DF Retro: Dinosaur Planet - Inside Rare's Lost N64 Game + Star Fox Adventures Comparisons! 

In less than 2 years this game went from running in 15fps on the N64 to 60fps on GameCube with graphics that looked like they were 5 years ahead of their time. What a transition.

"The entire game is voiced. Something we take for granted today but it was a Rare thing on the Nintendo 64" heh

The generational leap between the N64 and the GameCube is insane. Really puts today's technical achievements into perspective.

When seeing this surprisingly complete version of Dinosaur Planet makes us feel like we're in an alternate dimension.

The N64 version looks incredible considering the platform it's on. Fantastic concept art as well.

Man, Rare's work on the N64 brings back so many memories. You guys should do a whole retrospective on Conker's Bad Fur Day, Jet Force Gemini, Banjo Kazooie, etc. What they were doing with the hardware was, and still is to me, so fascinating.

star fox adventures still looks insanely good 19 years later

As you mentioned, the community is working feverishly to dig up all of this ROM's secrets. I have been tirelessly playing this ROM, using various cheats such as NoClip and codes that fix certain crash points like picking up certain items. Just with what you talked about, I can add the following (lots of info ahead, just to warn you): - There is a Sharpclaw disguise spell in the game: The Illusion Spell. When used on Fox, he changes into Saber. It turns out Saber's model is still in the ROM and completely intact, and a code can force this model to be used. Eye movements and facial expressions still work when this model is used in cutscenes. Nearly as interesting is when this spell is used on Krystal, where her model textures fade into Sharpclaw-textured versions, complete with a different outfit. This same texture fade-in happens when you end the spell, except it does so from the bottom up. Presumably a similar effect happened with Saber before Fox replaced him, but I don't know if Saber's Sharpclaw textures can be recovered. - Regarding the Swapstones/Warpstone, both games don't allow you to warp to Warlock Mountain/Krazoa Palace without a Quan Ata Lachu/Krazoa Spirit. I found out from playing the ROM that you also cannot swap characters if you have a Spirit or a Spellstone. - SFA's Krazoa Palace is a redesigned Warlock Mountain. The original Krazoa Palace in DP was an entirely different area that was cut from the final game. Many other areas were also cut from SFA. - Warlock Mountain does not have any Krazoa Shrines, whereas SFA's Krazoa Palace has 2. There were originally 8 Krazoa Shrines, 3 of which were cut in SFA. The final game still has 6 Shrines, but the last one is a scripted plot point that finishes off General Scales. The one Shrine Krystal does complete in SFA was originally the 4th Shrine in DP, was located in the Walled City, and was completed by Saber. - The crystal in the center of SFA's Krazoa Palace is also present in Warlock Mountain, but is much bigger, looks vastly different, and serves a different purpose. It's supposed to reveal the location of DP's Krazoa Palace after returning 6 Quan Ata Lachu Spirits. - The Ice Mountain hot spring has a cave with 2 warp pads in DP. I haven't yet been able to interact with them, but I suspect at least one of them takes you back to the mountain summit. A warp pad can also be found in the Sharpclaw hideout cave at the summit. Voice clips from previous leaks of this game suggest that you could race the Sharpclaws again to win an item. - The river in Swapstone/Thorntail Hollow originally fed into some rapids that led to Diamond Bay, another area cut from SFA. Previously leaked voice lines, and a post in the Hollow used as log docking points in other areas, suggest that you are supposed to ride a log into Diamond Bay. A skull-and-crossbones sign at the edge of the river also implies the rapids are fatal if you try to swim through them, but this death mechanic doesn't work. I'm pretty sure you aren't meant to have access to Diamond Bay until you have Saber's first Spellstone from the DarkIce Mines. - Considering the previous point, and the Northern Wastes guard telling you "Sharpclaw only," implying you need the Illusion Spell, I believe