That’s right. Another article from me regarding a Nintendo 64 game that’s now retroactively related to Sega by way of corporate merging years later. Are you doing any barrel rolls over that yet?
Viewpoint 2064 was developed exclusively for the Nintendo 64 (Oooooooh, I see what they did with the name there) as a sequel to Viewpoint (1992), an isometric scrolling shooter developed by Aicom and published by Sammy originally for the Neo-Geo family of game hardware. The original Viewpoint was ported to a few other systems, including the Genesis/Mega-Drive. (You might recall that was part of the Sega Genesis Mini 2) Viewpoint 2064 was still being published by Sammy, but was being developed by Racdym. (The same Racdym that made Snowboard Kids) It was shown to the public at Nintendo Spaceworld 1999, and was likely meant to release in stores either that year or the next, but for whatever reason it simply wasn’t meant to be.
Fast forward to 2025 and a new development cartridge containing the full game has been found and its rom dumped online for all to see. This comes after a prototype version of the game was previously found and dumped online in 2020. Not only does this new version look and feel much more complete than that prototype, but the cartridge also has a sticker with the word “Master” printed on it, implying that this might’ve been the completed version meant to be mass produced onto cartridges and shipped to stores everywhere. This master version was found and preserved by game archival YouTuber Hard4Games onto Archive.org for all to try for themselves.
Hard4Games has also prepared a video showing the game in action, including some comparisons to the prototype he found five years ago. If you would like to View that, then I will Point you beyond the break here.
Much like the original Viewpoint, the game is presented in 3D, but this time with polygons instead of pre-rendered sprites, and your ship’s movement is limited to the X and Z-axis, but not the Y-axis. You fire upon all enemies in your path with a variety of weapons and dodge obstacles as you move through each stage. Unlike the original game, Viewpoint 2064 takes full advantage of the N64’s 3D capabilities to create much more dynamic environments and dangers to navigate. It also now presents the game in a third-person view behind your ship, although the Master version starts the first stage in the isometric view for a few seconds as a callback to the original game. The game also includes a lock-on laser attack that can be trained onto multiple enemies before firing.
Any story within the game may have to be left up to interpretation, as not much of it is explained in the game. There probably would’ve been a bit more of it in the game’s manual if this game got that full retail launch. There is a nice pulsing House soundtrack in the game, just like the original, so the jams will keep you pumped throughout the game.
You can download the game rom right now from Archive.org and give it a try in your favorite Nintendo 64 emulator or flash cartridge. The prototype found in 2020 is also still up for grabs too. Consider it a free, new experience for any fans of the Nintendo 64 console who aren’t sore about it and the PlayStation crushing the Sega Saturn in the 90’s (or celebrating it).
Do you think this game would’ve made for a cool new retail release on the Nintendo 64? Do you think it might’ve held up as a sequel to the original Viewpoint? Did you play the original Viewpoint? Would you have rather seen it made for Saturn or Dreamcast because it’s weird to see a Nintendo 64 game on SegaBits, even if it came from what is now the parent company of Sega Cooperation (Or just old fashioned anti-Nintendo bias)? Did I write this article with too many round brackets? Let us know all about it in the comments below.
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Nice to see a practically finished game found and preserved. They probably never released it because they thought the quality wasn’t up to snuff. Just speculating on my part of course. Well, people can now play it and decide for themselves!
It’s possible. The Nintendo 64 still had great games coming out in 2000, but mainly from Nintendo themselves. Outside of them, things were really beginning to slow down on that console. Sammy probably thought, even with this likely being a budget game by comparison to Nintendo and Rare’s games, it was unlikely they’d make their money back from manufacturing.