There are ideas that are destined for greatness, even when they never end up making it to the shelves. At least directly. Before Rare joined the Xbox project, they had a very special impact among Nintendo fans as a result of that superb legacy that the British left on SNES and N64. And between both systems, a project that never saw the light of day and to which we owe the existence of Banjo-Kazooie: the game known as Project Dreamcode name of Dream: Land of Giants
Like so many projects of the time, Dream: Land of Giants it began to be developed for the Brain of the Beast offering that characteristic aesthetic so typical of Rare in which sprites and pre-rendered scenes looked wonderful on tube televisions. Logically, during that time they had their hands full, being one of the greatest assets for the big N, so that Project Dream was a relative mystery in its day for the general public.
Since then we have seen numerous prototypes of the original game and its first protagonist, a young man named Edson he faced a band of pirates who were looking for a resource with which to make their ships navigate the skies. Yes indeed, a fantasy adventure with RPG elements and a system of isometric scenarios that reminded us in good part of that stage in Rare’s Spectrum.
Later we learned that this took a new shape with the N64 and would finally end up being converted into the Banjo-Kazooie original starting from an idea with Banjo as the protagonist. But did it develop? Dream: Land of Giants in N64 or did that idea stay in a folder? Well, just below you have the answer.
Tim Stamper, current director of Fortune Fish and founder with his brother Chris of Rare, to which he belonged until 2007, regularly gives us a portion of the company’s legacy and some authentic rarities. The latest is a moving appetizer of the latest made version of Project Dream running on an N64. This was definitely not a dream.
This version was probably for the Nintendo Shoshinkai show 1996#intimateworld #n64 #Nintendo #Dream #Pirates #TREASURE pic.twitter.com/HRm6eOfV4x
— Tim Stamper (@InTimsWorld) April 9, 2023
This data sheds an interesting light on the trajectory of rare, since according to the date, the version shown was used for the Nintendo Shoshinkai event in 1996. If we look at the calendar, a year later Rare will make history again with GoldenEye 007 after a long development and, just two years later, that same game will reappear completely transformed into a different one: the first Banjo-Kazooie
For illustrative purposes, here you can see, through from the Neogamer channel how were the prototypes of that Project Dream for SNES and part of what was done in a previous version for the N64 RPG. In both we see not only the evolution of the protagonist, but also the very distinctive visual style of Rare before the turn of the millennium.
we will never know if Dream: Land of Giants would have continued Rare’s unimpeachable run of success during its time with Nintendo, but it’s clear that there’s absolutely nothing to question them: the Brits gave the N64 some of their best games ever made, including a bespoke installment of Killer Instinct or the faultless and revolutionary Perfect Dark.
And despite the fact that that pirate fantasy remained suspended in the air or locked in a drawer, and that a good part of the original team began their own journeys, we cannot deny that, three decades later, Rare managed to make its own adventure game and pirates. No RPG elements, of course, but brimming with that signature fun.