Dillon's Rolling Western

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Dillon's Rolling Western.

To do:

This official website by Nintendo has quite a lot of content detailing the development and early ideas for the game before it was changed to a Dillon title.
- Proper English translations for the text for the pages are needed.

'...But what does it mean?'
This game has text or audio that needs to be translated. If you are fluent with this language, please read our translation guidelines and then submit a translation!
Notes: The translation for most of the stuff from the pre-release page here is done using Google Translate, and might be inaccurate.

Development Timeline#

2010#

In May 2018, an interview with Nintendo producer Kensuke Tanabe, and Vanpool developers Risa Tabata, and Jun Tsuda was released on NintendoWorldReport, documenting the early days of Dillon.

Originally the game was supposed to be a spinoff game based on the Goron characters from the Legend of Zelda franchise. It would focus on the Gorons' ability to curl into a ball and roll. A prototype build was created and shown to Nintendo, no footage or screenshots of the build surfaced online, however 2 concept artworks for it were shown off in an official Japanese Nintendo Online Magazine. The pitch was rejected to Nintendo and the Nintendo producers suggested Vanpool to use rolling mechanic with an original character instead.
During the trip to Austin, Texas while helping the team for their Metroid Prime and Donkey Kong games, Kensuke Tanabe would do some research about Texas, and found out that the representative animals were armadillos, and thought about it being in a western setting. As such, the game was later repurposed to a Dillon title.

2011#

June 7, 2011: The game was shown in E3 2011 under the title "The Rolling Western"
December 2011: A new trailer of the game was released, looking close to the final game.

2012#

February 22, 2012: The game is released worldwide.

Concept Art#

Early concept art can be found on this website, 2 for the Goron pitch and the rest for the Dillon game it was repurposed to.

Goron Legend Of Zelda Spinoff Game Pitch#

"The core concept never strayed from the theme of using 'slingshot controls' to roll and defeat enemies. We were inspired by a certain boss battle in 'Irodzuki Tingle', where you use a slingshot to fight. Beyond that though, our ideas were relatively few, and Producer Tanabe had to bail us out on countless occasions."

"In keeping with the Tingle (i.e. Zelda) setting, the character candidate became a member of the Goron tribe, which can curl up and roll around. The director was so excited that he wrote a theme tune, 'Mygoron's Song', to include in the proposal. It bombed spectacularly -- the only thing that got any praise was the controls. However, this outcome laid the foundation for our unwavering commitment to touch control right through to the end."

Dillon's Rolling Western Pitch#

Dillon#

Dillon himself had 3 early designs

First Design: "After the Goron idea bombed, Producer Tanabe encouraged the development team to 'aim for something more mainstream'. Taking this lip service seriously, we decided to focus on creating original characters and began working on a proposed armadillo design. Though our first take on the character was quite mild."

Dillon's first design is pretty generic, he's also shorter, and has no gear.

The other characters featured are Governor Cappy and Mayor Gates whose designs are identical to their final counterparts, along with a human woman that wouldn't fit the animal-only setting.

Second Design: "As we finished up the action, the gameplay started to take on a cooler, more heroic feeling than we'd imagined, and the character's design became more and more refined alongside it... but he still looked like a breakfast cereal mascot. It would probably be cocoa-flavored, by the way."

A character model based off the third concept art can be found in The Last Ranger's files in res_maya28.vpl

On the right is a texture mockup for said model to match the concept art.

Concept Art	Texture Mockup

Scrogs#

The scrogs, were actually originally cactus people at one point, until Kensuke Tanabe was against the idea.

"We incorporated elements of strategically defending bases (tower defense), and the subject of what exactly the hero should be protecting came up. Producer Tanabe's first suggestion was cactus people who multiply quickly no matter how many are eaten, but after thinking about it some more, it sounded creepily like human sacrifice, so it was recommended that the idea be dropped. For a while, everyone just called the thing to be protected 'livestock' -- which, thinking on it now, might be the creepiest term of all."

"A typical example of the developers failing to reach a mutual understanding. Is it really OK for your partner to be eaten...?"

Russ#

Russ had a completely different design compared to the final.

He was originally a mole at one point.

