New Cancelled Games & Their Lost Media Added to the Archive

Fanzuforumu / Fansform [Sega Saturn – Cancelled]

Fanzuforumu / Fansform / Funsform (ファンズフォルム) is a cancelled action adventure / 3D platformer that was in development by Nihon MMI Technology around 1996, planned to be published on Sega Saturn. The protagonist was a polar bear with a red scarf, exploring a fantasy world inhabited by fairies, in which players could also enjoy many different mini-games.

The only screenshots available seem to be from a pre-rendered mockup, so we don’t know how it would play or how much of the game was done before its cancellation. We speculate Fanzuforumu could have been similar to other 3D platformers of its time, but unfortunately there are not many details about this lost game, just a short preview published in Saturn Fan magazine (issue 22 – 11/1/1996), translated with Google:

“The main character, Adobe Penchade, is a bear drawn in Polygon. The giller manipulates the cartridge, roaming over the field and adventuring into the world of fairy tales. In addition to the main story, you can also enjoy playing with mini games such as exercises and shooting.”

Hot Wheels Driver (Midway) [Playstation – Cancelled]

Hot Wheels Driver is a cancelled Micro Machines – style racing game that was in development by Midway Games around 1994, planned to be released on the original Playstation. Players would have been able to race their little Hot Wheels toy-cars in different rooms of the house, using power-ups to win against the AI and friends. As far as we know this game was never officially announced by Midway, but some images were published online many years ago by a former developer on his old website (now closed).

In 2001 THQ released a Hot Wheels game for PS1, but it was a different project than this one.

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Wind Racer (Nadeo) [PC – Cancelled]

Wind Racer is a cancelled sand yachting racing game that was in development for PC by Nadeo around 2001, before they became a favorite team among fans of arcade racers, thanks to their release of TrackMania in 2003. At the time Nadeo was still trying to find their niche, working on many different prototypes such as Cyberdrive and Lanfeust of Troy to pitch them to different publishers. Wind Racer looked like a fun, sunny beach racer (with items to collect?) and we assume gameplay could have been like a simpler version of TrackMania.

Some fans randomly found out about the prototype projects in 2011, saving a few images before they could have been lost forever. In the end Nadeo was lucky enough to get hired to work on Virtual Skipper 2 and 3, something that helped to keep them alive while waiting to find real success with Trackmania.

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Armor (Kixeye) [PC – Cancelled]

Armor is a cancelled tank combat game that was in development for PC by Kixeye between 2013 and 2014. The company is mostly known for top-down MMORTS such as War Commander: Rogue Assault and Vega Conflict, but for Armor they planned a third-person real time online shooter similar to World of Tanks.

Players would have been able to choose between many different tank models, shooting down other players in online battles in huge maps with destructible buildings. In the end Armor was never completed, maybe because it was too different from what the team was used to developing.

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Danso Toshi: Stray Road [PC Engine – Cancelled]

Danso Toshi: Stray Road (断層都市ストレイロード) is a cancelled cyberpunk RPG that was in development around 1993 by IGS (AKA International Games System, アイ・ジー・エス) planned to be released on the PC Engine CD. The settings are quite similar to another cancelled IGS RPG titled “Blunders”: from the available screenshots it looks like players would have been able to explore a fantasy world filled with sci-fi cities and weird monsters. Combat was turn-based, looking similar to Phantasy Star.

Lots of details about Danso Toshi: Stray Road were published at the time in PC Engine Fan magazine and IGS flyer: if you can translate the most important parts in English, please let us know! Some information is also found in japanese fan sites (translated with Google):

“The hero who wanders in search of lost memories in the “fault city” that was once born in the barren wilderness called Tokyo. Eventually he gets caught up in a huge conspiracy.

The February 1993 issue of the monthly PC engine is introduced over two pages. Release price 8900 yen Scheduled release date is written as scheduled to be released in March. It feels like it’s boiled down to the very end, but it has been discontinued.”

Someone on Twitter said a former IGS employee revealed the reason for the game cancellation was a complaint by Aya Sugimoto, a ‘80s / ‘90s J-Pop singer, actress and gravure idol that was hired by IGS for the game promotion and to write a song for the OST (Le SOIR Eternal Farewell). We are not sure about what happened between Aya and IGS, so if you can find more details please let us know!

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