So that Dinosaur Planet unreleased n64 game finally leaked.

[SubCog]

This is the one that eventually got turned into Starfox Adventures for the Gamecube.

The story I always heard was that Rare had been working on Dinosaur Planet which would star a character named Sabre, but Shigeru Miyamoto said it was similar enough to Star Fox that they should rework the game to be in the StarFox universe and have Fox be the star instead. Well that delayed the game enough that when it was close to release, Nintendo asked them to rework it a second time and release it on the GameCube instead. I can see why the relationship fell apart between Rare and Nintendo shortly after.

In this build, the character introduces himself as Fox McCloud, so I guess this is after they turned it into a Star Fox game, but before it moved to the Gamecube.
https://kotaku.com/a-fully-playable-build-of-rares-unreleased-n64-game-din-1846315648

Geez, this would have been the pinnacle of graphics on the n64.
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Actual n64 capture:
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And here's very old footage from a build that still has Sabre in it, for comparison. Skip to 28:00 to see a Sebre section.
[yt]cOVBRJToVDY[/yt]

 

[12Bass]

Was looking forward to Dinosaur Planet on N64 back in the day. Never thought it really fit into the Star Fox Universe and wish it had been released as originally planned.

 

[MyTMouse]

Rare has been pretty much useless without Nintendo. When they were together Rare put out a lot of gems. Nintendo may be hard to work with in some regards but they have really high standards and that's not always bad

 

[SubCog]

Rare has been pretty much useless without Nintendo. When they were together Rare put out a lot of gems. Nintendo may be hard to work with in some regards but they have really high standards and that's not always bad

There's a story about when Argonaut was developing Star Fox 2, where a huge chunk of the deal was based on royalties. Argonaut completed the game, it should have been a big seller on the SNES, but Miyamoto decided at the last minute that it would take some emphasis off of the upcoming n64. Since the game didn't release, Argonaut made zero royalties. Nintendo also refused to cancel their contract, so Argonaut couldn't just go work for someone else either. Nintendo basically bankrupted Argonaut.

It's fine to delay, rework, or cancel internal projects to ensure the highest quality standards, but it's pretty dirty to do the same to their partners.

 

[Sasquach]

Miyamoto is kind of a dink.

He seems to be very opposed to anything HE doesnt like or thinks is fun, and because he is a high level executive at Nintendo he does have some sway in decision making.

I mean he does make fun games seeing as he created alot of Nintendo's properties but he doesnt seem to think that unless HE thinks its fun, it isnt fun and doesnt want it. Or if he sees potential he changes them massively (maybe for the better? maybe not?) to HIS vision of what the game should be. He's also kind of stuck in the mindset of no remaster/remakes (pointless, and HAS to have something new and different to exist) and seems kind of anti-cinematic experience.

I remember there were maybe 2 game development stories that Miyamoto kind of rejected and the final product actually needed to be shown or played by him to convince him that they had something good in development, and they did turn out to be massive successes. I cant recall what they were though...i think Donkey Kong Country was one of them and i dont remember what the other one was...

I cant agree with his decision making sometimes. Star Fox Zero? I never played it but the 2 screen thing he had going on was kind a stupid idea to make different for the sake of different.

 

[MyTMouse]

There's always very conflicting stories when it comes to various things and, as always, the truth is usually somewhere in between.

Point me to any company that is very successful and has extremely successful pioneer types that don't have various negative stories about them.

There's also a lot of confusion and negativity due to cultural differences in how various companies run. A lot of Japanese companies rely on their small handful of senior executives to make all crucial decisions and sometimes a project that is supported by the entire company can be cancelled at the whim of one or two people even when the project is finished.

A lot of the very strong handed Nintendo days were under Yamauchi who a lot of people still respect over more recent leadership who are far more understanding and cooperative.

I personally like Nintendo when they are less successful and need to be more competitive...they are like Disney with protecting their IP, usually far overpriced and rarely ever have decent sales