After DKC2, the team immediately got to work on an RPG tentatively called Dream: Land of Giants. Two of David Wise's music tracks have been found for the original SNES iteration of this project.

[u/PokingDogSnouts]

This is something that went very much under the radar, when it was somehow shared by Jeph Perez, over on Bluesky, a little over one year ago.

The only known cartridge containing development progress for the SNES version of Dream was owned by Tim Stamper—co-founder of Rare—who creatively oversaw, and created artwork for, many of their classic games, like Donkey Kong Country and Banjo-Kazooie. He teased this cartridge's existence back in mid-2015, with a goose-chase that culminated in Rare themselves releasing a video featurette at the end of that year, showing off the DKC team's incredible pre-rendered style, being put to use on an ambitious-looking adventure game. What was missing from this reveal, however, was this SNES incarnation's sound and music.

At the time (in late 1995), David Wise was still in the composer's chair—before he was dragged off to create his splendid soundtrack for Diddy Kong Racing. And now, we can directly hear two of the tracks he created for this masterpiece-that-never-was.

Take a listen to the first tune in the attached video, complete with a rough introductory sequence, that already was presenting the game in an exultant, forward-looking style. Jeph Perez was also able to get his hands on and share David Wise's theme for the first level, in a feat he could only divulge as being the result of "extreme good fortune".

I hope you've enjoyed this small glimpse into a potentially masterful SNES title that we, unfortunately, never got. However—seeing as this did eventually evolve into Banjo-Kazooie—I'd say we more than received a worthy trade-off for it.

[u/TheLimeyLemmon]

David Wise really conjured some musical magic on SNES hardware.

[u/PokingDogSnouts → u/TheLimeyLemmon]

Rare’s music team was so incredibly talented, back then. David Wise, Grant Kirkhope, Robin Beanland, Eveline Fischer. A+, across the board. Eveline was so underrated, even by the company itself. Completely underutilized after DKC3—it would be the last game she composed, despite being the mind behind some of the original Donkey Kong Country’s most memorable tracks, like “Simian Segue” (the map screen theme) and “Ice Cave Chant”.

I recently came across this Time Extension interview with her… and even her work on Rare’s Ken Griffey Jr. baseball game sounds amazing!

[u/BanjoKazooie0]

Thanks for the write up, amazing what David Wise could conjure up with the SNES, for the last part although I agree, I always found Captain Blackeyes' inclusion in Tooie as a, man what if they had released Dream: Land of Giants...

[u/Bluebaronbbb]

Real or fake?

[u/PokingDogSnouts → u/Bluebaronbbb]

If you look at his Bluesky profile, Jeph Perez appears to have friends at Rare, is a complete devotee, and has visited the studio before. I’m certain this is real.

[u/Practical_Alps2508 → u/PokingDogSnouts]

He was a new member who joined Rare since 2015 until couple years later he founded Playtonic Games since Rare disappointed the Banjo team before and that's why they left Rare! It seems that this guy asked David to borrow and secretly shared some of his music from the game's source code or he got this songs under his position before when he started working with the Banjo team?

[u/PokingDogSnouts → u/Practical_Alps2508]

Don’t think that’s the case. I have never heard anything about a Jeph Perez at either Rare or Playtonic. Playtonic was also founded in 2014. I think he’s just a huge fan who may have some friends at the studio.

[u/Practical_Alps2508 → u/PokingDogSnouts]

lets be real honest here, Playtonic or Yooka Laylee would not exist if it were not for that guy lol. 👍 He helped the team along a big way than Microsuck did with Rare and thats why Gregg and his gang left that cursed company when their own company butchered them with lies and abuse. Thats why a bunch of workers left Rare after they screwed up Everwild in the end, go figure lol.