DF Retro: Cooly Skunk - The Lost SNES Platformer Miraculously Recovered Via Satellite Download!
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- Опубликовано: 13 сен 2024
- A Super NES/Super Famicom game thought lost forever has been miraculously recovered. Cooly Skunk may never have received a physical release on 16-bit, but it did get a PlayStation 1 revamp. It's the most fascinating example of a cross-gen game we've seen to date. Learn about the Super Famicom's satellite gaming download system, how it made recovering Cooly Skunk possible and - of course - how the completed but never released SNES game compared to the actual PS1 release.
Link to Gaming Alexandria's report:
www.gamingalex...
I'm glad that this was preserved. Completed projects that went unreleased are extremely sad cases. All that work, for nothing.
But wouldn't it be, in this case at the least, that the actual assests were reused for the ps1? So maybe it wasn't all for nothing.
This gives me the idea of a future DF Retro episode focusing on cases like this... Games that were almost done in one generation but ended up cancelled and completely redone for the next generation. Some famous cases comes to mind. Eternal Darkness had an incredibly looking version running on the N64 before being remade for GC. Same goes for Dinosaur Planet, the most ambitious N64 game that turned into Star Fox Adventures on GC. Kameo from Xbox to Xbox360... Too Human from PS1 to GC to Xbox360... Some of those have plenty of videos out there.. others might be trickier.. but with some digging it would be fascinating to learn more about what was going on with those titles and comparing them.
Thiago Vidal wasn’t there also an N64 version of Resident Evil Zero? It would be amazing to have playable ROMs of those 3 N64 games, even in incomplete states. I wonder if they exist somewhere....
@@jonathan2950 yes there was RE0. At least the train part was there. You're also right about the need of roms as footage of Dinosaur Planet, Perfect Dark and RE0 are too blurry and limited for a proper analysis.
I remember people on Usenet saying the PS1 version looked like a SNES game when it was released. Today I think the look has aged well.
Ironically the "Outdated" 2D games on the PS1 have aged better graphically than the 3D ones.
Usenet? Did they call it Phony PlayShitStation?
@@Thebossstage1 Megaman X4 salutes you
@@Thebossstage1 2.5D ones aren't so bad, either.
@@Thebossstage1 ...well 2-D in the 1990's had been in development for 25 years at that point. 3-D, about 6-8 years. It makes sense that the 2-D games from that era aged better, due to advanced development tools and experienced programmers, compared to most early 3-D games. I mean, do you play games from 1978-1980?
The mostly negative reviews people gave this game back in the day feel like they are mostly due to people just thinking that 2d is no longer relative in the age of the PS1.
That you game has to be 3d out not come out at all. I can certainly confirm that 2d was looked down upon by a lot of gamers during the ps1/n64 era.
A lot of gaming magazines in the late 90s gave that vibe
I was also thinkinh about that. The vibe back then was 2d was "16bits" and that was old. But we all know 3D is shit for some types of game. Damn urinalists and their shittt reviews and advertisements. Lots of games were ruined because of that.
It was looked down on by publishers most of all. The only reason Worms 3D exists is because Team17 could not find anyone willing to publish another 2D Worms game around that time.
If I'm not mistaken, isn't that also a common reason given for why Castlevania SOTN didn't do all that well despite being regarded as a classic now for many years?
It's a shame for some games to be treated that way, although not completely unreasonable that people would want something new after playing 2D games for years and spending money on a new console that's capable of something different.
Like how I bought Wipeout Pure for my PSP, and only bought Lumines much later.
Thankfully we're past that phase, and people can release 2d games just fine.
Man, the spritework for this game is gorgeous! I really love DF Retro for episodes like this, where it shows ports/original games I never knew about.
It’s freaky how ephemeral satallaview games are. It’s like - here’s a version of Excitebike featuring Mario characters in 1997 that might have only been available for a few months and when it’s gone, it is GONE.
It's the same way with video streaming services when they remove content.
