Unreleased Nintendo 64 Game Leaks And Is Fully Playable

Perhaps the most notable game that never ended up releasing on the Nintendo 64 back in the day is [...]

By Logan Moore

Perhaps the most notable game that never ended up releasing on the Nintendo 64 back in the day is that of Dinosaur Planet. The game, which was developed by Rare, was originally slated to come to the N64 before being canceled and later reworked into what became Star Fox Adventures on the Nintendo GameCube. Now, over two decades later, Dinosaur Planet in its original form has finally leaked and is able to be played right now.

Forest of Illusion, which is a game preservation group, recently obtained a build of Dinosaur Planet that dates back to December 2000. While not fully complete, this iteration of the game was one that was put together relatively late in its development meaning that it can mostly be seen through to completion. The build specifically came from a private collector in Sweden who obtained it in one way or another.

The reason why this is such an incredible feat is because Dinosaur Planet has largely never been played by anyone outside of the team at Rare. Other than a few gaming conventions and trade shows, the general public has never been able to get its hands on Dinosaur Planet in its original form.

What's most interesting about this specific build of the game is that it also features Fox McCloud as a playable character. Originally, Dinosaur Planet wasn't meant to be a Star Fox game but was later reworked to incorporate the iconic pilot. Fox himself was never shown in any footage for Dinosaur Planet prior to its cancellation, but this leak suggests that Rare was already working on adding Fox to the game long before it ever shifted to the GameCube to work on Star Fox Adventures.

Again, the most asinine part of all of this is that Dinosaur Planet can be downloaded right now and played upon a number of different platforms. In fact, Forest of Illusion has even made it to where those with the correct tools can even play it on the Nintendo 64 as it was originally intended. Leaks like this don't happen very often, but it's incredibly cool to see that Dinosaur Planet has finally surfaced in this manner after so many years.

So what do you think about this leak? And are you going to download and play Dinosaur Planet for yourself? Let me know your thoughts either down in the comments or over on Twitter at @MooreMan12.

[H/T VGC]

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