New Cancelled Games & Their Lost Media Added to the Archive

PSP, Sony

echochrome [Beta – PSP / PS3]

U64 Staff & Contributors
26-04-2012
2 Comments

As we can read from Wikipedia, Echochrome  is a puzzle game created by Sony’s JAPAN Studio and Game Yarouze, which is available for PlayStation 3 and PSP. Gameplay involves a mannequin figure traversing a rotatable world where physics and reality depend on perspective. The world is occupied by Oscar Reutersvärd’s impossible constructions. This concept is inspired by M. C. Escher’s artwork, such as “Relativity”. At Siggraph 2007 Art Exhibit Sony shown a beta / concept version of Echochrome, with a nice level-debug editor.

Post by The Monokariba (AKA Monokiba), thanks to bruto77 for the video below!

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Microsoft, Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony, Xbox

Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks [Beta – PS2 / XBOX]

U64 Staff & Contributors
25-04-2012
1 Comment

Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks is a beat-em-up developed by Midway LA (formerly Paradox Development) and published in 2005 by Midway for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. In april 2012 a beta version of Shaolink Monk was shared online in the Assembler Games Forum, and Stranno noticed a few differences with the final version: textures, effects (water, lights) and some background changed like “the pit” level. In the E3 beta demo the moon is really shiny, in the final you can actually see the moon and there’s an UFO (?) flying around.  The final enemy in the demo is Baraka (you cannot finish it), in retail there is one ogre-boss-like generic enemy, this Baraka fight comes in the next level, the monks academy. Options menu was reworked and there’s no aspect switch.

A sequel, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks 2 (Fire & Ice) was in development for the Xbox 360, but it was soon cancelled.

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GameCube, Nintendo

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance [Beta – GameCube]

U64 Staff & Contributors
24-04-2012
No Comments

As we can read on Wikipedia, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance tactical RPG developed by Intelligent Systems and published in 2005 by Nintendo for the GameCube. Path of Radiance is the first Fire Emblem title to feature three-dimensional graphics on the battlefield, replacing two-dimensional sprite animations and landscapes with fully rendered 3-D models. It is also the first game in the series to make use of full motion video and voice acting to present cinematic sequences at key points in the game. The FMV sequences were animated by Production I.G.

Below you can see a bunch of scans from the beta version of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, where the story and characters are slightly different. Ike’s name is Paris, for example. Also, a video of Fire Emblem 9 close to completion, but with different HUD elements. If you can notice more differences, please let us know!

Thanks to Iven Allen for the contribution!

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Nintendo, Wii

The Last Story [Beta – Wii]

monokoma
22-04-2012
No Comments

The Last Story is a RPG developed by Mistwalker and AQ Interactive, published for the Wii in 2011 (Japan) and 2012 (Europe / America. During the development the game had a different storyline and it was known as “Last World“, with a more futuristic theme, settings and weapons. As we can see in the concept arts below, the combat system was also much different, while in the 2 beta screenshots we can notice a missing wooden door and an early version of the castle courtyard.

Hironobu Sakaguchi talked about this beta version in an interview published in a French magazine. Here’s  a translation thanks to Youloute:

I would much rather have used my original script, which in my opinion was much better. For example, at the beginning of the game, the heroin was blind and had tears of blood streaming down his face … Nintendo doesn’t want it. That said, I am grateful for the financial support they provided (laughs).

Thanks to KEK8 for the contribution!

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Nintendo, Wii

Sword of Legendia [Wii – Cancelled]

Celine
18-04-2012
No Comments

In September 2006, just before the Wii launch, Nintendo asked to producers of various japanese publishers to share their thoughts about the new platform in an interview. The first interviewee was Tales Studio‘s producer Makoto Yoshizumi. While discussing the system he talked about Sword of Legendia briefly showing an artwork about the project.

After that the title was cited on Namco site as an RPG exclusive to Wii but nothing else was released for several years. In 2008 Tsutomu Gouda confirmed that he was in charge of the project and that contrary to what was thought it wasn’t related to “Tales of” franchise ( conclusion inducted by the likeness with a past “Tales of” game, Tales of Legendia).

In 2009, while discussing Fragile, Kentarou Kawashima confirmed that Sword of Legendia was still on going but after that another information blackout began until Japan Expo 2011 where Makoto Yoshizumi revealed the project “was cancelled several years ago”. Very little is known about this mysterious game and ironically the only evidence ever show to prove its existence was the initial artwork that you can see below.

Thanks to Kurosaki Ichigo for the old NeoGaf thread.

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