New Cancelled Games & Their Lost Media Added to the Archive

Jet Li: Rise to Honor [Beta] – PS2

Jet Li Rise to Honour was a fun beat’em up released exclusively on the PS2. The project began when Sony was exploring ways to bring action-hollywood cinema experiences to the small screen, and it happened that Jet Li fit their goal. After a few calls and discussions, Jet Li decided to give the project a kick (or a punch)

From the images and videos below, we can notice a handful of beta differences that have, unfortunately, gone undocumented for a few years now.

Images:

Beta changes:

  • Different jacket
  • Different character HUD (it went through two iterations)
  • Some different attack moves
  • Gun pointer was changed twice
  • The Fei & Huang brothers look different
  • The guy shooting you early in the game is different here
  • Different bike colours (blue in this instance)
  • From the pre-final build, a different HUD can be observed with green circles. It is unknown what their purpose was

Videos:

This video shows the pre-beta footage gameplay of Jet Li Rise to Honour.

This video, on the other hand, is very important as it shows the following beta changes:

  • Jet Li isn’t wearing a jacket
  • Different Jet Li fascial textures
  • Different attack animations (a bit slower)
  • Different HUD once again
  • The Fei & Huang brothers are different here
  • Chueng Mo Pao wears different clothes, and so does Jet Li (White jacket)
  • Again, a different HUD towards the end

Time Gal Flash [Arcade – Cancelled]

Time Gal (or known as タイムギャル Taimu Gyaru in Japan) isn’t typically remembered nowadays by the average gamer, but for those who played and enjoyed it, this laser disc game was fun. It even went on to inspire a couple of mechanics in various games, including the obscure and fun Ninja Blade on the Xbox 360 and PC.

Almost ten years after the release of Time Gal, there has been an attempt to make a beat’em up iteration for the arcade and various platforms by Taito Corporation. Unfortunately, the game didn’t get very far. I managed to find a couple of pre-production sketches, but if you know more about this obscure game, please don’t hesitate to share.

 

Star Wars [Cancelled BottleRocket Entertainment Pitch] — 2005

The studio behind Rise of the Kasai and Splatterhouse once tried their hands on a Star Wars game that sadly never materialised. Information about how far the game was in development is scarce, but thankfully, some concept art exists, and a video has been preserved on YouTube.

It is unknown which platform this game was being developed for, but there’s a higher chance this was targeting the next generation of consoles.

Images:

Video:

Van Helsing: The Game [Saffire- PS2/Xbox] — Beta

Van Helsing is an awesome action-adventure game where you get to play as the titular monster hunter Van Helsing himself. The game plays similarly to Devil May Cry, Ghost Rider and many action games released during that time. Before launching in 2004, we can observe tiny beta changes from the images below.

Images:

Changes:

  • Different HUD for Van Helsing
  • Different HUD for boss fight
  • All pick-ups disappear quickly in the early demo

 

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow [PS3/Xbox 360/PC] – Beta

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is a modern reboot of the Castlevania franchise originally developed and published by Konami. Mercury Steam managed to revamp the combat of the original franchise, injecting a well-done combat system undoubtedly inspired by several action games of that era. Not only this, but the art direction of the Lords of Shadow is nothing but a work of art. Before the game was released for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC, it underwent a few changes. Most of the beta content is challenging to find, but there are a few differences and cut content we can observe below.

Images:

Videos:

This video is important as it shows a glimpse of the initial pitch of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. The game was originally going to feature Simon Belmont, but that didn’t happen. Eventually, Simon Belmont, Alucard and Trevor were incorporated into Mirrors of Fate.

Below, you’ll find a couple of iterations and cut characters. One of whom looked fascinating in the design process.

Frankenstein Dracula

While attempting to create a compelling design for Lord Dracula, Mercury Steam generated a host of iterations. One of them was a Frankenstein Dracula that didn’t make it past the cutting room floor.

Menacing, bloody and gruesome are just some of the words one can use to describe these early designs of Lord Dracula. While Dracula didn’t make an appearance in Lords of Shadow or Mirrors of Fate, he was the main character of Lords of Shadow 2.

Alucard

Another character that went through various iterations was none other than the Prince of Darkness himself, Alucard. In these early designs, we can see that Alucard bore a slightly different look. That is pretty much everything I can find from the beta footage of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.