Others

Jaguar, Others

Zzyorxx II [Jaguar – Cancelled]

Celine
02-02-2012
12 Comments

Zzyorxx II is a cancelled shoot ’em up that was in development by Virtual Xperience for Jaguar.
The game run at 60 fps and had planned 5 different ages to go through from Prehistory to Star Wars ( passing through Middle Ages and First World War ).
As Rodolphe Czuba , programmer at Virtual Xperience, recalled over at MyAtari.net

Two more games were in development:

  • Zzyorxx, a great shoot-’em-up!
  • Indy Jag, a platform game.

The first was stopped two months before the end of the development by my managing associate at VX! A real shame. Only some graphics were done for Indy Jag, a concept like a humorous Indiana Jones with a jaguar figure.

Scans from Cd Consoles issue 5 and 13.

Images: 

Arcade, Others

Panic Museum [Beta – Arcade]

U64 Staff & Contributors
31-01-2012
1 Comment

Panic Museum is a on-rail shooter developed by Taito and GameWax, released in arcades in 2010. The game is a bit like a cross between the House of the Dead and the film Night at the Museum. Kieran played a beta version of Panid Museum at blackpool in the UK, and he noticed some differences:

The original name of the game was to be called haunted museum but was changed possibly due to copyright reasons (not sure why)
In the final version of the game the crosshairs was left out but was in the beta version.
Another difference is that you were set to go in a certain order starting with the mummy Egyptian level and then the library etc but in the final version you now have 3 stages to choose from in any order you like apart from the ones that need unlocking going upwards.
The aquarium level is the last level to be unlocked in the final version but wasn’t in the beta version
In the library level the deck of card monsters ran at you too quickly but now their speed have been reduced in the final version thus making the animation more in line with everything else.

Thanks to Kieran for the contribution!

Video from the final version:
 

Arcade, Others

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wave Net [Unreleased – Arcade]

monokoma
24-01-2012
1 Comment

As we can read on Wikipedia, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wave Net was a rare network version of the game. It was tested only in the Chicago and San Francisco areas that used a dedicated T1 line, connected directly to Midway’s Chicago headquarters; many people outside the test area were not aware of its existence during its release. One store kept the T1 line installed after the test concluded, but eventually removed the Wave Net game in favor of a Golden Tee game that uses a dial-up connection.

It is highly unlikely that any Wave Net test games were ever released to the public after the infrastructure was dismantled, and so there are no known dumps of the ROMs used by the games designed for it.

One of the reasons this version was not widely adopted was the rarity and cost of T1 lines at the time. The game was released before alternative broadband access was available. At the time, a T1 was the only guaranteed way to get broadband into an arcade, but the game didn’t utilize the full bandwidth of the T1. Midway subsidized the cost of the line during the tests to make it more attractive to the arcade owners.

Thanks to kieranmay for the contribution!

  

Sonic Generations [Beta – PS3/Xbox 360]
Microsoft, Others, PC / MAC, Playstation 3 (PS3), Sony, Xbox 360

Sonic Generations [Beta – PS3/Xbox 360]

Liam Robertson
15-01-2012
No Comments

Sonic Generations is a 3D action platforming game developed by Sonic Team and published by SEGA. The game was created to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the company’s famed mascot, Sonic The Hedgehog. It was released in late 2011 and observed a number of small changes on its road to launch.

‘Sonic Anniversary’ & The Cancelled Versions

As revealed by leaked correspondance between SEGA of America and Sony Corporation of America from September 2009, the original working title of the game was ‘Sonic Anniversary’. It is unclear exactly which stage of its development the title was at back then, but we can safely assume a very early one.

The next update on Sonic Anniversary came from Madrid’s Gamefest 2010, courtesy of Sonic news site, Sonic Paradise. As corroborated by Sonic Reikai, a SEGA representative reportedly let slip an abundance of information on the game to one of their reporters. Without the authorisation of SEGA, the rep. disclosed that it was to be a combination of 2D and 3D gameplay, and would be developed for Nintendo Wii, PSP, PS3 and DS. When asked whether or not it was planned to come to Xbox 360, the employee indicated that talks were still ongoing.

Eventually, the game was officially announced as Sonic Generations on April 18, 2011 for Xbox 360 and PS3. It is uncertain how far the Wii, PSP and DS versions progressed, but our sources suggest that they were cancelled not long into development.

Two Three Sonics, One Epic Adventure?

Partway through development, long before the game’s script had been finalised, Ryan Drummond was invited by SEGA to re-audition for his role as Sonic The Hedgehog. Previously, the voice actor had played the character in a number of games, like the Sonic Adventure titles, but was replaced by Jason Griffith in 2004’s Shadow The Hedgehog.

Due to a fundamental professional disagreement with the company, Drummond ended up turning down the opportunity. According to one of our sources, who was formerly of SEGA, the actor would have played a “third Sonic” who would have represented the Dreamcast era of the series.

