Gaming
Games
The cancelled retro games discovered years on
We look at the games that nearly got released, only to be canned and left to gather dust.
A fan-made reproduction of the game that never was
© Melbourne Console Repros
It should come as no great surprise that for every video game which successfully makes it from drawing board to shop shelf, there are countless others that aren't quite as fortunate. Some don't even make it past the prototype stage, while others are completed, but for some reason – be it changes in the market or the collapse of the company involved – never see the light of day.
Once upon a time, a cancelled game would have been forgotten in the mists of time, but thanks to advances in technology, social media and the ability to effortlessly share files online, many binned games are returning to life and being given the opportunity to entertain players that was so cruelly denied them so many years ago.
We've compiled a list of recent and notable finds for you to gaze over and wonder what might have been had these made it to retail.
Star Fox 2 (SNES)
This SNES sequel is perhaps one of the most famous cancelled games in existence. Star Fox 2 was heavily promoted during development and was expected to send the esteemed 16-bit console out with a bang, but Nintendo pulled the plug just prior to release and consigned the game to the scrapheap, only stopping to carry over some of the core ideas to 1997's Star Fox 64 on the N64.
According to members of the development team, a finished version exists, but there are various betas available online which are fully playable via emulation. Some resourceful individuals have even gone as far as to burn these beta ROMs onto functioning SNES cartridges and even create (totally unofficially, of course) packaging for it.
Quik The Thunder Rabbit (SNES)
The 1990s were packed with cute mascot characters in sickly-sweet 2D platform adventures, some of which were more successful than others. For every Sonic and Mario there was a Bubsy the Bobcat or Titus the Fox, but even those are more famous than Quik the Thunder Rabbit, a little-known title developed by Stywox for the ill-fated Commodore CD32 console and later ported to PC.
This year a prototype for a SNES version appeared online displaying some impressive visual effects and unique gameplay mechanics, including shooter and one-on-one fighting sections. The prototype sadly crashes at a certain point and there's no sound whatsoever so it can't be considered complete, but it's well worth a look if you're into classic '90s platform games.
Die Hard (Nintendo 64)
When you think Die Hard video games, the first that come to mind are likely to be Sega's excellent Die Hard Arcade and the equally enjoyable Die Hard Trilogy on the PlayStation. At a push you might call Die Hard Vendetta on the GameCube to mind, despite the rather lacklustre quality of the game.
Amazingly, this title actually began life on the N64 and a playable prototype surfaced this year which shows how much of the groundwork was in place before it shifted platforms. This first-person adventure pushes the N64 hardware to its limits with massive levels and quite a wide range of player skills. You can't play the ROM via an emulator, but if you have access to a Flash cartridge and an N64 console, you should be able to give it a spin.
Infinity (Game Boy Color)
Originally titled Joltima II and scheduled for publication by the now-defunct Crave, Infinity was abandoned when the Game Boy Color's market share began to shrink at the turn of the millennium, despite being proudly demonstrated at E3 2001. The team behind this RPG adventure splintered and went their separate ways, but the game simply refused to die.
Last year, 15 years after development had effectively ceased, a playable version was published entirely free of charge by core members of the original team. The game isn't finished by any means, but the developers have stated that they'd love to see the work continue without their involvement, and have even published the source code to ensure this can happen.
Nightmare Busters (SNES)
Developed in Europe and cited for publication by Japanese publisher Nichibutsu in 1994, Nightmare Busters was given a proper launch in 2014 when US-based company Super Fighter Team acquired a development cartridge which had surfaced in 2007 and polished up the game so it was fit for public consumption.
It was released in authentic packaging on a proper SNES cartridge, and has gone on to become something of a collector's item. It's also as hard as nails to play and a great challenge for action lovers, making it a fine addition to any self-respecting SNES fan's library.
Buck Rogers: The Arcade Game (SNES)
Not all unreleased titles totally sink into obscurity. When French publisher Loriciel lost the licence for the Buck Rogers game it was working on, it repurposed the content to showcase Jim Power, a character it had created itself. Despite the release of Jim Power: The Lost Dimension in 3D, a playable version of Buck Rogers: The Arcade Game does indeed exist, and shows the alterations made by the developer – the most striking of which is the more extreme parallax-scrolling 3D effect in the background, a feature that was no doubt added to Jim Power in order to give the title a unique visual hook.
Millennium Racer: Y2K Fighters (Dreamcast)
Sometimes complete, unreleased games turn up at the most unexpected times. Recently, a Dreamcast devkit surfaced which contained files for Millennium Racer: Y2K Fighters, a racing game developed by Russian studio Creat Studio for PC in 1999. The files weren't an unfinished prototype, but the complete game, which was later burnt to a disc by a resourceful fan and functions perfectly on a proper Dreamcast system.
No one knows why it never saw release, but the fact that it made relatively little impact on PC may have convinced French publisher Cryo Interactive – which would go bankrupt in 2002 – that commercial success was not going to be forthcoming if the game made its way to Sega's machine. At least we can now play it ourselves to see what we missed back in 1999.
Resident Evil 1.5 (PlayStation)
The Resident Evil 2 we got to play was actually quite different from the one which had initially entered development back in the '90s. As the game's release date approached the team at Capcom became concerned that elements of the adventure didn't work and took the bold decision to tear things up and start again from scratch, retaining only parts of the original template.
Leon Kennedy was the hero – just as he would be in the final version of the game – but Claire Redfield was nowhere to be seen, with a heroine named Elza Walker assuming her role. Fans have since obtained the prototype – dubbed Resident Evil 1.5 – and massaged it into a playable form. While we unquestionably got the best version of Resident Evil 2 back in the day, it's fascinating to see how this abandoned edition shaped up, and it's encouraging that fans are so committed to saving projects like this for future players.
Primal Rage II (Arcade)
Released during the craze for one-on-one fighters which occurred off the back of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, Primal Rage featured massive monsters instead of fireball-hurling karate experts and predictably found quite a large following in both arcades and on home consoles like the SNES and Mega Drive.
An arcade sequel was put into development with the aim of launching in 1996, but the project was cancelled. A working ROM has been available almost since that time, but no emulator existed which could run it – until earlier this year, when one talented fan created a custom emulator just for the game. Primal Rage II was unique in that it features humans who can transform into monsters – a concept which would later surface in 3D fighter Bloody Roar on the PlayStation.
Wonderland Dizzy (NES)
One of the most beloved characters of the '80s, Dizzy began life on the ZX Spectrum before ending up on consoles like the NES and Mega Drive. A brand-new NES sequel called Wonderland Dizzy was developed but shelved and The Oliver Twins – creators of the character – only very recently discovered the source data for it. They used this data to create a working version of the game and have kindly published it for free online.
