A playable proto of the cancelled Freak Boy N64 has been found at a carboot sale

If you had a Nintendo 64 in the late ’90 you probably remember one of the most interesting games announced but never released for the console: Freak Boy.



Here’s a short snippet from the original press release:

IRVINE, CALIF., May 16, 1996 — Enter the world of FREAK BOY in Virgin Interactive Entertainment’s (VIE) first NINTENDO 64 (N64) game. Three-dimensional graphics, addicting play mechanics and cutting-edge technology that uses morphing special effects define the world in which FREAK BOY lives – an alien world N64 players won’t ever want to leave. Created by Burst, VIE’s in-house development team, FREAK BOY is scheduled to be in stores in early 1997.

Unfortunately the game never seen the light of day, cancelled after its publisher decided to made the team to rework the project multiple times because of marketing decisions. While many cancelled games risk to be lost forever, deleted by the same developers or forgotten in some dusty archives, we could have more luck with Freak Boy.



In september 2015 a reader of Unseen64 randomly found a working early prototype of Freak Boy at a carboot sale in Guildford, UK. It seems that the seller at this flea market did not know much about the historical importance of the strange cart that he was selling, along with other old games, probably in a dusty cardbox. Luckily our friend recognized the title written with a marker on the dev-cart and quickly bought it before other retrogamers. It seems that along with Freak Boy the same seller had 2 other prototype carts, one had written “casinò” and the second one “mario 2“. Unfortunately a the moment we don’t know what was the content of the other 2 carts (if the new owners of those protos are reading this article, please send us an email!).

The Unseen64 reader that found this Freak Boy prototype would like to remain anonymous, but if you are interested you can contact him at freakboyn64@yahoo.co.uk

Untill now the only available video from Freak Boy was an ugly, pixellated footage from E3 1996, finally we are able to see more from the project, even if in its incomplete alpha. Take a look at the short playlist below with the all the new Freak Boy videos, we hope to be able to have some longer ones soon. Enjoy!



Source: Unseen64

I'm surprised that this wasn't posted on the forums...

Also, I'm pretty intrigued about the "mario 2" cart. What could it possibly be?

 

One thing is for sure, this game does look pretty fun. A bit sluggish compared to the footage of E3 but still looks like it could have done quite well.

 

I think i have an old EGM magazine with a preview for this game.

 

Freak Boy was one of the primary reasons I wanted the N64. Much obliged for the news lolzvid, I hope it will surface one of these days!

 

I'd assume Mario 2 is just Mario Party 2. I can't imagine why the guy would buy Freak Boy and yet pass up the other two clearly prototype carts. Not making sense to me. But great he's sharing nonetheless.

 

This is great! Why are all the videos so short though? it's quite strange.

 

I was wondering the same. I watched 3 videos to see like 30 seconds of footage. Still, cool to see some clear footage.

 

Pretty cool, I never knew the game got this far.

 

Neat find!

 

Nice to see something like this found at a carboot in the UK (flea market/carboot = same thing).

Good stuff.

 

I'm looking to set up a fundraiser to get this and dump the Rom, I'll give more details soon.

 

That's good to know! You seem like the resident N64 proto guy so I assumed you might get it one way or another.

 

I want it so bad!
I contacted the owner and gave him a reasonable first offer to test the waters and he says that he was offered double that and still didn't accept!
The fundraiser would need to get at least $2000+ so hopefully all the fans come out for this one!

 

It's a piece of history that got lost along the ways.

Hopefully once I'm a bit more level headed the fundraiser can begin.

 

Sorry for, again, bumping a old thread but has this game been dumped online already? Looks really interesting!

 

nope

 

Damn shame this didn't get released.

 

Randomly had this proto enter my mind again and thought I'd bump. What ever happened to this? Is the current ower MIA or does anyone know if they still plan to share it someday?

 

The last I talked to him he wanted 6,000 pounds for it which is quite a steep price. He said he would put it on ebay "at some point." This was around Christmas time. Haven't spoken with him since.