Sega

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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Ring Age [Dreamcast – Cancelled]

Ring Age is a cancelled turn-based RPG that was in development by Takuyo Kougyo for the Dreamcast. The project was meant to have an online multiplayer mode along with a traditional single player story mode, but not many info were ever released about the internet features. Ring Age was soon forgotten and vanished from the Dreamcast’s release list.

Thanks to Celine for the contribution!

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Capcom vs SNK [Arcade Dreamcast – Beta]

Capcom vs SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 is a fighting game developed by Capcom and released for Sega’s NAOMI arcade hardware in 2000 and ported to the Dreamcast during the same year. When it was first announced, the characters of the Street Fighter series had the same graphic style as “Street Fighter Zero”, different from the style used in the final game. The scenarios were also quite different (with references to the latest Capcom games, as Power Stone).  In the gallery below you can see various screenshots from the beta version: if you can notice more differences, please let us know!

Thanks to Mestre Ryu for the contribution!

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Aero The Acro-Bat [SNES GEN MD – Beta / Concept]

Aero the Acro-Bat is a platform game developed by Iguana Entertainment and published by Sunsoft in 1993. Super for the Super Nintendo and Mega Drive / Genesis. At Kombo we can read an interesting article about the game, in which they even shared the original design doc, created by David Siller in 1992. Some of the major differences that we can notice from looking at the design doc are:

in-level missions such as hopping over quicksand and landing in a lion’s mouth that did not make it to the final version of the game.

Not all of these items are in the final version either. The barrel, for instance, appears in a single stage and is presented as a mode of transportation instead of an item worth points.

Unused enemies

The original mission objective screen showed Aero in action as an example on what the player needs to do. While this idea was not included in the original 1993 release, the 2002 Game Boy Advance re-release added a variation of this concept back into the game.

Thanks to Robert Seddon for the contribution!

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The Mask [SNES – Beta]

The Mask is a platform game (based on the film with the same name) developed by Black Pearl Software and published in 1995 by THQ for the Super Nintendo. Early in its development, the game was much different from the final version, as noticed by Mister Syd on the Lost Levels Forum:

Health meter is a series of facial expressions, while the health meter is numerical in actual game.

The Mask’s sprite is completely different in shape, color and design, almost as if this build was completely dismissed and recreated from the ground up.

Visually, I find this the most interesting because it looked like it was going to play more like a brawler than the platformer it turned out to be.

All of the screenshots’ backgrounds are not used anywhere in the final version of the game.

Unused abilities; The Mask has no low-kick, or a (strange-looking) gun that fires projectiles in the game and the mallet is a different color (and pose) but the tornado’s design might of been used in the game.

Some of the enemies in the screen shots I think are actually still in the game, but could be edited a bit in the release; the man with the gun by the bank vault is likely not in the final release though.

The Mask was also planned for the Genesis / Mega Drive, but this version was never released.

Thanks to Celine for the contribution! (scan from EGM #61)

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