It is one of the most exciting finds in gaming history: after 25 years, the prototype of the game "Conker 64" has appeared, although it was thought to be lost.
Twycross, England – It's a minor sensation for the gaming world.
After 25 years, the prototype of the never-released Nintendo game Twelve Tales: Conker 64 has come to light.
The game was originally supposed to be released in 1998, but never finished development.
The title was instead completely revised and released under the name "Conker's Bad Fur Day" in 2001.
The unreleased original game was considered lost or deleted for decades, and many rumors arose about the whereabouts of the game.
Now a prototype has been found on an old module.
name of the game | Twelve Tales: Conker 64 |
release | Never released - Fall 1998 was planned |
developer | Rare Limited |
Publishers | Nintendo |
genre | platformer |
platform | Nintendo 64 |
Still unreleased: Lost Nintendo game found again after 25 years
This is what happened:
A video showing the prototype of the game "Twelve Tales: Conker 64" on a Nintendo 64 has appeared completely unexpectedly on Twitter.
The game was worked on in 1998 by the British developer studio Rare, which is behind cult titles such as Banjo-Kazooie, GoldenEye 007 and Donkey Kong 64.
However, the game was never fully developed, but, according to the first reports in the specialist press, completely turned inside out.
In addition to the game on the Nintendo console, the video also shows a typical elongated game cartridge.
These cartridges were used to develop Nintendo 64 games in the 1990s.
25 years and still working 🕹️#intimsworld #conker #twelvetales #n64 pic.twitter.com/yolkcCDIPQ
— Tim Stamper (@InTimsWorld) March 28, 2023
The cassette is also dated May 26, 1998 because the prototype was shown to the trade press at the E3 video game show in Los Angeles in the summer of 1998.
So the assumption is that the version of the game from the Twitter video was actually presented 25 years ago at the Los Angeles Game Fair.
Twelve Tales: Conker 64 - Who dug up the rare Nintendo game?
Where was the game found?
Behind the find is none other than Tim Stamper, who founded the development studio Rare with his brother Chris in the mid-1980s.
The company was acquired by Microsoft in 2002 and Tim Stamper left the company in 2007. However, Stamper appears to have some remnants of his playing days at Rare.
He shared other finds from the '90s on his Instagram and Twitter accounts, when Rare was still working closely with Nintendo.
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Still unreleased: Lost Nintendo game found again after 25 years
© Twitter.com (@InTimsWorld) / Tim Stamper / Nintendo / ingame.de (montage)
How a good squirrel became a bad squirrel
What makes the game so special?
The game
Twelve Tales: Conker 64 had a turbulent development history until it was released in 2001 under the name Conkers Bad Fur Day.
Originally, the game with the sweet squirrel called "Conker" was supposed to be a colorful and happy game for children and based on the Nintendo hit "Super Mario 64".
However, when the game was shown to the specialized press in 1998, the Rare company was criticized for saying that Twelve Tales: Conker 64 was too similar to their game Banjo-Kazooie.
In addition, the title was accused of lacking originality, the cute squirrel in the lead role seemed boring.
A year later, Rare announced that it would completely redesign the game to target an older audience.
Chainsaws for Conker:
What Rare presented in 2001 was initially thought by the video game press to be an April Fool's joke: Conker, the cute squirrel, became a cynical alcoholic.
The game Conkers Bad Fur Day was full of violence, sexual innuendo and a lot of swearing.
The once family-friendly game was unrecognizable.
The fact that the cute squirrel has changed becomes clear in the first few seconds of the game, when it cuts up the Nintendo logo with a chainsaw in the opening credits.
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No more cute: The squirrel Conker after his reorientation
© Nintendo / Rare
To this day, it's surprising that Nintendo gave the project the green light at all.
Although "Conkers Bad Fur Day" was not a financial success, it was nevertheless critically acclaimed.
The game was full of creative ideas and achieved cult status with its crazy ideas.
But after all these years, fans were left wondering what had become of the original game, Twelve Tales: Conker 64.
It was quiet for many years until Rare released a video in 2015 showing new footage from the original game.
However, whether a working, playable copy of the game would still exist remained a mystery.
But since Tim Stamper's find, it's clear: "Twelve Tales: Conker 64" exists in a playable form and has not been forgotten.
Rubric list image: © Twitter.com (@InTimsWorld) / Tim Stamper / Nintendo / ingame.de (montage)
