32X / Mega CD

Last Action Hero [Sega Mega CD – Cancelled]

Last Action Hero for the Sega Mega CD is a cancelled game adaptation of the Arnold Schwarzenegger film of the same name, developed by Bits Studios to be published by Sony Imagesoft.  The NES, Super NES, Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Boy and Sega Game Gear versions were released, but they all look different from the Mega CD version, that used pre-rendered characters and background, as in the Bram Stoker’s Dracula CD game. A Sega Master System version was also developed, but never released.

Thanks to Celine and S.J. Reed for the contribution! (scan from EGM51! and a few from HG101)

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32 Xtreme [Sega 32X – Cancelled]

32 Xtreme is a cancelled extreme sport game that was in development by Sega for the Sega 32X add-on for the Mega Drive / Genesis. It was going to be a collection of different sport genres, as Snowboard, roller-hockey, Jetski racing and… frisbee throwing? How’s that supposed to be extreme? Sadly we’ll never know, as the game was canned and the only screens preserved in the gallery below are from the “WipeOut” Jetski part.

Thanks to Celine and Rod_Wod for the scans!

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Akira [SNES MegaDrive/Genesis – Cancelled]

Rod_Wod from the Assembler Forum has posted various scans from the cancelled Akira games (based on the manga / anime with the same name) that were meant to be released by THQ for the Genesis / Mega Drive, Super Nintendo, Mega CD and Game Gear. Probably the screens published in the magazines were all from the same version, as the graphic looks almost the same for all the various consoles. Some more screens were found by Celine in Player One #44, Console Plus #44 and #35. Thanks to Sketcz from the Hardcore Gaming 101 blog for the other scans!

From an interview at Hardcore Gaming 101 we can read a lot of interesting info about the development of these unreleased Akira games:

“It was not so much cancelled or scrapped as it fell into neglect. Larry transferred rights to THQ and we couldn’t get clear agreement on the game elements with the project manager. They didn’t understand the limitations of the SNES. The project was then victim to a number of disasters including the lead programmer leaving, and other work being more pressing.”

A short video from the game was recorded at CES in summer 1994, you can see it below (it looks like the game crashes / freeze at some point). Thanks to Brian for the link to the video!

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Akira SNES

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Aftershock [Sega 32X – Cancelled]

Aftershock is a cancelled shoot ’em up that was in development by Sega Midwest for the 32X. A short video (just a couple of seconds) of the game was seen in the episode #70 of the ROX TV Show, when they visited the SM studio. As we can read from a GDRI interview with Jim Reichert, former Sega Midwest designer, the project was canned because of economic problems:

JR: Aftershock got beyond the proof of concept stage, and we were developing the game when I left. I remember that Aftershock got rave reviews as a product pitch at SOA, but by that time, Sega Midwest had pissed away so much money (with little ROI [return on investment]) that nobody trusted them with SOA cash — and Sega itself was totally floundering (32X?!?). It was too bad because that game actually had some legs, and the whole studio was excited about it — and I was the lead designer. I still have all the videos and game assets associated with it — I even have a cartridge with the prototype on it. We had a professional cartooner design all the characters for the game, and the images were completely awesome.

[…]

JR: Essentially, it was Jungle Strike set in a post-apocalyptic world where you could fly, drive, and cycle around.

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