Same thing with basically any download service, especially for ones laden with DRM (most of them). Thank the pirates for keeping these alive even decades after the services shut down.
@@joemo604 Or multiplayer only games that lose their entire player base and thus are unplayable today, or otherwise their servers being shut like Hawken or PlanetSide. Or single-player games with online DRM authentication with shut servers like Dark Spore.
It is sad.
This is the kind of DF Retro I love seeing. Not trying to sell anything, not made only because it promotes something, just cool, in-depth looks at retro games and their history like the early days. Love it.
Kinda hilarious how the PS1 version was criticized for being "outdated" graphically when it released in North America in 1998 but its graphics have aged better than a lot of 3D PS1 games
2D games from that era have generally dated much better than 3D games.
Thats when we were conditioning ourselves to believe that games like Starfox/Starwing were so realistic as to be immersive. It's like saying Atari (2600) was great pixel graphics :)
@@etherspin Oh, I still remember all the hype about the "realistic" 3D graphics the 5th gen consoles provided.
Exactly zero of the 3D 5th gen console games aged well, while 100% of 2D 5th gen console games aged pretty well. This is one such example.
@@SnowyNowak Banjo-Kazooie? Conker's Bad Fur Day? Paper Mario?
@@segat-800 ...well 2-D in the 1990's had been in development for 25 years at that point. 3-D, about 6-8 years. It makes sense that the 2-D games from that era aged better, due to advanced development tools and experienced programmers, compared to most early 3-D games. I mean, do you play games from 1978-1980?
Satellaview is still one of the stranger and interesting parts of Nintendo history. Probably my favorite thing to poke around on my SD2SNES pro. Really cool to see some coverage on it in DF Retro.
There are games that aren’t commercially viable enough to be manufactured physically and sold in stores. And ordinarily they’d have disappeared, but the satallaview provided a tiny window into the rest of what was being done on the SNES. It’s a bit like archaeology!
I've only messed with Stone Tablets and BS F-Zero. Really interesting stuff.
Airsh Bornely for me, it super cool to see the original game interface. I had played some of the games, but only recently did I even know Satellaview’s interface was a game itself.
I am a big Chrono Trigger/Cross fan so my first introduction to Sataliview was Radical Dreamers, then to the Zelda games. It's very faciniating.
Looks like a nice game that aged well, to me personally 2D games like this aged way better then the early 3D games.
Indeed, in general the 16 bit era was the time where technology was good enough to have a smooth balance between gameplay & graphic art design, at least for 2D games. With PS1 & N64 developers basiclly had to start again with how games work, because of the 3D technology.
@@Smexbi Exactly, some snes games such as chrono trigger, and the mana ones look beautiful
@Stephen Smith Well he did say "2D games like this" and not "every single 2D game".
@Stephen Smith Yes I've played from my first tele sports pong console on a black&white TV all the way to todays games. The early 2D games still manage to get so much right and you'd not even think about it's simplistic graphics. Also in some cases less is more and gameplay comes first. But indeed not all 2D games aged well either. But my post was on the game in this video.
It's all about the artstyle.
I remember seeing a preview for Punky Skunk when I was like 12 and I thought it looked like a game for babies and never gave it much thought... now seeing it for the first time in 20+ years it looks like a solid game that I would totally enjoy. Funny how that works out!
This is great, I can't wait to add it to my collection.
I'm glad Nintendo was smart enough to use a writable memory cart for their first foray into "online" gaming... too bad Sega didn't, with many Sega Channel exclusives simply gone forever. I still want to know what content was lost in the appropriately named Garfield: Lost Levels...
Glad to have dropped $20 for the SNES preservation.
OKeijiDragon pat yourself on the back. Lol
your mom is very proud ... she told me after I made her sausage for breakfast 🍳
Eeee! I was on twitter when Forest of Illusion announced this!
Thanks for the video and the additional context.
