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GameCube FAQ

Spaceworld Demos

by the NWR Staff - March 7, 2001, 3:07 pm EST

Demos were shown at Spaceworld. WERE YOU?

So What's up with the NGC demos shown at Spaceworld?

“These images are not meant to imply that any games starring these characters are planned for a future release in either Japan or the U.S. But they sure look cool!”

This is how Nintendo officially sums up pictures taken from the Spaceworld demos. While this has turned out to be true for some demos (Re-birth particularly), there is every reason to believe that some of these demos do represent games. Consult our Releases list and our Previews for further information on these titles.

Here’s on run down on the demos shown off during Spaceworld 2000.

Mario 128

This demo featured the word Mario 128, seemingly in reference to Mario 64 only doubled. However, the true meaning of the phrase became clear when Shigeru started manipulating several Marios, 128 in fact. The Marios run around, each displaying a variety of effects, some becoming 2D, others blurring.

The surface of the floor the Marios walked on says “SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!”

Miyamoto has said that any new Mario game would not be called Mario 128 though and this was more of a technical demonstration of the GameCube’s power.

Meowth's Party

Space World 2000: Where's the keg?

Pokemon is Nintendo’s biggest franchise worldwide and not surprisingly, a Pokemon demo was the first of many GameCube demos shown to the eager crowd at the pre-Space World show. Surprisingly, the demo was later shown off in a more interactive form, one of the only GameCube demos to do so. Camera angles were controlled by the Wavebird controller as Pokemon filled the screen one after the other and began to dance in a complete frenzy.

It was similar to the rest of the demos in respect to that it was running in 60-fps in Hi-Res. What was most impressive about the Meowth Party demo is that the screen was filled with detailed, well rendered Pokemon (old & new), each one doing its own distinctive dance. The demo looked to be much like an enhanced version of the Pokemon cartoon show, or maybe even Samba de Amigo on crack (if you can believe that).

The demo was created by the same team who did the Pokemon Stadium games for N64 and although the “Meowth’s Party” demo does not seem to represent part of an actual game, there is no doubt that a version of Pokemon will come to GameCube. Meowth’s Party is just one wild promise that it’s on the way.

Although the true nature of this Pokemon game has yet to be fully revealed, you can check out our Preview to see what we do know about it.

Luigi's Mansion

Space World 2000: When there's somethin strange, in your neighborhood

In one heck of a fantastic demo, as Mario’s all too frequently overlooked brother finally gets his due. The demo opens by zooming in on a gigantic mansion on a dark and stormy night. Inside, the front door swings open, revealing…Luigi!

Unfortunately for Mario’s brother, the house is haunted as it seems Luigi has interrupted some ghosts playing cards. Sliding down a banister and running away, Luigi narrowly avoids getting hit by a chandelier that drops from the ceiling. Details are apparent everywhere; from an almost ridiculous amount of cartoon-like facial expressions shown by Luigi to a chandelier smashing to several itty-bitty pieces, this demo is amazing.

This demo seems to provide a better indication of what to expect from the next Mario game, moreso than “Mario 128” and seems to be a good sign Luigi will be playable this time around. Additionally, the Mansion in this demo has since popped up in the background in screenshots of Mario Kart Advance, further suggesting it will play a part in an upcoming game. Be sure to check out our ongoing preview of Luigi’s Mansion for more details.

Zelda

Space World 2000: Let's Get Ready to RUMBLE!

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Miyamoto hinted that Zelda might be displayed at Space World and what was shown was far more than anything we expected. The demo pans around a spacey castle, showing various angles of Link and Ganondorf engaged in a ferocious sword battle. Link slashes and backflips before Ganondorf knocks Link backwards with a mighty blow from his gigantic sword.

Reflections and light sourcing are abundant in this demo and the amount of visible emotion is unbelievable. Ganon is sneering, looking incredibly evil, taunting Link. Link gasps before throwing his shield aside and running full force at Ganon. Like Luigi’s Mansion, this game showcased an incredibly amount of detail. From the richly decorated castle interior serving as the scene’s battle ground, to the discernible types of materials that make up Link and Ganon’s clothes.

As if we needed any additional confirmation that a Zelda game would be forthcoming for the NGC, this says it all. Although this demo was breathtaking, word has it that Miyamoto and his team only compiled it at the last minute! This says a lot for the talent of Shiggy & his crew, the capabilities of GameCube and the ease of developing for! Since Space World, we’ve added a pretty thorough preview on the Zelda game for GameCube and thanks to this demo, are eager to see the final results.

Metroid

Space World 2000: Samus is comin' atcha!

It was only 10 Seconds, but it was enough to make many a Nintendophile ecstatic –an absolutely beautiful Metroid demo. Samus drops into a corridor and then begins running down the halls as aliens begin swarming behind her, filling the corridor from which she came as the bounty-hunter sprints off screen. Turning to face the camera, Samus lets loose a mighty blast from her cannon.

Metroid was one of the few titles known to be running in FMV form only. It’s uncertain if this demo reflects any of the actual design of the Metroid game currently underway from Retro, though this demo was possibly the one that people cheered loudest for. Samus is back.

This is one title we’ve been eagerly profiling. Scan our Metroid preview to see what we have on this highly-anticpated game.

