DKC Atlas Forum

[Stone]

How cool would it be if there would be an DKC HD-Version?
I had this idea when i heard that there will be an HD-Version of Super Street Fighter 2, with concept drawings looking very promising.
Unfortunately, I don't own any of the new HD consoles, but I think about buying a Wii (Smaaassshhh...). Which should be the only console a remake of DKC should be allowed, hehe...

[cfh]

Too bad Wii isn't HD. I think HD DKC would be awesome, and a lot easier to make than Street Fighter 2 HD since it's just a bunch of 3D renders instead of hand-drawn.

[Stone]

Of course Wii isn't HD, but hey, even this would be an improvement over those tiny 256x224 graphics

[cfh]

True. And some more advanced weather effects could be added! That would be great.

[nickp17]

True. And some more advanced weather effects could be added! That would be great.

Yeah that was my first idea aswell.

[Jomingo]

Yes, I've also been contemplating an idea like this for sometime. It would be sorta like the New Super Mario Bros., but for the Wii.

[cfh]

NSMB? I don't know. I think it should all be pre-rendered.

[CM August]

The trick of course is getting the library of 3D models and animation that were shelved when DKC ended procuction, if they even exist anymore. I fired off a question to Rare about it, but doubt it'll be answered.

[Jomingo]

I meant it would be like NSMB just in the concept of an updated remake type thing.

[Qyzbud]

The trick of course is getting the library of 3D models and animation that were shelved when DKC ended procuction, if they even exist anymore.

It's hard to imagine they got lost over time, but I guess if Rare has changed the sortware/hardware/techniques they use enough times over the years... It might be a trick to get it all assembled in a workable fashion for a redevelopment... but if anyone can accomplish such a feat; Rare's the word.

[CM August]

Well, the other day I recieved a response from Rare in regards to that. I may as well post the reply here:

Hi Matt,

Well I can't speak for Nintendo, as I have no clue as to what is in their archives. As for our own archives, most of the assets from the early to mid-ninteies were stored on DAT tapes, which, shall we say, weren't stored in quite as assiduous a way as hindsight would suggest

One of the benefits oif the Microsoft buy-out was a much more organised filing system for assets like the ones you linked to. If you'd asked me about PDZ, VP or Kameo, I'd have no trouble at all sharing hi-res art with you, but I'm afraid what you see already is probably the best there is.

I think your best bet would be to get in touch with Nintendo if you can and see what they say - you might have better luck with their archives.

Sorry about the late reply by the way, I only just got back from vacation.

Cheers,
GK

So unfortunately, it would basically be a start-from-scratch project with what meager references can be found to model the characters again. That's certainly a downer...

I'd like to ask Nintendo too of course, but there's seemingly no way past their inpenetrable e-shells. I am so grateful to Rare for being this accessable.

[Kowbrainz]

Mmm... it's wonderful that Rare is nice enough to actually get off their arses and reply to their fans. I bet the only thing you'd get back from Nintendo would be a automatic message saying something along the lines of "Thank-you for your interest in Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Below is a list of answers which could relate to your question. Thanks for your time"...

[CM August]

This would be a job for "Ask Dan" Owsen, but it looks like he's buggered off to Microsoft too. A crying shame, since he was personally involved with DKC's development.

It doesn't help that the big developers and head honchos of Nintendo, for the most part, don't actually speak English.

[Qyzbud]

Hmmm, that is a downer...

On the plus side, he used the word 'assiduous'.


Well hang on- did he understand your question? . . . "I'd have no trouble at all sharing hi-res art with you" . . . Sounds like he is referring to renders (or something like that), rather than the actual 3D models. Besides, I can't believe they would let anything as ground-breaking and historic as DKC's development media just get... lost.

How incredibly non-assiduous that would be.

[cfh]

Yeah, it would have been cool to see more of it... maybe even play around with the models ourselves. Oh, wishful thinking!

[CM August]

Quyzbud: I had asked him two questions. I'll just repost them for you:

A vast amount of 3D character models were created for the Donkey Kong Country series. Are they stored in the Nintendo archives never to be seen again, or are they stored in the Rare archives never to be seen again? Or were they simply lost/deleted?

Somewhat related to the above question, a lot of promotional rendered images for the series were made; cast pictures, action shots and the like, most of which can be seen here, here and here. They're beautiful to look at, but the majority of the ones I refer to are low resolution and poor quality. Do these images still exist in a high-res form? One in particular I'm trying to track down is on this page, the Kremling cast picture featured in the DKC GBA "scrapbook".

