Nintendo

X10 (Warthog Games) [Cancelled – Xbox, PS2, GameCube]

X10 is a cancelled first-person shooter for the Playstation 2, Gamecube, and Xbox developed by the defunct Warthog Games. Known mostly for licensed games, Warthog Games was founded in 1997 and worked with such properties as Harry Potter, Looney Toons, Star Trek, and Animaniacs. Like many licensed video games, the British developers’ output was rarely met with critical praise as their work achieved an average of 59 on Metacritic. X10 was to be a deviation to this formula, as it was not based on any previous IPs.

X10 was announced on July 9th, 2002 on the website IGN along with the publisher, Conspiracy Entertainment. This article also gave a brief summary of what the game was intended to be like:

“X10 situates players in the role of a soldier who, following strict orders, must explore a world of the same name. The planet presents gamers with many challenges, including environmental difficulties, political problems, military factions and of course dangerous enemies and predators.”

Conspiracy Entertainment senior vice president Peter Bergstrom also noted the lack of new Intellectual Properties in the video game industry, and their excitement for the project:

“We are very pleased to team up with an outstanding partner like Warthog to develop a new game and a new game IP for today’s increasingly discerning consumers.”

Little was shown off of the game during its reveal, besides concept art, a screenshot, and an Easter 2004 release date. More information about the game was revealed during an interview with Worth Playing.com. The Project leader on X10, Hal Sandbach, discussed many details about the game, including an explanation of the games’ title:

“Without giving too much away, the player and the rest of their squad are sent to investigate why there is a lack of communications from a particular research station. Twelve such research stations exist, although the player only gets to see one. The one the player is sent to is the tenth, hence x10.”

As for gameplay, X10 would have featured open-ended levels set on an alien planet and facing off against space marines, settlers, X10’s indigenous population, and the mysterious Hollow (which despite being important enough to be named dropped in the Worth Playing interview, the Hollow were not mentioned in any other pre-release materials). The game also would’ve mainly been set in varied environments on the planet, with Hal Sandbach specifically stating how  “we want to get away from the corridor-based games as much as we can.”

To traverse these large environments, the game would’ve featured several different vehicles. Sandbach even teased that the games’ opening was to be set inside a vehicle. X10 would have also implemented a complex physics system for each of the in-game vehicles that was being developed using the teams’ previous work with physics-modules. The Worth Playing interview teases that the game planned on using boats, buggies, air vehicles, and even trains.

The game was also to feature light survival mechanics, with players’ carrying capacity would be limited so they would have to choose what items to take with them throughout the levels. This goes in tandem with the weapon selection for X10 and while not much is known about the full loadout, Hal Sandbach did divulge some details. The game was intended to have a mix of traditional FPS weapons like sniper rifles, and more unique weapons, although nothing in particular was revealed.

After the Worth Playing interview, X10 was not discussed much by either Warthog or Conspiracy. A November 2002 interview with website NoFrag.com took place but no substantial new information was revealed, and the game was not heard from again after 2002. In 2004, Warthog was acquired by Tiger Telematics to develop games for the then upcoming Gizmondo handheld. Now under the umbrella of Gizmondo Europe, they were developing several games for the Gizmondo including Momma Can I Mow the Lawn?.

After the failure and bankruptcy of Gizmondo, many staff members from Warthog came together to form Embryonic Studios, which was purchased by TT Games to become TT Fusion. The team still exists and are working on the LEGO Franchise and their handheld counterparts to this day.

Article by Alex Cutler
Thanks to Daniel Nicaise for the contribution!

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Gaishin Senki: Millennium Sword [SNES – Cancelled]

Gaishin Senki: Millennium Sword (鎧神戦記ミレニアムソード) is a cancelled strategy RPG that was planned by Magifact to be released on Super Famicom / SNES around 1995. Screenshots were published at the time in a promo leaflet and by looking at these it seems the game was set in a strange post-apocalypse earth, with flying ships as in Captain Harlock, huge mechanical knights as in Magic Knight Rayearth and cthulhu alike demons. It sounds quite epic, isn’t it?

Artwork created for the game was shared on Twitter by the author and a former Magifact developer even shared his memories working on the project (translated by Google):

“I’m one of the former developers. Thank you very much for that section. I still remember that the boss took the trouble to bring the completed painting to the development room. I’m very sorry that I couldn’t complete the game, but I’m very happy to see the wonderful illustrations again ^_^ .”

We don’t know why Gaishin Senki: Millennium Sword was never released, but we hope one day someone could find a playable prototype, as it’s weird settings looked really cool.

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Zorro (IREM) [SNES – Cancelled]

Zorro for the SNES by IREM Corporation was a game being developed around 1994. Nothing was ever mentioned of this game’s development or existence. An ex-IREM employee briefly uploaded a clip of this game on youtube in March 2021. However, it was quickly deleted by the user. Thankfully a youtube user, ShiryuGL, was able to download and share the video with others.

