Some great news for retro gaming enthusiasts as the year of noteworthy Super Nintendo efforts continues unhinged. Reports of successful preservation of HAL Laboratory's Special Tee Shot prototype and subsequent public release means that we can all now enjoy the isometric mini-golf game that was meant to show up as a regular SNES retail game back in 1992 but was (not-so-quietly) shelved in order to evolve into something much pinker.

You have probably already guessed it: Super Tee Shot became the foundation for isometric sensation spin-off Kirby's Dream Course. Over at SNES Central, indie game developer Trevor McAleese (who was lucky upon stumbling at what is pretty much a 100% complete US prototype of the game for the equivalent of two English pounds) wrote a lovely piece on HAL's extensive path towards the golf genre along with the eventual the cancellation and rebranding the game into a Kirby spin-off.

Not all the work put into Super Tee Shot went to waste, as the game eventually saw release with some further polish in 1996 as a Satellaview exclusive. Furthermore, Luigi Blood worked on a patch that adds these quality-of-life updates to the prototype, bringing among other minor tweaks the gameplay on par with Kirby's outing.

Another Super Nintendo game has been preserved for future generations to enjoy.

Were you familiar with Special Tee Shot or did you believe Kirby's Dream Course was made from scratch? Are you a fan of the genre? Have you ever found a prototype lying around for two quid? Tell us all about it in the comments.

[source snescentral.com]