The link between defunct studio Argonaut Software and Nintendo is well known - the UK firm helped the Japanese giant enter the world of 3D gaming with the SNES blaster Star Fox. However, what's less well documented is the fact that Argonaut had a very early role to play in the development of Super Mario 64, a game which is considered to be one of Nintendo's crowning glories.
Following the creation of Star Fox, Argonaut and Nintendo signed an agreement which would mean that the UK studio would create titles exclusively for Nintendo platforms. This deal allowed Argonaut to grow its business, but also limited the firm in a lot of ways, as San told Eurogamer back in 2013:
We grew during that time, but there was also an exclusivity clause which meant that Nintendo pretty much had control of us. We had the benefit of being the only outside company that was working with them for a while, and we were paid our costs, plus a royalty. Nintendo kept telling us to stay small and keep working exclusively for them, but they weren't paying us the serious cash that they were paying other partners. Our agreement with Nintendo was mostly a royalty deal that relied on sales. When we wanted to branch out and do other games, they wouldn't let us until the end of our contract.
The end came when we pitched to do a 3D platform game, the likes of which had never been done before. We mocked up a prototype using Yoshi. It was essentially the world's first 3D platform game and was obviously a big risk - Nintendo had never let an outside company use their characters before, and weren't about to, either. This is the moment the deal fell apart. We later made that game into Croc: Legend of the Gobbos for the PlayStation, Saturn and PC, which became our biggest ever game in terms of sales and also in royalties, since we owned the IP.
Miyamoto-san came up to me at a show afterwards and apologised for not doing the Yoshi game with us and thanked us for the idea to do a 3D platform game. He also said that we would make enough royalties from our existing deal to make up for it. That felt hollow to me, as I'm of the opinion that Nintendo ended our agreement without fully realising it. They canned Star Fox 2 even though it was finished and used much of our code in Star Fox 64 without paying us a penny.
Daniel Ibbertson of Slope's Game Room has put together a neat video - you can view it at the top of this piece - which not only covers this obscure piece of gaming history, but also takes a look at the history of the Croc series, which began life on the PlayStation and Saturn before shifting over to the Game Boy Color for some pretty lacklustre spin-offs.
Do you have any fond memories of Croc? Let us know with a comment.
[source eurogamer.net, via youtube.com]
Comments 31
Huge thanks again @Damo and the rest of the team for posting my vids Much appreciated! Hope y'all like the content
It's a shame Croc died off like it did. Someone should revive it for modern consoles.
I wish Croc would return. He was my first ever game and it was thanks to him I became a software developer and Nintendian
I remember what little I played of it as being hopelessly stuck in a no man's land encircled by SM64, Banjo, and Crash. Jack of all trades, master of none.
I played Croc 1 on PS1 for the first time this year. It was $3 at a swapmeet. It's not bad. The colorful graphical style and music appealed to me, and the tank controls were manageable. Hopefully someday they make that third 3D platformer.
"Nintendo had never let an outside company use their characters before, and weren't about to, either" This is actually not true. Their pitch was predated by the CDi Zelda games (93), not to mention the Mario titles developed by Hudson in the early 80s.
Pedantry not withstanding I have fond memories of Croc as it was the first 3D platformer I played. I vividly remember farming for extra lives to make the final stage less impossible.
I understand that the 3D platformer pitch to Nintendo ended up becoming Croc, but how in any way does that mean it influenced SM64? I don't even see a mention of SM64 in the article except for the title.
So how could Croc have influenced SM64 if it came after? Honestly curious cause I feel like I'm missing something.
Croc was a great game. Played it through several times. Revive the little blighter for Smash!
@FriedSquid I think the guys at Argonaut are claiming that their 3D Yoshi pitch predated the development of Mario 64 and that Nintendo used some of their ideas when making the game.
Croc is a game I really WANT to love but its platforming can be infuriating at times
Interesting story!
Really enjoy this YouTube channel. I subscribed a few weeks back and keep finding vids to watch. I like the mixture of information and humour, and all the 'complete history of' vids. Nice it's a fellow Brit too. Please keep them coming!
