I'll wait around to see if anybody else answers for a bit. Gives me some time to figure out a question that isn't some silly retro videogame myth I read about in one or two spots ages ago.
Edit because I didn't want to double post:
Right, well. @
Pikmon2
Pikmin started out as a demo for the Gamecube featuring 128 Marios running around. Things fell silent after that, and while I can't say much about the god sim phase, it did eventually re-emerge as Pikmin, with its 100+ individually rendered models.
-Score: 3-