Boo! [SNES/MD – Cancelled]

Boo! is a cancelled platform game that was in development by Micropose for the Super Nintendo, Genesis / Mega Drive and Amiga in 1994. As we can read on the website of Boo!’s producer Stuart Whyte:

Designed by Richard Lemarchand, Boo! was a side on platformer inspired by Sonic and Mario, we wanted to create a universe with the central character being a cool ghost called Boo who’s default method of attack was to shout “Boo!” at an enemy to scare him away. Working with Keith Scoble (from Cosgrove Hall and creator of Jamie and the Magic Torch and Dangermouse) we built a great game… but unfortunately, due to rocky financial times at Microprose, we never had the money to release – so the game has been lost in time

You can find more info and screens in this article by SNES Central!

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Tomorrow Never Dies [Beta – Playstation]

Tomorrow Never Dies was developed by Black Ops and then published in 1999 by Electronic Arts. On release, it was immediately compared to Goldeneye on the N64. One of the main criticisms was the lack of multiplayer, with only 10 single player missions making up the game. Yet, in the game’s content, there is an image of the beta multiplayer loading screen, so there were plans for it at some point, but abandoned before release.

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One of the loading screens also shows a level set on the HMS Devonshire, which was in the movie but cut from the game.

There is speculation that other unused beta content may have survived from an earlier, cancelled game called Tomorrow Never Dies: The Mission Continues:

The original VHS release of Tomorrow Never Dies featured a brief trailer with Desmond Llewelyn which highlighted a game that would “start where the film ends.” Footage shows bond skiing, scuba diving and driving in third person and on a first person shooting mission. The game was to come out on Playstation and PC in the fall of 1998 and was being made by MGM Interactive, not EA; EA was not involved in Bond until November of that year.

A Tomorrow Never Dies game was finally released on November 16th 1999, distributed by EA, but with notably differences from the 1998 attempt. The game was a third person shooter with the scuba diving level nowhere to be found. But perhaps the most glaring difference was the fact that the story now followed the plot of the film, not the continuation that had been promised.

A level in the game sees Bond skiing down a mountain and killing a Japanese terrorist named Sotoshi Isagura (who had featured very briefly in the film), while on another stage Bond has a driving mission in Switzerland. These were not from the film and may have survived from the ‘continuation’ story.

Article by Edward Kirk, source: Wikipedia 

Shaolin Streets [PS2 / PSP – Cancelled]

Shaolin Streets is a cancelled beat ’em up that was in development in 2005 by Jailed Games for the Playstation 2 and PSP, before it was canned and reworked for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. A playable beta version of Shaolin Streets was somehow leaked online, so you can have a look at the videos below, to have a better idea about how the game would have been played. Sadly, even the Xbox 360 / PS3 versions of Shaolin Streets were cancelled and it seems that Jailed Games had to close down for economic issues.

Videos by MaximumRD:

 

Sorcery [PC – Cancelled]

Sorcery was to be the first, ambitious project of game developer Starbreeze Studios, who have been responsible for such titles as the Chronicles of Riddick series, and Enclave. They have developed games that have been seen on all of the major consoles since the Xbox. Sorcery was conceived in 1997, long before either of these well-received titles.

Little information is available about Sorcery, and what we do know comes largely from interviews with the developers. Sorcery would have been a fast-paced RPG, with a “high fantasy” setting. The player would have taken the role of a young mage seeking to restore order in a war-torn continent.

The unique thing about Sorcery‘s gameplay is that it was being created with an almost exclusively magical combat system. Instead of using weapons, the protagonist would have used various spells to take down opponents. The creators described the gameplay of the concept as “a cross between Diablo and Quake, with a huge world to explore and lots of quests to solve”. Indeed, the game would have contained a number of different activities and tasks for the player outside of the main plot, giving the game a heightened sense of freedom. Despite its fast-paced nature, strategy and puzzles would have been important gameplay elements.

Another promising aspect of the game was its custom-made 3D engine. The engine, created by Starbreeze, included support for movable mirrors/portals, illuminated volumetric fog, skeleton animation/deformation, animatable multitexturing materials, dynamic lighting, day/night cycling and curved surfaces with variable tesselation degrees depending on a user’s computer’s capabilities. In 1998, when 3-dimensional gaming was still in its infancy, these technologies would no doubt have been a very impressive.

Sorcery would also have contained a multiplayer mode, although the developers have admitted that this part of the game was only going to be included after the single-player game was completely polished. We know that the multiplayer side would have included team play, action and “plenty of possibilities to develop your own playing styles”, according to one of the game’s developers.

Starbreeze Studios originally found a company called Gremlin Interactive to publish Sorcery. However, after Starbreeze merged with O3 games in 2001, the game was sadly deprioritised, and never reached completion. However, the company has gone on to make excellent games since the project’s demise.

Thanks to Megalol for the contribution!

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