you are meant to swap to Krystal after healing the Queen Earthwalker. From what I can tell, Dinosaur Planet still follows a linear, balanced progression structure with Saber and Krystal, despite the swapping mechanic having potential for uneven character progression. - In DP's Cape Claw, you free the Lightfoot from a cage to obtain the Shield Spell, which protects you from environmental hazards such as toxic gas or laser beam traps. The waterfall also had a cave behind it with a glowing yellow gem that can't be obtained yet. Kyte, Krystal's sidekick, would press down the nearby lever to dry up the waterfall. - In SFA, the locked door in Lightfoot Village leads to a cave containing the 3rd Krazoa Shrine. In DP, this same cave has no Shrine, and instead leads to yet another cut area: Blackwater Canyon, a sacred dinosaur burial ground. This area contains Krystal's 2nd Spellstone, and what I believe is the 3rd overall. - It seems Krystal is meant to get the Cloudrunner Fortress Spellstone before Saber gets the DarkIce Mines Spellstone. This order is inversed in SFA. - The isolated areas in SFA (DarkIce, Walled City, etc.) were originally connected to the main overworlds. For example, Cloudrunner Fortress is found at the top of Moon Mountain, which is where SFA's Volcano Temple is. - It's possible to legitimately obtain the Cape Claw Shiny Nugget, but it requires glitching yourself off the log in the alcove entrance, and then using a code fix to prevent the item pickup scene from crashing. It seems the crash from entering the alcove is caused by the log you're riding despawning. To get out, you have to either save and reset or drown in the water. - With enough attempts at the gas chamber, and pushing the blocks in a certain order, you can open the other door and get past this room. It leads to a Krazoa fortress overlooking the Cape, and it contains Kyte locked in a cell. This is where you finally free her and get Krystal's sidekick. After solving puzzles to get back out, you have to save and reload to prevent the gas chamber from activating again, or just do it again and hope it doesn't crash. Leaving Cape Claw from here leads to Krystal getting captured by the Lightfoot (similar to what happens in SFA), and you eventually opening and reaching Discovery Falls, where the first Krazoa Shrine is found. - Krystal is supposed to use a Spellstone to get access to the Golden Plains (the desert), but the game doesn't check whether you have one. - It seems there was a mechanic where the desert heat would slowly drain your health, but this doesn't work, at least not when you're there out-of-sequence. (A lot of things in the game break if they are done or accessed out of the intended order.) - I believe the dinosaur in the Golden Plains is the Cloudrunner Fortress Spellstone Guardian, who is needed to activate the respective Spellstone. - The desert upper path where you get blown off leads to the Portal Spell, a power that _did_ make it into SFA. - The temple at the end of the desert is actually the original Ocean Force Point Temple from SFA, except here, it's desert-themed. Both versions use the same interior maps, except the Desert Temple has an elevator connecting both sections, and the latter section differs somewhat. The Desert Temple is also where a _real_ fight with General Scales is supposed to take place late in the game, but I haven't been able to trigger it yet. The Desert Temple has a really cool design in my opinion, and uses electricity as its force point element. - The enemy outside the Desert Temple doesn't crash if Kyte is with you, but hitting him once just makes him disappear with no death animation. He's likely supposed to shoot at you if you climb the scaffolding, but he has no active AI. After killing him, you can man the cannon and fire at whatever you like, but it doesn't seem to have any use. I know this is a ton of information, but I hope you find all of this just as interesting as I do. There's way more I could talk about, such as DP's Dragon Rock, which differs vastly from SFA's trimmed-down version. DP's Dragon Rock is extremely interesting, containing vastly different visuals (it's practically an alien landscape), an entirely different boss battle, and even a full-blown escape sequence.

