Beta + Cancelled Action Video Games - Page 45 of 91

As we can read from Wikipedia, Eduardo the Samurai Toaster is a run and gun side-scrolling action game developed by Semnat Studios and released in 2009 for the Wii’s WiiWare digital distribution service. As noticed by Jaimen, originally the project was called “Eduardo the magical toaster” and instead of firing pastries you used a long stick to fight. A beta video found by TheSuperSonic111 shown this early beta (there’s also a removed ninja powerup).

In an interview by Gamasutra, the developement team talks about the early development of Eduardo:

What inspired Eduardo the Samurai Toaster, and why did you decide to make it?
DeMaria: After my freshman year of college I finished work on a really terrible turn-based strategy game. After a little time went by I felt like making another game. The intention was to learn how to make a larger game than the few that we had worked on before and to see if we could make a really excellent game. I asked Daniel if he had any ideas and he jokingly suggested that we work on a platformer where you play as a toaster that fights magical fairies. After a minute we both realized that his idea actually sounded pretty fun and we began development.
A little less than a year went by and we had made a game that was not very good, but we saw the potential in the concept. We started over from scratch and Daniel rethought the character design. It was at this time that Eduardo became a samurai with a sweatband. […]
How long did development take?
DeMaria: We spent roughly one year making the first version of the game before Eduardo was a samurai. We then started over from scratch and spent about a year on that version. This is when Daniel re-worked the character design. After that, we switched to the Torque Game Builder from an engine I made. It’s been a little less than a year since we switched engines. So we’ve been working on Eduardo for about three years.

Also, in the blog of Ian Bowie (from Semnat Studios) there are some more info:

First I should give a quick recap of the history of Eduardo. There have been three versions prior to this WiiWare game. In 2004 we started work on Eduardo the Magical Toaster, and started over again sometime early 2005, I believe, with Eduardo the Samurai Toaster. And pardon me if I get my dates wrong(the past five years of development have turned into a big blur) but I believe it was in 2006 when we started on yet another version of the game, this time using the Torque 2D engine.

Thanks to Jaimen for the contribution!

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Here’s a video from the final version:

32X / Mega CD, Leaked, Sega

Citizen X [Sega CD – Cancelled]

yota

02-07-2010

1 Comment

Citizen X is a cancelled side-scrolling action game, made by Digital Pictures, which was supposed to be released for the Sega Mega Cd in 1993. Like many other titles for the ill-fated add-on, it featured many clumsy FMV cutscenes. The gameplay was even less exciting, because of the very limited moveset available for the main character and the repetitive locations. An almost complete beta of Citizen, missing just one of the videos, was commercially distribuited by Good Deal Games in 2002.

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Playstation, Saturn, Sega, Sony

Split Realities [PSX SAT – Cancelled]

monokoma

27-06-2010

10 Comments

Split Realities is a cancelled 2D side scrolling action game that was in development by Funcom for the Playstation and Saturn. The game looked a lot like Flashback and it’s possible that the gameplay would have been similar to Delphine Software’s title. Split Realities was canned for some development issues, but its core concept, setting and characters were reused to build “The Longest Journey”, a Point and Click adventure released by Funcom in 1999 for PC.

As we can read in an interview with Funcom’s Ragnar Tornquist on Adventure Gamers:

How did you come up with the concept for TLJ? Were you guys just writing down ideas when someone suddenly cried out “Eureka!” ?
If I remember correctly, I think it was “Geronimo!”. Okay, that’s not really how it happened. The core idea of TLJ—two worlds, one of magic, one of science, and a Guardian to keep watch of the Balance between them—was actually the setting for a platform game (of all things) that Funcom was developing at that time, called Split Realities. I wasn’t involved with that project at all, but when for various reasons the game was canned, the lead artist, Didrik Tollefsen, wanted to take the core concept and build a new game around it. Which is where I entered into the picture. We sat down for quite a while, played around with the setting and the characters and the story, and the end result of that process was the beginning of The Longest Journey. There are only little bits and pieces left of the original idea, but that’s the nature of any good game design; it grows and changes with the people working on it. At this point, it’s difficult to say who came up with what, but it’s really been a cooperative process between me and the lead artist, with constant input from the whole team. So, no, it was never “Eureka!” It was more of an organic process.

Celine and Rod_Wod were able to find few Split Realities screens in CD Consoles magazine issue #11 and other old magazines.

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Microsoft, Xbox

Roman Bloodsport [XBOX – Cancelled]

monokoma

26-06-2010

No Comments

Roman Bloodsport is a cancelled action / racing game that was in development by Dynamic Animation Systems for the original XBOX in 2003. The player would have been able to engage in gladiatorial events in many places across the empire of ancient Rome. As we can read in the official press release:

From gruesome fights to the death in arenas to dangerous high-speed chariot races, the player must master a multitude of different skills to survive and ultimately be victorious. Roman Bloodsport Live! extends the gameplay of the single player game presenting the player with the opportunity to compete against other online players in ladder and tournament games, eventually becoming the leader of his own clan of warriors.
* Arena combat and chariot racing together in one game
* 10 diferent arenas and 10 different chariot race tracks
* Exotic opponents from the far reaches of ancient Rome
* Role-playing elements allow the player to customize and upgrade their equipment as they gane wealth and fame
* XBox Live! game play extends the role-playing elements of the single player campaign

In the end Roman Bloodsport was never released, maybe because they did not find a publisher interested in the project.

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Leaked, Mega Drive / Genesis, Sega

Zombie High [Genesis / MegaDrive – Cancelled]

monokoma

25-06-2010

11 Comments

Zombie High is a cancelled side scrolling action game that was in development by Electronic Arts for the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive. An incomplete beta rom was somehow leaked online

It seems that there are a few enemies at the end of level 1 that cannot be defeated with your default slime weapon. They can be defeated by using the book as a weapon by entering the door marked number 4 next to the enemies and the book weapon will appear. It is very difficult to defeat them without being defeated yourself.

Celine was able to find some early screenshots in Joypad magazine #10, in which we can notice that the main character sprite has some differences from the one in the playable beta. It’s currently unknown why this game was canned and never released.

Recently a debug mode was found by “The Jackal” by pressing start and A on controller 2 simultaneously. Using this debug mode we can get to see more levels,Music that was never used(which after some research appears to be music used in a later EA title “Crue ball” composed by “Brian L Shmidt” Weapon select,invincibility and disabling enemies. It appears a lot of the game was finished but the only things missing are an ending to the game and most of the minigames and dialogue sections that can be found by entering certain doors in various levels will not work properly unless accessed using the debug modes level select feature

The main characters name in this game according to the debug menu is “Travis” He is also referred to as Travis by some of the characters in the classroom sections

There is a movie of the same name released in 1987, This game may have taken some inspiration from this movie despite not being a game based on this movie, One of the in game characters is called “Emerson” there is also a character in the movie named Emerson, which further confirms this suspicion

The end boss of the game is loosely based around the appearance of Allister Fiend from the band “Motley Crue” EA also licensed Crue Ball a year after this games cancellation and Allister Fiend also appears in this game. The only difference in Zombie High is that he is blue

Crue Ball shares many things in common with zombie high, such as similar graphics design, and similar sounding music (one identical song) The designers of Crue Ball are called NuFx Who could be the possible designers of Zombie High
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Thanks to Celine for the contribution!

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