As you've likely seen this week, the Nintendo 'Gigaleak' dating back to last year has resurfaced. The second round of leaks over the past few days have revealed early Wii Remote concepts, confirmed Retro's cancelled Zelda game and also Nintendo's plans for a Metroid title by Intelligent Systems.
In the latest update, information about various scrapped Nintendo DS projects has been released, including details of a new Pokémon Pinball title. This would have been the first entry in the pocket monster pinball series since the Game Boy Advance generation. According to the leak, this particular entry - targeting a 2006 release - was going to handled by the Metroid Prime Pinball and Super Mario Ball developer Fuse, and would have featured Wi-Fi support.
ResetEra user MondoMega has once again shared this information, along with details about various other cancelled Nintendo DS projects including a portable version of the GameCube first-person shooter Geist, a proposal from the Magic the Gathering creator and additional data for the New Super Mario Bros. game. Here's the round-up via Nintendo Everything:
-Rhythm Tengoku is listed as ‘RIQ’ (full working title is known to be Rhythm IQ). Notes for the game say “The songs will be newly written for this game, so OK for the whole world”.
-Elite Beat Agents was once known as Super Sonic Agents.
-Pokemon Pinball is listed as a DS title, with Wi-Fi support. Developer is ‘FUSE’. Target release date was September 2006.
-Geist DS is listed. Had online play.
-Gauntlet DS.
-Some game called ‘PLUCKER’, developed by ‘NIGHTLIGHT’. Notes: ‘Proposal from Richard Garfield, the creator of Magic the Gathering. A strategy game that replaces card games with figures’.
‘Digitylish DS’. there were plans to bring the series over to DS before DSiWare existed.
-Soma Bringer was once known as Angelic Soma, and included online play. The game was originally set to be complete in September 2006.
-Banjo and Conker being replaced by Dixie and Tiny in Diddy Kong Racing DS is something NCL specifically note.
-There was some consideration in having NoA and NoE localize and publish Contact (by Grasshopper Manufacture). The spreadsheet describes it as a “Mother-like”.
-They considered redoing the character designs for the North American localization of Magical Starsign.
-The notes on New Super Mario Bros. specially mentions “Plans to distribute additional data for new courses via Wi-Fi”. Also mentions reusing the minigames from Super Mario 64 DS.
-Digitylish DS had “two prototypes in progress”, and Skip were “considering other projects in parallel”. It was suggest that they “extend the prototype period by 6 months to explore a new business model”; possibly an early reference to to DSi Shop.
-At the point this document was made online play wasn’t actually locked in for Pokemon Diamond and Pearl; mentioned as a consideration.
-There were a lot of working titles and early names. Most are “franchise name” then DS or [number of installment]; Chibi-Robo DS, Jump Super Stars 2, Mario vs. Donkey Kong DS, Yoshi’s Island 2, Kirby DS, Burabura Donkey DS, etc. Some publicly known early titles were also in use here, like Detect Hacker (Project Hacker), Wish Room (Hotel Dusk) and Eternal Chronicle (Glory of Heracles). There’s also ‘Game Fortune Bag’ (Clubhouse Games) and Marionation Gear (Chosoju Mecha MG).
MondoMega also shared extra details related to some GameCube projects. Donkey Kong Barrel Blast and Super Paper Mario were originally listed as GameCube releases. Captain Rainbow, as previously mentioned, was also listed as a GameCube title, and NCL didn't want power plug/outlets in Chibi-Robo to be localised.
Would you have been interested in a Pokémon Pinball game for the Nintendo DS? How about a Geist game on the dual-screen handheld? Leave your thoughts down below.
[source resetera.com, via nintendoeverything.com]
Comments 36
NSMB had plans for DLC?
I guess that's why NSMB 2 on the 3DS had DLC - they'd been planning it for a while.
Wow, imagine if the DS one did have DLC - you wouldn't even get to be able to play it nowadays, since the servers are all dead.
Pokémon Pinball Ruby & Sapphire is one of my favourite video games of all time. It’s hugely underrated but insanely addictive. You can play all afternoon or in short bursts. It’s a title I’ve long hoped for a follow-up to be released; to hear we nearly had a Dual Screen version saddens me. Perhaps some day the series will return…
@liam you may want to change intelligence for intelligent.
EDIT: now changed but no credit. thanks Liam.
I wonder what's wrong with Magical Starsign characters' design? It looks like any other game from Mana series at the time
Nintendo and Sega need to start making pinball games again, they were of awesome proportions.
I'll never understand why they gave up on Pokémon Pinball. Would 100% pick up a download only one for $20-30, or even a full $60 like New Snap if they put in an equal amount of effort.
Pinball has had a massive resurgence in the last few years, and now would be the PERFECT time to cash in with a new Pokemon title.
Double-posting because I found the reason behind pinball's new popularity to be juuuust interesting enough to type all out and share.
When tables were big in the 70s and early 80s, many establishments had them out to play on. There were certain rubber pieces used that only have a 30 year shelf life before becoming too brittle and breaking off. Its a relatively easy fix, but with pinball machines becoming gradually less popular over the decades, getting the part and paying a repair technician was pretty pricey. Most places chose to sell the broken pinball machines rather than dump money on paying someone to travel out and fix them up. So around the same 30-year mark when everyone's little rubber pieces broke, there was a massive buy up from private collectors and pinball enthusiasts who were willing to do the repairs themselves. Now days, classic pinball tables that were rotting in the corner of a dusty bar are now thriving in the dusty corners of your local hipster bars instead. And there are brand new tables being released now that look AMAZING with a ton of modern improvements to really make them stand out.
