third person shooter

Jet Force Gemini [GBC – Cancelled]

A GameBoy Color version of Jet Force Gemini was in development by Bit Studios (for Rare) in 2000, but it was cancelled in the end. The original JFG is a third-person shooter / action adventure published for the Nintendo 64 in October 1999, but the GBC version was never officially announced.

We were able to know about this cancelled project only thanks to Dano2k0 from the Assembler Forum, that found a playable prototype and shared some screens with the community. Rare released 2 other GameBoy Color games based on their Nintendo 64 titles, Perfect Dark and Conker’s Pocket Tales, that were received with low  interest by gamers: we could speculate that their third GameBoy Color “N64 port” was canned for this reason or for quality issues.

Jet Force Gemini GBC was going to have an isometric 2D view, while the gameplay was probably going to be “similar” to the N64 version, with lots of shooting and insects to kill.

As we can read in an interview with Martin Wakeley:

JFG on the Gameboy was the only occasion I can remember Rare outsourcing anything. It was being done by Bits Studios and was nearly done last time I saw it, I’m not sure what happened to it.

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Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes 2 [PS2 – Beta]

Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes 2 is a third person shooter developed and published in 2000 by 3DO for the Playstation, Playstation 2 and Nintendo 64. In the gallery below you can see the first images that were released for the PS2 version: looking at the graphic in those screens, we can notice that it’s much more definited and detailed than the one seen in the final version. We can assume that these shots were just target renders, created with high-ends PCs or a PS2 development kit, to indicate how the game would have look when it was still too incomplete to show.

DCcodes7 noticed various differences:

Then there are the zombie enemies in the graveyard image, each zombie is different if you look at the image and compare each of the enemies closely. In that very same image the female character – which you get to play as in the game – her design is different in this image than it is in the final. One difference – from what I can tell – is her boots (shoes) are white in this image but are brown in the final game.

In another screen we have the helicopter – up right hand corner of the image – that’s shooting while flying straight at the main character: the way the helicopter fires and how it fly’s is different in the target renders than it is in the final.

In that same image we have a tank, again, not found in this level. There is also the “red target” around the tank, this of course means that auto aim is active and is targeting the tank. Of course the auto aim is still in the game, however the red auto aim target is different in the target renders than it is in the final.

The town seen in one of the images is on fire, which doesn’t happen in the game at all.

In another image we see a scoped version of the M16 weapon: of course the M16 is used but the scoped version of the very same weapon is not however.

Then we have the HUD: that’s seen in all of these target renders, the HUD is different in the final.

Thanks to DCcodes7 for the contribution!

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James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing [PS2/XBOX/GC – Beta]

James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing is a 2004 third-person shooter, developed by EA Redwood Shores and EA Canada for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and the GameCube. DCodes7 noticed some beta differences in the early screens  and videos released for the game:

  • Different and unused outfits worn by James bond
  • Different outfit for Jaws (beige shirt with brown pants & brown suspenders)
  • Beta enemy wearing a silver/platinum armor (not used in the final game)
  • Beta enemy wearing a grey/black hat (the hat is red in the final)
  • Various differences in the first trailer

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Airborne Ranger [SNES – Cancelled]

Airborne Ranger is a cancelled action game / third person shooter that was in development by Microprose for the Super Nintendo. The game was a sequel  / remake of the original Airborne Ranger released in 1987 / 1988 for Amiga and various PCs. As the original version,  we would have play as a sole airborne military to infiltrate enemy territory to complete various objectives. It’s currently unknown if the SNES version was going to use the same level system as the original game, that created maps and objective locations randomly so missions were never the same.

Some screens of the game were found in magazines Banzzai #14 and Super Power #12

Thanks to Celine for the contribution!

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ResQ [MD/G – Cancelled]

ResQ is a cancelled 2D shooter / action game that was in development by Tempest Software for the Genesis / Mega Drive. The project was almost finished when the publisher, Psygnosis, decided to pulled it out: even if ResQ was never officially released, a rom of the game was leaked online and can be easily found through Google.

The look and feel of the game seem taken from an Amiga project, probably because the team was inspired by the Bitmap Brothers graphic style back then. Other inspirations were games such as R-Type (for the ship) C64 version of Turrican, Super Ghosts and Goblins (for the centurion) Starwing/Starfox (for the 3D bonus game).

As a former graphic designer of Tempest Software wrote:

The Game was programmed on 486 PC’s by Bill Pullan and Pete, while  Jason used Deluxe Paint II and III on an Amiga 1200 with RAM upgrade for Graphics and Animation. Bill actually worked on an Amiga title before RESQ, “Bill’s Tomato Game“.

Thanks to Jason and Celine for the contributions!

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