Do you remember that damaged ROM of a cancelled genesis game that was found by Mr. Mark? It was Kartoon Kombat, an arcade fighting game developed by American Technos, that was planned for the Sega Genesis, something like a parody of Mortal Kombat with cartoon characters. Sadly, as the ROM is broken we’ll probably never be able to play the game, but thanks to Rod_Wod from the Assembler Forum, we can at least take a look at a screenshot from it, as he found an image in an old magazine!
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“Zombies Ate My Neighbors” is a 1993 run and gun ‘horror’ video game for the Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis and Super NES platforms. This video game was originally developed, distributed and produced by LucasArts as a comical tribute to both classic and schlocky horror films of the 1950s through the 1980s. [Infos from Wikipedia]
It seems that a beta version (titled Monsters) was leaked somehow online and through a password (BCDF) you are able to play a bonus level that was later removed from the final game (the BCDF bonus level in the released game is different from this one). Thanks to a video from WillowAlchemist Youtube Channel we can see this beta area. Another beta level (he Son of Dr Tongue Bonus Level) was found by Superfun64: it has no monsters, is smaller, and has different music.
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“It Came from the Desert” is a 1989 computer game developed by Cinemaware. It was originally released for the Amiga and the gameplay centers on the player choosing what they want to do by selecting an option on the multiple choice screens that pop up.
This unreleased Sega Genesis / Megadrive version was going to be released in 1990. The game has little in common with the Cinemaware classic as it’s more action oriented: an overhead shooter with the main protagonist running around on foot, and able to walk in all directions. Among the differences in play mechanics, the Sega version allowed the player to create powerups that were fashioned by collecting machinery pieces and joining them together in different combinations.
Note that the Sega version was originally cancelled and never actually released in physical cartridge: only later it was distributed as a ROM from the Cinemaware website after the turn of the 21st century. Despite the similarity of camera perspective, the Sega version did not appear to reuse any of the graphical elements created for use in the computer-based versions. [Infos from Wikipedia]
We cant thanks Cinemaware enough for their decision to share this unreleased game with everyone, instead to forgot it somewhere in their basement! An interesting interview with the main programmer of this project can be read at SEGA 16.
Here’s an interview by Ross Sillifant with Bob Jacob (Cinemaware)
Ross Sillifant: What happened to the MD/Genesis version of It Came From The Desert? I believe it was a very different game in terms of plot and gameplay, being more akin to an overhead shooter. Why the changes to game format and further canning of project?
Bob: I don’t remember! (getting old)
Ross Sillifant: It’s been claimed that when S.D.I was in process of being ported to
another format, it’s release was delayed as the company had asked the programmer to add extra features and such needed extra time, is this claim true? If so which format was it and what extra features did you ask for and why?Bob: The port referred to has to be the C64. It was never completed, not because we asked for features, but because the programmer was not up to the task (he later became quite good).
Thanks to Celine for the contribution!
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At the Lost Levels Forums, GDRI has posted an interesting link to a japanese blog, where we can find some scans with screenshots of Devil Buster, a cancelled action / platform game inspired by Megami Tensei, that was in development for Mega Drive / Genesis at SIMS Studios. In the same topic Kid Fenris and kaboro posted some more screens from the game from other magazines. Props to them!
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Kiddo has made us to notice about a beta trailer for Mega Man: The Wily Wars (a compilation from Capcom containing remakes of the first three games) that shows an incomplete, buggy version where Mega Man doesn’t die, his jump animations don’t appear right half the time, and various other funny little things.
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