"At one point, we wanted the partner to have the convincing ability to move underground, so that he could rush to Dillon no matter where he was. However, many people, including Supervisor Miyaji, strongly recommended a squirrel instead. It taught us that sometimes good looks take precedence over functional design. And... yeah, this mole is not that great."

Scrapped Mayors#

A sketch, featuring Dillon's earliest design, alongside a lion, giraffe, and hedgehog that were originally planned to be mayors, however were scrapped because of them not fitting the wild-west theme.

"All kinds of animals appear in the game, but there was a strict taboo against giraffes, elephants, and lions. Not because they didn't fit the Western theme or anything, but because the instant they appeared, it would suddenly boost the 'zoo-like' feeling of the game and make it start to seem strangely like an educational TV show."

Misc#

Electricity shortfalls caused by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in East Japan, as well as the resulting Fukushima nuclear disaster, led to power rationing programs being implemented across the country. The lack of AC and heating influenced the team to draw two artworks that showcase Russ experiencing these conditions.

2011 was a year of energy conservation. Vanpool's office is a single building, with the largest room measuring about 7 or 8 meters up to the skylight. At a certain time every morning, an intensely strong sunbeam glares into the room like the ant-scorching light of a magnifying glass, making it miserably hot inside. And inevitably, the young people are forced to sit directly in its path. "See, it looks like a laser beam. Isn't that cool?"

2011 was a year of energy conservation. Vanpool's office is a single building, and the seats facing the balcony get horrendously cold. K, the main programmer, was unlucky enough to sit there — he managed to survive the winter by covering the windows with bubble wrap and cardboard. Typical for someone from Akita.

Images#

Nintendo Website#

Also found on the website is a early screenshot of a prototype build of the game. Which showcases some notable differences.

The textbox is more basic looking.
It closely resembles the E3 2011 build, albeit with earlier assets.

E3 2011#

Eleven E3 2011 screenshots of the game were uploaded to Cubed3

Videos#

Watch on YouTubeDillon's Rolling Western was shown off at E3 2011 under the title "The Rolling Western" with various differences.

During gameplay, Dillon will usually stand still when not controlled. In the trailer, he is seen shifting back and forth.
Scruffles and towers are less detailed.
When Dillon starts a combo, 2-hits is usually displayed in blue and changes color the longer the combo is extended. In the trailer, 2-hits is displayed in yellow and red and remains the same color regardless of combo length.
Only one color of rock is seen in the mines, which is the gray variant. In the actual game, a blue and gold variant are also encountered, as the colors hint at the rock's contents.
Names are drastically different in the trailer: i.e. Scruffles are called Manju Grass.
When a raid is started in the trailer, Grocks are instead referred to as "monsters" by Russ.
The Grocks count is in the top-right corner of the screen instead of the bottom.
Gatling Guns easily defeat Grocks within a few hits.
Grocks on the plains are surrounded by a green ring and noted by a star. The reason for this is unknown, though the green ring will change colors from green to yellow and finally red when the grock is attacked by a tower before the grock is destroyed. Because of this, it is likely that the ring denotes the grock's health.
Grocks are also seen with health meters in battle.
Dillon's heart meter appears different.
When Dillon charges up a roll attack, the shock wave is not seen when it strikes.
Instead of letting off a bright blue beam, unvisited mines give off a wide green-colored beam.
When battling a Veggrock in-game, the patch of grass that Dillon encountered the grock in is visible in battle. This patch of grass is absent during battle in the trailer.
Though longer, the Arma-Mode meter is depleted more quickly.
Dillon is seen using Arma-Mode without the Ancient buckle.
A different symbol is seen on the doors of the Ancient Ruins.
If one pays attention, the graphics are more "lighter and cel-shaded" than the final release.
Dillon's pre-English name was shown to be his Japanese name, Jiro.
Scruffles were originally called Manju Grass.
Shards were originally called Kochin Stone.
Stone was originally called Rock Piece.
The grunts that the Grocks make sound different.

(Source: Dillon's Rolling Western Wiki)

Late-Development#

On March 12, 2012, one of the employees of Vanpool, who has a Twitter account named hatosen_vanpool posted an image of a bingo card with Russ on the front of it.

This was for the launch party they had for the game on Friday on February 24, 2012.