Rare's "big three" line-up, consisting of Perfect Dark, Donkey Kong 64 and Jet Force Gemini, was on display for Nintendo's annual Spaceworld event in Japan. Unfortunately though, both Perfect Dark and DK64 were running on Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) ROMs, unchanged since we saw them last May in Los Angeles. Rare's apish 3D platformer still featured a graphic on its startup screen that read "E3 '99." Meanwhile, the developer's action-shooter Jet Force Gemini was on display in its nearly final form. While we were admittedly disappointed to see the reappearance of older versions of both Perfect Dark and DK64, we still couldn't pass up having another go with them and, of course, JFG.
We will have updated impressions on all three games next week. However, here are a few Perfect Dark notes that we couldn't help but pass your way now:
Perfect Dark
- Coming February 2000 in Japan.
- According to show floor signage, the game is approximately 70% complete. We're not sure if this is meant to reflect the E3 version on display or the game in its current form.
- We noticed that Perfect Dark looked awfully crisp and clear. After inquiring with a Nintendo representative, we were told that the game was running in high-resolution mode with the use of the 4MB Expansion Pak.
- The same Nintendo representative told us that Rare is still debating whether or not to make the Expansion Pak mandatory.
- The game's framerate appeared a little smoother than it did running on flat-screen Plasma televisions at E3, but there was still plenty of slowdown ¿ especially in the title's first level.
- Multiplayer mode runs very fast ¿ better than the single-player game at times, in fact.