Man rare was a God tier developer on the n64. Think is no single generation of a console that has ever had this many hits from 1 developer

People forget that along with Dinosaur Planet, Eternal Darkness, Resident Evil 0, Kameo and KIND OF Animal Crossing (in NA) were all N64 games that got moved over to the Gamecube. I was so pumped for this game, glad to see the N64 version finally saw the light of day :)

Still wished it stayed as Dinosaur Planet. I like the old design of Krystal better than the one we got, even more when she played a major part in the main game rather than just kicked aside on SF Adventure.

It is still so unreal to me that someone spent that much time creating this world...and then Nintendo said „Jam the Starfox characters in there“ and they had to go along with it.

It's amazing how similar the beta is to Adventures, no loading screens, fully voice acted and fully explorable areas on the N64.

Thank you for taking the time to make a video about Starfox Adventures, such a gem of a game.

So glad this was able to be experienced. One of the cancelled games I’ve always wanted to play. Met all my expectations. Really a great project from 90’s Rareware. You can tell the passion and effort put into the game. Hope the eventual decompile will help complete the game as intended. One of the better N64 titles.

Yo, that Rare developer loves death note so much that he's got a tattoo. Respect

The transition is crazy, but what impressed me most is how incredible the n64 build looks

The good news is that patchers had patched the game so you would no longer crash when trying to access the cracked open cave in Cape Claw. We even got Sabre back as a playable model :D

The release of GoldenEye Remake and now Dinosaur Planet 64 gives me hope that, maybe one day, Twelve Tales: Conker 64 makes its way to the public.

Amazing how it runs at 60 FPS and still looks as good as it does (especially the character model quality for 2002) before ray-tracing, ambient occlusion, or any post-rendering effects existed. The fur and grass shading look even better than some modern examples in games today, barring the low resolution of course.

Rare Ware was always putting so much detail into their games and I remember always being mesmerized by the worlds in the BK games.

I remember standing in the beach level of Star Fox Adventures, just swinging the camera around in awe.

Nintendo not buying out Rare back in the 2000’s was such a sad thing.

This makes me wish we’d get a hd version of Star fox adventures on Switch.

Gosh with everything coming to light now I wonder if someone can find an Eternal Darkness build for N64.

I still remember seeing those original screenshots in N64 Magazine and being blown away by how good the game looked. It really felt like Dinosaur Planet was going to be something truly momentous.

You know, back when I played this game as a kid, I always thought the first section on the GameCube felt like it wasn’t a star Fox game at all and was meant to be something else and the opening level really expresses That original direction

The worst part of Star Fox Adventures for me is knowing Dinosaur Planet was going to have Krystal basically be playable at many points throughout the entire game, only for SFA to render her a damsel in distress, which in turn also made her more of a simple fanservice side character than that of a respectable protagonist with an actual personality (which Dinosaur Planet Krystal seems to have)

AMAZING job... awesome video.

"the N64's fog-capability" _laughs in Turok_

Beautiful game - have been playing it on a modded Wii U over HDMI and it looks almost current gen!! One of the last Nintendo games to be a genuine technical showcase for the hardware era it released in. Great video

David wise' soundtrack on this game....some of his best work! amazing

Damn... finally a full DF Retro episode! Always great stuff.

Rare truly were the masters of their craft. Dinosaur Planet looks damn amazing for an N64 title, in an era where games had no spoken dialogue, or facial animation. The fact that the characters can actually move their face and it looks pretty good is pretty telling IMO. Just the fact it actually runs and plays, albeit at a low speed and framerate, is amazing to me. Then the fact they got SFA to run @ a hot 60fps on the GC. Just mind boggling to me. I miss you, Rare.

The mood, atmosphere, and color design for much of Dinosaur Planet was superior to SFA. The simpler UI as well. Both are technical achievements for their respective platforms, I just wish we had a complete ver of Dinosaur Planet. Fantastic video DF!!!

"The reception wasn't that warm and I'm surprised" I'll tell you exactly why, as stated from several of my friends at the time: its not a starfox game. You get one tease of a starfox game at the start and everything else felt like a COMPLETE departure (because it was). Kids don't (or didnt) care about a games development roots or the business calls behind them, nor do they appreciate the technical hurdles and back office dealings. They saw starfox on the cover, they wanted and expected a Starfox 64 like game on the GameCube. Instead they got "bamboozled" Of course there's a tiny community, like us, who can look back at this stuff and super appreciate everything, removed from the schoolyard politics of the time, but back then the average consumer couldn't possibly care less :/

I'm shocked by the highly efficient techniques they used to employ, which are rarely taken advantege of today. That Grass and fur shader for example, it would be ideal to flesh out distant detail instead of it just popping up from nothing. Also, stencil shadows, they work much better than low resolution shadow maps.

We NEED Dinosaur Planet to come back in a full remake

I remember being really excited for Dinosaur Planet when I read about it in Nintendo Power as a kid. Then I learned it was retooled as Star Fox Adventures, and I completely lost interest, lol. oof. While the Gamecube version looks a lot better from a technical perspective, I really wish they could have kept Krystal and Sabre as main characters you could switch between. Anyways, thank you for the comparison! It's very interesting to see.

This game has groundbreaking techniques on the Cube. The water effects and lighting is simply amazing.

those "brush things" are called tumbleweed john. lol

I just recently replayed Pokemon Colosseum via emulator, and it's crazy how much of a leap graphically Star Fox Adventures is over that.

