Huge Apparent Leak Unearths Nintendo's Prototype History (arstechnica.com) 21
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A massive leak of apparent Nintendo source code is giving gamers a rare, unauthorized look at Nintendo's development process dating back to the Super NES era. The massive trove of files, first posted to 4chan Friday and quickly dubbed the "Gigaleak" by the community, includes compilable code and assets for Super NES, Game Boy, and N64 games in the Mario, Mario Kart, Zelda, F-Zero, and Pokemon series. Hidden among that code is a bevy of pre-release art and sound files that have never seen the light of day, as well as fully playable prototype versions of some games. Modders and homebrew developers have been digging through the trove of data over the weekend and taking to Twitter and YouTube with their discoveries. Among the most interesting findings:
- A version of Super Mario 64 including data for a 3D model of Luigi (likely for the scrapped two-player mode). Players have inserted that model into the ROM to create video of Luigi running around. The leak also includes few unused test rooms for the game.
- A Yoshi's Island prototype featuring differences in the map screen, interface, music (and including the prefix "Super Mario Bros. 5" in Japanese). The prototype also features two apparently unused mini-games (No. 1, No. 2) and some unused test levels.
- Pokemon prototypes featuring early and unused sprite designs for many monsters.
- An original prototype named "Super Donkey" featuring a Rayman-style character in a Yoshi's Island-styled world [Update: A previous version of this post mischaracterized the music in this video. Ars regrets the error].
- Sprite data for Luigi giving an apparent middle finger and Bowser outside of his clown-copter in Super Mario World. The code also contains multiple early designs for Yoshi (some of which match art previously revealed in interviews with Nintendo developers) and a completely new map screen design (which also matches previously revealed screenshots).
- A version of Star Fox 2 with previously unseen characters.
- High-quality voice samples from Star Fox 64, F-Zero X and Super Mario 64 before they were compressed to fit on relatively small N64 cartridges.
- Graphics for a Pilotwings prototype called Dragonfly, previously seen only in grainy magazine screenshots.
- A version of Super Mario 64 including data for a 3D model of Luigi (likely for the scrapped two-player mode). Players have inserted that model into the ROM to create video of Luigi running around. The leak also includes few unused test rooms for the game.
- A Yoshi's Island prototype featuring differences in the map screen, interface, music (and including the prefix "Super Mario Bros. 5" in Japanese). The prototype also features two apparently unused mini-games (No. 1, No. 2) and some unused test levels.
- Pokemon prototypes featuring early and unused sprite designs for many monsters.
- An original prototype named "Super Donkey" featuring a Rayman-style character in a Yoshi's Island-styled world [Update: A previous version of this post mischaracterized the music in this video. Ars regrets the error].
- Sprite data for Luigi giving an apparent middle finger and Bowser outside of his clown-copter in Super Mario World. The code also contains multiple early designs for Yoshi (some of which match art previously revealed in interviews with Nintendo developers) and a completely new map screen design (which also matches previously revealed screenshots).
- A version of Star Fox 2 with previously unseen characters.
- High-quality voice samples from Star Fox 64, F-Zero X and Super Mario 64 before they were compressed to fit on relatively small N64 cartridges.
- Graphics for a Pilotwings prototype called Dragonfly, previously seen only in grainy magazine screenshots.
Welcome to news from days ago.... (Score:1, Redundant)
Re: (Score:3)
Well yes. Slashdot has never claimed to be doing BREAKING NEWS! They're an aggregate of the news posted elsewhere.
Besides, this is the first I'm hearing about this leak, so it is news to someone.
Obligatory XKCD: Today's Lucky Ten Thousand.
Same here (Score:1)
Besides, this is the first I'm hearing about this leak,
Also the first I had heard of this, so indeed Slashdot is doing a good job here of an aggregator surfacing something I would not have seen for a while in an area that I find interesting but do not really follow news for at all regularly.
Re: (Score:2)
At least it's News For Nerds this time. Considering they're game demos from 20-30 years ago, I can wait another couple days to read about the Pokeymans.
Come to think of it, if anyone's got a link to the playable ROMs that were mentioned, that would completely redeem Slashdot, for today.
Awesome, I guess (Score:3)
Considering Nintendo's global ubiquity and that they're a Japanese (?) software lineage [btrax.com], it would be enlightening to evaluate the code for general structure, quality, and maintainability relative to Toyota's high-visibility software failures [bbc.com].
It's imprecise to lump a game company and a car company together just because they're from the same country, but it seems like it would provide *some* insight to compare the software dev methodologies and execution.
Re: Awesome, I guess (Score:2)
There are good progs and shit progs from all over the world. Just because Toyota bungled on code quality control does not mean Nintendo did.
I think it's unfair to stuff the entire Japanese dev population into the "Japan sucks at coding" box.
Microsoft Windows 7 please (Score:2)
I've always wondered why nobody's ever done this for Windows. Yeah, all the gaming art and stuff for Nintendo is cool and interesting and Windows is boring, but it seems so useful.
Re: Microsoft Windows 7 please (Score:2)
I thought the Windows source code was leaked onto torrent sites ages ago.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Because those people who want it, can just buy it.
And, mostly, those people who could in theory benefit from it (e.g. Samba, etc.) want nothing to do with it (legal, patents, crap code, etc.).
Commentary (Score:4, Insightful)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re: (Score:1)
In the middle of that video they mention the leak has the source for 1080 snowboarding, so if someone wants to just port that to the PS5 for Sony, that would be fantastic, thanks!!
Re: (Score:2)
Although I was sorely tempted to leave this below naughty girl who wanna be your lover and friend!!, despite the clumsy segue, my commentary regarding the large leek [gimmesomeoven.com] belongs here.
Re: Commentary (Score:2)
PS5- I highly doubt it. There is the whole jailbreaking issue to deal with, among other things.
The most likely canidates would be the Mario games and other top Nintendo titles if somebody is up to this daunting challenge.
Re: (Score:2)
I think this leak is actually less interesting that the previous ones. There are some useful boot ROMs and some curiosities but a lot of the source code is incomplete. Somehow the .c/.s files have been left out of the repos and the object files checked in.
Will be interesting to see how these leaks affect emulators and software like Lunar Magic (an editor for Super Mario World). It's also nice looking at the source in the previous leaks which is complete and a fascinating insight into game development around
It's nice that it's huge (Score:2)