Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Been a long while since I uploaded something here, huh? But I felt like I owed it to myself as soon as this got leaked online.
And speaking of which, last night someone who had a lot of time on their hands thought it was a cool idea to leak the SNES prototype build of Rare's Project Dream and upload it onto archive.org, and let me tell ya, I couldn't be any more happy.
For those unaware, in the mid-90's, Rare was developing a pirate-themed RPG for the SNES titled Dream: Land of Giants using the same team and techniques used for the Donkey Kong Country games. Starring a young boy named Edison on his quest to stop an evil pirate named Captain Blackeye. The project simply couldn't be continued on SNES so it was moved onto the then new Nintendo 64 hardware, but even that didn't last long either because it seemed like a huge challenge for them to even make a game like that on the N64, so the game was scrapped entirely and the team started over from scratch, but this time as a 3D platformer while following in the footsteps of Super Mario 64. This new project would also use some ideas and characters that would've been incorporated in Dream, such as a bear character named Banjo, and well... we all know what that became.
I remember back in like 2014-2015 when I first heard about Banjo-Kazooie's development, and I found it fascinating that such a fantastic game had an interesting development story, and later when I watched the Rare Revealed video on Rare's YouTube channel, seeing footage of the prototypes was a dream come true, no pun intended. Ever since then, I've been wanting to get my hands on them and play them, and now 10+ years later, that finally became a reality.
There's not much to this prototype however, it's only 4 levels that you can switch between whenever you want by pressing SELECT, but it's still fascinating seeing all the frame work of what could have been if this project had stayed on SNES. Just walk or run from left to right, beating up baddies and avoiding certain hazards, in this case the dinosaur foot on that first level, and there was also a level that had Edison's pet dog companion, Dinger, although he doesn't really do much other than just follow you.
Sadly I couldn't play it on my SNES emulator on Wii for this video, which is what I used for all of those SNES playthroughs I did many years ago for this channel, as all it gave me was a black screen. So I had no choice but to play it on an emulator for PC, though I've also heard that you can run it on original hardware using a flash cart/Everdrive, but I unfortunately don't own a SNES nor an Everdrive for it.
Overall, this is one of the greatest things that has ever happened in gaming recently, and the funniest part is the description on the archive.org page where basically the leaker did this in response to how messy the state of the gaming industry has been lately, which I couldn't agree more. Even went out their way to rub it on Microsoft and Sony's face for the crap that they've been pulling out recently. You can check it out and read it for yourself here: archive.org/details/project-dream-snes_202609
Have fun, and enjoy!!!
Been a long while since I uploaded something here, huh? But I felt like I owed it to myself as soon as this got leaked online.
And speaking of which, last night someone who had a lot of time on their hands thought it was a cool idea to leak the SNES prototype build of Rare's Project Dream and upload it onto archive.org, and let me tell ya, I couldn't be any more happy.
For those unaware, in the mid-90's, Rare was developing a pirate-themed RPG for the SNES titled Dream: Land of Giants using the same team and techniques used for the Donkey Kong Country games. Starring a young boy named Edison on his quest to stop an evil pirate named Captain Blackeye. The project simply couldn't be continued on SNES so it was moved onto the then new Nintendo 64 hardware, but even that didn't last long either because it seemed like a huge challenge for them to even make a game like that on the N64, so the game was scrapped entirely and the team started over from scratch, but this time as a 3D platformer while following in the footsteps of Super Mario 64. This new project would also use some ideas and characters that would've been incorporated in Dream, such as a bear character named Banjo, and well... we all know what that became.
I remember back in like 2014-2015 when I first heard about Banjo-Kazooie's development, and I found it fascinating that such a fantastic game had an interesting development story, and later when I watched the Rare Revealed video on Rare's YouTube channel, seeing footage of the prototypes was a dream come true, no pun intended. Ever since then, I've been wanting to get my hands on them and play them, and now 10+ years later, that finally became a reality.
There's not much to this prototype however, it's only 4 levels that you can switch between whenever you want by pressing SELECT, but it's still fascinating seeing all the frame work of what could have been if this project had stayed on SNES. Just walk or run from left to right, beating up baddies and avoiding certain hazards, in this case the dinosaur foot on that first level, and there was also a level that had Edison's pet dog companion, Dinger, although he doesn't really do much other than just follow you.
Sadly I couldn't play it on my SNES emulator on Wii for this video, which is what I used for all of those SNES playthroughs I did many years ago for this channel, as all it gave me was a black screen. So I had no choice but to play it on an emulator for PC, though I've also heard that you can run it on original hardware using a flash cart/Everdrive, but I unfortunately don't own a SNES nor an Everdrive for it.
Overall, this is one of the greatest things that has ever happened in gaming recently, and the funniest part is the description on the archive.org page where basically the leaker did this in response to how messy the state of the gaming industry has been lately, which I couldn't agree more. Even went out their way to rub it on Microsoft and Sony's face for the crap that they've been pulling out recently. You can check it out and read it for yourself here: archive.org/details/project-dream-snes_202609
Have fun, and enjoy!!!
