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tecmo

On July the 20th 2005, Tecmo once unveiled a lineup of their upcoming games. Among these games was Bastard!! Online, an MMORPG based on the Bastard!! manga by Kazushi Hagiwara. According to various media outlets, the game was initially slated to be released exclusively on PC in Asian territories.

When rumours began to circulate that the game was cancelled, GameKult.com uploaded an article featuring many images and other minuscule details. From the site, we can read:

The project Bastard !! Online is not aborted, as evidenced by the first real images of the game, released two years after the development was announced. For those who are still wondering, it will indeed be an MMORPG adaptation of the famous manga by Kazushi Hagiwara, plunging players into the chaos of Meta-Licana. PvP oriented, the game will offer allegiance to one of the competing factions, at the command of generals Nei, Gara, Karsu or by joining the camp of the oppressed led by Princess Shira. It remains to be seen whether the universe heroic fantasy, the game system and the presence of the charismatic Dark Schneider will prove convincing enough to captivate the Japanese public. The launch of the game is still planned for 2007 in the land of the Rising Sun.

Despite plans for a 2007 release, Bastard!! Online was never launched. However, in 2008, Gamekult.com published another article titled “Bastard!! Online Lives Again.” The article revealed that the developers had spent an additional year enhancing the graphics to make the game much more visually appealing than what was previously shown. The website provided the following details:

Announced almost four years ago, the project Bastard !! Online is still relevant. As immortal as Dark Schneider, this impossible MMORPG is reborn from its ashes through these new images, enhanced with a trailer extra. Don’t laugh, the developers were particularly keen to highlight the efforts made on the graphics part of the game in a recent interview. For the rest, we know that this MMO based on the work of Kazushi Hagiwara will require allegiance to one of the game’s factions, commanded by the highly charismatic characters Nei, Gara and the others. The game is now scheduled to go live in 2009, at least until further notice..

Years have passed, and Bastard!! Online was never released. Ultimately, the game was cancelled on December 18, 2009 as Tecmo concluded that the development time required, coupled with their market forecasts, made continuing the project unfeasible. What remains of the game are a few screenshots and trailers.

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Nes / Famicom, Nintendo

Rygar [Beta – NES]

U64 Staff & Contributors

13-02-2012

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Rygar is a 2D side scrolling action game created by Tecmo in 1986 and originally released for arcades in Japan as Argus no Senshi. An home-version for Nintendo was released on April 1987 in Japan for the Famicom as Argos no Senshi and later that year in the United States for the NES. A European release came in 1990.

Yes, a beta version of this horribly under rated classic exists somewhere out there in the world. However all we have to acknowledge its existence with are screenshots. The following screen shots were scanned from the back of the American, European and Japanese boxes as well as a Japanese magazine ad for the game.

The quality is not that great but these were not photoshopped at all.

This was taken from the back of the Japanese box. It shows the first stage. Notice the mountains are not purple and the trees have branches.

Here we see Garloz. Notice the shrine on the right not present in the final version of the game?

Here we see the very top of the Gran Mountain. Just before you travel to the Tower of Garba. Notice that the tree stumps that you use the cross bow on are thinner than they appear in the final version of the game? Also notice that the ropes are attached to different platforms than shown in the actual release?

Last but not least, the Japanese advertisement shown in magazines back in the day. MANY screenshots of an obvious beta are shown. Notice the Hermit’s room has no platform to the left or door to exit? Notice that the boss of the Tower of Garba is being fought on the first floor? Also notice that the world of Lapis is shown with Rygar crossing a rope on cliffs not seen in the actual game?

December 14th, 2012, another screenshot from the beta has been found. This time, a moon seems to have been removed from the background of the Gran Mountain stage. It seems that there was supposed to be some transitioning from day to night in this game that was scrapped.

A beta must exist somewhere and hopefully some day, someone will find it.

Post by Casey Strain

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Microsoft, Xbox

Ninja Gaiden [XBOX – Beta]

U64 Staff & Contributors

16-04-2008

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Ninja Gaiden for the Xbox was released in 2004, but it was first shown in 2002, with a trailer that contain many beta elements and differences. In 1999, Team Ninja started work on the “Next-Generation Ninja Gaiden Project”. The first stage of development was to create the game on the Sega NAOMI arcade system board. They then planned to move the project to the Dreamcast console for further development and release, but this was abandoned when Sega announced the end of Dreamcast product line in 2001.

At this point, Tecmo decided to release Ninja Gaiden as a launch title for the Sony PlayStation 2 in the United States. Itagaki, however, had other plans; the Team Ninja Leader was impressed with the software development kits for the Xbox and pushed for his team to develop for the Microsoft console.

In the 2002 beta Ryu’s model / suit is slightly different from the final one. The copter boss was in the train turnstyle area, instead than on the bridge like the final game. In this same area we can see Ruy on the electricity tower, but he cannot go over there in the final. Other scenes, as the one with a ninja that came out from the ceiling of the first level, were never used. Also the graphic of the game was still incomplete, with ugly textures and a lot of aliasing. There are a Green “U” Nimpo in the same screenshot of the “X” item, this Nimpo doesn`t appear i the final version and this “X” neither appear in this level, in the final version, this appear in an alley where you find the windmill shuriken.

There are even some screens with a removed (?) puzzle in wich Ruy has to find an X item (that looks like the Xbox prototype / development hardware) to open a passage. It’s possible that this puzzle was used in some demos or side missions from the Black version, but we dont have any confirmation about it. The X item was reused in Ninja Gaiden 2 as an easter egg and it heals all your magic and health.

Thanks to www.gamerhistory.com for some of these screens!

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train turnstyle