Sega

Dreamcast, Sega

Rent A Hero No. 1 [Dreamcast – Beta]

monokoma
01-04-2010
1 Comment

Rent A Hero No. 1 is an action game / beat ’em up with RPG elements, developed by Sega and published for the Dreamcast in 2000, with an Xbox port in 2003. When the game was first announced in 1999, it did not look like the final version: the city layout was completely changed, the HUD and the MAP were different. From a video of the Rent-A-Hero No. 1 presentation at the V-jump Festival 99, shared by Carnivol from his YT channel, the combat seemed almost turn based or “on-rails”, while in the final game they play like in a classic action beat ’em up with free movements.

It’s possible that this 1999 version was still an early beta, but it’s interesting to notice how much the city was evolved from it’s initial form.

Images:

Videos (Beta @ 0:53):

For comparison, here’s a video from the final Xbox version:
 

32X / Mega CD, Game Gear, Mega Drive / Genesis, Nintendo, Sega, SNES + Super Famicom

Akira [SNES MegaDrive/Genesis – Cancelled]

monokoma
24-03-2010
36 Comments

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!

Images:

Akira SNES

Videos:

 

Mega Drive / Genesis, Sega

Madness: House of Fun [GEN/MD – Cancelled]

monokoma
09-03-2010
8 Comments

Madness: House of Fun is a cancelled platform game based around the Ska music group with the same name, that was in development by Gremlin Graphics for the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive. The project was a “remake” of the original Gremlin’s Amiga title “Harlequin”, with new graphic, characters and Madness’ music. As Robert Hazelby (webmaster of Madness Information Service Online, a fan site of the group) wrote on the Total Madness mailing list:

I’m not sure if the band were actually going to be featured in the game as Gremlin devised some strange character (who’s name escapes me at the moment) who the player would control. In the background, it was planned that some awful 6 channel Yamaha sound-chip induced ditties would be playing away.

Unfortunately the bottom dropped out of the console market and Gremlin decided to can the Madness computer game and so it was never released. Ex MML subscriber Jacco Van’t Reit (did I spell that correctly) did offer his services with regards to helping to produce the game after he had worked on previous projects for the Gremlin team but this unfortunately didn’t happen.

Track down an Amiga and a copy of Harlequin to see how your Madness game would have played.

Thanks to Celine and Rod_Wod we were able to preserve many screens of Madness: House of Fun, that were found in some old magazines (as Mean Machine #17, Mega Force #17).

Images: 

Dreamcast, Sega

Little Dream [Dreamcast – Cancelled]

monokoma
25-02-2010
6 Comments

Little Dream is a cancelled RPG that was in development by Panther Software (the same team behind the Space Griffon DC remake) in 1998 / 1999 for the Dreamcast. From what we can speculate looking at the few screenshots preserved in the gallery below (found by Celine in Console Plus magazine #86), the game was going to play somehow like a traditional (turn based?) RPG, set in a fantasy / crazy world (almost like Alice in Wonderland). There were even a Pig King and police-pigs to battle against! Isnt that awesome?

We dont know why the game was never released and the only images available seem to be target renders more than the real game, so it’s possible that Little Dream was cancelled in early development.

Thanks to Celine for the contribution!

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