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First 10 Minutes of Gameplay From the Unreleased 'Black & White Creatures' on DS

Dancrane212

Dancrane212

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Oct 25, 2017
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Footage from PTP Online (Borman )


The first 10 minutes or so of an early build of Black & White Creatures, the unreleased Nintendo DS game! It's an early build, even clicking on the menu options can be tough. Played on the IS-Nitro-Emulator, so real DS capture!
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Apparently this early build of the game leaked out late last year (via Robin64) and seems to have gone a bit under the radar, well at least it did for me. Figured it was worth sharing incase anyone else also missed it at the time. The game runs surprisingly well in the demo, whenever I saw screens in magazines at the time I got the impression it is was going to be a good deal chunkier than this. It's pretty impressive!

A shame it never ended up releasing.
 
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Deleted member 8468

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Oct 26, 2017
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I remember seeing this on the upcoming releases in the computer at the Gamestop I worked at years ago. Became one of the joke games that we all assumed never existed. Cool to see footage from it!
 
Borman

Borman

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Oct 26, 2017
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It's worth noting that the Dance Mode works, but uses an Aerosmith song iirc, I had to quickly mute it when I streamed it hah.
 
Combichristoffersen

Combichristoffersen

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Oct 27, 2017
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Black & White? Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time. It was gonna be the next amazing thing, but it just kinda came and went, like a wet fart in the wind.
 
Perkin_Warbeck

Perkin_Warbeck

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Jan 27, 2020
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It looks neat. Focusing on the creature is a good idea for DS. I really wanted to like the original B&W, but ended up bouncing off it pretty hard. I didn't like doing the motions for the spells, and I just didn't find managing the people very interesting.
 
Hero of Legend

Hero of Legend

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Oct 26, 2017
13,606
Yeah this was by Full Fat IIRC and they've had a bunch of stuff leak/release.

Lionhead owned the IP right? Surely the MS buyout in 2005 killed the game, which is odd when they were pro-DS.
 
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sox

sox

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Oct 27, 2017
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Am I misremembering or was there also a PS1 port? Doesn't look like that ever released either if it was a thing.
 
Fawz

Fawz

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Oct 28, 2017
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I would do anything for more Black & White games, or even just a modern rerelease of the old games. Had never heard of the DS game though and the concept with touch controls and creature focus seems interesting, but I can also see why it was never released. Very interesting find :)
 
Suedemaker

Suedemaker

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Jun 4, 2019
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Dannepannepuff said:
I'd love for the originals to get a gog release. A sequel would be nice but I don't have any faith that the weird dark fairytale mood that Lionhead games had would be preserved.
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Here I was thinking "remaster"...but a gog release sounds way better. I absolutely loved the first game even though I wasn't any good at it and my creature would be effectively useless at like....the third level. I played some of 2 but it didn't really grab me like the first one did at the time. I still have the discs somewhere but I would absolutely pay for a re-release
 
9-Volt

9-Volt

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Oct 27, 2017
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This is one of the DS games I waited too long but never got a release (others were Europa Univrsalis DS and Sim Tower). Molyneux going to MS killed this little project.

Hey, at least we got Populous DS.
 
xyla

xyla

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Oct 27, 2017
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Aprikurt said:
Man what the fuck happened to this franchise

Just god damn vanished
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They had a GCN/PS2/Xbox game in development for years that would focus on your direct interaction with the creatures but it fell through. I remember an Artwork where a villager was riding a creature.

Molyneux focused on overselling other stuff and Fable became their most console friendly franchise after MS bought them.

But I agree - if this franchise came back as a VR title, it would have insane potential.
 
Aprikurt

Aprikurt

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xyla said:
They had a GCN/PS2/Xbox game in development for years that would focus on your direct interaction with the creatures but it fell through. I remember an Artwork where a villager was riding a creature.

Molyneux focused on overselling other stuff and Fable became their most console friendly franchise after MS bought them.

But I agree - if this franchise came back as a VR title, it would have insane potential.
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I never understood back when Microsoft were pushing Kinect they didn't make a Black and White game. Using the hand to interact with the world? Basically writes itself. It would definitely work just as well in VR.
 
Maybe_its_Cthulhu

Maybe_its_Cthulhu

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Oct 27, 2017
347
I installed both Black & White 1 & 2 at the weekend actually.
I forgot how great these games are.
Anyone else wanting to play the games should check out the Fan Patches! They make the game playable on modern systems.

