Accolade

Brett Hull NHL Hockey [Jaguar – Beta / Unreleased]

Brett Hull NHL Hockey was developed in 1994 by Accolade Inc. and Ringler Studios. There was going to be a version for both the cartridge and Jaguar CD add-on although they were never released in the Jaguar’s lifetime. To avoid licensing issues the name of the proto has been changed and released as “Jaguar Hockey”. This game became legendary to have the longest loading times out of all the other Jaguar CD games.

As we can read from the description of the video in viMasterJag’s Youtube Channel:

Brett Hull NHL Hockey is another unfinished game for the Atari Jaguar. We’ve been lucky to have it released in cartridge form, though, by B&C Computervisions.

Differences from this to the cartridge version include, but are not limited to, bug-fixes as well as full-motion-video cut-scenes.

Thanks to Adam for the contribution!

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Test Drive Cycles [PSX – Cancelled]

Test Drive Cycles is a cancelled motorcycle racing game that was in development in 1998 / 1999 by Accolade’s San Jose studios, the same studio responsible for Test Drive Off-Road 2 and 3.  Infogrames wanted to expand their Test Drive series (Test Drive, Test Drive Off-Road, Test Drive Rally and Test Drive Le Mans) to focus solely on motorcycles with licensed manufacturers such as Harley Davidson, BMW, Moto Guzzi, and Bimota, but in the end the project was never released.

As we can read on IGN:

Up to two players can go head-to-head on 12 tracks from locations all over the world, including the streets of Washington DC, the beaches of Bali, the canyons of Utah, the Alps, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, the French Riviera and even the historic site of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.

Players choose from three game modes: Quick Race, Championship and Head-to-Head (two players). In addition to five opponents racing to win the cup, players must also deal with traffic, oil slicks and unpredictable weather conditions. Smashing through certain obstacles will open up new track paths and shortcuts, while trophies, new bikes and upgrades are won along the way. Infogrames even went the extra mile to get the licenses for real manufacturer upgrades, giving each bike its own upgrade pack.

As we can read on the Playstation Museum:

According to some sources within the studio, a major setback occurred when the lead programmer left the team. Coupled with Infogrames’ desire to close the studio, TDC was forever cancelled.

A Dreamcast version of Test Drive Cycles was cancelled too, while GameBoy Color and PC versions  were released in 2000.

Thanks to Father PSX for the contribution!

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Cybernauts (DNAction): The New Breed [SNES GEN MD – Cancelled]

DNAction: The New Breed (AKA Cybernauts: The Next Breed) is a cancelled fighting game that was in development for the Super Nintendo and Genesis / Mega Drive that would have been published by Accolade, Inc. in 1994. Accolade made its name in the late 80’s and early 90s with franchise’s such as Test Drive, Hardball, and Bubsy but started losing steam around the mid 90’s which caused the company to want to shift focus and reinvent itself. It is possible that this change of direction in the mid 90’s was the cause for some games to be cancelled in development such as DNAction. Accolade was also purchased by Infrogames in 1999 so any hope of the game being revisited seems to have ended there.

Although The game was never released, some info about the project and various character renders were found in old gaming magazines as Games World #1, Banzzai #21 and GamePro #56,  plus some  in-game screens from an early prototype found in Player One #43. DNAction used pre-rendered sprites for characters and backgrounds, created with Silicon Graphics in the same way as Killer Instinct.

The game was to be placed in a future setting with scientists being able to genetically enhance humans to create their own superheroes. Some, however decide to use their powers for evil thus pitting a rivalry between those who received super powers. There were at least four planned playable characters: Pitbull and Hotshot who were members of Matrix Alpha, the superheroes trying to help society. Then the two members of the evil organization Overlord: Ground Zero and Tracer. An additional 4 characters were shown, Shockwave and Banzai (Overlord) then Recoil and IronClad (Matrix Alpha).

Thanks to Celine and Rod_Wod for the contributions!

Post by Ja’Ron Riley

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Charles Barkley Basketball [Atari Jaguar – Cancelled]

Charles Barkley Basketball is the working title of the Atari Jaguar version of Barkley Shut Up and Jam!, a 1993 basketball video game developed by Accolade for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The Atari Jaguar version was developed by Ringler Studios. The game was previewed in various magazines and even advertised. Cyberroach reports, in a great interview with Faran Thompson, an Atari Jaguar tester, that the game was almost completed but in the end it was not released:

CR: Charles Barkley Basketball looked pretty far along though?
FT: Yeah, and that was a very difficult title to produce just due to the developer and in some ways it was a very painful process but I think what almost got done was, you know, kind of interesting and it would have been nice to actually see that released. I’m not exactly sure what the final status of that project was but when I left it was almost complete. But apparently it was never released, never really got over that hump.

However, a prototype of the game surfaced (via JaguDome, archived site), and was eventually sold by B&C Computer Visions, who it is currently selling reproductions of the cartridge on its website. A review on the website reports the status of the game:

The problem with the game lies in the fact that although mighty close, it is not complete. A sign of this is the time for the quarters. One minute only gives you 37 seconds, three minutes gives you 1:52 & five minutes 3:47. The biggest though is probably the lack of sound in the game. All you really get is the bouncing of the ball & not a lot else. No taunts from Sir Charles or words of encouragement either. No background music too. Another problem I found was that playing two player using the team tap did actually cause frequent crashes. Maybe I was just not good enough at the game, but I couldn’t find any Easter eggs which are known to be in other versions of the game.

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Fireteam Rogue [SNES GEN MD – Cancelled]

Fireteam Rogue is a cancelled action adventure game that was developed by Accolade for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. It seems that the project had to be canned for economic isssues. A couple of Alpha of this project were leaked online and you can read a long article with more info about this on SNES Central!

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