Jet Sprint MX is a canned water racing game that was in development at Funcom Dublin in 2001 for the original Xbox. This was going to be Funcom’s first Xbox project, based around boat racings in which you had to win various competitions in arcade and career modes. The game was cancelled only few months later, when Funcom Dublin was closed down, because the main company decided to move out of development for the Xbox to focus on PC online games.
Thanks to Celine for the contribution!
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Slipshod is a cancelled platform game that was in development by Electronic Arts in 2001, for the Playstation 2 and Xbox. It was supposed to launch a new platform franchise for EA (something like Crash Bandicoot or Ratchet & Clank), but sadly after some years of development, they decided to disband the team and kill the game.
One of the levels was finished and playable, but it was too easy and not much fun to play. The Slipshod team put a lot of time and effort into the artwork and the graphic engine but they did not have enough time to develope the actual game play.
The main character design and background evolved a lot during the development: named “‘Buggy”, he was originally meant to be a pizza delivery bug in a “human-sized” world, who rode a segway and was trying to save his girlfriend. After 2 years of work, EA decided to change the whole game from scratch. In another concept “Buggy” was more like a ninja bug, who had to collect scrolls. One of the last changes before the cancellation put Buggy in a “bug-sized” world, having the whole game to take place in a tree stump.
After the target of the project was changed again to create the new “bug-scaled” world, rumors of the cancellation started to pass inside the dev-team and soon after they were all reassigned to different games. EA decided that they had already put too much time and money into the development of Slipshod, and to start over would have been too cost prohibitive.
Slipshod had the potential to be a fun game, but sadly the continuous changes of perspectives and scenario ended up killing the project.
Thanks a lot to Hey Hey for the contribution and to Tyler for his help to preserve info and media from this lost game!
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12 Volt is an arcade racing game that was in development by Sproing in 2003 / 2004 for the Playstation 2, Xbox and GameCube. The game was set in slot-car tracks and players would have been able to race their models in houses and gardens. 12 Volt looked like a mix between Re-Volt and another cancelled Nintendo 64 game, Mini Racers: it’s unknown why Sproing never released this project or how much it was completed before being canned.
Some more info can be read in the original press release:
The cars can move freely on the track, they are not bound to a specific lane or slot like conventional slot cars are! This way the game combines the look of a die-cast-racer with the feeling of a full-physics arcade rally game!
Highly realistic physics enable the player to activate toys and tools that work as weapons against other players. Imagine plunging through a heap full of marbles crashing at you in a world that really looks and feels like a childhood dream-come-true. Special magnetic rails even allow you to hook on to the inner side of hairpins and drive through them at full speed!
A GBA version was planned (and cancelled) too, but they did not even show any screens from this portable version.
Thanks to Userdante for the contribution!
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Alone is a cancelled horror FPS that was in development by Red Paperclip Games for about a year. After they completed an alpha build, new funding caused Alone to go from the Game Maker Engine to the CryEngine2 Engine, but sadly after about three months work stopped abruptly.
Today Alone no longer exists and there is very little reference to it on the Red Paperclip Games website, but thanks to Archive.org it’s still possible to read an old page on the project:
ALONE was first going to be a test game to say that I could complete a game. Well through some thinking I came to like ALONE. At first I had no name so I came up with ALONE to describe your state. ALONE started to attach to me more until I put time and effort into the game. Now I am always working on ALONE wherever I go. I also managed to pick up a few people on the way.
Dr. Rick Hauss has performed biological test to create a new enhancement for the U.S. armed forces. The new enhancement is known as the HGE or Human Genetic Enhancement. In the process of making it, Dr. Hauss accidentaly created a new virus. This new virus was known as the Z Virus. This virus would take over dead cells and bring back their living properties. The effects on brain cells allowed the virus to control the body. Before Dr. Hauss realized it, he had already tested on five subjects. The first four died and were brought back from the virus.
The final experiment survived. After the four experiments killed everyone but Dr. Hauss in Bio Labs, they spread out to take over the Norton Military base. The effects of the HGE causes increase in strength, agility and intelligence. Although the subject also obtains permanent amnesia. The final experiment is Seth Thomas. His body has a natural immunity from the virus.
The player will play as Seth Thomas through the game ALONE as he uncovers the truth behind the HGE.
A very early Alpha of Alone was somehow leaked online: in this build there are many bugs and everything is a place holder texture: not much of the first area is in this, but it is all that is left. An interesting view on the early development of a lost game.
Hidden in the Alpha code it’s possible to find 6 levels:
Livello 1 = environment testLivello 2 = vehicle testLivello 3 = enemy test (same as lv 2)Livello 4 = full level test (same as lv 2)Livello 5 = secret boss (empty lv)
Livello 6 = cutscene test
Airborne Ranger is a cancelled action game / third person shooter that was in development by Microprose for the Super Nintendo. The game was a sequel / remake of the original Airborne Ranger released in 1987 / 1988 for Amiga and various PCs. As the original version, we would have play as a sole airborne military to infiltrate enemy territory to complete various objectives. It’s currently unknown if the SNES version was going to use the same level system as the original game, that created maps and objective locations randomly so missions were never the same.
Some screens of the game were found in magazines Banzzai #14 and Super Power #12
Thanks to Celine for the contribution!
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