Unseen News

Leaked, Master System, Sega

Dinobasher [Sega Master System – Cancelled]

LazyFace
11-04-2008
4 Comments

DinoBasher was a platform game being developed for the Sega Master System by Optimus Software and was due to be published by Codemasters in 1993. The game was a port of Big Nose the Caveman that had been released on the NES in 1991.

The game had a very cartoon like art style and the aim of the game was to club dinosaurs for Big Noses dinner. There was going to be four large islands for the player to explore and you would navigate between them using your club as a helicopter, to become the “first flying man”. You would also collect bones and rocks that you would be able to trade with the natives of the islands.

DinoBasher differs from most cancelled games though as it was actually completely finished and box art had been completed, the game had also been sent out to publications for review. Sega Power magazine gave it a terrible 42% and called it “Prehistoric Poo Poo” the review also said that it was a very generic platformer and the pacing was very slow.

The poor reviews seem to be one of the main reasons that this game was never actually released, this and the fact that it was due to be released towards the end of the Master Systems lifecycle. It could be that Codemasters wanted to concentrate on other games for the new 16bit platform such as the hugely popular Micro Machines for the Sega Megadrive. Codemasters at this time as well had started to cut down on releasing budget games and wanted to concentrate on full-price titles.

Even though the game was cancelled as it was completely finished DinoBasher can now be played as it was leaked online. There are tons of YouTube videos of the game and a rom can be downloaded and you can even play it in your browser.

Optimus Software was eventually bought out by Iguana UK in 1993, who were then acquired by Acclaim Entertainment and renamed Acclaim Studios Teesside. This studio was then also closed in 2002 and the majority of the staff were relocated to Acclaim Studio Cheltenham whose last game was RC Revenge released in 2013.

Codemasters continues to work on games today and primarily works on the F1 series of games from their Birmingham offices and also the Race Driver Grid games from the Kuala Lumpur office founded in 2006.

Thanks a lot to SMS Power for the contribute!

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Unseen News

Hybrid (Virtuoso) [PSX – Unreleased? Just in USA]

U64 Staff & Contributors
11-04-2008
1 Comment

Our reader Ceno has helped us to identify some previusly supposed cancelled games, that where released under different names: the FPS “Hybrid” was released, although not in America. A japanese Version was released in 1997 and a PAL release followed several years later, in 2002, albeit only as a budget price release. Cover art and screenshots from the japanese version can be found here. Thanks a lot to Ceno for these infos!

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Source: www.playstationmuseum.com 

Leaked, Others, PC / MAC, Playstation, Sony

Starcon (star control 4) [Cancelled]

U64 Staff & Contributors
11-04-2008
2 Comments

“Star Control 4, or later StarCon, was Accolade’s final attempt at profiting from the franchise. Few details are known, as Accolade reshaped and eventually cancelled it during the development stages; As of October 5th, 1998, development on StarCon has stopped. When word of Accolade’s decision on StarCon reached the press, several on-line sources reported that the game was being re-evaluated due to deficiencies in the game’s design and attributed that design to Starsphere Interactive. Though only Accolade can speak as to why the game is being re-evaluated at this time, one thing is certain, Starsphere Interactive was not responsible for the design of the game. An internal Accolade team designed StarCon and was also developing the PC version of the game (StarCon is the fourth installment in the Star Control series). Starsphere Interactive was contracted to develop the PlayStation version of StarCon from Accolade’s original PC design and resources. The Harika had been confirmed as a returning alien race. While originally touted as another space adventure, the idea quickly changed into an action-oriented combat title, to be viewed largely from behind the ship, with gameplay similar to Psygnosis’ Colony Wars series, somewhat like a shooting-oriented X-Wing. – [info from wikipedia]

A beta version of StarCon was leaked online in 2010. More information on the prototype of this game, including levels, available ships (with meshes, textures etc), weapons and missions details can be found at  http://zenade.angelfire.com/starcon/faq.html

Thanks to Edward for the contribution!

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Leaked, Playstation, Sony

Torc: Legend Of The Ogre Crown [PSX – Cancelled]

monokoma
11-04-2008
1 Comment

ENG: This entry in the archive doesn’t have a description yet. If you want to add some info about the beta / cancelled stuff that you see in these images, just write a comment or send us an email! We’ll add your info in this page and your name in the contributors list. Thanks a lot for your help! :)

ITA: Questa pagina dell’archivio non ha ancora una descrizione. Se vuoi aggiungere delle informazioni riguardo le differenze della beta o la descrizione di un gioco cancellato, lasciaci un commento o mandaci una email! Inseriremo le tue informazioni nella pagina ed il tuo nome nella lista dei collaboratori. Grazie per il tuo aiuto! :)

a.k.a. Kill Wheel

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[Some images from: www.playstationmuseum.com]