August 2011 - Page 2 of 4 - Unseen64: Beta, Cancelled & Unseen Videogames!

Colosseum: Road to Freedom (aka Gladiator: Road to Freedom in Japan) is an action game developed by Ertain and published by Koei in 2005 for the Playstation 2. The uncut / beta version is a different enough game that it could be probably be considered the equivalent of a “director’s cut”. Aside from the slave trade mode missing, it’s an overall MUCH more polished and satisfying game to play all around and certainly a LOT less frustrating.

There is actually a “Retry?” option available for boss battles that lets you replay the fight several times if you lose. You do not instantly lose all of your items and half your money if you continue as you do in the release version. It is baffling as to why this feature was removed as it lets you “scout” out the boss and if you lose you will be able to prepare yourself better to fight him/her the next time around.

The uncut / beta version contains a “Gore” option that can be turned on or off. When turned on, body parts can be hacked off during battle and go flying across the screen. Severed heads can be used as handheld weapons, thrown, or kicked across the ground at opponents. Legs get hacked off and enemies fall down in severe pain. It adds a lot of fun and realism to the gameplay, and of course better portrays the brutal nature of what was gladiator combat. Body parts can also be carried out after a fight and sold to the merchant for a very large amount of money, so much in fact that you can buy any armor you could possibly want and the extra money allows you to upgrade your armors exactly how you want them.

I don’t know quite what happened between the two versions, but so many things were changed around and removed for worse in the release version and I feel the game suffered because of it. It almost seems to me as if the game producers / developers had conflicting concepts of how they wanted the game to be, and the release version we know won in the end.

Thanks a lot to DeusFlux for the info and the video!

Videos:

Nintendo, Nintendo 64 & 64DD

Beetle Adventure Racing [Beta / Unused – N64]

monokoma

17-08-2011

4 Comments

Beetle Adventure Racing is a racing game developed by Paradigm Entertainment and released for the Nintendo 64 in 1999. Goomther noticed that in the GSCentral archive there is a cheat code that modifies the track you’re about to race on. Some of the values turned out to be beta / unused tracks and debug rooms. You can check them in the video below.

Beetle Battle was known as Bug Hunt in the beta version and had 9 ladybugs. The unused ladybugs are the Black Ladybug, the Grey Ladybug and the White Ladybug. The boxes used in Beetle Battle and some placeholder objects also exist as ladybugs, it’s unknown why they are there, but the developers just tested them (they forgot to remove them). There is a test turning track in the game that doesn’t have it’s own track. It has a bridge in the middle and a road that goes from the other one. The left part begins with it going with no turns. Then it turns right and left. The right part begins with the road then turning left into the bridge. The tracks you see in the menus also exist as their own models. The Inferno Isle menu track 2 has one difference: the small road to the left doesn’t exist. The beetles do have weird crappy textures on their back, however some don’t have it.

Thanks to Vanalker for the contribution!

Videos:

Others, PC / MAC, Playstation, Sony

Powerslave 2 (Exhumed 2) [Cancelled – Playstation, PC]

Celine

15-08-2011

6 Comments

Powerslave 2 (AKA Exhumed 2) is a cancelled game that was in development for playstation and PC, set in ancient Egypt, thousands of years before the original title. At the start of Powerslave 2, Ra ( the sun god) disappears causing a permanent solar eclipse on the land. It turns out that he has been abducted by one of his arch-rivals, and its your duty to rescue him and return light to the world. As a young egyptian warrior you must seek out various egyptian gods and attempt to gain their super natural powers, in order to ultimately challenge and defeat Ra’s rival.

Contrary to the first Powerslave (a FPS) the sequel was meant to be a third person action game, even less linear than the first episode. Developed by original creator Lobotomy Software, the game was probably cancelled when the studios was acquired by Crave Entertainment in early 1998.

Images from GameFan 5-10

Images:

Microsoft, Others, PC / MAC, Xbox

Shade: Wrath of Angels [Beta – PC / Xbox]

U64 Staff & Contributors

14-08-2011

No Comments

Shade: Wrath of Angels is an action game for the PC and Xbox, developed by Black Element Software and published in 2004 by Cenega. Shade: Wrath of Angels’s working title was Nefandus and development Started in 1997 as isometric shooter based on Quake2 engine. The project was to be released by freeware, but distributors got attenttion, orginal concept was changed to 3rd person shooter with new storyline and title changed to Shade: Wrath of Angels. Game was finished in 2003, but developers didn’t fell they could succeed with the game concept and development started once again as hack’n’slash action with free moving camera, 1st person view and 2nd playable character the Servant, Mequon physics and DirectX 9 features added, story was brand new and final game released fall 2004 had nothing to do with previos version. Final game was to be ported to orginal Xbox and Nokia Ngage phone, but that never happened.

Final game was about saving main characters brother trough present, medieval, Egypt and Shadowland, but that has nothing to do with previous builds.

Post by Xerxesmv

Images:

Videos (Beta Version):

Videos (final version):

Unseen News

Tales of Legendia [Unreleased for the GameCube]

U64 Staff & Contributors

13-08-2011

3 Comments

The “Tales” series is very popular in Japan and other countries in the world. There is lots of versions from many consoles, such as Playstation, Gamecube. However, there is a version that never have been released for Gamecube. It is supposed to be a sequel of Tales of Symphonia. Here is a scanned picture from a Brazilian Magazine called “Nintendo World”, which talks about it.

-Scan taken on the Issue 66, February 2004, from Nintendo World, page 13.-

Translation by joaowojcikiewicz and help with some old grammar errors by KooPako:

“Sequel to Symphonia (Tales of Symphonia – GC)
=================================================
RPG to Gamecube will have a sequel
Namco doesn’t stop. Just after releasing Tales of Symphonia, elected as Gamecube’s best RPG of 2003 by specialized game sites, Namco announces it’s sequel. Tales of Legendia will be the sequel of Symphonia, its plot takes place years after the events of the original game ( symphonia ). the game will also feature a Multi-Linear Battle system. (a mix of elements of RPGs and fighting games in battles), with 3D simulated graphics. Namco also revealed that the game will have connection with the new game of Tales which is being developed to GBA. More information in the next issues.”

NOTE: The magazine never came with more news about Tales of Legendia in the next issues.
====================================================

The game would also connect with Game Boy Advance. Connecting with an another “Tales” game that was not announced on this article. It could probably have E-cards with special items for the game, or use the Game Boy Link to play Multiplayer or something.

There is no other informations about this game.

In the day August 25, 2005, Tales of Legendia was released for Playstation 2.

Thanks to gabrielwoj for making the article, joaowojcikiewicz (for translating the Portuguese article) and KooPako (for helping with grammar) for the contributors!