Last week’s column was about the top 30 lost or cancelled video games and everything was there, from Sonic the Hedgehog to Halo, from Assassins Creed to even Kirby but on this finale edition of the Lost Media Files covering video games is or was supposed to be an add-on for these exclusive games to be like extra content but continuous delays and then released later becoming a commercial failure the add-on was discontinued resulting several games to be cancelled or reworked to other Nintendo consoles. This is the Nintendo 64DD.
1. Nintendo 64DD content
First some backstory the Nintendo 64 was released on June 23, 1996 in Japan, on September 29th, 1996 in western markets and a year later in March 1 in European markets and the system in general was an answer to SEGA’s Saturn system and Sony’s PlayStation system respectively for 3D graphics and better quality of gameplay as the N64 originally was named the Ultra 64 and shown to the public in November in 1995 during the Nintendo Space World event or then it was called “Shoshinkai” which was an exclusive event for Nintendo eventers in Japan, that the 64DD would be released in the next year after the N64 release but nothing specific about what it does was revealed. Then a year later in November, the wait was over and Nintendo debuted the 64DD which was first called the “Bulky Drive” as notable attendees were American business partners including the former Nintendo President of America Howard Lincoln and Director of Corporate Communications Perrin Kaplan as they viewed Super Mario 64 being played for the add-on including some extra features like mapping the audience into a 3D animator avatar however it was sort of left vague which would add for its downfall.
As 1997 rolled along the 64DD would go through some tough delays towards 1998 as Nintendo said a release would be in March but nothing to add for a western release as E3 rolled along Nintendo promised some titles for the game like “Donkey Kong 64”, “SimCity”, “Mario Artist”, “Pokémon” and “Earthbound 64” then as 1998 came around the N64DD again was delayed then nothing about the console was announced for E3, then in 1999 again with another set of delays was really putting some strain and Nintendo’s patience with the system which I don’t think it was anyone’s fault for that matter but the technology for the game maybe to much for the people. Then at December in 1999 the game was finally, finally release to the public but with a package deal for something called a Radnet Starter Kit to which I have no idea what that is supposed to be but from the best guess some sort of service that includes a few games and a yearly internet service. Though unfortunately for the system Nintendo predicted this would fail and they were right as in 2001 the Nintendo 64DD and the Radnet service was discontinued which was a shame but understandable.
Now that the backstory of this video game’s long history and problems was revealed let’s look at the cancelled titles for the N64DD that became cancelled but had to be rushed into the N64 itself for a full release:
One of the game’s released or planned was something called “Cabbage” that was developed by Shigesato Itoi, Tsunekazu Ishihara and Shigeru Miyomoto the god of Nintendo or troll one of the two. The came was originally supposed to be what Tamagotchi’s were for the handheld and not to spoil anything what will become Digimon. The game would have the player control of some Tamagotchi as the Internal clock for the system which was to act as what time it is in-game and I think act as a regular clock and the Game Boy the Tamagotchi would be transferred to it and take care of your in-game creature. The game didn’t make any appearance for Space World or E3 then it was cancelled but the game lives on through “Animal Crossing” and those “Nintendog” titles to which I must confess I never played them at all.
The next game is “Desert Island 64” which is a game originally was to be a simulator game and surviving in a Desert Island so basically Nintendo’s version of “Minecraft” before “Minecraft” was conceived. Oh, Nintendo. The game was announced in 1996 for E3 but was quiet for a good while because developer Imagineer had some trouble financially and had to cancel this title and another title “Quest 64 2” I’m pretty sure it delights Yuriofwind to know end. The only surviving images of “Desert Island 64” is a few screenshots and a concept art.
Another title was called “Diablo” before the game would be a PC/Playstation success franchise Nintendo purchased the rights for “Diablo”. Nothing has been revealed about the title not even screenshots or gameplay footage.
A video game about “Kimba the White Lion” based of the anime series was also in development and Shigeru Miyamoto and the son of Oozamu Tesuka, Makato teamed up as it would be an action-adventure RPG series but Makato was inexperienced with video games that caused problems. Delightful. The game was cancelled, and the only evidence of the game is gameplay footage. Damn this suck.
Lastly its “Super Mario 64 2” which is very interesting about this because it was sequel to the N64 hit “Super Mario 64” and Square Soft the company would be later named “Square Enix” but the game would be reworked for the “Paper Mario” series.
So, does this add-on exist now it’s 2018? Well they are rare, like secretly rare and the ones that exist is auction sites like Amazon oh by the way before we finish check out the price for one functioning N64DD add-on. Yeah, that much huh? That’s like the equal for buying a house or a car for yourself for down payments. Geez. In conclusion the N64 DD add-on was a disaster that Nintendo had a lot of promise but technical problems far from their control sealed its doom but the N64 legacy didn’t hurt it but gave it more interest and more promise for the title and what they had.
And that was it for the two-part Lost Media Files of lost and cancelled video games to the Nintendo 64 DD add-on system. Join me next month as it’s the one-year anniversary of the Lost Media Files and for this occasion is about one of mankind’s historic feat in human history and the lost recordings of this venture became the subject of conspiracy theories that just won’t go away no matter what piece of evidence they bring as its simply not true and something extra for a little bonus add-on in July about what I plan to do with this series going forward.
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Unseen64: https://www.unseen64.net/
The Maurice Bear Times 