Dinosaur Planet is an unprecedented game for Nintendo 64 from Rare that ended up evolving to Star Fox Adventures for GameCube. But thanks to Forest of Illusion preservationists, it is now possible to play that original and unfinished title. A compilation of the December 1, 2000 game – well into its development cycle – was recovered from a disc purchased from a private collector.
Fox McCloud game images; as noted by EurogamerNintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto was reportedly influential in pushing developers to turn the game into a Star Fox title. Digital Foundry ‘s John Linneman loaded 20 minutes of play, and here you can also see Fox replacing one of the protagonists in the original game, Saber.
Forest of Illusion notes that “the game currently will not run 100% perfectly on any emulator. Expect a lot of graphics problems with shadows and lighting and some slowness. It should, however, work perfectly well with flashcarts. ”Flashcarts allow games to run on the original N64 console hardware
The influence of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time of course, but it’s very interesting to take a look at the dark atmosphere in which Rare was working before Dinosaur Planet has became Star Fox Adventures on the GameCube. Forest of Illusion also uploaded the game to the Internet Archive.
February is proving to be a jewel month for Rare fans; in early February, the Xbox 360 remake of GoldenEye 007 leaked on the web. Much like Dinosaur Planet, it is very playable despite being unfinished.