I would have loved more Black & white titles.
Unfortunately, I think I remember hearing the Rights for them are split between EA and Microsoft.
 
xyla

xyla

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Aprikurt said:
I never understood back when Microsoft were pushing Kinect they didn't make a Black and White game. Using the hand to interact with the world? Basically writes itself. It would definitely work just as well in VR.
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The rights issue from the post above me aside (never knew about this, are there more infos available?) - Kinect did have a very blue ocean strategy. There were very little games that focused on core gamers. Having a late sequel to a PC exclusive title with good (not great or insane) critical feedback on a platform that doesn't really cater to that base would have been a gamble.
 
Aprikurt

Aprikurt

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xyla said:
The rights issue from the post above me aside (never knew about this, are there more infos available?) - Kinect did have a very blue ocean strategy. There were very little games that focused on core gamers. Having a late sequel to a PC exclusive title with good (not great or insane) critical feedback on a platform that doesn't really cater to that base would have been a gamble.
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Ah I guess. I wasn't really aware of its critical reception as I wasn't on enthusiast sites at the time; I just remember picking it up in a PC bargain bin and being really intrigued with it.

We've got this notion that we'd quite like to sail the ocean....
 
xyla

xyla

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Aprikurt said:
Ah I guess. I wasn't really aware of its critical reception as I wasn't on enthusiast sites at the time; I just remember picking it up in a PC bargain bin and being really intrigued with it.

We've got this notion that we'd quite like to sail the ocean....
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The first game had a very long and intense hype cycle for a while (years?) - Molyneux did his thing and promised impossible gameplay features regarding the interactivity of the world. When it came out, it could only disappoint to what was promised before. Despite it being a good game at the core.

Also thanks - I'll have that song stuck in my head for days now -_-
 
Aprikurt

Aprikurt

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xyla said:
The first game had a very long and intense hype cycle for a while (years?) - Molyneux did his thing and promised impossible gameplay features regarding the interactivity of the world. When it came out, it could only disappoint to what was promised before. Despite it being a good game at the core.

Also thanks - I'll have that song stuck in my head for days now -_-
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Knowing what I do about Molyneux now, hardly surprising. Like Fable 2 it was an interesting and unique game that didn't need to be endlessly hyped.

Idle idle eeee
Idle idle eeee
We simply can't go until we get some wooooooood
 
xyla

xyla

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Oct 27, 2017
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Aprikurt said:
Knowing what I do about Molyneux now, hardly surprising. Like Fable 2 it was an interesting and unique game that didn't need to be endlessly hyped.

Idle idle eeee
Idle idle eeee
We simply can't go until we get some wooooooood
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Same thing he did with Fable 1 - I remember the days where he build up the time skip where you would plant a tree and see the resulting wood "where ever" you wanted or the stuff people would remember about you and the actions you took.
He was a great hype man, but I think the last game I wasn't disappointed in where he was involved was Dungeon Keeper 2.
 
Aprikurt

Aprikurt

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xyla said:
Same thing he did with Fable 1 - I remember the days where he build up the time skip where you would plant a tree and see the resulting wood "where ever" you wanted or the stuff people would remember about you and the actions you took.
He was a great hype man, but I think the last game I wasn't disappointed in where he was involved was Dungeon Keeper 2.
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Honestly shit like that has ruined the industry in many ways. Just imagine how many crunch hours some of that stuff takes.

I mean, am I impressed by the fact Ellie has matching scuff marks when she skids on the floor in TLOu2? Sure, but I don't know whether that's worthy of hype as such.
 
Glio

Glio

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I have always thought that Black and White would be the ideal IP for an AR game with Hololens.
 
xyla

xyla

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Aprikurt said:
Honestly shit like that has ruined the industry in many ways. Just imagine how many crunch hours some of that stuff takes.

I mean, am I impressed by the fact Ellie has matching scuff marks when she skids on the floor in TLOu2? Sure, but I don't know whether that's worthy of hype as such.
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Agreed. A "wow you can actually do this?!" after a release is waay better then a hype cycle that will never stick the landing.
Most recent example is Valheim. I don't think it was on anyone's radar but it's pulling of some impressive stuff.
 
Ephonk

Ephonk

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Oct 25, 2017
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xyla said:
The first game had a very long and intense hype cycle for a while (years?) - Molyneux did his thing and promised impossible gameplay features regarding the interactivity of the world. When it came out, it could only disappoint to what was promised before. Despite it being a good game at the core.
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Also, the game was broken on releaseday. It had several bugs including at least one major gamebreaking bug (I think in act 2 of the 5 acts if I remember well) that took a while to get fixed, and a lot of people didn't have broadband in 2001, so downloading a huge patch wasn't that obvious as it is today.
 
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