So I'm afraid there was no misunderstanding.

[Stone]

What a pity!

But it is really nice to see Rare answering to our questions.

After watching Kowbrainz DKC Art I would suggest he can draw some HD sprites for us

[Cosmicman]

Hmmm, that is a downer...
Besides, I can't believe they would let anything as ground-breaking and historic as DKC's development media just get... lost.

How incredibly non-assiduous that would be.

Stuff like that must be really secured, i doubt it got "lost" , i would use the word stolen before the word lost, but just to be ok mentally i will assume that development media is secured in a room with 2 bodyguards working 24/7.

[Qyzbud]

Cosmic, that might be the case for highly anticipated games which are currently in development, and which utilise software techniques/engines that stand to revolutionise gaming... but probably not for games which (as great as they are) have reached their teen years. Oh, are you suggesting these things were stolen in the mid-late '90s?

[Cosmicman]

Well, I know I mentioned stolen but is just a crazy assumption, who knows ..., but if you really think about it there is a much better word than stolen or lost, the word is "forgotten" by Nintendo.

I think the most i could do is scan my Dkc2 magazine, it has high quality pictures of every single area, background, even items.

[Qyzbud]

High quality pictures of every background? What do you mean by a 'background', in this case?

[HavocReaper48]

All the music would be HD-remixed versions as well. That'd be cool.

[Ribbedebie]

I think DKC already looks HD. I mean, just compare it with Super Mario World. xD

But yeah, it would still be cool, nonetheless.

[Phyreburnz]

Yeah, but when someone does make something look better, they sometimes jack it up. They think "Well... since we're changing this, we might as well change that too." I know, my opinion probably doesn't matter because I (honestly) don't like that much change... but if it did matter, I also think that you shouldn't change a classic (sort of like I don't believe that black and white movies should be colourized).

It would be nice to see if someone could make a nicer looking DKC, because it's so beautifully done in the first place. I know, I'm sounding like I'm contradicting myself... sometimes I don't even know what I mean... o.O

[Jomingo]

I'd like to see a version of DKC that is made to fit HD screens. They don't have to redo all the graphics to do this, they just have to mess with it a little bit and then let me buy a converted version on VC or something. I mean, DKC from my SNES on a 50 inch 1080p TV doesn't look good. I'm not sure if it would look better on a Wii VC; the Wii outputs 480p I believe, but I don't know if the VC games actually become 480p. Either way, it's still not good enough, and it looks stretched and ugly on a huge TV. It wasn't made for one, so I wouldn't mind at all if they made an updated version.

[FrankMorris]

DKC trilogy redone @720p would be really cool.

Sprites just need to be rendered with higher res (I hope they still have the files )

[Mr.Diddy]

That sounds good for the wii u because you know, it's HD (It would be the only reason I would get a wii u). I have to say though, play DKC on a tiny HD TV and it looks pretty good! (or just a small window on your computer if you have an SNES emulator.)

[TheUltimateKoopa]

What they need to do is, in 2014 (you'll find out why I put that year soon enough <_<), they should make a 20th anniversary collection (like I said, soon enough), like they did with Kirby, which has all 3 DKC games, and DKL games.... but....

They should either be completely modernized, with modern graphics, and not completely NEW soundtrack, or remixed, but just updated in terms of instrumentation, if that makes sense.

Either that, or an option for "Classic" or "Modern".... just having the original versions would just be boring and more or less a waste of time.

[Gaz]

I totally agree with TheUltimateKoopa on this one. That would be epic! A 20th 2014 edition anniversary. I'd party loud if they announce it at E3 2013.

[Tiptup Jr.]

Do you know how much money I would pay for this? Do you know the terrible things I would do to get my hands on this?

If they took like, the original renders used to make the DKC games and released like, a SUPER ULTRA HD compilation disc with all three of them on there... oh god. Because think about it, the 3D models were converted to sprites that could be displayed on SNES, right? Just picture if they took the original, high-quality models and remade the trilogy but with the EXACT SAME GAMEPLAY! And with lossless soundtrack too! HNNNNGGGGG

(However, I would not want it converted to widescreen. There are certain things in the DKC series that are meant to be just off screen, out of sight, and I feel that converting to widescreen may detract from that. 3D games like Banjo-Kazooie transfer well to widescreen but sidescrollers are a different story.)