Here's some cool footage we found on an old VHS tape. It was sent out by the now-defunct fansite Rarenet in the summer of 1999. The tape contains rare footage from beta versions of "Jet Force Gemini" and "Donkey Kong 64" shown at E3 that year, as well as some other miscellaneous footage from the show floor. Recorded on May 15, 1999.
---POINTS OF INTEREST:---
Donkey Kong 64:
2:07 Footage from "Crystal Cave" (later renamed to "Crystal Caverns") with some placeholder text for E3 players in Funky's shop.
3:30 A beta level select room for the E3 demo
3:55 Beta version of the Fungi Forest minecart level (called "Minecart Two") with unfinished lighting
7:00 Diddy Kong firing some real-looking guns (not the peanut poppers seen in the final game)
8:20 More footage of the beta level select room from DK64 (which was labeled "E3 '99")
8:37 Beta version of Frantic Factory (called "The Toy Factory")
21:00 More DK64 footage
22:23 DK64 bonus level (called "Banana Challenge") with some different lighting than what's in the final game
24:20 Beta version of the first DK64 level (called "Jungle")
24:43 Beta version of the barrel blast bonus level (called "Blast Barrel Blitz") - this version has trees, whereas the final version did not
26:46 Another beta bonus level from DK64
27:16 Beta version of the boss from the first level of DK64
27:30 More footage of the beta level select screen from DK64
27:46 Beta version of the Jungle Japes minecart level (called "Minecart One") 29:10 Beta version of the boss entry room from DK64 (if you'll notice, the guy playing it breaks the game and makes DK walk through the wall to a black area behind the map)
30:27 More footage of the first boss from DK64, with brighter lighting
33:16 Boss from the Fungi Forest level
35:00 Tiny Kong race
35:55 A considerably different animation for the N64 logo
36:27 The endlessly lovable DK64 rap (with more real-looking firearms at 36:57 and 38:30, which were replaced later)
39:35 Beta version of the DK64 title screen. In the final game, it read "Donkey Kong 64" as a flat image, but this version reads "DK64" with 3D models for the letters.
40:18 More miscellaneous DK64 gameplay.
43:30 Beta version of the DK64 battle arena (called "Battle Arena 2 - Kremling Karnage")
43:59 More footage of the first level from DK64 (with a ridiculously large banana medallion, which was later replaced with a smaller version for the final game)
49:29 More beta DK64 footage
50:33 Beta version of the jingle that plays when you pick up a blueprint
51:00 More footage of another "Banana Challenge" minigame.
54:54 Slightly creepy 3D DK64 display.
Jet Force Gemini:
0:30 Jet Force Gemini level with Lupus
1:50 Beta title screen for Jet Force Gemini
10:37 More footage of the Jet Force Gemini beta title screen
11:03 Starting here, there's footage of the child version of Jet Force Gemini, before the main characters were replaced with the more grown-up models
11:27 A beta Jet Force Gemini menu for E3
11:33 Beta version of the first level from Jet Force Gemini
12:56 Another level from Jet Force Gemini, showing off another version of the child Juno model
14:39 Floyd level
16:33 The child Vela model in another level
44:35 More Jet Force Gemini footage with the child Vela model.
Other:
9:58 Conker's Pocket Tales
52:21 A snippet of footage from the beta intro to Perfect Dark
52:36 to 58:12 Footage of the E3 show floor from 1999
53:29 An animatronic puppet from Star Wars Episode I
54:29 The Pokemon section of E3.
57:21 A HUGE Spyro display. I wonder who got to keep that?
57:42 Remember when Star Wars Episode I was the hot new thing? Good times...