So there you go. A deeper look into why now is the time to make a new Pokemon Pinball game, or for gods sake, let us play the GBA version on the Switch.
@Jamie_R Pokémon Snap returned, so… It's certainly not impossible! That being said, they would probably make it into a mobile game.
How do I enter cheat codes with an iPhone????
I love Grasshopper's Contact, it's kind of nice to see Nintendo also appreciated it enough to consider publishing it themselves.
Gaunlet on DS has leaked and it's very bad. Probably why it's never been released. Too bad the Project Hacker game has never been translated. it looks good.
TILT. - Game Over
@Desrever Right! Pinball is very popular again and the Pokémon fandom as strong as ever. Win-win.
Poke pinball is fine. But if they want to make another pokemon spin-off game, I would like to see a new pokemon ranger game. That game always hold a special place in my heart.
The mention of Hotel Dusk just makes me sad that studio is gone now
I'd love a new Pokémon pinball!
I recently got myself a copy of Pokémon pinball in GBC and it’s every bit as good as I remember when I got it brand new back in the day. It is indeed one of those games that I’ll always have with me to play as it is just genuinely fun and versatile. Hope we see another someday! I apparently need to try to one for GBA…
I think Zen Studios would be perfect for Nintendo Pinball.
I've heard Mario Pinball Land wasn't that good, and I've played Metroid Prime Pinball, certainly not a bad game, but kind of short considering it's a pinball retelling of the first Metroid Prime.
Why give Fuse the Pokémon Pinball concept when Jupiter did it already?
With that flip grip thing, pinball games would be a perfect fit.
The character designs are a big part of why I never picked up Magical Starsign.
I wish we would get a real MvDK2. The GBA game is by far the best in the series. The rest of the series quickly became lemmings, and although have their place, it is not what I expected the game to become.
The Pokémon Pinball one stings.
@HammerGalladeBro
You should try their other game, Pinball Pulse: The Ancients Beckon. It's a DSi game, but you can get it on the 3DS eShop. It's a lot more like a classic 90s Williams table, a lot more realistic than Metroid Pinball.
I would love a new Pokemon Pinball title. I've never played the original on GBC, but I really enjoyed playing my cousin's Pokemon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire game at family gatherings. Certainly enough to pick it up again on the Wii U VC a few years ago. I think that game, plus the Space Cadet pinball game that shipped with Windows XP (I sank hundreds of hours into it back in the day), AND a Bram Stoker's Dracula cabinet at a local pizza place cemented my love of pinball in its various forms. I still like getting on a machine for a round when I see one.
@Desrever I can confirm pinball cabinets themselves, as well as repairing them, can be quite expensive due to all the mechanical and (for more modern machines) electronic components that make them tick. I'm a software dev at a company who, among other things, provides, services, and repairs Amusement (industry term; it's what laypeople call gaming) machines. We're also talking crane games, pool tables, light gun shooters, racing games, etc. The pinball machines particularly fascinate me, and the repair techs let everyone else play test the shop machines when everything is thought to be in working order before they're 1. sent back to the location they came from or 2. are stored in the warehouse. I've helped find a couple of underlying issues this way.
We had an Addams Family cabinet in recently where the balls were occasionally getting stuck in the chute. Currently, there's a newer table themed around the band Iron Maiden (minted in 2019 I believe; (Link - it's the pro edition)) in for a bit of general maintenance. My job isn't all fun and games, but I won't deny play testing is a nice occasional perk! ^_^ I just wish there were more tables in my immediate area. Most eateries and bars just prefer to use musical jukeboxes and cranes since they usually rake in more cash.
I've been waiting for a new pokemon pinball, and a new pokemon trading card game for the switch.
Contact was an utterly fantastic title for the DS, I wish NIntendo had given it the advertising boost it deserves by publishing it.
@Poodlestargenerica That's a game I see often in my area, will try to see if I can find a decent copy. I know it's on the Wii U Virtual Console, but I want excuses to use my Game Boy Player.
@Asaki Thanks for the reminder. I wanted to get Pinball Pulse on my Mario 25th Anniversary DSi XL, but for some reason I never got around to getting it. Will get on my 3DS.
@EarthboundBenjy the shops on DS and Wii never actually shut down because you can still redownload any games, updates, or dlc that you already bought Nintendo simply hid everything on the shop to players who never bought in the past
I play a lot of Game Fortune Bag on the Switch. 😂
@EarthboundBenjy that seems like its going to be the fate of the 3ds. just think, within the next 2 or 3 decades, only pirates will be able to get DLC on the 3ds... though by that point most of the popular things will have already had a remake or 5
@link3710 Yeah from what it sounded like, Contact was a bust sales-wise. But God damn was that ever a great game. Still have my copy... May have to have another playthrough after being reminded about it.
@Toshiro_Baloney I've done too many runs of that game now lol. ...if I had the time though I'd do another.
If we can get a New Pokemon Snap, no reason to not make another Pokemon Pinball game. It's been far too long!
A new Pokemon Pinball game is a no brainer. We'll get one eventually.
Damn it! Pokemon Pinball would have been great on DS! The table was always split in half outside the mini games, so you never got to see the whole thing at once. You know what system could have displayed both halves of the table at once? It would have been perfect, I wonder what stopped them?
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