Last weekend, Rare's cancelled Nintendo 64 project Dinosaur Planet was leaked online. It surprised many, including Kevin Bayliss - a former Rare employee who now works at Playtonic Games.
With all the memories flooding back, in his words over on VGC, Kev has now revealed how the original star of the game was actually intended to be Timber the Tiger from Diddy Kong Racing. Timber was also meant to be the face of R.C. Pro-Am 64 (before it was changed to DKR).
"After finishing work on Diddy Kong Racing in 1998, I started work on a project that was to become a 3D adventure game based in a fantasy style world, similar to that of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time but in a prehistoric environment.
"The main character was originally going to be – believe it or not – Timber, the cute tiger from Diddy Kong Racing."
Bayliss goes onto explain how Timber would have been a "time travelling tiger with a rucksack, little fingerless gloves, [and] a baseball cap" in Dinosaur Planet, who had a small dinosaur for a sidekick.
This instead followed with Rare making the main character a wolf known as Sabre (get it?) and eventually talks with Nintendo led to it becoming a new entry in Star Fox series - transforming the entire game.
"After rethinking the design a little, it was decided to change Dinosaur Planet’s main character to a wolf (Sabre), and also to include a 2nd playable character (Krystal), each with different abilities. At this point, there were no comparisons drawn with Fox Mcloud, and it never even crossed my mind that there was already a very popular “Star’ fox out there in a universe of his own."
"Apparently, NCL were very impressed with what they had seen of the game and so during the show we met and discussed the possibility of a ‘marriage’ between the “Star Fox” and “Dinosaur Planet” IPs to create something really special. The idea was to create Star Fox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet (as it was initially known) for the N64, but of course we eventually ended up transferring to GameCube as that platform released."
If you would like to learn more about the history of Dinosaur Planet, you can read Kev's full story over on VGC. We've also got our own story featuring the Lead Software Engineer.
How do you feel about Timber missing out? Would you have been up for this character becoming the face of Dinosaur Planet? Leave a comment down below.
[source videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 31
Has Timber been in other games aside from Diddy Kong Racing or would Dinosaur Planet have been his first solo game?
That's kind of cool - like what they did with Banjo and Conker. I think Playtonic intends on doing a similar thing with their new characters.
Timbers Bad Fur Day.
Sabre tooth Timber tiger.
@Tourtus I think they created him for Pro-Am 64, specifically to be the game's mascot. Of course, that game eventually was released as Diddy Kong Racing.
Nope, Timber has not shown up anywhere else and I mean, that was a bummer considering Rare probably had plans for all the animal mascots (case in point, Banjo and Conker). I don’t know if any of the rest of the characters have a history with Microsoft.
Ah, I remember Timber. I used him a lot in DKR. My main, good times back then.
A wolf named Sabre...? No, I don't get it?
@Strumpan Rare made a game called Sabre Wulf for the Game Boy Advance in 2004.
@Gauchorino So Timber has been ditched twice now in favor of more famous characters like Fox McCloud and Diddy Kong. Kinda sad for Timber...
@Tourtus @Strumpan
And the GBA game was a re-imagining of the 1984 original, released back when Rare were called "Ultimate Play The Game".
Timber. Yeah, I remember him. Always sounded to me like he said his name was 'kimba' or something. He was a favorite pick at my friend's house.
Star Fox Adventure needs a rerelease.
Timber is one of those obscure side characters that only 90's kids would know.
@Strumpan @Tourtus and of course Sabrewulf in Killer Instinct.
Poor Timber...
Such a powerful predator relegated to secondary character by a monkey and kicked out of his own adventure by a wolf.
As someone that always picked him in DKR I really feel bad for the poor little kitty...
@Tourtus Ah, I see, thanks.
StarFox Adventures definitely needs a sequel, such a great game, replaying some of it last year just reaffirmed that.
Timber was my favorite character from DKR
Poor Timber! ^^
As @Gauchorino points out, he was supposed to have been the lead in what became Diddy Kong Racing.
AND
Legend has it, since Timber was robbed in such a fashion, a vow was made internally at Rare, that EVERY character from Diddy Kong Racing one day would be the star in a game of their own!
This came true for Banjo and for Conker, but Timber got pushed aside once more, it seems!
He was my favorite character in DKR, so I'm glad to hear more stories of him from the past. ^^
@Strumpan
Aside from the game Sabre Wulf that @Tourtus mentioned, Timber was already a reverse joke on that name. ^^
sabre tooth tiger X timber wolf >> Timber the tiger and Sabre the wolf.
You know. Rare. Wordplays and puns all over the place.
I never had that much of an attachment to Timber anyway so no loss in my book but it does make you think what could've been.
Though by now he probably would've been another one of Rare's forgotten platformer mascots. But I guess now he's one of their forgotten racing sidekicks.
This is a nice story. Timber just felt ultra-cutesy in Diddy Kong, so it would have been fun to see him as the time-traveling go-getter.
In Diddy Kong Racing though, it was Bumper (just loved the voice acting when he announced his name) and Tip Tup that entertained us the most. For Tip Tup, it was how his head would be thrown all the way back when he boosted.
Really wish this game would get a spiritual successor, or if Mario Kart would just get a first-class Story/Adventure mode. Time is right. Open world is a Nintendo-thing now.
Wasn't it rumored almost a decade ago that Nintendo bought Timber the Tiger from Microsoft?
Let's not forget that Tiptup is in Banjo-Kazooie (and Tooie) so even though he technically does not star in his own game, he isn't exclusively in DKR only.
@Pod Ah, that makes a lot of sense! Thanks!
I always wondered what happened to the cast of characters from DKR. Maybe someday we'll get to see something.
So basically, if they kept Timber in the game, there would be no Star Fox Adventures
Timber was my go to in DKR. They need to get him and Tiptup together in a game of their own.
@Pod Really interesting. I thought they put there to them there just to showcase their upcoming games. Hopefully more of Rare's deeply-hidden secrets (like the two games of theirs that recently leaked) will come to light, soon, as they always are incredibly interesting at the very least.
Ahhh DKR. Imo hands down the best kart racer ever produced with the funnest roster of characters. If id like to see any other game have a sequel it would be this one. I took Mario kart to a new level imo.
@Gauchorino
Conker and Banjo already had games in the making, true. ^^
Whether they really hoped to make games for everyone else, we'll have to ask someone from Rare about. BUT. Tricky the Triceratops did make it in to the final version of Star Fox Adventures.
@Pod Wow, I forgot about that! Based on Tricky's name and based on his function in Star Fox Adventures (doing tricks), I wonder if the development or merely the concepts behind Dinosaur Planet was actually conceived before DKR was released and that it's another one of Rare's legendary development secrets.
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