Re: Skunk - I’ll say it before I’ll say it again
“1995 is like Hey check out all the neat 2d sprite games we can make with 32 bit hardware! Okay now throw that in the trash it’s time for the whole industry to figure out how polygons work and make something compelling with that...” suddenly the bar is much much higher and it gets compounded with Sony apparently not wanting sprite based games on their system.
19:54 "It also highlights the dangers of a purely digital marketplace"
>Cries in PC gaming
At least GOG is a decent alternative to the typical digital marketplace, though I wish more major releases got released there.
YAR HAR FIDDLE DEE DEE.
it's why these days I only buy from itch and gog tbh
Smiles in GOG :D
@Ioannis Stefanakis Can't argue with that, I wish more companies like SEGA and Capcom would put their games on GOG. But they do the complete opposite and add that piece of crap Denuvo to their games instead... smh
I figured my mom was the only person in Earth who bought Punky Skunk.
I still remember playing the hell outta this game ass a kid.
Weird how Earthbound got the "This Game Stinks" marketing when this existed at some point
I still remember the ad in Game Fan magazine with the scratch and sniff sticker that actually stinks.
watch?v=qOvlATV1YpI
Reminds me of that blue disc for Gran Turismo 2. That was scratch 'n' sniff and IIRC was supposed to smell of tires or something.
@@seanseanston
Yep. I've got a copy of it (used) and it STILL smells!
I was following the preservation effort of this game on Twitter and it's amazing what the community can do to find and preserve these very rare games!
In 10 years, we'll have these videos:
P.T. - The Lost PS4 Survival Horror Game Miraculously Recovered Via a used PS4!
Scott Pilgrim vs The World - The Lost Xbox 360 Brawler Miraculously Recovered Via a used Xbox 360
I mean, ppl have already dumped Scott Pilgrim online. If it wasn't already, I would see about doing it as I still have my legit download of Scott Pilgrim on my 360
@@AirshBornely Not only that, but just because it's not available for sale doesn't mean you *can't* still download it if you purchased it back in the day (as I can attest, having gotten another 360 in 2018 and, as soon as I had my Xbox account on it, re-downloaded Scott Pilgrim.) The Satellaview stuff was short-lived in the extreme, and region specific too, making games on it a LOT harder to recover.
I still have both, Scott pilgrim on PS3 and P. T on PS4.
@@guerillagrueplays6301 I bought Scott Pilgrim, but I thought it wasn't recoverable. I guess I'll have to look through my 15 years of purchases!
EDIT: I went through my purchase history and found it. Pretty Amazing it still downloads, considering all the "Content Not Available" in my history. So, I just played it for the first time in about 10 years.
Theres even no need for a dump of PT from the PS4, theres at least one fan remade version which is pretty close to the original.
Dooood, this is so cool! Punky Skunk is one of those PSone games I've always been interested in, but it always felt like it was from an earlier era, even when it was new. That's just some fascinating history
And some simple cheat codes were made by me, if anyone wants an easier time with the game.
RetroCheats Don't just tease us!
it's on my channel, there's no tease. I uploaded it on the 23rd.
When I heard "on the next episode..." I literally jumped out of the chair
DF Retro is back babyyyyy
The best DF content :D
It'd be interesting to get an interview with the developers. Hearing what got changed because of publisher demand, because they wanted to do something and the PS1 hardware offered hardware power that the SNES just didn't have and what got changed because, after implementing and testing it on the SNES, they realized it didn't work as well as they thought but were late in development on that version to change too much.
I love this kind of discoveries. Good job of documenting this!
That volleyball boss is just the coolest and I would have frigging loved that as a kid in the 90's can't believe that existed on the Playstation and I didn't know about it. Also pretty clever of you to use this to show how having cross-gen titles could potentially hold back a devs ability to create better gaming experiences. It was clear in that one video with Rich that you were not happy about Microsoft's policy even though he was trying pretty hard to stick up for it.
