Cancelled Games

[NeoZeedeater]

Each year many games under development get cancelled. This thread devoted to games that never got the release they were supposed to. Some reappeared in the emulation scene while others are unfinished products only touched by a few people.

There's no way I can cover the hundreds of cancelled games out there but here are a bunch I find interesting across a variety of formats and generations.



Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans (PC, Mac)
This was a graphic adventure spin-off game that was going to be released in 1998. It was a joint project with Animation Magic. Blizzard also hired veteran adventure game designer Steve Meretzky to help with the game later in its development.


Starfox 2 (SNES)
Nintendo canned this when it was nearly finished. The design is more free-roaming than the original. I recommend checking out the patched rom.


Sonic X-treme (Saturn, PC)
Back then I didn't like the idea of another team making a Sonic game and was quite wary of it. It does look pretty cool though. Like was said in the Sonic X-treme thread, Super Mario Galaxy actually looks quite similar if you compare videos of them.


Bio Force Ape (NES)
If you visit the digitpress forums, you know of the infamous thread there.


Castlevania: Resurrection (Dreamcast)
This American-made game was to star Sonia Belmont from Castlevania Legends.


Black Belt (5200)
There were hardly any fighting games around in 1983. This could have been something really special at the time.


Check this site out for cancelled Atari stuff - http://www.atariprotos.com/

GunBeat (Arcade)
By Treasure.


Dando (Genesis)
EGM was hyping this Treco game back in the early days of the 16-bit era.


Akka Arrh (Arcade)
Atari made awesome arcade games back then which is why this interests me.


Unity (Gamecube)


Zelda II remake (Satellaview)
The first Zelda remake on BS-X was released but number 2 was never completed.

Cube Quest (Vectrex)


Space Fantasy Zone (Duo)
Basically Fantasy Zone mixed with Space Harrier. From what I played of the beta, it seemed pretty cool albeit a bit choppy given the lack of hardware scaling. I'm not sure why NEC didn't release it. Some say it was legal issues with Sega but I'm skeptical of that since NEC had licensed games from them before.


B.C. (Xbox)


Time Diver: Eon Man (NES)
The only versions of it that came out were bootlegs.


Deadlock (Commodore 64)
By Cyberdyne Systems and System 3. From what I played, this 1989 action game had a lot of potential, and is one of the most technically impressive games on the system.


Check this site out for tons of cancelled C64 stuff - http://gtw64.retro-net.de/

And, lots of unreleased Speccy stuff here - http://tzxvault.retrogames.com/time.htm

Alien vs. Predator (Lynx)


The Lost (Playstation 2)
An appropriate title for this Irrational Games' action/adventure inspired by Dante's Inferno. This was my most wanted PS2 game in the early part of its life.


Cloak & Dagger (Atari 8-bit, 5200)
This was to be a port of the arcade game. It's significant because this version was shown in the movie of the same name.


Virtua Hamster (32X)
According to the game's creator, Eric Quakenbush, Sega of Japan was not pleased at "Virtua" being in the title.


Super Mario's Wacky Worlds (CD-i)
Zelda was bastardized on CD-i. I fear Mario would have met the same fate. Novalogic had made some good games before but nothing of Nintendo quality.


Sex n Drugs n Rock n Roll (PC)
This game by Sensible Software would have been pretty controversial if released given the sex scenes and drug use.

[NeoZeedeater]

True Fantasy Live Online (Xbox)


Ixion (Arcade, 2600)
I'm a little confused about this game. It appears that the arcade and 2600 versions were cancelled (although you can find the prototype roms) but the Atari 8-bit computer version was released by a different company called The Sorceror according to the title screen. Is this version a homebrew or licensed from Sega?


Pussies Galore (Amiga, CD32)
This was by Team 17.


A Boy and his Blob (DS)
I think this was cancelled.


Blaster (Atari 8-bit/5200)
The excellent arcade version of Vid Kidz's rail shooter did make it out but the original home version got the axe.


VB Mario Land/Mario Adventure (Virtual Boy)
The VB wasn't meant to survive but I'm a fan of the system and would have loved for this to have made it out. It even had some Zelda-ish overhead view parts.


