Early Nintendo Game Prototypes May Have Been Leaked
Videos and screenshots appearing online are said to be from a source code leak.
A new Nintendo source code leak has been reported by Video Game Chronicle with videos of prototypes of several classic Nintendo titles including Yoshi's Island and Super Mario Kart appearing online. According to an anonymous 4chan post, this leak may include source code for other games like Super Mario RPG, F-Zero, and even Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. There are also early sprite designs for beloved characters like Yoshi and Donkey Kong, a human pilot from Star Fox 2, and even a Luigi model for Mario 64 circulating.
Proto-DK: pic.twitter.com/psfZ9nf1LM
— Andy Robinson (@AndyPlaytonic) July 24, 2020
Look at these early Koopas and Yoshi! pic.twitter.com/QPJwpjSvS1
— Gaming Alexandria (@GamingAlexandri) July 24, 2020
The official Babey of the hour is Luigi's recently discovered and reconstructed Super Mario 64 model pic.twitter.com/Yq0VJCIqz2
— Babey of the Day #AloneTogether 😷 (@BabeyoftheDay) July 26, 2020
This leak could be related to another that was first reported in May where over 2 terrabytes of data was released onto 4chan. According to modder Crash, RouteFree, which is responsible for iQue, was hacked resulting in a huge leak of N64, GameCube, and Wii data. iQue was a console sold exclusively in China to combat the piracy of Nintendo games there. It was basically a miniature N64 and could play titles like Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Mario Kart 64.
RouteFree(ppl responsible for iQue) were hacked and a bunch of n64/gc/wii stuff got leaked
— Crash🇵🇷 (@crashoveride953) May 2, 2020
Cam told me Luigi's Mario 64 palette was found, and now I dub this the "Luigi Pride Flag" pic.twitter.com/8SkVAt4U1o
— stan avomatcha (L IS REAL 2401) (@EsmeSqueaks) July 25, 2020
If these leaks are legit, it could offer interesting insight into the history and guts of Nintendo games, giving modders the ability to bring these classics to PC and even edit them. Having access to more source code and other data could smooth out the process for these communities, though some have already proven resourceful enough to reverse engineer source code to create a working PC port of Mario 64 without the aid of leaks. How long these projects will last is always in question, however, since the legality of these efforts is often in question and Nintendo has proven its not afraid to take these creators to court.
A bunch of Nintendo prototypes are apparently currently being compiled from leaked source code right now as of this post
— Akfamilyhome @ Origami King (@Akfamilyhome) July 24, 2020
First up there's this Yoshi's Island proto with different UI graphics, placeholder music from Mario World, and has a prefix of 'Super Mario Bros. 5' pic.twitter.com/Qqock5RZaS
live footage of mario 64 modders resurrecting luigi: pic.twitter.com/pxJ4DMwrSP
— shay (@Shayalic) July 25, 2020
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