Omg I had forgotten about Hook, I used to play it when I was very young. I had no recollection of it until the second you showed it. I know what I'll play next, thanks John!
Amazing episode. Japanese did some crazy forward thinking tech in the 90's.
I don't think I can say this enough but I LOVE DF Retro. It's the reason I'm subbed to this channel
Well done! Loved the uncredited voiceover work. Also, Mortal Kombat!
Me and my buddy rented Hook for SNES back in the day. We were amazed by the music the graphics. We must have played that first level 50 times a piece as we didn't have a instructions book and couldn't figure out how to fly or run, lol
It's good to see the Satellaview getting attention in time for it's 25th Anniversary coming in April.
Here just to say stoked to see one of the greatest action games ever just chillin in the Megadrive beside the tv. Looking forward to, "Sublime 16-Bit Shooting Part 2"
My mind is blown just thinking that Satellaview and Sega Channel were like the Google Stadia of the mid 90's. Maybe there were other similar services before those for other systems?
Wonko there’s banking and info service hardware for the NES/FC but not really for games.
If you’re talking about PCs, I guess it’d be BBS’s and Compuserve that served that space
@@johnsimon8457 There were also attempts at setting up a game download service for the Atari 2600 of all things, intended to pair with the cassette media adapter for the console. I don't think it ever made it to market, though a lot of the tech intended for it was, if I recall, re-purposed into some of the features of the C64's online services.
Not necessarily like Stadia, but more akin to PSN/Xbox Live since the games are downloaded to the cartridge/systems memory.
3:06 that voice sounds familiar...
I think it's the dude from the channel My Life In Gaming.
@@nOT_sURE08 It is.
That voice is so full of soy and cringe it cannot be mistaken.
OhaiMarc
@@Iliek
Terrible... take a lap.
Very interesting, and I like the preview concept at the end. I'm hype for the MK episode!
Indeed. Well, this isn't the first he has done it, sure this was the first purely this cheesy style! "In the next episode..."
@@madfinntech ah, yeah maybe that is what struck me as new. I dug it hehe.
DF Retro is one of my favorite RUclips series. Keep up the spectacular work!
Really interesting stuff. Now if only we can find the unreleased Dinosaur Planet version of Star Fox Adventures. THAT would be a very important find.
i like the CRT footage, nice touch
I love the obscure stuff you cover. Keep it up!
One of the greatest ironies of video game history. The early 3d games were most in demand at the time, but it's the 2d games that aged best to this day. At least I am far more likely to replay a 2d game from this era than a 3d game.
...well 2-D in the 1990's had been in development for 25 years at that point. 3-D, about 6-8 years. It makes sense that the 2-D games from that era aged better, due to advanced development tools and experienced programmers, compared to most early 3-D games. I mean, do you play games from 1978-1980?
@@badreality2 That's what I'm saying. The new tech allowed for the 2D to be the best it could be, but the interest was mostly on the (crude) 3D. That's what I would call irony.
@@Lewdology Sega was so forward thinking, that they destroyed themselves.
0:55 the music is *Stinkbug - Taiga* that track is one cool chiptune alright
Never though I would see Punky Skunk featured here! Great job!
Its funny because i was playing it on a hacked PS classic some days ago.
Don´t forget to get some rest!
Also, Rockman X3 for Super Famicom. PlayStation and Sega Saturn.
Damn good game.
Rockman and Forte for the SFC and PlayStation is another one. Lots and lots of extra animation for an SFC game. Top shelf games like this are too expensive and risky to manufacture for any studio that doesn’t have a main franchise. PlayStation lowered the bar so that a little studio can produce a fine looking sprite based game
Just shows how games from the 16bit era still hold up today. You're bang on about the dangers of a digital marketplace, look at Scott pilgrim
DF Retro, PVM scanlines, Try4ce, you got it all John! =)
Back on track with quality original content!
Holy shit, I'm super pumped for the MK episode being a lifelong fan of MK and an owner of many MANY ports of the various classic MK games.