Upon further research the user who originally posted the Zorro gameplay turned out to be Yoshinobu Oyaman. After making contact with Mr.Oyaman, he was able to confirm that this Zorro game was actually based on the early conceptualization of the Mask of Zorro 1998 movie. The game was to include both an older and younger version of Zorro (similar to the film) and gameplay was based off of Konami’s Sunset Riders.

Ultimately the project was cancelled due to IREM disbanding their console concepts in 1994 to focus on coin-op arcades. Yoshinobu also stated that this game was very hard to develop due to it being the first action game being developed by IREM.

Interview translated using google translate: 

Evil Pixel: Hello I’m writing about unreleased games. I was informed that you worked at IREM and I wanted to know more about this Super Nintendo Zorro game. No one seems to know anything about it. I hope you can help me get more information for documentation purposes. Thank you for your time.

Yoshinobu Oyaman: Hello, ZORRO was made when I was at IREM. I’m a developer with ARCADE and SFC, and I was a Game Designer for SFC. IREM has released HOOK on ARCADE which they liked, so the game was developed under the copyright of The Mask of Zorro. Unfortunately, the development of IREM was disbanded in 1994, so it was unfinished and unreleased. The content of the game was aimed at the feeling of KONAMI’s Sunset Riders. I couldn’t get any information just from the information that two Zorro (the first Zorro and the young Zorro) would appear in the developing movie, so I made an action game using a sword and a whip while watching Zorro’s comics.

Evil Pixel: Thank you for that information. Do you know if a game prototype cartridge exists? If so, do you have a photo of the cartridge?

Yoshinobu Oyaman: (Yoshinobu proceeds to show me the prototype cartridge in his possession).

Evil Pixel: thank you very much. This is the last question. Was the game complete or was it half complete? Also, did the game have any interesting features? It looks amazing

Yoshinobu Oyaman: Unfinished. It was hard because it was the first ACTION GAME in the third work after I made R-TYPE. After this, I changed jobs to BANPRESTO and made Super Gussun Oyoyo.

Evil Pixel: Are you the only one who has a copy of the zorro cartridge?

Yoshinobu Oyaman: I had a former Zorro programmer burn it into a ROM. As expected, I cannot make a copy

Article by Evil Pixel

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Mortimer in the Big City (Imagitec) [Cancelled – SNES, Mega Drive]

Mortimer in the Big City is a cancelled action adventure that was in early development by Imagitec Design for Super Nintendo and Sega Mega Drive / Genesis. The project is mostly forgotten today, but a short article about it was published in 1992 on Hobby Consolas magazine (issue 10), with a few details on it’s gameplay (translated with Google):

“Mortimer, who is the “protagonist”, must do everything possible to rescue his girlfriend Maria Mouse from the clutches of Rufus the Rat. There are six levels to explore in which you can find everything: from animals of all kinds to an infinite number of objects, platforms, some humans, puzzles, traps and, above all, bomb-proof action and exasperating gameplay.”

At the time Imagitec developed some fun games such as The Humans and Viking Child, so we can just wonder if Mortimer in the Big City could have been another interesting project. The only Mortimer image published in Hobby Consolas is a concept art, and we don’t know if they ever created a playable prototype before its cancellation.

 

Heart & Heart (M&M) [Game Boy – Cancelled]

Heart & Heart is a cancelled dating-sim that was in development around 1991, planned to be published by M&M on Nintendo Game Boy. Players would have been able to insert real-life details of their loved one, such as age, Zodiac sign and blood group, and customize the sprite of the in-game girl. Then Heart & Heart would calculate the compatibility between the player and the girl, then maybe set a romantic date trying to choose the right questions and answers to win the girl.

An ad for the game was also published in Famitsu magazine (issue 157), but in the end Heart & Heart was never released. Here is the ad text translated by Google:

“In 1992, the ban on male-female dating live simulation was lifted, and her actual data was input. In addition, the eyes and looks are also montages. In addition, the game starts with her own data. An epoch-making experience that does not change from the real date is waiting for you. Whether she was able to escort well is shown by her compatibility diagnosis with her last. Since the data stock for 12 people can be done, there are 10 people and 10 colors to use. You can get data from that unrequited love daughter and use it later for compatibility diagnosis. Of course, even if she isn’t there, she can play a good game called Nampa Mode. For men and women, I have to make it myself, because I don’t want to be a Shinario. Now, really hone your dating skills. Soft Heart & Heart for Game Boy ”is in great shape!”

We are not sure what happened to M&M, but they are the same company who published the cult-RPG Otaku no Seiza: An Adventure in the Otaku Galaxy.

Thanks to Celine for the contribution!

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