Zone of Darkness (Commodore 64)
The C64 was ancient by 1995 but still alive in Europe. This was to be a mix of Flashback and Impossible Mission. The intro and character animations are impressive but it wasn't developed past that stage.


Dronez (PC, Xbox)
Being a big TRON fan, I was always curious about this game since it imitates that franchise.


Starcraft Ghost (Playstation 2, Xbox, Gamecube)
Even after switching developers(Nihilistic to Swinging Ape) the game still never made it out.


Bound High (Virtual Boy)


Ghosts 'N Goblins remake (PC)
Retro FX was making this. I think it was cancelled for legal reasons.


Tempest (5200, 2600)
5200 version shown.


Propellor Arena (Dreamcast)
I suppose I could download this somewhere to try it but being a dumbass at technical stuff, I haven't bothered trying to make a DC disc.


Escape from the Mindmaster (ColecoVision)
A port of Starpath's Supercharger 3d maze game. It could have received a wider audience on Coleco.

Ninja Gaiden (Mega Drive)
The other two original Ninja Gaiden games published by Sega (SMS and GG) were released but this wasn't(except possibly in bootleg form). Based on playing the probably unfinished rom, it seemed like a mediocre beat 'em up.


Hard and Heavy (Commodore 64)
After the SMB clone The Great Giana Sisters was taken off the market due to legal action threatened by Nintendo, the creators changed the sequel to a sci-fi platformer. It still didn't make it out to stores though. It's a good game though and has eerie music similar to Giana.


Meebzork (5200)


Seiken Densetsu: The Emergence of Excalibur (Famicom Disk System)
This was going to be the first game in the "Mana" series.


Frame City Killer (Xbox 360)


Space Warriors (Commodore 64)
A space themed Archon clone from 1987. I'm not sure if the rom is a finished game. It's not as good as Archon but it had potential.


Deep Cover (PC)
Its screenshots don't look very exciting but this stealth game was under development by Looking Glass Studios and Irrational Games. Given their experience with Thief, it was one to key an eye on.


The Last Ninja IV (Xbox, Playstation 2)
LN4 was originally going to be C64 game, then years later pictures of an 3/4 isometric view 32-bit game showed up. That was cancelled in favour of a 3d game last gen which also never surfaced. It was looking pretty ugly anyway. At least there should be Last Ninja Trilogy for PSP next year.


Dark Tower (Vectrex)
I find this interesting because it's an action/adventure game on the Vectrex instead of the usual shooters. Like many other Vectrex games it's available today on multi-carts and the rom is legal to download. An indie PC developer made a modern remake of the game under the name Shadow of the Lost Citadel a few years ago.


[b]"Unnamed racing game"[b] (Konix Multi-System)
Back in the late '80s when early screens of 16-bit console games were appearing in magazines, this was one of them. The Konix Multi-System didn't have graphics as good as the Genesis or TurboGrafx but it had its own chair! The system and its games never made it into stores.


Native (Jaguar)
Similar to R-Type.



Please make additions to the thread.

[g0zen]

Fallout 3 (Black Isle Studios version)

[Nash]

The one game that was canceled that really bummed me out was the Castlevania game that was supposed to hit the 32X.

[gameoverDude]

Raiden Fighters 2 (Sega Saturn/Electronic Arts Victor)
Raiden Fighters Evolution (New World System/Xbox) - With the new company Moss being the current holder of the Raiden franchise, it'd be nice to see them pick this one up for 360 or PC.

[Zac]

The big canceled games for me have always been the 32x Castlevania and Eternal Champions 3. I was so pumped when I bought my Saturn and it was on the back of the box.

[icarusfall]

The Red Star. But I guess it's supposed to be coming out again.

[Jeremy]

Rent-A-Hero No. 1 being cancelled for a U.S. release bummed me out more than any other recent cancellation. Having played Propeller Arena, I'll say that Sega should definitely put that on a compilation or just release it as a budget game for some system soon. It would have made for a fine send off for the DC had it officially come out.

[Mikhal]

After looking at this thread then reading up on Castlevania 32X, I'm bummed about it too now. But then again, we got Symphony of the Night from it...

[Bacon McShig]

The Unseen was a cancelled fisrt-party Xbox game... I believe it was being developed by The Collective.