I was blown away by the quality level on n64, looks better than Bad Fur Day to my eye.

I dig the Oasis concert poster on the Dev's wall. Ah the 1990s. Not the greatest decade but definitely the last great decade.

Insanely good work right here! Thanks for making this, John.

Crazy how good the GameCube still holds up nearly 20 years later, and also crazy how big of a leap it was from the N64. I grew up with the GameCube as a kid and born a year before it released, so I was pretty unfamiliar with the N64. My older cousins had an N64 though, and whenever I’d play it I honestly thought it was a lot more older than it really is over GameCube, possibly like 15-20 years older lol. The difference was huge in my eyes as a little kid.

Everything about the N64 version just seems more interesting. I really hope these modders can deliver something awesome.

The gamecube version holds up extremely well. GameCube was such a beast.

Star Fox Adventures is an actual underrated game. Not the fake Reddit kind, but actually a great game that got unfair criticism and was overlooked ever since it released.

This is really cool! I really appreciate the effort you put into this John, this is all stuff I'd never see otherwise and you always do a great job showing all the differences and pointing out the neat details. Another great DF Retro.

Seeing that ice sledding stage where you first meet tricky brings back nightmares. One of the hardest things to do I remember as a kid

I freaking love these series!!!! Thanks John and DF for this.

I don’t think we’ll ever get a generational leap as drastic as N64 to GameCube again

The 5th to 6th generation jump was he biggest glow up in gaming. It was such an increase in graphics fidelity that nintendo used the gamecube architecture for the next 3 generations.

RIP Rare and their amazing Developmental Wizardry in the early 3D era

Star Fox Adventures still looks good to this day, and 60fps as well! Imagine the amazing Gamecube games we could have gotten if they weren't bought by Microsoft

Is this the interview footage that was teased at the end of the DKC DF Retro episode like 3 years ago? I always wondered what that was about.

What a goddamn AMAZING video!! Thanks for making this! AWESOME WORK you guys!! :D

Fantastic video John! Congrats to everyone involved!

One of the best DF Retro episodes ever. Congratulations for the excellent work. And thank you.

Great content (not many go as in-depth as you guys)! It is incredible what the Rare team was capable of on the N64! Looked great for the time. Now, the Gamecube version really surprised me. I actually had not even heard of it (at the time I was more of a PC guy 🤷🏽‍♂️) Great looking, super fluid seems like a good time! Thanks for taking the time for this one! 💪🏼

I truly missed DF retro, it's good to have a new one in these troubled time we are still living. Wonderful video as always, John.

Thank you John. I've been waiting for one of these.

Great work!!!! Was looking forward to this and it's fantastic

The 007 remake and this. Hopefully more of the "lost" builds start coming to light

amazing video thanks so much for the great detail in this!

I always felt like Gen 5 to Gen 6 is the last graphical leap I really cared about. Watching this video, I understand why.

Brilliant video! Always been fascinated with the development of SFA, it was great you managed to get Kev on for a behind the scenes look! Love these videos! Keep it up! :) Also, it's amazing how well the Gamecube version holds up today! Still looks amazing!

Have been avoiding footage of Dinosaur Planet until I saw a bit of Star Fox Adventures, so thanks for putting this comparison together!

I was hoping you'd take a look into this! Great video

Wow this is so cool! Thanks for this awesome episode! Greets from germany

I'm glad Star Fox Adventures seems to get more love these days. Back then people focused too much on what it wasn't, instead of focusing on what it is. A solid adventure game that really shows off what the Gamecube could do!

Great video! Thanks John!

I would love to see a version of Eternal Darkness for N64 release to the public since it's one of the major titles that went over to Gamecube.

Perfect! Had a feeling we'd see this after the Dinosaur Planet release earlier this year!

Phenomenal video. Thanks, John! 😍

Great analysis! I'd love to see a video on Conker as well, which underwent a similar next-gen transition. Maybe whenever Twelve Tales leaks...

Excellent video! DF Retro greatness

I had Starfox Adventures on Gamecube back in the day but never played it past the beginning as I was pretty much only into Zelda and Metroid on the console. It looked graphically impressive back then, especially the characters, but looking back to the game 20 years later it looks like such a cool game and I kind of regret missing out on it back in the day!

