Interesting early N64 footage

[alexknibb]

This video clip is from Gamesmaster in the UK. Some really interesting early Ultra 64 - *ahem* I mean N64 - footage from the Shoshinkai show where it was unveiled.

Thank god the N64 Zelda incarnations didn't look this bad in the final edit.

[kelvingreen]

Crikey, you're right about Zelda. That looks shocking. Interesting discussion of the half-finished Mario 64 as being "sparse" though, as that's one of the things I dislike about the finished game; it feels very empty.

Heh, it's the music from the Killer Instinct soundtrack CD. That brings back memories.

[Angelic Lapras King]

How FF7 might of ended up on a N64. o.o

[link64]

Gamesmaster is so much better than that piece of crap gamezvile

[kelvingreen]

Originally Posted by Angelic Lapras King

How FF7 might of ended up on a N64. o.o

Given how early the footage is, and how the final game ended up, it's not too bad, I reckon. If you've seen this tech demo running, you'll know that it's quite similar in terms of animation to the final product, and the character models aren't too far off either.

[Tull]

Wow that zelda looked shocking.

[yoshi175]

Did that Kirby game ever come out?

[SKTTR]

This Kirby game was named Kirby Bowl 64 but was cancelled.
It is believed that it is now Kirby Air Ride for Gamecube.

[neuzd]

The FF7 shots are those you can throw in the face of Sony fanboys.
You know...those that say "Final Fantasy is a SONY exclusive, what do Nintendo fellows want?". It happened to me...there are people who don't realize that that 7 means there are other 6 chapters before...and they were on Nintendo.

And when you have these shots to proof the differencess there would have been....you know that the CD needs were ONLY for movies right? OK there are people loving it and in '97 having all those super quality movies was impressive...but don't joke about it, movies don't make a game: FF7 could have fitted an N64 cart.

[alexknibb]

OK. Some more footage from the 1996 Spaceworld show. This time what looks suspiciously like a Nintendo promo video. It kicks off with footage of what look like completed versions of MK and Starfox64, but keep watching and some really interesting curios appear.

Can anyone identify that RPG-esque thing about 2/3 through?

Also, can anyone identify the baseball game? I. Want. That. Baseball. Game. Looks really cute and fun!!



PS. How come my first post auto-embedded the Youtube link, but this didn't?

edit: bottom right, click this icon:

[neuzd]

Originally Posted by alexknibb

PS. How come my first post auto-embedded the Youtube link, but this didn't?

Use just the code Bo-4DpTl6YA.
And instead of URL tags, use YOUTUBE.
Like this (it's hacked of course so you can read it)

[YOUTOOBE]Bo-4DpTl6YA[/YOUTOOBE]

[alexknibb]

Thanks. For some reason that wasn't working before. I spotted the tags for it in my previous link, but it didn't want to play ball with that one.

Anyway, here 'tis:

Originally Posted by alexknibb

OK. Some more footage from the 1996 Spaceworld show. This time what looks suspiciously like a Nintendo promo video. It kicks off with footage of what look like completed versions of MK and Starfox64, but keep watching and some really interesting curios appear.

Can anyone identify that RPG-esque thing about 2/3 through?

Also, can anyone identify the baseball game? I. Want. That. Baseball. Game. Looks really cute and fun!!

[SKTTR]

The RPG game is Wonder Project J2 by Enix.

The baseball game is King of Pro Baseball by Imagineer/Genki.

[alexknibb]

Originally Posted by SKTTRBRUISE

The RPG game is Wonder Project J2 by Enix.

The baseball game is King of Pro Baseball by Imagineer/Genki.

Thanks. Wow, you are truly knowledgeable.

Your follow-up question, for a further 5 bonus points, is whether any of them made it to an English conversion? I've certainly never heard of them...

[Taint Smack]

You know what, you're right about the interesting part. I wish I was older when the 64 was being hyped, it would have been awesome to have that "Oh man look at that!" feeling as the transition into 3D slowly came along. Sadly I was just a kid, the 64 just came out of a cave to me and I bought it. No hype whatsoever.

[SKTTR]

Originally Posted by alexknibb

Thanks. Wow, you are truly knowledgeable.

Your follow-up question, for a further 5 bonus points, is whether any of them made it to an English conversion? I've certainly never heard of them...

Unfortunately both games (and some others in this video: St. Andrew's Old Course by Seta and Mahjong Master by Konami) were Japan only.

[alexknibb]

Originally Posted by SKTTRBRUISE

Unfortunately both games (and some others in this video: St. Andrew's Old Course by Seta and Mahjong Master by Konami) were Japan only.

Am I the only one who wishes I was born Japanese?

Taint Smack, I know what you mean. I remember the transition coming along. I remember playing the really early PlayStation games and being gobsmacked (or should that be taintsmacked? ), whereas now they look appalling. The one game that took my breath away though was GoldenEye on the N64. I was living at Uni at the time and my grandparents had given me a fair bit of money for my birthday. I went out the following day and bought an N64, Goldeneye, four controllers, two memory packs and two rumble packs. Let's just say it was money well spent.

However, it's worth remembering that 3D in itself wasn't that impressive at the time. The Amiga and PCs had been doing filled polygon stuff for a while by this point iirc, but it was the smoothness and texture mapping and sheer number of polygons on screen at once that really impressed everyone.

Happy days.

[SKTTR]

Yeah GoldenEye was indeed the most impressive game at that time.
But you didn't need any Controller Paks for this

[Spore]

In Alex's video, did anybody notice at about 13-11 seconds left what looked to be the N64 beta of Mother 3 (Earthbound 2)? I can't get a good look on it but I recognize the shirt that character wears.

[SKTTR]

Originally Posted by Spore

In Alex's video, did anybody notice at about 13-11 seconds left what looked to be the N64 beta of Mother 3 (Earthbound 2)? I can't get a good look on it but I recognize the shirt that character wears.

It's not a beta. This game was never playable.
It's just a video of an unfinished and cancelled game.

Some other games in that video never seen the day of light:

Blade & Barrel
Rev Limit
Kirby Bowl 64