficult to see.

The ‘Crayon Snake’ that circles around the board in Marathon Mode eating the game pieces was originally called the ‘Pants Snake’. THQ thought that this was a bit too risqué and requested the name change.

Beta: It’s Mr Pants: