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)
Images:
What do you think about this unseen game? Give your vote!
(8 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)
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Nice, great game!
Cara. Esse Jogo é muito loko. Muito legal o site
Is it possible that the game wasn’t originally meant to be based on the movie? The Mask head/health meter doesn’t look like Jim Carrey or even the Mask from the cartoon, but rather the one from the comic book the movie was based on (which is a LOT different from the film, as the Mask is featured as a psycopathic killer instead of a wacky superhero).
There’s also the different Mask sprite, backgrounds, unused attacks and weapons etc. which all suggest to me that the game was going to be based on the comics (and if so, it would possibly have been a gore-fest a la Mortal Kombat) before they decided to base it on the movie.
My guess is the game was i development along side the movie as the color of the mask’s suit in this beta version is similar to the suit Jim Carrey wore in early effects tests. Which was a light baby blue, but that might have blended with certain colors so they changed it to purple. I think most of the graphical assets and game play decisions were based off these early designs with some comic elements like the Mask’s face as a placeholder for the final design. But when the film took a new direction, which since there was a years extra development time before the final game came out I’m guessing they were not made aware of until much later they had to scrap everything and start from scratch. Being that the previously mentioned effects test were sent out to the press for hype I wouldn’t be surprised if all the team had for references were existing press documents and didn’t know until the final push of the film’s marketing that the film had changed.