In the late 90s, Nintendo tried to secure the exclusive rights for the Harry Potter series. The game maker only had plans to develop video games with the license even though the deal would have included movies and television, according to a report from Unseen64

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Unseen64 is a site that specializes in digging up details on cancelled or unreleased games. Their latest finding shows that in 1998, Nintendo of America had one week to pitch Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling for the rights to the Harry Potter universe.When the company heard the Potter license was for sale, Nintendo NST studio reportedly halted development on Ridge Racer 64, Bionic Commando, and Crystalis to quickly prototype Potter games for the Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance, and GameCube."All together it was only a week of insanely furious scribbling things to the digital artists to create animations for mock game demos," said a former Nintendo employee.Unseen64 says there were internal arguments about which art style the developers should use for the games. The game's artists originally chose a look similar to the first book's British cover , but Nintendo higher-ups reportedly wanted a more Japanese style.Other companies bidding for the IP included Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros, with WB obtaining the rights in the end. Unseen64's source said Rowling turned down Nintendo in favor of its competitors because they were able to cover TV and film, as well as gaming.

Brian is an associate editor at IGN. You can follow him @albinoalbert on Twitter