 Development of the game took under three years . It was originally conceived as a larger , non @-@ linear open platform game for the GameCube . However , a simpler design and simpler concept were adopted due to the Microsoft buyout and increasing time constraints . After Microsoft 's purchase of Rare , the studio re @-@ affirmed their " simple design " of the game so that players would be able to easily adapt and devote less commitment to it . In a retrospective interview , Mayles stated that the change from GameCube to Xbox was difficult and required a lot of changes as Grabbed by the Ghoulies was " an original game that started life as a Nintendo product " . 
