Sega

The Incredible Shrinking Character [Cancelled – PSX SAT PC]

The Incredible Shrinking Character is a cancelled action adventure game that was in development by Go-Go Interactive Studios and that would have been published by Cyberdreams for the Playstation, Saturn and PC in 1996. The plot involved a crazy doctor that shrinked the main character with an experimental potion. Players would had to explore the (now) huge laboratory resolving puzzles, to find a way to return to normal. As we can read at Bill Narum’website, former owner of Go Go Studios:

The year is 1959. You are a Private Investigator hired to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Julie Caldwell, daughter of a wealthy east-coast industrialist family. The subject, in her early twenties, was last reported heading to visit the home and laboratory of Dr. Warren Franklin. […]

On the afternoon of January 30th, you head off to the doctor’s castle for the interview of a lifetime. Unknown to you, Dr. Franklin has laid a trap, and you awaken in a stupor to find yourself only 3 feet tall and gradually shrinking. You realize now that finding Julie will be no simple task. […]

Another reoccurring sound you can’t help but notice is that of a female screaming, most likely the victimized Julie. The volume and intensity increases as you approach the dungeon. You must find the antidote and save Julie soon, but first you must evade becoming dinner for the doctor’s house cat, and numerous other deadly creatures, bats, rats, roaches and ants, etc. that inhabit the mysterious castle.

They planned at least 10 levels in the game, in which the main character would have shrinked more and more each hour, leaving us to deal with big ants and size-based puzzles. A short preview of The Incredible Shrinking Character with some screens were published in NextGeneration magazine issue 14 and some more info on the project can be found at Bill Narum’website. You can even download a playable beta demo for PC! Huge props to Bill for preserving some documents of this lost game!

Thanks to Celine for the contribution! Thanks to Ari for a backup of the demo!

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Rocket Rescue [SNES MD GEN – Cancelled]

Rocket Rescue is a cancelled action game that was in development for the Super Nintendo, Mega Drive / Genesis and Amiga in 1994. Players would had to save people on different planets, exploring the space with a rocket in more than 100 levels. The project would have been published by Hot Shot Entertainments, but we dont know which development team was behind it.

In the end Rocket Rescue was never released and there are basically no more info available about the game or what happened to its publisher. If you know someone that worked on this project, please let us know!

Thanks to Rod_Wod for the scans!

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Dinosaurs for Hire [MD GEN – Beta]

As we can read in Wikipedia, Dinosaurs For Hire is a run and gun / beat ’em up game published by Sega and developed by Malibu Interactive for the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive. The game is based on an american comic and features Archie, Lorenzo and Reese as the main playable characters while Cyrano (a pterodactyl) shows up from time to time to give mission briefings but is not playable. In the beta version Cyrano was available as a playable character, as seen in old preview screenshots, but for some reasons they decided to remove this option.

Thanks to Rod_Wod for the scan!

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Matrix Runner [Sega VR – Cancelled]

Matrix Runner is a cancelled action adventure game that was in development in 1992 / 1993 by ZCT Systems Group for the Sega VR add-on based on the Mega Drive / Genesis. Players had to explore the cyberspace and to resolve various puzzles to try to capture a murderer. The concept (and the title) of the game is really similar to Free Runner, a cancelled adventure for the Saturn, but as far as we know, the developers are different. It could be just an huge coincidence, or maybe someone from ZTC Systems went to work to Rebellion and resurrected their old project.

Only a single screenshot of Matrix Runner was found by Rod_Wod and Celine in some old magazines. If you know someone that worked on this game, please let us know!

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Mudkicker [PS1, PC, Saturn – Cancelled]

Mudkicker is a cancelled off-road racing game that was in development in 1995 / 1996 by Scavenger for Playstation and PC (with a rumored Sega Saturn conversion, but it was denied by a former developer). The project was meant to be published by GT Interactive, along with Amok, Scorcher and Into the Shadows, but only the first 2 titles were finished. In January 1997, before Scavenger could complete and deliver the remaining two titles, GT sent Scavenger a letter setting forth notice of “material breaches of the Agreement by Scavenger” and purporting to terminate the development of those games. Because of these problems with their publisher and lack of money, Scavenger had to close down. Mudkicker was never finished and vanished forever with the closure of the studio.

Thanks to Rod_Wod and Celine for the magazine scans!

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