Thanks for covering Dinosaur Planet. Subbed.

Such a shame there was never a sequel to this. I know SF Assault was the spiritual successor. But still, the star-fox characters with the almost Legend of Zelda style of game really was a great combination. And you look at what LoZ has done since the early 00s, I believe that SF could have really took off more if the franchise focused more on these open world style games.

I feel like if they stuck closer to the original game i'd probably enjoy Star Fox Adventures more, the vision and design for the original game seems more appealing to me.

This game might as well be considered the Snyder Cut of Starfox Adventures AKA Rare's Dinosaur Planet, make it happen people and get the original team back to make it a rom only exclusive. We can't let this go to waste

6th generation is the biggest leap in visual quality and performance in console history

Is it finally another episode of classic df retro series? It's been what, a year since the last one? Now, of only John would make a proper prince of persia retrospective with Jordan Mechner interviews, my life will be complete!

I've been wairing for this video for ever! Star Fox Adventures was the first Zelda i really enjoyed playing.

Been waiting for you to cover this. Its super impressive for N64. I did a video of gameplay on my channel & had a nightmare capturing it but your footage looks ace. N64 can look surprisingly nice on a good CRT. Was always looking forward to Dinosaur Planet & can't can't believe it is finally out there as it seemed to have been lost forever. It's always fascinating to see games that cross generations. I loved StarFox Adventures back in the day & graphically it was astonishing for the time - still stands up really well however I remember the reception was a little muted for a number of reasons: 1) people felt it was a cynical move to use the StarFox IP as there was a perception that a StarFox game should be an on-rails shooter 2) Fans were disappointed not to be getting the original game 3) The combat was pretty simple as were the puzzles in a lot of cases so the game was dubbed "Zelda Lite" in some quarters. 4) Rare being purchased by Microsoft Ironically when StarFox Assault came out that then got lashed for not being as graphically impressive as StarFox Adventures although I always really enjoyed that game and loved the fact you could run around on the ground and then leap into an Arwing & take to the skies. Be great to see you cover StarFox Assault some time. Or alternatively a deep dive into the entire series.

I loved this game... but it kind of just ends when it feels like it's building up to something bigger. I am still in awe at the digital wizardry that these guys did on N64 and GC.

One little correction (2 years late, I know lol) but the "palace" that's first visited in DP actually isn't Krazoa Palace but Warlock Mountain. Krazoa Palace DOES exist however as a separate area and the best way I can describe it is... totally alien. It's so unlike anything else.

Yes! I’ve been waiting for this.

What an awesome start to the day! Man, the gamecube was an absolute powerhouse!

Great video, very concise

I think the reception of Starfox Adventure is due to them tying it in with Star Fox. People were awaiting a proper Starfox game, and instead they got this game. Had this been released after getting a proper Star Fox game first, it could be a very different story. By adding this branding to it, it makes the audience compare it with previous entries and expectations.

DF Retro has become absolute must-watch RU-vid for me.

The explosive barrel object does exist in the N64 version as well. Not in Krazoa Palace/Warlock Mountain, but it's used a few times in Discovery Falls. Minor thing, I know.

Great video! So many thoughts popped up over the course of it: 1. It's so hard to convey how great that game looks on N64, you had to be a part of that era to really appreciate how hard they were pushing that hardware at the end. Voice acting was always a plus to get on that system - I'd wager to say that Star Fox 64 is the most well known example of it 2. Never gave star fox adventures a shot back in the day but as a few already said it still looks great after all these years 3. The N64 to Gamecube comparison really highlights how big of a jump that generation cycle was graphically, the incremental jumps in power since then have sort of taken away that hype factor that was present in those days

Great video!

The English voice acting is so much more pleasant than the shrill fake language in Star Fox Adventures. And the presentation overall is just more appealing. Star Fox Adventures has an identity crisis, while this game tells a good story in the first half hour.

Well done! I LOVE Star Fox Adventures and think it is highly underrated. Although I am sad Dinosaur Planet did not come out for the N64 I think it was a great move to put it on the Gamecube as Star Fox Adventures. Very imprssive what Rare was able to pull off on the N64. WOW! Even on the Gamecube, the game still looks amazing today. I am glad I got it but the good news it that it is still available for reasonable prices right now in 2021. If you want it snatch it up before the prices go crazy.

That star fox looked really good on gamecube