Love DF retro more than regular DF. Keep those videos coming
i pray for Earthbound 64 every night
I pray for Dinosaur Planet every week or so.
I pray for TF2 BoA
The game looks like a typical drab platformer that I really would not have given a second look back in the day. I find it more amazing how the retro preservation community pulled their resources and knowledge together to make this game available in its entirety for all. They spend their time and MONEY to make things like this happen. They are the heroes that none of us deserve but still they continue to do amazing things that benefit all of us.
Punky Skunk has more nostalgic value to me than any other game. Digital Foundry is incredible for doing a video on Punky Skunk.
Thank you for the link. Five stages passed. I like it.
That new DF Retro logo is crispy as hell. Good job
I had Punky Skunk for the PS1. In that era, 'chipping' PS1's and being able to obtain pirated games was common place. My dad would bring different games he'd buy from a colleague at work. I never asked him for Punky Skunk - I'd never even heard of it. As a 10 year old, I was completely unaware that he simply just found it a highly amusing title as I learned later in life he liked to smoke a joint or in the evening.
(Skunk being a nickname for marijuana, incase the reference was lost).
ALL video games deserve/should be preserved forever.
How have I never heard of this game!? I loved games like this at the time, but I have no memory of this game's existence.
Looking at it today, Satellaview was Nintendo's first venture into DLC, and Games as a Service. Certainly ahead of its time.
How this game reached the scene is really an interesting story, I appreciate you covering the whole backstory of it. I'm not particularly interested in the game itself honestly, but I'm glad it eventually made its way to the world so we could all see what it was like and compare it the eventual Playstation release!
Waking up to a new DF Retro? I thought Christmas morning was a month ago...
I love that Hook game on SNES! Got for my birthday as a kid but I didn’t know about these other games from the same devs, thanks for that!
You can definitely tell the Capcom influence when looking at 'Hook'
Willow (arcade) is the game that comes to mind when looking at its visual artstyle...
@@KGRAMR Exactly what I was thinking about, Capcom continued using this artstyle with later titles as well like Three Wonders.
16:15 I see a sneaky Alien Soldier cameo! How are you getting along with that game, John?
Incredible game that Sega robbed of its publicity from not having a US release. Or any marketing anywhere as far as I know. I'm hoping he does a "Sublime 16-bit shooting part 2!"
It was on the Sega Channel in the US if I'm not mistaken. Just like Mega Man Wily Wars and that one Garfield game that's lost forever. Funny thing is I live in PAL territory so I could buy the European version but it's so expensive on places like Ebay it's not even worth it.
@@slippinjimmy5683 indeed, that's what I meant by robbing it of publicity. Sega Channel was only, well...20 yrs ahead of its time lol? SoA/E seemed to not care what master class games Japan was making towards the end of the era, dooming them to no marketing and low copies. Oh but everyone knows what Vectorman is.
Never realized these guys made Spawn for SNES. I loved that game. Awesome soundtrack.
Absolutely incredible find.
Kind of ironic that back on the PS1 most people only wanted 3D games even though the majority of them looked horrendous and controlled even worse.
I was the same though, i doubt i would have been interested in a cute 2D platformer when i could be playing Metal gear solid or Ridge Racer. Nowadays though it looks pretty appealing.
Love DF retro. It’s always presented in such a way that you don’t even have to know about the original game but it’s still interesting to listen to
Sky blazer looks so rad. It looks like how I remember snes looking, where others haven’t held up.
OMG, Mortal Kombat DF Retro on my birthday! Thanks!!!
As always, really interesting episode! :)
Games with releases on both SNES and PSX is a interesting subject per se. It should be explored more.
And now I know what I'm going to be playing on my Sunday morning. Coolly Skunk SNES and PS1!!
Thanks for putting this together! My main interest was around the acquisition of the game. Did the folks at super potatoe head know what was on there? Memory was limited on the satellaview, why was that game kept on there? Was it already known at the time that this would be a rare broadcast? How do you get the game off a satellaview?
