Action

Others, PC / MAC

Defenders (Digital Fun Studio) [PC – Cancelled]

Todd_the_Toad
15-07-2022
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Defenders is an unreleased tactical slasher set in an alternative medieval world (announced in 2002). The main character at one point decides that “it is impossible to live like this”, leaves his homeland and joins the crusader detachment. As part of a detachment, he fights the Vikings in England and takes part in the first crusades.

As we can read news on gamez.ru  for 17.10.2003:

The protagonist of Defenders lives in a village in a small European country. At one of the stages of his life he decides to devote himself to a military career, joins a crusader unit and leaves his homeland, setting out on a distant, full of dangers adventure. On his way the young warrior is waiting for fierce clashes and large-scale battles, he will visit a lot of interesting places and meet amazing people, see distant countries and encounter mystical, fantastic creatures described in ancient myths and legends.

 

The developers highlight the following key features in the game Defenders:

  • An interesting story that tells the story of a medieval warrior’s martial journey.
  • Four large-scale episodes: England (battles with the Vikings), Germany (the beginning of the Crusade), Asia Minor (storming cities, suppressing rebellion) and Jerusalem (march on the city and its storming).
  • Simple, intuitive interface.
  • Optimal and logical character generation and development system.
  • Carefully designed physics and character animation.
  • Realistic damage system.
  • A unique approach to single-player mode construction: the player gets an opportunity not to stand above the battle, but to be in the very heart of it.
  • Large-scale battle scenes.
  • Dynamic squad battles.
  • An elaborate model of squad mates’ behavior, the ability to influence their behavior.
  • Large arsenal of cold, stabbing and percussive weapons.
  • Dynamic multiplayer game, inheriting the basic principles of the best representatives of the genre, but with a significant number of additions and innovations.
  • Possibility to pass the game together (in cooperative mode).
  • Special arenas for multiplayer matches between units controlled by several players in multiplayer mode.
  • Support of a wide range of video gas pedals.
  • High-quality modern graphics and atmospheric music and sound design.

 

Defenders will be released in Q4 2004.

In terms of gameplay, it was supposed to be something like a “knightly” Medal of Honor. The player fought in the same formation with other knights, carried out the orders of the commander, and subsequently received a whole squad under his command. The project was promising, but due to technical problems it never came out.

Information is taken from gamez.ru website and Igromania magazine, issue 02(113) 2007

There are absolutely no screenshots or materials about this project on the Internet, only mentions in magazines and sites like this. If you have something, let us know! 

Arcade, Others

Punky Doodle (Sunsoft) [Cancelled – Arcade]

monokoma
20-01-2022
1 Comment

Punky Doodle is a cancelled action / tower defense game that was in development by Hudson around 1993, planned to be available on coin-op arcades to “lead the industry back to the era of PacMan”. Players would have to protect pumpkins against monsters in “31 levels with more  than 150 rounds”, possibly with the help of a friend in coop-mode. Its main gameplay mechanic was to draw doodles on the screen (probably with the joystick), then link a pumpkin to the line so it could move and attack enemies.

A preview of the game was published in Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine (issue 55, February 1994):

“If you’re tired of blood, shooting, fighting and all that other gore, give Punky Doodle by Sunsoft a couple of quarters. Odds are you’ll be instantly hooked by this brain teaser! Punky uses his magic crayons to stop the different meanies who attack him. Help Punky save the world’s pumpkin patches from the bad guys of the night. No shooting? No fighting? No fatalities? What kind of game is this?

It’s Punky Doodle by Sunsoft and it is as addictive as any game out there! Punky and her pal Curly are in charge of protecting Farmer Jones’ pumpkin patch. The pumpkins are under attack by the creatures of the night, and it’s up to Punky and Curly to save the pumpkin patch and the rest of the world’s pumpkin crops.

Our awesome twosome uses the Doodle Defense System by leaving a trail of doodles with their magical crayons. When a pumpkin is attached to a trail, it searches out an enemy along the trail and clobbers the enemy with a Pumpkin Power Punch! Kabam!

