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Kameo: Elements of Power

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This page details pre-release information and/or media for Kameo: Elements of Power.

Early DevelopmentThe game's early days of conception. 2001The game loosely begins development for the GameCube. 2002Now under their new owners, Kameo begins moving over to the Xbox. 2003The game's scope begins changing from a Pokémon-like monster collector to a more action-adventure experience. 2004With the next generation of consoles on the horizon, Rare decides to shift development to the Xbox 360. 2005Rare begins polishing up and finalizing Kameo for its release as a launch title.

Development Timeline#

Pre-2001

  • Per an interview with software engineer Nick Burton and lead artist Mark Stevenson in a behind-the-scenes video released to coincide with Rare Replay, the earliest work on the game began on Nintendo 64, shortly after the completion of Donkey Kong 64.

2001

  • Winter/Spring - Development of the GameCube version begins.
  • May 14 - PGC reveals that Rare is working on a "secret game". More details are revealed two days later.

2002

  • September 24-25 - During Microsoft's X02 event, the company announces its purchase of Rare. As a result, the game was shown off extensively for the very first time. This version is most likely the most finished iteration of the Pokémon-styled monster collection gameplay, as they focused and cut down the game much more going forward.

2003

  • Rare released another trailer and showed off Kameo at more events in 2003. The game hadn't changed entirely yet, but it's evident they already started to focus the game's scope towards something resembling the final game. There seems to be far less Elemental Warriors, and it seems like the creature catching/baby raising was repurposed into catching an Elemental Sprite to unlock that warrior.

2004

  • Unknown - After another year of focusing and honing Kameo, with it basically resembling the final product to a high degree, Rare is offered two choices by Microsoft: release Kameo for the Xbox as planned, or continue polishing up the game for their new console, the Xbox 360.

2005

  • Rare continues polishing up and finalizing Kameo by adding more content to the nearly-final Xbox version of the game, such as the badlands and higher-fidelity graphics.
  • November 7 - The game is released in North America.
  • December 2 - The game is released in Europe.

2006

  • February 2 - The game is released in Japan.
  • February 25 - The game is released in South Korea.
  • March 16 - The game is released in Australia.

References#