Cave story (Doukutsu Monogatari in Japan) is a freeware platform / adventure indie-game released in 2004 for PC and a WiiWare port by Nicalis in 2010. It was designed and programmed over 5 years by Daisuke Amaya, art-name Pixel, in his free time. A classic by almost every sense of the word. I say almost, because despite it’s pixelated graphics, Cave Story is actualy a modern game, with a deliberate old school feel. However, as with most good games, trial and error are required, and in the end, some things are left out. Cave Story is no different. At one point, the main character, Quote, was Curly Brace. That name later moved to a girl. Sue didn’t always look like she does, several areas just didn’t make the cut, and some tiles just weren’t used in the final game. There’s plenty to see in the images below.
Ragnarok [GameBoy – Cancelled]
Ragnarok is a cancelled RPG that was in development in 1994 by Imagitec Design for the original Gameboy. This project should not be confused with the Ragnarok Online MMORPG created by GRAVITY, but it’s possible that the scenario of the GameBoy title could have been related to “King’s Table: Legend of Ragnarok”, a fantasy chess game developed by Imagitec for PC in 1993. Only a single screenshot of Ragnarok GameBoy was published in Total Issue magazine 25, but the game was never released.
Thanks to Pentarou Zero for uploading the scan and to Whitestrider for the link!
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Aero The Acro-Bat [SNES GEN MD – Beta / Concept]
Aero the Acro-Bat is a platform game developed by Iguana Entertainment and published by Sunsoft in 1993. Super for the Super Nintendo and Mega Drive / Genesis. At Kombo we can read an interesting article about the game, in which they even shared the original design doc, created by David Siller in 1992. Some of the major differences that we can notice from looking at the design doc are:
in-level missions such as hopping over quicksand and landing in a lion’s mouth that did not make it to the final version of the game.
Not all of these items are in the final version either. The barrel, for instance, appears in a single stage and is presented as a mode of transportation instead of an item worth points.
Unused enemies
The original mission objective screen showed Aero in action as an example on what the player needs to do. While this idea was not included in the original 1993 release, the 2002 Game Boy Advance re-release added a variation of this concept back into the game.
Thanks to Robert Seddon for the contribution!
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The Mask [SNES – Beta]
The Mask is a platform game (based on the film with the same name) developed by Black Pearl Software and published in 1995 by THQ for the Super Nintendo. Early in its development, the game was much different from the final version, as noticed by Mister Syd on the Lost Levels Forum:
Health meter is a series of facial expressions, while the health meter is numerical in actual game.
The Mask’s sprite is completely different in shape, color and design, almost as if this build was completely dismissed and recreated from the ground up.
Visually, I find this the most interesting because it looked like it was going to play more like a brawler than the platformer it turned out to be.
All of the screenshots’ backgrounds are not used anywhere in the final version of the game.
Unused abilities; The Mask has no low-kick, or a (strange-looking) gun that fires projectiles in the game and the mallet is a different color (and pose) but the tornado’s design might of been used in the game.
Some of the enemies in the screen shots I think are actually still in the game, but could be edited a bit in the release; the man with the gun by the bank vault is likely not in the final release though.
The Mask was also planned for the Genesis / Mega Drive, but this version was never released.
Thanks to Celine for the contribution! (scan from EGM #61)
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Gremlins 2: The New Batch [GameBoy – Beta]
Gremlins 2: The New Batch is a Game Boy side scrolling platform game based on the film with the same name and released in 1990 by Sunsoft. TheActionGameMaster noticed a small beta difference in an old screenshot, found in a magazine. You can see that the life counter is at 5 lives. This is not possible in the final version, because there are only two chances at extra men in the game, and Gizmo begins each continue with 2 men.
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