Update []:
It's been a while since we spoke about Hard4Games' video on 40 Winks' unreleased Game Boy Color port, but thankfully, we now have an exciting update to share.
A build of the game has now officially been dumped online, giving those who have always wanted to check it out the opportunity to finally play the game for themselves.
The build was dumped online by the preservation group Proto Challenge, and came to our attention thanks to a recent video by the YouTuber Prototopia. It seems similar to the one shown off in Hard4Games' previous video and features six playable levels in total.
As you may recall, back when Hard4Games covered the Game Boy Color port back in 2023, one of the major reasons it gave for not dumping the port was that 40 Winks was "an active IP" (it is currently owned by Piko Interactive, which was reportedly planning to finish and release the game).
In response to the news, Piko has launched a poll on Twitter/X asking players whether it is "worth a cart release or should we skip it?" and encouraging people to sign up for its newsletter for "more 40 Winks news". Perhaps this means that an official release isn't far off, after all.
If you want to grab the unfinished build, you can do so here.
Original Story []: In 2019, Piko Interactive resurrected a lost N64 port of Eurocom's PlayStation platformer 40 Winks almost twenty years after it had been abandoned. It was a bizarre turn of events, but stranger still is that it apparently wasn't the only version of the game that its original developers, Eurocom, put aside back in the day.
In a recent video, the games preservationist channel Hard4Games has taken a look at an extremely rare, never-before-seen Game Boy Color port of the game. And while the N64 version was teased (and even reviewed) in magazines back in the late 90s, this Game Boy Color version was completely unheard of until 2021, when a prototype appeared on eBay.
40 Winks, in case you're unaware, is a 3D platformer that focuses on two twins called Ruff and Tumble who must save a set of creatures known as Winks from the antagonist Nitekap's evil plan to trap them all in nightmares. It was first released in 1999 and was originally published by GT Interactive.
In the new video, Hard4Games reviewed footage from the Game Boy Color version of the game and gave some information on some of the changes present. The biggest difference, for instance, is that the game is a 2D sidescroller with graphics reminiscent of the Donkey Kong Country ports on the Game Boy Color, which featured a faux pre-rendered art style. This is, obviously, a departure from its 3D origins, but it makes sense given the console's technical constraints.
Another smaller change, meanwhile, is that players can use projectiles without needing to collect moons to replenish their attack. This is, again, in contrast to the original's design.
Hard4Games reveals in the video that it has reached out to the current rights holders, Piko Interactive, and the publisher has expressed interest in releasing the Game Boy Color port. Though before it does that, it wants to make a few changes, including adding bosses and fixing the game's photo album (a mode where you can view artwork of the game's characters). Right now, this album displays incorrect character art when a piece of art is selected, which would probably have been fixed had the game gotten further along in development.
For preservation's sake, we hope that Piko decides to release the original version alongside this more complete edition, but whether that will be the case remains to be seen.
If you want to watch the full video from Hard4Games, you can do so above. The channel is full of interesting videos about cancelled projects, so be sure to subscribe!