Top 4 Rare Characters With Concepts Entirely Different From The Final Product

by Lerako on Sep 14th, 2011

If you’ve been to the cinema lately it’s likely you’ve spotted at least one film trying to reinvent itself to captivate a wider audience. Whether that means turning a campy series into a gritty drama, or fleshing out a darker remake in its 33rd iteration, it’s clear that filmmakers are desperately trying to make an out-dated series modern so that it seems hip and fly to all of the pep hooligans! With this in mind however, it’s a wonder that Rare didn’t release the last Banjo-Kazooie as a Grand Theft Auto spin-off, or a sequel to Grabbed by the Ghoulies wherein Cooper returns to the manor as a vengeance seeking adult chasing an elderly Baron with a baseball bat through the hall. We’ll never know if that was originally the plan however, as our telescopes don’t quite see into the Rare offices as they slave away at the next release. What we have seen of early development material and beta screenshots have certainly raised a few eyebrows in regards to what would become our favourite titles, but there’s also the case of an unfamiliar character taking the reins of our would-be hero, and for that the entire games premise can be significantly altered to reflect this decision. In extreme cases, these characters are ultimately dropped and our game chugs ever onward, with the change in design setting back the title by several development cycles. Sit tight as we give a brief overview of Rares’ timeless characters that would have never fit into their intended titles if they saw the light of day.

#4. EDISON (PROJECT DREAM TO BANJO-KAZOOIE)

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As any Banjo-Kazooie aficionado can tell you, the title starring the unassuming honeybear and the wisecracking breegul didn’t start off one might expect in the protagonist department, starring a young boy named Edison rather than the dubious duo. In this version of the game as a seafaring epic, Edisons’ girlfriend, Madeline finds herself kidnapped by a group of pirates fronted by the nefarious Captain Blackeye. Impressively, the game was to use full-fledged voice acting on the SNES, something the Bear and Bird couldn’t quite grasp on the Nintendo 64. Along with his speech, Edisons RPG music of grandeur would clash when put alongside the oddball medley and we can only imagine what seeing an upright human might look like in Banjo’s universe; an outright freak, that’s what! It’s probably better off in the long run however, as we can only imagine how Edison might react to everything having sentience and googly eyes…

#3. CRYSTAL (DINOSAUR PLANET TO STARFOX ADVENTURES)

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As the Nintendo 64 neared the end of its development cycle, a curious little title from Rare appeared called Dinosaur Planet which as you might expect featured planets, and ooh, dinosaurs! Taking lead as an anthropomorphic fox named Sabre, players could hunt and slay the reigning reptiles with the help of a headstrong native named Krystal. When development shifted over to the Nintendo Gamecube, the title received a massive graphical upgrade, with Krystal being torn down to the ankles and built back up to a sultry stature. Krystals look wasn’t just updated to include more polygons; her wardrobe also received an overhaul, with her prehistoric yellow top replaced entirely by a revealing tribal outfit. While Krystals’ role in the title has mostly remained intact, the same cannot be said for her feline-esque appearance, which would have sent Fox chasing tail for an entirely different reason.

#2. ASTRO MOUSE (ASTROMOUSE TO DIDDY KONG RACING)

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During the development of Wild Cartoon Kingdom, the precursor to Diddy Kong Racing, Rare was in need of some solid animal racers to populate the tracks. While Rare firsts, Banjo and Conker were shoe-ins for sure, the same could not be said for another previously scraped character called Astro Mouse. Donning an elaborate spacesuit that would put Jetman to shame, Astro Mouse was too dressed up for the Racing Adventure, not to mention his permanent scowl would put a scarcely fit in Timber Island. Luckily, Kevin Bayliss, one of the talented artists behind Donkey Kong Country was set to remove the bulky gear as the first step of this mundo makeover that encompassed an entirely new wardrobe, fresh coat of fur and even a bit of gender swapping to be on the safe side. When the smoke had cleared, Pipsy stood in the aftermath, with her mission of intergalactic security firmly in the past.

#1. CONKER (CONKER’S TWELVE TALES TO CONKER’S BAD FUR DAY.

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Playing the ESRB like scales on a piano, Conker the squirrel initially starred in his own overly cutesy adventure called Conker’s Twelve Tales before it eventually veered off the path in a drunken haze as development continued where it turned into Conker’s Bad Fur Day. Inevitably the most interesting of Character Arcs on this list, Conker has gone from dressing up in an adorable cowboy outfit while searching for acorns to being sick all over himself after he’s urinated all over a dance floor. In this regard, Conker can never again wander back into the spanning forests of his youth and rejoin his friendly crew of woodland creatures… But if things had stayed the same as Twelve Tales we would never know the pleasure of tossing a large bogroll into the gaping maw of a sentient soprano singer comprised entirely of feces would we? We’re chalking this one up a win really!

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