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The King of Fighters XII (KOF XII) is the latest installment of the fighting games series developed by SNK Playmore. The game was released in Japan in April 2009 for arcades with an home versions for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in July 28 of the same year. Due to the time the developers took to make the sprites, there are only 20 playable characters (the lowest number of characters ever had in a game from the series) but many more unused ones were created in concepts during the development. [Info from Wikipedia] In the gallery below you can check some of these lost fighters!

Also, Mr. Lip Buster from the Ignition Entertainment Forum has found the names of more unused / removed characters in the game’s code: Vice, Hwa, Takuma, a boss, Dark/Orochi(?) Ash, Mai, King, Yuri, Classic Iori, and Billy were all planned and not included. There are 7 more empty spots with no character at all. That’s a total of 17 characters gone from the final version, 10 that had made it to planning and 7 that never even made it to the data. tKoF XII was originally planned to be the conclusion of the Ash saga.

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Microsoft, Others, PC / MAC, Playstation 3 (PS3), Sony, Xbox 360

Batman: Arkham Asylum [X360/PS3/PC – Beta]

U64 Staff & Contributors

09-09-2009

2 Comments

Batman: Arkham Asylum is an action-adventure stealth video game based on DC Comics’ Batman for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. It was developed by Rocksteady Studios and published by Eidos Interactive in conjunction with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Comics and was released in 2009. [Info from Wikipedia]

Throughout Batman: Arkham Asylums development the developers were shooting for a hard T rating. Based on early screens it seems that they intended for the game to have blood, but it appears that they had to tone it down to get the rating that they wanted.

Also, as we can read at Game Informer, it seems that the combat system in the game was changed at least 3 times before chosing the final one:

Combat went through three distinct revisions – the first one being a full rhythm action game! The second one was prototyped in 2D, which popped up whenever you got into a fight, and involved colored circles bashing into each other. This actually formed the basis of the final system.

FMMC noticed that Batman’s gliding was impaired when his cape was torn in the beta.

Thanks to Robert Seddon for the contribution!

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32X / Mega CD, M2 / 3DO, Others, Saturn, Sega

Darkside / Dark Ride [Saturn 3DO – Cancelled]

U64 Staff & Contributors

07-09-2009

1 Comment

Darkside (sometimes written as Dark Ride or Darkride) was one of many titles being devloped by Rocket Science Games before being cancelled. It was to be a psychodellic tunnel-based game with bizarre graphics, and was briefly previewed in the December 1994 issue of Games World: The Magazine, which stated that ‘the team behind the game are perfecting the smooth scrolling of the ride… before the gameplay’.

Rocket Science Games themselves are probably more interesting than the games they made- funded by Sega Enterprises and promising more than they could deliver on, they mostly made Sega-CD and PC-based FMV based titles such as Cadillacs & Dinosaurs: The Second Cataclysm and Obsidian. However, their titles never sold well, and Sega themselves cancelled half of the company’s titles around 1994/95 to keep costs down- it seems Dark Side / Dark Ride was one of the victims of this. They eventually went out of business in 1997.

The preview in Games world: The Magazine states that the game was being developed for the 3DO, although almost all other RSG games were being developed for either the Sega CD or the PC- whether this is a mistake on the magazine’s part is unknown.

In a short article published in French magazine CD Consoles issue #4 we can read that “Darkside” was in development for the Saturn and the game would have took the player into an imaginary world, to explore it aboard a cart on rails (as in a rollercoaster). Could this have been an on-rails shooter? We are not sure.

As written in an article in Wired 2.11 (page 108), Rocket Science decided to cancel this project because it was too similar to other games of its time:

The trend toward more literate games means that some projects well along the Rocket Science pipeline have had to be scrapped. “We saw some things at the Consumer Electronics Show very similar to our Rocket Boy and DarkRide, so we’ve put those on hold,” says Caldwell. “But we still have Wing Nuts, a World War I dogfight game, in the works.”

If you have some more info on this game, please let us know!

Thanks to Celine for the scan! Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

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Microsoft, Others, PC / MAC, Playstation 3 (PS3), Sony, Xbox 360

Lone Wolf: Flight From The Dark [PS3/X360/PC – Cancelled]

monokoma

06-09-2009

2 Comments

Lone Wollf is a cancelled First Person RPG in the vein of TES: Oblivion, that was in development by Ksatria Gameworks, a studio from Singapore. The project was meant to be published for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC, but sadly the studio closed down after the investor failed to secure additional funding.

Lone Wolf was based on the series of adventure books with the same name, created by Joe Dever and initially illustrated (books 1-8) by Gary Chalk. The series began publishing in July 1984 and of the most popular game books ever published, selling more than 10 million copies worldwide. The story focuses on the fictional world of Magnamund, where the forces of good and evil fight for control of this planet in a final showdown. The protagonist is Lone Wolf, last of his caste of warrior monks known as Kai lords.

As we can read from the official Ksatria website, in the game:

The player assumes the part of a young cadet who returns to find the the Kai Lords have all been massacred at the Kai monastery by a surprise attack during the feastday of Fehmarn, by the Darklords. You then assume the identity of LoneWolf and set out to the capital to inform the King of the loss of the Kai. This is the start of the adventure, a classic tale of good versus evil.

Even if Lone Wolf is canned, the kjAPI 3D engine

Microsoft, Others, PC / MAC, Playstation 3 (PS3), Sony, Xbox 360

Dead Space [X360/PS3/PC – Beta]

monokoma

05-09-2009

1 Comment

Dead Space is a third-person survival horror / action game, developed by Visceral Games (formerly known as EA Redwood Shores) for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. As we know the game was started with a Dead Space prototype for the original Xbox, but even the “next gen” version had some slightly differences in its beta build, as the models for the enemies and the main character (especially the armor). Also, the graphic / atmosphere of the game looks different: the final version is gloomier and less bright than some of the beta screens.

Thanks to CerealAndMilk for the contribution!

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