- NA release: N/A
- EU release: N/A
- JP release: N/A
- Developer: Intelligent Systems
- Publisher: Nintendo
- N64 Magazine Score: N/A
I won’t be delving too much into playing this game. Animal Leader was a curious game that kept coming up in N64 Magazines. However, as it was nearing completion, Nintendo were deciding which N64 projects were going to move to the GameCube, and Animal Leader ended up being one of those, being renamed to Cubivore. I wonder if the whole cube aesthetic was what made them pick this game to be moved over.
A prototype N64 version of the game was found, and it was almost finished. As not a lot has changed between the two versions (other than making the cubes a bit smoother, like dice, and the main character’s head being more of a cube instead of having a snout), I’ll be playing that version properly, as it also happens to be in English. I think it’s still interesting to see which games were moved and working out why – some games (like Eternal Darkness and Dinosaur Planet) likely needed the extra development time, while Animal Leader was moved for other reasons.
The game has you controlling animals made up of blocks. You roam each level in order to kill animals and absorb a block from them that gives you a power, sometimes just affecting how you move. You’ll also need to find mates to produce more powerful offspring. It all seems fascinating, and I’m looking forward to trying out the GameCube version.
Fun
It’s difficult to get excited about Animal Leader based on static screenshots alone. But, in motion, this bizarre and hugely stylized cross between Pokémon and Silicon Valley is a truly bewitching experience.
N64 Magazine #52
Should it be finished?
It was, just on GameCube instead.
N64 Games by Date
1997: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
1998: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
1999: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2000: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
I really enjoyed Cubivore on GameCube. It looked bland and uninspiring back actually the simplicity of the blocks made it easy to tell how ‘large’ each creature was and meant it couldn’t be challenged that said creature didn’t look like it’s real-life counterpart, as it quite clearly just gave a suggestion on what the creature was and wasn’t trying to accurately portray anything. Great find in playing an N64 prototype!
Worth noting that Cubivore also has the distinction of being not only the rarest and most expensive game on the second hand market for the Gamecube, it also has the rare distinction of being a first party title that was not published by NOA/NOE outside of Japan (with Atlus choosing to do the honours instead).
Not only did it never get released for the N64, it barely got released for the Gamecube!