Donkey Kong Racing/Sabreman Stampede

[Iggy]

Besides a few pre-rendered screens & a pre-rendered video for Donkey Kong Racing, and just an acknowledgment that the Sabreman Stampede team existed in the manual of Kameo, there really hasn't been much said about these cancelled games. (well, they're basically the same game, once Rare was bought out by MS apparently Rare moved what they had done of Donkey Kong Racing for the gc and changed it to Sabreman Stampede for the xbox) But since then, it seems that even Sabreman Stampede has died. Anyone have any info/screens from either of these games? (I'de guess nothing is known about Sabreman Stampede, but maybe some ingame shots of Donkey Kong Racing?)

[Mark30001]

Here's what I could find for you:
http://www.n-sider.com/gameview.php?gameid=726



Donkey Kong Racing

Game Summary Donkey Kong Racing was going to be the spiritual sequel to the Nintendo 64 blockbuster Diddy Kong Racing. Donkey Kong Racing, however, was going to be filled and enhanced by ten times the Donkey Kong love. Instead of the boring go-karts, airplanes and hovercrafts introduced in the original, the racers would be using familiar animals and side-kicks right out of the Donkey Kong Country games and universe -- these would have included such characters as Rhambi the Rhinocerus and Enguarde the Swordfish. Playable characters would have included Donkey Kong himself, Diddy, Dixie, Kiddie, and Taj the magician.


Development Summary Nintendo of America showed a video of Donkey Kong Racing at its pre-E3 2001 press conference. The video appeared to be pre-rendered FMV showing the Donkey Kong characters riding animals through a variety of environments including land, underwater, air and forest. It was later confirmed by Rare that the video was using the exact polygonal models and textures that they intended to use in the final game.


http://www.n-sider.com/games/screens-gcn-donkeykongracing13.jpg

Rare's end goal was to create a seamless, real-time 3D world where the boundaries of "tracks" were blurred. Intended gameplay details were also tentatively divulged. As gamers raced through the various locations, they could pick up food items and prizes to "upgrade" their beasts. It was also said it might be possible to switch animals mid-race. Rare was still working on the gameplay details and these things ultimately were never finalized.

In October 2002, when Rare was purchased by Microsoft, Donkey Kong Racing was cancelled. However, the ideas that went into it were said to have been retooled for an Xbox racing game based on its classic Sabre Man series. This title too was eventually cancelled.

[Carnivol]

Anyone know if there's any high-quality version (DVD?) available with the Donkey Kong Racing video?

I have a set of old VHS tapes with lots of early GameCube stuff (such as Starfox Adventures, DKRacing, Metroid Prime, Kameo, Raven Blade, etc...) but the picture quality on VHS aint the best and my capturing equipment has some sort of grudge against my VHS equipment at the moment.

[Fabrizo]

Anyone know if there's any high-quality version (DVD?) available with the Donkey Kong Racing video?

Yes. The 'Future of Videogames Vol.1' dvd has it.

[Iggy]

IGN has a high res (like 640x480) version of the video, but it's only available to insiders. If you have an account, or know someone who has one, here's the link.
http://insider.ign.com/videos/teasers/301/301304.html

[Carnivol]

Excellent.

Thanks to both of you