Maximo 3 is the cancelled third episode in the Maximo series, a game that many fans were waiting for, but unfortunately things went not as planned. The original Maximo: Ghosts to Glory is a 3D action game created as a spiritual sequel to the 2D Ghosts n’ Goblins series, developed by Capcom Production Studio 8 and released for PlayStation 2 in 2001 / 2002. A sequel, Maximo vs. Army of Zin was released in 2003 and the third game was in the works by the same team, but after only a few months of development it was canned due to lower than expected sales from Maximo 2.
Maximo 3 was started soon after Studio 8 finished to work on the second chapter (Maximo 2 ends with the promise of a third game, with Maximo and his allies teaming up to find Queen Sophia), and they created many concept arts that you can see in the gallery below, with new enemies, settings (an Arabian theme, inspired by the success of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time) and features. The “cartoony” feel of the original games was dropped for a more gritty look.
In the original design doc we can read more about Maximo 3’s gameplay mechanics and story:
Across the Southern Sea, in a land of exotic culture a great history, lies the city of Mashhad, the gateway to the ancient east, but lurking in the shadow of a proud people are the forces of blood and corruption. The Cult of Chut, a religious order legion with fanatics, is preparing to transform the city into a single bloody alter whose population will be the sacrifice in their apocalyptic ritual.
But all is not lost: Maximo stands against this tide of destruction. Having followed the trail of his lost love, Maximo arrived in Mashhad with hopes that his journey will soon end. Now he will pit his sword and wist against the church’s faceless leaders and rescue Sophia; the possessed conduit through which Chut makes itself heard.
Maximo 3 stars with Maximo and his band in bad shape. In their quest for Sophia, the heroes have encountered the Cult of Chut, death worshipers who find a “man who walks with Death” an affront to their beliefs. As a result, Baron has beel killed, Tinker maimed and Maximo and Grim have been merged into one, thanks to a curse. Maximo and Tinker have been hunting down cultist sects when they arrive in Mashhad, seeking revenge and a cure to Maximo’s condition.
The new connection between Maximo and Grim would have been used as one of the main features of Maximo 3, needed to progress through the game:
Maximo is covered in tatoos, which are actually the external manifestation of the cultist’s curse that has trapped Grim within him. With the press of a button, Maximo transforms into Grim, allowing him several abilities.
As a result of the curse on Maximo, turning into Grim drains Maximo’s Health. Stay as Grim for too long and Maximo will lose a life. Only by collecting the souls of the evil cultists can Maximo sustain himself in Grim form.
At some point in the game, Maximo will use Grim’s form as a disguise to infiltrate the cult’s tower during Chut Holy Day. Gameplay will have the players switch the two forms.
As a phantom. Grim can slide up walls, flow like a shadow along walls, give a little extra distance to a jump and glide down from long drops. In addition, the player can perform several attacks with his scythe. Grim attacks do not always kill, rather they are used to “prep” an enemy for Maximo’s attacks, such as breaking a cultist’s protection spell or “mortalizing” ghostly foes.
While in Grim form, the player cannot talk to innocents as they are too scared. However, Grim’s attack will free the innocents of the cult’s influence, turning them from enemies to normal innocents that Maximo must rescue from othe enemies.
After this first concept phase, Capcom Studio 8 created an early playable prototype with a test level which would have been the hub world of the game, to test out Maximo’s new abilities, as Wall Jump, Carry / Push / Pull / Throw items, Swim (to maneuver around obstacles, resolve puzzles and find hidden treasures in deep lakes), Talk to NPCs to gain information, advance the story, start mini-quests, rescue innocents from enemies and free them from the influence of the Cult.
Some new items and weapons features were also planned, as the Sword Grapple to grab ledges, the Flintlock Rifle (a new gun-weapon type), Claws to climb up walls, the Crossbolt Gauntlet (to shoot bolts and to use it as a grapple hook to swing or to be pulled towards a secret area) and the Horn (to knocks enemies back and to cause parts of the scenario to shake and break to find new paths). There was also a “lock on” mechanic, very much like the 3D Zelda games.
Maximo 3 was going to be a much more ambitious project than Maximo 1&2 and would have taken the series into a full action-adventure game, more similar to The Legend of Zelda. The new lead designer was heavily inspired by exploration / puzzle aspects of Zelda, so the game was going to be more focused on exploration and to be less linear than the previous titles.
In the Maximo 3 prototype it was possible to explore a small town, to interact with a few NPCs, climb upon its walls and fight with some enemies. There was just one functioning enemy, which was a the basic cultist that you can also see in the concept arts. Looking at this unfinished prototype and reading the design doc, it seems that Maximo 3 could have been the best game in the Maximo series, but unfortunately not much more work was done on it, as it was canned soon after the creation of this early demo.
Capcom Production Studio 8 was full of talented artists and after they finished Maximo 2 they started to work on 3 interesting pitches: Maximo 3, DeVargas and Final Fight: Seven Sons, the unreleased FF that was planned before Final Fight: Streetwise. In the end, only FF: Streetwise was greenlighted from Capcom, but when it was released it failed to achieve mainstream success and it bombed in sales. Capcom decided to not invest in their California team anymore and sadly Production Studio 8 was closed down in 2006. Only few concept arts, a video and a few pages from the design doc remain to preserve the existence of Maximo 3.
