Project Dream

Eventually, Dream was scaled back to a linear platform game in the vein of Donkey Kong Country (1994) that starred Banjo the bear, who became the protagonist of Banjo-Kazooie.

It was inspired by Japanese RPGs and LucasArts adventure games, and the name Dream emphasized its fantastical themes.

The game that became Conker's Bad Fur Day (2001) led them to retool it into a platformer inspired by Nintendo's Super Mario 64.

During most of its development period, Project Dream was a role-playing video game (RPG) that focused on a boy named Edson and his pets Dinger the dog and Billy the parrot.

[5] The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) version of the game employed an isometric perspective and had a fairy tale theme.

[6] Edson used a wooden sword to fight trolls and Dinger performed actions to assist him, such as going ahead and digging holes to find items.

Occasionally, a dinosaur would appear and attempt to crush Edson by stepping on him; falling leaves and the virtual camera system shaking warned the player when it was approaching.

Rare used this high-end technology to develop Donkey Kong Country (1994), which was a critical and commercial success, becoming the second bestselling SNES game behind Super Mario World (1990).

[3][8] As development progressed, the team felt it was too large for a SNES cartridge and the introduction of the N64 rendered the Silicon Graphics technology obsolete.

[7] They brought the pirate theme from Diddy’s Kong Quest, as Rare staff felt they "could have a lot of fun with it" and believed it would have a broad appeal due to Mayles' love of the Golden Age of Piracy.

[10] When Dream staff saw Nintendo's Super Mario 64 (1996), they realized it was going to set the standard for 3D games and ruin their project.

The video features developer commentary from Rare staff that worked on the game, as well as previously unreleased gameplay footage.

A screenshot of gameplay from the Nintendo 64 version