Everything we learned through the Nintendo Gigaleak

Over the past weekend hundreds of Nintendo files "found their way" on the internet and we tried to gather and sum up, as much information as possible!

What is the Nintendo Gigaleak?

The leak is made from files worth many gigabytes from Nintendo internal projects and made their appearance on the internet through two posts on 4Chan. The first includes data for SNES projects and the second for N64. The leaks include everything from source code for "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time", "Super Mario 64", and more, as well as completely unknown games and canceled projects.

Many developers have confirmed that all this information is indeed true. For example, Dylan Cuthbert of Q-Games - who worked on the original Star Fox games - pointed out how a tool for "Star Fox 2" in the archives had not appeared for 30 years.

How did it happen;

We do not even know how it happened and Nintendo has not made any official announcement. Files from Pokemon games have appeared on the internet from time to time, but nothing like this. Many say, that the hacker attacks that the company received in April may be to blame, although this had more to do with the leakage of user information.

There is also the case of Zammis Clark, a researcher who "gained access" to Microsoft and while he had paid the guarantee for the first crime hacked Nintendo. And, although the Clark affair took place a long time ago, many of the company's leak problems are attributed to him.

What was discovered?

There are too many things that were found so we collected the most important and the strangest.

Canceled Pokemon MMO

Fans have always wanted a Pokemon MMO game and it seems that there was interest from the company itself sometime in 2004.

According to records found, iQue (a Chinese support company) was working on an original Pokemon game in which players would connect Game Boy Advance to a PC and there would also be offline mode based on Fire Red and Leaf Green with 30 Pokemons. Players would face each other in online tournaments at the Pokemon Colosseum.

Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Beta

Files with some old versions of Darkrai, Arceus, and many others.

Super Mario 64 - Luigi

Perhaps one of the most important discoveries is how Luigi could be used as a playable character in SM64.

Records were also found for some enemies who failed to enter the final game.

Super Mario World

This is on the funniest side of the leaks, with the original Yoshi looking more like a dinosaur than now, SMW's Bowser bragging about his legs and Luigi pointing the player at the middle toe.

Original Yoshi's Island

It was once called "Super Mario Bros 5: Yoshi's Island", and includes a different art style, UI and overworld menu.

Super Donkey

One of the strangest discoveries seems to have been a very early version of "Super Mario World 2" (which eventually turned out to be "Yoshi's Island"), and included mechanisms that we would later find in YI.

Original Super Mario Kart / Mario Kart 64

The leak includes a version of the original "Super Mario Kart" with different tracks and an alpha version of "Mario Kart 64".

Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Early maps

The main discoveries around Ocarina have to do with areas that were not added to the final version - and some that may have appeared in the 64DD Ura-Zelda expansion.

Many of these maps were created for the alpha version of the game and never saw the light of day. Some alpha enemies like "Baby Skeleton" were also found.

Canceled Zelda 3 / Zelda 2 Remake

It seems that a side-scrolling game would follow "Zelda 2" and many believe that it would be "Zelda 3". Also a strange find is the Link sword covered in blood, since we know that Nintendo prefers games for all ages.

Pilotwings original, Dragonfly

We've heard of "Dragonfly" before. The game that eventually turned into the "Pilotwings" flight simulator. But according to unused visual effects at one time he was a shooter.