Even though Punky Doodle is easy to learn, it is not easy to master. There are 31 levels with more  than 150 rounds. Whew, that’s a lot of playing time! Punky Doodle will definitely appeal to a  broad range of age groups. The graphics, while not too complex, are clean and colorful. The sounds are also above average. All of the playing elements, including the 50 or so enemy characters, come together. Punky Doodle may look easy, but it requires a good deal of skill to play. With over 30 levels, Punky Doodle should keep you busy for a long time!

As wrote by the Los Angeles Time in 1993, a playable demo of Punky Doodle could have been featured at the Amusement and Music Operators Expo ’93:

“SunSoft of America Inc., which left the competitive arcade business to focus on home video games, is making another stab at arcades with a new game aimed at leading the industry back to the “era of PacMan.”

Though the arcade game, called “Punky Doodle,” isn’t totally nonviolent, SunSoft has high hopes that simple, back-to-basics action will make the game successful in arcades. In “Punky Doodle,” the heroes guard a pumpkin patch from alien invaders intent on destroying crops. The heroes zap the invaders into oblivion, but not in a graphically violent way, Siller said.

The game will be featured at the Amusement and Music Operators Expo ’93 at the Anaheim Convention Center later this month and is scheduled for release in December.”

In the end the game was never released in arcades, but a prototype could still be somewhere out there.

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Nintendo, SNES + Super Famicom

Zorro (IREM) [SNES – Cancelled]

U64 Staff & Contributors
14-01-2022
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Zorro for the SNES by IREM Corporation was a game being developed around 1994. Nothing was ever mentioned of this game’s development or existence. An ex-IREM employee briefly uploaded a clip of this game on youtube in March 2021. However, it was quickly deleted by the user. Thankfully a youtube user, ShiryuGL, was able to download and share the video with others.

Upon further research the user who originally posted the Zorro gameplay turned out to be Yoshinobu Oyaman. After making contact with Mr.Oyaman, he was able to confirm that this Zorro game was actually based on the early conceptualization of the Mask of Zorro 1998 movie. The game was to include both an older and younger version of Zorro (similar to the film) and gameplay was based off of Konami’s Sunset Riders.

Ultimately the project was cancelled due to IREM disbanding their console concepts in 1994 to focus on coin-op arcades. Yoshinobu also stated that this game was very hard to develop due to it being the first action game being developed by IREM.

Interview translated using google translate: 

Evil Pixel: Hello I’m writing about unreleased games. I was informed that you worked at IREM and I wanted to know more about this Super Nintendo Zorro game. No one seems to know anything about it. I hope you can help me get more information for documentation purposes. Thank you for your time.

Yoshinobu Oyaman: Hello, ZORRO was made when I was at IREM. I’m a developer with ARCADE and SFC, and I was a Game Designer for SFC. IREM has released HOOK on ARCADE which they liked, so the game was developed under the copyright of The Mask of Zorro. Unfortunately, the development of IREM was disbanded in 1994, so it was unfinished and unreleased. The content of the game was aimed at the feeling of KONAMI’s Sunset Riders. I couldn’t get any information just from the information that two Zorro (the first Zorro and the young Zorro) would appear in the developing movie, so I made an action game using a sword and a whip while watching Zorro’s comics.

Evil Pixel: Thank you for that information. Do you know if a game prototype cartridge exists? If so, do you have a photo of the cartridge?

Yoshinobu Oyaman: (Yoshinobu proceeds to show me the prototype cartridge in his possession).

Evil Pixel: thank you very much. This is the last question. Was the game complete or was it half complete? Also, did the game have any interesting features? It looks amazing

Yoshinobu Oyaman: Unfinished. It was hard because it was the first ACTION GAME in the third work after I made R-TYPE. After this, I changed jobs to BANPRESTO and made Super Gussun Oyoyo.

Evil Pixel: Are you the only one who has a copy of the zorro cartridge?

Yoshinobu Oyaman: I had a former Zorro programmer burn it into a ROM. As expected, I cannot make a copy

Article by Evil Pixel

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