Check Out Banjo-Kazooie's Predecessor in This New Gameplay Footage

Banjo-Kazooie creator Rare is currently developing its upcoming adventure Sea of Thieves, but this isn't the first time the studio has worked on a pirate-themed game. Rare released video of early Banjo-Kazooie footage and a long-lost role-playing game, showing what they were making prior to the bear-and-bird platformer.

During the making of Rare Replay, the company unearthed footage of its Banjo-Kazooie predecessor, Dream. The developer's goal was to create a game like Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger with the graphics technology of the studio's Donkey Kong Country.

Dream was intended to be more mature than Rare's usual outings. Originally intended for the Super Nintendo, it was eventually moved to the Nintendo 64. Another switch Rare decided to go with was refocusing the game from fantasy to pirates.

"We felt we could still have a lot of fun with [the pirate theme], Rare-style. But it had that kind of broad appeal, kind of slightly more mature feel," said designer Gregg Mayles.

Eventually, Dream's boy protagonist was changed to Banjo. Rare notes that at one point the character was also a rabbit. Rare decided that Dream was too ambitious and moved on to create a new platformer.

"We really liked the bear," said Mayles. "We just kinda took Banjo out of Dream and put him in the game that eventually became Banjo."

Rare is currently working on Sea of Thieves, which according to Microsoft executive Kudo Tsunoda, is "the best game that Rare has ever made."