Now for it to be dumped on donor/new cartridges and resold. Need to see more of that NES Zelda remake with SFC sprites
Kelly wasn't the gadget maker, Nash made the gadgets and Kelly was the rabbit that gave you instructions on how to fight the boss levels.
The SNES version looks great! The PlayStation version is a bit too slow.
I think the cartridge was way faster than disc drives. I had the Chrono Trigger/Final Fantasy 4 PS port, and they were sooooo slow compared to the SNES version.
God, I wish I had, like, any money at all, so I could donate to help recover and preserve these old games.
I'm triggered by the fact you didn't use the original PlayStation logo in comparisons. However, an amazing episode and interesting story, loading this game now to SD card so I can play it using my PSIO. And can't wait for upcoming retro episodes, especially the next one, is about time. Much appreciated.
Insane story how it was preserved, by pure chance it seems.
Amazing video, thank you!
2:48 did he say "an interview conducted by Bill's Cat Socks"?
exactly what he said
Love the CRT footage mixed in!
You guys should go over some other Satellaview games at some point. The whole thing is absolutely fascinating and I'd love to see some coverage of some of the other games like 2 Zelda games (pretty obvious), F-Zero, Dragon Quest, Fire Emblem, etc.
This gives me hope that some day, a ROM of Twele Tales Conker 64 will be found.
"...1998. It wasn't a great time to release a 2D platformer" meanwhile I was a kid that had no clue all these other game systems existed or that I was using an old one lol. I later ended up getting my brother's PSone (the SNES was also his, sibs are much older and didn't live with us) and as I made friends in school they exposed me to like... All the other stuff that's out there.
Also grew up using an old ass computer with Windows 95 and Sierra games, we didn't upgrade until Windows XP had been out for a bit probably and I still kept using the old one for a while since my dad used the new one for work.
"cool episode of df retro"? Every DF, and especially DF Retro, is cool.
And so, in 2020, an official Super Famicom game was made available to the world.
I don't think anyone at Nintendo would have thought that there would be new games as late as 30 years later.
good point about them getting the opporuitnity to basically redo their work...I guess it depends, some people who are perfectionists would probably LOVE that opportunities they probably had a lot of problems with how the original came out. But on the other hand if someone was really proud of their work and wanted to move on that would suck
Another great episode! Also, can't wait for the next one!
17:48 Obviously it's still little-known, but the Mario 64 was primarily the result of a Western developer showing Miyamoto a prototype for a 3d platformer starring Yoshi. It was turned down, and they eventually retooled the game as "Croc". Later, at an expo where Mario 64 was being shown off, Miyamoto gave a personal apology to one of the developers. But that was the end of that.
Seems crazy they would finish the game and refuse to release it. Playstation being out doesn't mean that there would be no market for super famicon and snes games, unless it was retailers refusing to give games shelf space causing trouble
Someone in Japan would be shocked at how a couple of Americans saved a super famicon game that was never released.
It's odd that people in the west care more.
God this is game is gorgeous. Most 2D games on PS1 never really looked quite right to me. But this looks like something I'd expect on the Saturn. Good stuff.
You should review more unreleased games, like 100 Bullets and the recently dumped Akira game for the Mega Drive.
Shortsighted reviewers and consumers considered them outdated at the time, but in hindsight, games like rayman and Cooly Skunk hold up significantly better, in both visuals and gameplay, tan most early 3d.
I wish DF Retro had its own channel. I can't stand the other content, but enjoy me some retro content.
Hook is such an underrated game. I love it.
This is bringing back memories I didn't now I had
I like the little bounce Cooly’s hair has on the Super Famicom version.
Cooly Skunk sounds like some ridiculous other name for weed some anti-drug presentation in the 90s would try and convince you was real.
That Peter Pan looking game kinda looks like an Inti Creates game actually. Especially the poses and sprite design of the main protagonist.