Along with Pokemon Blue, this was one of my favourite childhood games. Still got my gbc cartridge in my room.
Don't think I ever beat it but I remember just playing the levels over and over endlessly, collecting all of the letters, racing to nab those pink balloons etc. Good times.
I love these throwback articles. But you know one would imagine Mario HAD to go 3D. A new 64bit Polygon powerhouse wasn't going to be sold by another 2D Mario
While there has been a rennaisonce of 2D love these past 10 years, the glory days of 2D had died 1994 - everyone wanted 3D polygons and world's to explore. I remember even Gamesmaster referring to 2D games as archaic.
@Grandpa_Pixel Should that not be Nintendonian? That makes more sense.
That's weird because in a recent Retro Gamer article I recall Argonaut praising Mario 64 because the first time they played it they realised they had to go make some changes to Croc.
As my mate at school used to say 'Croc? Crock of poop'
I recently listened to a Retronauts podcast in which the guys discussed this very ropic, and I, like they, have a hard time believing that Argonaut inspired Miyamoto to put Mario into 3D.
Croc controls like he is in mud, but it's still a charming game for sure.
I checked out the video the day it was posted. I enjoyed it as it was quite interesting as usual for Slope's Game Room videos. I had the game when it was new for the Saturn. The camera and controls did get in the way quite a bit, sadly. I'd eventually come to realize that I much prefer 2D platformers.
I have Croc on my pc. Love this game. I have the second release.
@FriedSquid "Miyamoto-san came up to me at a show afterwards and apologised for not doing the Yoshi game with us and thanked us for the idea to do a 3D platform game."
Loved croc and croc 2. Needs a reboot
Hmm,i remember this .had to beg my dad to play this game on his PlayStation.this,spyro,and a fighting game with a woman wielding a wip yelling"rattle snake!" Good times.
Brilliant early 3D platformer, I made some really great memories playing it. Still go through it occasionally, but but I'm so familiar with everything in it I can pretty much beat it 100% in one sitting.
@RadioHedgeFund A bit arrogant, wouldn't you think?
@FriedSquid It's literally there in the quote...
I absolutely love Croc! It was the very first 3D platformer I've ever played (back then I only had a PC and a cheap NES clone). Sure, the camera and the controls were clunky at best, but I quickly let it slide, due to charming design, pretty nice challenge and the overall fun factor. Oh and the music, my God, the music. Simply put, it was brilliant, catchy and memorable. Croc OST (at least the PSX version, as the PC/SAT featured less tracks, which were also cut down [damn you, CD digital audio tracks!]) is still among my top N game soundtracks!
Believe it or not, but the Croc micro-scene is still around the internet (or at least used to be). I was a part of it, 'twas really amazing to see a small group of dedicated people do so many awesome things (trying to port Croc to Nintendo DS, doing a HD makeover of the first game's PC port, contacting the developers and actually obtaining a beta version of the game, whoa!). Some lads from Poland are even trying to create a remake of Croc on the Unity engine (Croc Returns be the name). Now that's what you call dedication!
@Waninoko Were you by any chance one of the people at Rexhunter's "Croc Fan Forum"?
@SebCroc
Hey, SebCroc! I sure was. Remember the good ol' times?
@Waninoko I vaguely remember the sketches, but yes, they sure were! Fantastic little group we had there. Still feel the burn from when it dissipated.
I have fond memories of attempting to play a Croc demo on my Packard Bell using a keyboard before I got my N64. I think it was a level in a cave. Never played the full version, but thinking about it now, that demo really holds a special place in my gaming history. The aesthetic was really appealing too.
Think I'll pick it up sometime in the future.
When i saw the thumbmail i almost thougt that Croc 3 was rumoured for the Switch. I loved Croc before i know who Mario was, because it was my first platformer.
Although I can name too many 3D platformers that are WAY better than Croc 2, I still have fond memories of playing that game. I never owned the original Croc but I did play it at my friends place once on PC over 17 years ago.
Now in the alternate timeline, I´m playing their 3D Yoshi game on Nintendo 64. The closest thing to a 3D Yoshi game are the Chameleon Twist 1 & 2 on the N64.
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