Tim Stamper shows intro to Twelve Tails

Earlier this week, Tim Stamper of Rare fame posted a video on Twitter of him booting up an unreleased prototype cartridge of Twelve Tails, showing the world what the intro animation would have looked like.

Twelve Tails was a prototype game developed by Rare Ltd. for the Nintendo 64 console in the late 1990s. It was supposed to be a spin-off of the Conker series, featuring a cast of animal characters. It was planned to be released in 2000. However, due to various development issues and the game’s shift in direction, it was ultimately canceled and never officially released.

The game was set in a different world from the main Conker series and featured a different gameplay style, as well as a much more child-friendly tone than what we got in Bad Fur Day.

However, the game was eventually cancelled, and its assets were repurposed for other Rare titles, including Conker’s Bad Fur Day and Diddy Kong Racing.

The tweet by Tim Stamper, one of the founders of Rare, showcases a video of the game being booted up on a Nintendo 64 console, offering fans a glimpse at what could have been the first game in the Conker franchise.

The intro starts out as many N64 games do, with a the classic spinning 3D ‘N’ logo. It then transforms into a present which sucks us the camera in. After showing the Nintendo and Rare logos bumping into each other, we finally get the Twelve Tails logo with a smiling Conker dropping in.

He then gets chased around by a bunch of green creatures, chases them back and finally gets pushed off the screen by a giant T-Rex. The intro ends with a evil wizard laughing and Tim switching off the N64.

Overall, it’s a neat little sneak peak at one of the holy grails of unreleased games, though it would be great if there was a ROM dump that we could have a look at or even a better video capture than a screen recording. Thanks Tim!