Update: thanks to Susumu and Matt we found out that this obscure RPG was really published in Japan with the name “Lagnacure” by a company called Artdink. You can find more screens of the released version at Snesorama!
Laguna Cool is a cancelled (?) RPG that was in development by Sony Music Entertainment in 1996/1997 for the original Playstation. The game was available at the Tokyo Game Show 1997 but we dont know if there was any playable demo or it was just a video. A single screenshot of this RPG was found by Celine in PSM magazine #3. There are pratically no info on the project, at least with the Laguna Cool title: could this game have been released with another name in Japan? If you recognize this screen, please let us know!
Wizard was a RPG in development for the Wii, which was started at SuperVillain Studios (Crash of the Titans, Order Up!) in 2007. The story revolved around heroes who were trying to pursue a mysterious little girl trapped in the mist ravines. Sadly Wizard was cancelled due to a lack of funding in early 2009, but some screens and videos are archived in the gallery below, to preserve its existence.
Sands of Destruction is a RPG for the DS that was developed by Imageepoch and published by Sega on September 2008 in Japan (planned to be released in America in January 2010). Robert Seddon has linked us to an interview that Game Set Watch had with Image Epoch president Ryoei Mikage, and Sands of Destruction Sega producer Yoichi Shimosato, in which they talks about some changes that were made to the game, because of the CERO ratings:
This may be a difficult question, but the high concept of the game, where you are a character who is being compelled to end the world, is very interesting. But why take that and add some very, very traditional RPG fetch quests and anime characters and things like that?
RM: So this is probably the same in Japan, Europe, and the U.S., but the ratings boards — for Japan, it would be CERO — have been cracking down on the game industry. It’s been becoming more and more difficult to make games that are kind of out-there.
So, for this game in particular, Kato’s original scenario actually came back saying… In the final game, humanoids are ruled by the ferals, the beast men. The humans were food for the beast men in the original scenario, and there were scenes in there where the beast men would actually eat the humans.
Obviously, that would be rated Z in Japan. But for an RPG on the DS, the board felt that it would be more appropriate for the actual gameplay content to be something that even kids can pick up and play.
That’s unfortunate — if you had U.S. or Europe as the target market, you would not have had to change that. You would have gotten a Teen rating, maybe, but it certainly would not have been for mature audiences only.
YS: I agree. In my opinion, because this game was made specifically more for the Japanese market, it was appropriate the way we made it. But if it was more geared toward the Western audience, then, as you said, the original idea would have been more fun and compelling.
Albert Odyssey Gaiden (known in USA as Legend of Eldean) is RPG developed by Sunsoft and released for the Saturn in 1996, but it was originally meant to be published for the Super Famicom / Super Nintendo. The SNES version was soon cancelled and the project was ported to the new SEGA console, with many differences. Obviously the graphic was boosted for the Saturn, but even the SNES version looked really good for a 16 bit system.
As in 1994 / 1995 many japanese gamers were going to buy one of the new 32 bit consoles to replace the Super Famicom / Mega Drive, probably Sunsoft thought that Albert Odyssey Gaiden would have sold better on the Saturn.
It’s currently unknown how much the SNES version was completed before its cancellation.
Here is a comparison between the SNES early build and the final game released on Saturn:
Above: Snes . Below: Saturn.
Iron Dragon Boss. It seems that in the SNES version you fought it in a different place (or the background was just a placeholder).
Same spell (death rune). We can also see the placeholder sprites in SNES version.
Thanks to Celine for the contribution (Scans from Super Power magazine #20 and #22) and Gamengai for the the fliers shared online.
Broken Circle is an unreleased rpg created by 7 Raven Studios. The game, which story was based on Nordic mythology, had a troubled development: publishers weren’t interested because it was too risky to cover the release costs for an unknown title that needed a big and expensive 256mbits cartridge.
By the time that the programmers managed to shrink Broken Circle to 64mbits, the console was at the end of its life and the only publisher interested in the game was not officially authorized by Nintendo.
In 2009, 7Raven Studios decided to release a rom of the game on its website, but now the download link is broken. The rom can be easily found with a google search, though.
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