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Dream: Land of Giants
Project Dream was an unreleased RPG video game that was originally to be developed for the Super NES, but was moved to the Nintendo 64. It was eventually redeveloped into what is now Banjo-Kazooie.
Development
Project Dream started out as an RPG for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, with the intent of being Rareware's masterpiece on the console. Development started in 1994-5, and at one point, it was determined that Dream was too big for the SNES, so it was moved to the Nintendo 64, to be retooled as a 3D RPG. It was to feature terrain created by stretching out the polygons. However, the Nintendo 64 couldn't handle this, as it would result in a reduced frame rate. Taking inspiration from Conker's Twelve Tales (which would eventually become Conker's Bad Fur Day), Dream was remade into a 3D platformer in the vein of Super Mario 64, but kept some of the elements of the RPG.
Eventually, Dream was scrapped, and the development team redeveloped the game into Banjo-Kazooie. There was a demo of Dream with a full introduction sequence and one level, and according to composer Grant Kirkhope, if it still exists, it may be locked away somewhere at Rare's headquarters.
Plot
Project Dream, while not offering too much of a story, tells the tale of a young man named Edison, who had gotten himself in trouble with a crew of pirates lead by Captain Blackeye. He goes on a perilous journey to end his troubles with the pirates.
Characters
- Edison - The main character for the SNES version. He stirred up trouble with pirates.
- Banjo - He was originally designed to be a secondary character. However, he would later appear in his own game.
- Captain Blackeye - The captain of a pirate crew and main antagonist of the game. He later appeared as a character in Banjo-Tooie at Jolly's Bar in Jolly Roger's Lagoon. He repeats the words "Once, I had a dream...", which may be a reference to his original role.
- A strange, unintelligent rabbit - This character was going to be a secondary character in the SNES version, but he was later changed to the main character when Edison was considered too "generic".
- Tooty/Piccolo - Tooty was going to appear in the game as Banjo's girlfriend, and her original name was Piccolo, to match her musical instrument. This was later changed to Tooty.
- Grunty/The Giant - Gruntilda was meant to be a giant in the N64 version, but she was later changed to that of an evil witch for Banjo-Kazooie.
- An idiotic dog - Another secondary character.
- Tiptup - He was also going to be a secondary character, much like Banjo was.
- Kazooie - Not originally scheduled to appear as a character in this one, but she appeared as a baby bird in a nest looked after by Ella, who first found Kazooie's nest with an egg and a mother and father bird. The mother hatched Kazooie and the chick said her first word, "Bweee!!!" because she first appeared as a baby breegull.
- Ella - Edison's girly and princess-ish younger sister, who was originally going to have a high pitched voice. Her original name may have been Leela Burns.
Other minor characters were also recently revealed by Grant Kirkhope on his website. These characters include Madeleine, who was Edison's girlfriend, Cockeye, who was originally a mad pirate, and an obese pirate that was part of Blackeye's crew.
Music
Even though Dream was not released, Grant Kirkhope (composer for the music of Banjo-Kazooie) had already composed several tunes. Some of these songs reappeared in the Banjo-Kazooie series, as well as other Rare games, such as Viva Piñata. Grant has released some of these on his website.