Banjo and Mumbo Running

Banjo, Kazooie and Mumbo are all shown running from people. Although this was a very amusing demo, it seemed to lack much of the sparkle of other Spaceworld demos, looking more like existing Banjo N64 games in Hi-res. Like the Joanna Dark demo it communicated a minimal amount of effort—and almost no indication on the actual games Rare is concentrating on for NGC. The demo prompted the question whether or not there is a GameCube version of the game in the works, although the footage shown does not seem to be from an actual project. We explore the issue more thoroughly in a profile of Banjo-Threeie rumors.

Too Human

Whoa man.

Too Human was not shown as part of the “introductory” real at the GameCube unveiling, only a little bit of footage was shown during Space World and no Silicon Knights employees were at the show to comment on its presence. However, it was a nice reminder that the game is still kicking and coming to GameCube in a big way. Consult our Too Human Preview for a virtual ton of additional information on this hot title.

Thornado

Factor 5 also had a demo of the its long-running project, Thornado behind closed doors. Displaying an incredible amount of detail and a great deal of explosive action, Thornado is a game we're highly anticipating. Find out just how cool this game is in our Thornado Preview.

Wave Race

Space World 2000: Going up

The crowd roared as a jet ski racing (appropriately enough) a Dolphin sped into view, kicking of an absloutely gorgeous demonstration of Wave Race. The jet ski rider manuevers up a ramp and then does a flip in the air. Although short in length, the demo does a fantastic job of demonstrating what we can expect the long-confirmed, highly-anticipated NGC sequel to the N64 masterpiece.

EAD have handed development chores to NST and allowed them to port the engine from the N64 game to the NGC and work from there. We're hoping word of Wave Race being a launch title turns out to be true. Naturally, we've got a Wave Race Preview covering the game the Planet staff can't wait to play

Spinning Joanna Dark

Different body parts are seen, one after another before the camera pans out to reveal a rotating, fully hi-rez Joanna Dark, looking lovely as ever. However, while Joanna looked a lot sexier and sleeker than her N64 appearance, (and very similar to the artistic renders used to promote the PD) the demo did little to show off any aspect of what the next Perfect Dark game would look like. While this was a minimal appearance, we’re all too eager to take this as a sign we’ll soon have a "Perfect Dark 2."

Interestingly enough, Red & Black, the Japanese version of Perfect Dark for N64 turned out to be very popular on the show floor at Space World 2000. The presence of this Joanna cameo demo certainly must have helped build excitement for N64 game in Japan -and for its inevitable sequel on NGC.

Rogue Squadron 2

This footage could have fooled the world as being clips from the actual Star Wars movies, as a squadron of X-Wing fighters flew around a planet’s surface. Details down to the pilots inside the space craft were visible. Although it isn’t the movies, this is a great example of what Star Wars looks like on DVD. Although the demo speaks for itself, Factor 5 confirm that the demos shown were running in real-time and do represent an actual game in development, a follow up to the popular Rogue Squadron game.

Additional movies later shown to IGN behind closed doors featured over twenty Tie-Fighters swarming on the screen at once. Breathtaking. Factor 5 have astounded us further by recently commenting that this demo only took 20 days to produce, albeit backed by 6 months of work on a prototype before receiving development kits.

Check out our Rogue Squadron 2 Preview for more information on this exciting game.

Rebirth

Originally shown at Space World on a side kiosk, many wondered what to think of the beautiful demo, simply entitled “Rebirth.” Was it a demo or could it possibly be a GameCube game? And if so, what kind of game was it going to be? Despite the uncertainty, one thing is certain: Rebirth is one gorgeous demo. Probably the most mysterious demo shown off during Space World 2000, Rebirth shows a mysterious tree creature wandering through the forest, interacting with several lifelike looking forest animals in a very realistic looking environment. Detail can be seen everywhere, with things like dewdrops on the foliage and various woodland creatures scurrying and chattering over the landscape. Reooked more like a nature program than any kind of game we have ever seen before.

Because the demo was one of the more impressive visual GC treats at Space World, Rebirth was believed to be showing off the system’s FMV capabilities. Not so, although parts of Rebirth were FMV, parts were in real time. A more recent GameCube presentation, given to a French developer during January 2001, indicated that the Rebirth demo has been updated and now runs completely in real time. It’s an amazing sample of the kinds of things we’ll be seeing from one of Nintendo’s new, second-party developers, Mix-Core. Although there has been long-running speculation that Rebirth would be Mix-Core’s first GameCube project for Nintendo, this did not turn out to be the truth. What was seen is just a demo. Mix Core are working on a games for GameCube however, notably a project called “4.”

Car Demo

The demo started with a Dodge Viper, composed of 12,000 polygons racing along. The screen then began to fill with one Dodge Viper after another. By the end of the demo, there were 12 cars speeding along, each one running at 12,000 polygons all the while the demo never drops below 60 FPS. It works out to close to 144,000 which multiplied by the 60 fps, equals out close to nine million polygons that the GameCube is dealing with, without a problem in sight.

A Nintendo of America development team created this demo although we’re not quite sure which one specifically.

Where can I see some of these demos in action?

Our Spaceworld Section has clips of many (though not all) of the demos. These movies are highly recommended & worth enduring the lengthy download time.

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