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Action Adventure

The Incredible Shrinking Character is a cancelled action adventure game that was in development by Go-Go Interactive Studios and that would have been published by Cyberdreams for the Playstation, Saturn and PC in 1996. The plot involved a crazy doctor that shrinked the main character with an experimental potion. Players would had to explore the (now) huge laboratory resolving puzzles, to find a way to return to normal. As we can read at Bill Narum’website, former owner of Go Go Studios:

The year is 1959. You are a Private Investigator hired to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Julie Caldwell, daughter of a wealthy east-coast industrialist family. The subject, in her early twenties, was last reported heading to visit the home and laboratory of Dr. Warren Franklin. […]
On the afternoon of January 30th, you head off to the doctor’s castle for the interview of a lifetime. Unknown to you, Dr. Franklin has laid a trap, and you awaken in a stupor to find yourself only 3 feet tall and gradually shrinking. You realize now that finding Julie will be no simple task. […]
Another reoccurring sound you can’t help but notice is that of a female screaming, most likely the victimized Julie. The volume and intensity increases as you approach the dungeon. You must find the antidote and save Julie soon, but first you must evade becoming dinner for the doctor’s house cat, and numerous other deadly creatures, bats, rats, roaches and ants, etc. that inhabit the mysterious castle.

They planned at least 10 levels in the game, in which the main character would have shrinked more and more each hour, leaving us to deal with big ants and size-based puzzles. A short preview of The Incredible Shrinking Character with some screens were published in NextGeneration magazine issue 14 and some more info on the project can be found at Bill Narum’website. You can even download a playable beta demo for PC! Huge props to Bill for preserving some documents of this lost game!

Thanks to Celine for the contribution! Thanks to Ari for a backup of the demo!

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Mega Drive / Genesis, Sega

Matrix Runner [Sega VR – Cancelled]

monokoma

23-10-2010

10 Comments

Matrix Runner is a cancelled action adventure game that was in development in 1992 / 1993 by ZCT Systems Group for the Sega VR add-on based on the Mega Drive / Genesis. Players had to explore the cyberspace and to resolve various puzzles to try to capture a murderer. The concept (and the title) of the game is really similar to Free Runner, a cancelled adventure for the Saturn, but as far as we know, the developers are different. It could be just an huge coincidence, or maybe someone from ZTC Systems went to work to Rebellion and resurrected their old project.

Only a single screenshot of Matrix Runner was found by Rod_Wod and Celine in some old magazines. If you know someone that worked on this game, please let us know!

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Game Boy (+ Color), Nintendo

Hyouryuu Shounen Keith [GB – Cancelled]

monokoma

15-10-2010

1 Comment

Hyouryuu Shounen Keith (Castaway Boy Keith) is a cancelled action RPG that was in development in 1990 by Epic / Sony for the original GameBoy. The project looked a lot like Zelda: Link’s Awakening, but Keith was in the works 3 years before Nintendo’s title. The game’s plot was also similar to Link’s Awakening, as Keith sank on a small island called Harrods Is, where he had to complete dungeons and find musical notes to defeat the final boss.

In november 2009 Chris Covell was able to scan an article about Keith from an old Famitsu magazine and you can find more info and images at his website.

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Nintendo, Others, PC / MAC, Wii

Cave Story (Doukutsu Monogatari) [Beta]

U64 Staff & Contributors

15-10-2010

5 Comments

Cave story (Doukutsu Monogatari in Japan) is a freeware platform / adventure indie-game released in 2004 for PC and a WiiWare port by Nicalis in 2010. It was designed and programmed over 5 years by Daisuke Amaya, art-name Pixel, in his free time. A classic by almost every sense of the word. I say almost, because despite it’s pixelated graphics, Cave Story is actualy a modern game, with a deliberate old school feel. However, as with most good games, trial and error are required, and in the end, some things are left out. Cave Story is no different. At one point, the main character, Quote, was Curly Brace. That name later moved to a girl. Sue didn’t always look like she does, several areas just didn’t make the cut, and some tiles just weren’t used in the final game. There’s plenty to see in the images below.

Saturn, Sega

Free Runner [Saturn – Cancelled]

monokoma

09-10-2010

5 Comments

Free Runner is a cancelled action adventure (?) that was in development in 1995 by Rebellion for the Sega Saturn. There are not many info about its gameplay, but a little background on the story and a couple of screenshots from a target render were found by Rod_Wod in an old Sega Power magazine. It seems that in Free Runner players would had take the role of a cyber hacker, who had to surf the net to investigate a brutal real-world killing. The game was shown (?) in some form at E3 1995.

If you know someone that worked on this game and could help us to preserve more info and media, please let us know!

Thanks to Rod_Wod for the contribution!

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