Nintendo has revealed that they had once teamed up with Vanpool to develop a horror game that starred Tingle, the thirty-five-year-old man obsessed with forest fairies who first appeared in The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask.
The project was eventually cancelled for “a variety of reasons,” which soon saw the developer divert their attention to exploring a prototype for a game where the main character rolled to travel around.
“Looking back eight years ago, we were developing a horror game with Vanpool that starred Tingle as the main character, but that project was cancelled due to a variety of reasons,” Nintendo producer Kensuke Tanabe explained to Kotaku.
Vanpool went on to build on their prototype, eventually resulting in a new IP: Dillon’s Rolling Western for Nintendo 3DS. That has since spawned sequels in Dillon’s Rolling Western: The Last Ranger and, most recently, Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers.
Tanabe has shared his concern that “many people are not aware” that Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers was released in May, but, with strong sales momentum now behind the Nintendo Switch, it more than likely indicates that many are now choosing to spend their time and money with the portable home console rather than the ageing Nintendo 3DS.
