Vanished Powers [PSX PC – Cancelled]

Vanished Powers [PSX PC – Cancelled]

Vanished Powers is a cancelled action adventure / RPG that was in development in 1995 / 1996 by Neon Software (creators of Tunnel B1) and it would have been published by Ocean for the original Playstation and PC. It was going to use an isometric 2D graphic style, with prerendered backgrounds and lots of FMVs, along with more than 70 (weird) characters, modeled with Silicon Graphics. In the end the Vanished Powers was never released, but we dont know the reasons behind this decision.

Thanks to Celine for the contribution! Scans from Cd Consoles #15 and Player One #62

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9 thoughts on “Vanished Powers [PSX PC – Cancelled]

  1. Youloute

    I was waiting for this game, I read it was also planned on Saturn but I don’t remember which magazine wrote that. It had a nice water effect.
    I guess a few games produced by Ocean were canned when Infogrames bought Ocean in 1996.

  2. Andreas

    Vanished Powers was originally only planned for Windows PCs (was a Decision from Ocean). But Neon said, it woiuld also possible for PSX and Saturn.

    Dont know the reasons, why it was canceled – but Ocean get in financial trouble at this time

  3. Ross Sillifant

    NEON coded the game in the C Language as they knew something written in C could be quickly converted to PS1 and Saturn far more quickly than if it was coded in assembler code, PS1 version was due to be released same time as PC version.

    Speaking of NEON…Vanishing Powers started out as 1 of the 2 projects they had going when they were set up:Project’s A+B.Vanishing Powers was Project A and Project B was going to be a mix of claustrophobic subterranean levels mixed with more open, airborne stages.Ocean realised potential for 2 different games, so project B was split into 2 games:Tunnel B1 (hence the use of B) and Hornet B2, then named Viper B2, then just Viper.

  4. Peter Thierolf

    This game was planned for PC and Sega Saturn right from the start, but *not* for Sony PSX.
    It was coded in C mostly because at that time, C Language was the way to go, not for porting reasons. It had a fair share of assembly code as well because PCs did not have powerful GPUs at that time.

    However, during development the game went through a couple of changes both technically and content wise, it started out as 256 colors, ended with 16 bit Hi-color right before it was canned. Reason for canning the game was that Ocean had another RPG game, Silver, in the making and producers thought Vanished powers would be the inferior game. They just did not want to release two similar games so they would cannibalize each other.

  5. Ross Sillifant

    :-) As the weeks go on, more and more sources come forward/are contacted, it seems just about every claim written in UK Press was either miss-quoted or down right incorrect or made up and thuis false hope for Lost versions on a platform dissapear like snow before the sun.

    So this was never a PS1 game then? way to go Edge, bad enough you quote coders as being Ninja’s on Saturn who never worked on the hardware, pass off screens you know as mock-up’s as Jaguar CD ones (that’s up there with Mean Machines using Alien Trilogy CGI as in-game Saturn shots), Ultimate Future Games claiming Jaguar Quake was 30% finished, Zero+Ace claiming 7800 gauntlet was being coded by Bob armour, C+VG claiming Gremlin doing 7800 games, TGM claiming John Croudy was doing Driud II on A8 etc etc…..

    I guess anything went, just to fill an article, like who was going to actually look further? If Mag X said it was coming, it was coming……

    Shesh.

  6. Ross Sillifant

    When I look back at another of NEON’s titles, Viper on Playstation, built using the Tunnel B1 game engine, you soon realise great technology is useless if the basics aren’t right.

    The game proved very frustrating to play and pulled in some low scores..

    43% in Gamesmaster Magazine.

    Some games are better off being canned…If they are weaker than those they are attempting to replicate, resources perhaps better spent on more original titles.

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