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What do you think about this unseen game? Give your vote!
(28 votes, average: 4.79 out of 5)
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That’s sad I really enjoyed the two Maximo games. Though from the way Maximo 2 ended it was always obvious a third game was intended.
A great series laid to rest, to early and to young. We will miss you Maximo. Even though you were hard as hell with your punishing difficulty. We still loved you because we took the time to find the hours of fun to be had with you. We just hope that you can once again make a deal with Death to bring you back for one more chance. But if impossible then this is or last goodbye, so goodbye Maximo… we wont forget your legacy.
Maximo was awesome, I think it was poorly advertised. I stumbled onto part 1 and loved it. Part 2 rocked. If they were to release a remake of parts one and two remade with trophy content like they are doing with god of war and then rock out a part three that would really kick some butt. Maximo for life!
i enjoyed this game very much. i thought that this game wasn’t promoted very well and could have been marketed better. i am very disappointed to see that the third game was cancelled,i put several hours into this adventure only to find out that i will not be able to end this adventure. do you understand that the adventure needs to be finished! this story or another similar adventure could be re- introduced for ps3 .thanks for the good start,i did not like the end. trevor
I thought Maximo 2 was great! I can’t believe that there’s not going to be a third installment of this series. I have been waiting for Maximo 3 all this time only to find out that now there’s not going to be one. I am very disappointed.
Carlos
why maximo, why you can’t make part three ?
Maximo could of bind a bad ass hearo! WHY not make game 3?
Maximo 3? Only just find out that their not making a number 3! thats sad. i enjoyed number 2 so much couldnt stop playing it. Maximo will be missed. I think they still should make a number 3 Maximo and Sophia reunited. You’ll be missed.
A few years ago I was part of a focus group for Capcom regarding this game, which was in development by Production Studio 8. Myself and a few others got to see an early version of it. It’s really too bad that this ended up getting canned when they shut the studio down.
Thanks a lot for the info Mark! It’s interesting to know that they shown some early versions, maybe some videos will leak in the future :)
I’m sorry to read that, I haven’t played Maximo 1, but the second was GREAT, one of my classic favorites of the PS2 (Wishing to get it on PS3 at least as PSN downloadable).
fucking capcom why no maximo 3 as a kid i waited a long time for this game to come out only to find out that maximo will never save that bitch and i will never get a true ending to the game! i;m watching you capcom!
I see I wonder why that Maximo 3 cancelled ?! okay Look at me all of you guys who work very hard from ur company “CAPCOM” I respect that alright. look at me ? I’ve played for Maximo 1&2 too it’s great good games that you guys created it Maximo a great legends I am host with you guys from Capcom that like that game Maximo I had great time with alots of adventure l’ve played both game Maximo1&2 too let me tell you guys from Capcom Why not make Maximo 3 for PS3 game I’ll can tell it’ll be gonna very cool with alots of your experience u guys from Capcom you once didit before hey u guys from capcom company should created Maximo 3 YOU GUYS NEVER DONE IT BEFORE ? Haven’t you guys from Capcom should make Maximo 3 will going to be cool ? Why not ? Why not you guys make Maximo 3 for PS3 makes alots fans happy? I know there alots of fans out there they likes to have you guys from Capcom makes that game Maximo 3 think about it Capcom you guys from Capcom.
I enjoyed Maximo 1&2 I really wish you make Maximo 3. If you put more better detail and more art designs on Maximo then you can release it then the fans will be happy. I liked the ending but they still have too save Sophia.
that realy sucks that maximo 3 was not made but i hope that the capom studio will re-open and get strait on to makeing maximo 3 but on ps2
and if so death might give all our mate maximo another chance. idk why they didnt make number 3 through
There is a indie version in the works. It was inspired by Maximo. It’s supposed to be multiplayer.
Can you please provide some links??Maximo was easily one of the best games ever and i was very dissapointed when i found out a third game would never come out
Of course the second game wouldn’t sell as much, Capcom, you barely advertised it.
Assholes.
I had got wind of this series when I had investigated whether or not Capcom had expanded the Ghost and Goblins games into the 3d format of the PS2. To my delight I found out that they had made the leap to 3d with the game Maximo. Difficult to make the correlation from the title…but I tracked down a used copy at Gamestop and was immediately blown away. It was indeed the world of Ghosts and Goblins. Well drawn cartoon like characters, eerie landscapes, hidden chests and secrets, and a fairly challenging system of levels. (not early the crazy difficulty of G.&G but thankfully not as easy as gargoyles quest.)
I kept tabs on the 2nd PS2 Maximo and bought it as soon as it was released. Another awesome game!!!
I waited and waited to hear word of a 3rd game…hoping for a PS3 launch…but learned of this cop out that I have started to come to expect from Japanese based game production companies. (Konami).
My only hope is that Capcom approaches this great world again.
Maybe for the next gen…or use an oldschool engine and make it a pure online dlc. Im sure they would find that there is a nitch for this game still…
Hope they do maximo 3 I really want to know if maximo will find Sofia