At another stage, Sonic Team also considered the possibility of Classic Sonic having a speaking role in the game and consulted the staff at SEGA of America about it. Aaron Webber, the associate brand manager at SoA at the time, insisted that if the character were to speak, he would have to be voiced by Jaleel White.

White, who was responsible for portraying the mascot in all three of the Sonic animated shows (Sonic SatAM, Sonic Underground and The Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog) from the 90’s, was never contacted about the opportunity, however. The idea was soon dropped early on in production and Classic Sonic was made to be mute.

Sonic’s Birthday Beta

Despite the project as a whole being made to commemorate the blue blur’s birthday, the precise date of the 20th anniversary was June 23, 2011. To mark the big day, SEGA began distributing  a beta demo of Sonic Generations on Xbox Live and PSN. This build contained the very first stage, which was Green Hill Zone Act 1, wherein Classic Sonic is playable.

The layout of Classic Green Hill was ever so slightly different in the beta. At the section about midway through when you enter the cave, a buzz bomber present in the final game had not yet been added. Instead, there is a platform. Furthermore, breaking item monitors/boxes would leave a briefly a blue static effect on the screen.

There was also a different loading screen in this build, showing Sonic and Dr Eggman in their Sonic 2 sprite forms:

Modern Sonic Beta

Later in the year, a few weeks before launch, SEGA put out a second downloadable demo on October 18 2011, which was at first exclusively available to Xbox Live Gold subscribers. This second beta contained the second level from the game, which was Green Hill Zone Act 2, featuring Modern Sonic. It was lifted from a build first on show to attendees of E3 and Summer of Sonic in 2011.

Inexplicably, there is a difference between the voice clips used in the demo and the released game. Not only is Sonic’s voice clip for boosting different, he begins the level by saying “Ready? Go!”; similar to how he started each day stage in Sonic Unleashed off by announcing “Here we… go!”. This was later scrapped. It appears to have been an alteration that was implemented fairly late in development.

This assertion is supported by the fact that the clip itself still remains in the sound files programmed for every Modern Sonic stage in the game. Via modding, fans have been able to access these. As it turns out, Sonic Team simply muted the “Ready? Go!” voice clip instead of removing it. A number of hackers have been able to undo this change so the line can once again be heard within the game.

Like Act 1, there are some minor contrasts in the stage design, too. Towards the end of the level, Sonic must homing attack a chain of buzz bombers and extra spikes were present, also. A trick rainbow ring, which sends the player in the wrong direction later replaced these enemies.

Sonic’s blue aura effect, in this version, followed him whenever he uses his jump dash, stomp or homing attack moves; similar to how he did in Unleashed. Furthermore, the game is much more generous with the amount of boost power it allows the player when they use tricks in mid-air.

Unused Cutscene?

In some of the pre-release trailers SEGA used to promote the game, you can get a glimpse at a CGI cinematic which was never included in the final release. Whether or not this is a genuine unused cutscene that was dropped, as opposed to merely something created for promotional purposes remains unknown.

It can be seen towards the closing of the ‘Rivals and Bosses’ teaser and features Sonic and Tails confronting the Time Eater in Green Hill.

Thanks to The Neo Joy, Ivo Robotnik and Runaway for their contributions!

Videos:

 

Microsoft, Others, PC / MAC, Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony, Xbox

Kat Burglar [Cancelled – PS2, XBOX, PC)

U64 Staff & Contributors
11-01-2012
4 Comments

Kat Burglar is a cancelled action / stealth game that was in development by Krome Studios, probably planned for PC, Playstation 2 and Xbox. In the beginning of year 2000 Krome Studios announced a new game about a lady burglar called Katherine Kelly, who steals works of art for a collector called Hugo Biggs-Lazenby. There wasn’t much information available on the gameplay, but that sure had to be a stealthy game. Some ideas from that project were later used in Blade Kitten.

As we can read in an article on Games.on.net:

Recounting with a touch of bitterness that it was apparently okay to have a dozen identical “muscular space marine” games on the market at the same time, Steve and the team were forced to shelve the game. “They just weren’t getting it, even if they did like the characters”, says Steve, remembering failed deals with partners like Mattel. “I’ll always remember the guys came back from one meeting with a publisher, and the publishers said ‘We’re pretty sure there’s already a 60’s female thief game with a character that has red hair’, and I’m standing there going ‘Are they… talking about our game?’”.

Set on the island of Mont-St. Michael, Kat Burglar featured a number of adventure-game driven mechanics similar to those found in Flight of the Amazon Queen, as well as AI sidekicks who you could give orders to through hand gestures. The intent was to have a Zelda-style unlockable open world, with the island opening up to you as you progressed. Despite the game being developed to a playable state through one prototyped level, they were unable to secure a publisher. Opportunity did come knocking later in the year, as Sony expressed a desire to publish a cartoony platformer on their PS2 – a desire that Krome were only too happy to help fulfill. That game that would later go on to become TY The Tasmanian Tiger, and one of the company’s most iconic franchises.

Post by Chentzilla

Images:

A screenshot (scan from Russian gaming magazine “Magazin Igrushek”, №2/2000)

Sources: