PC / MAC

Stackers (Stackpack) [GameCube, PC – Prototype]

Stackers / Stackpack is an unreleased platform / puzzle game that was in development by Santa Cruz Games for the GameCube and PC. This project was probably an evolution of their Pickles prototype, in which the player had to stack various characters on each other, to resolve the levels. The Pickles demo was shown at the Game Connection 2006 as wrote in an article published on Gamasutra by Lost Level’s Frank Cifaldi, but sadly Stackers and Pickles remained only tech demos, as Santa Cruz Games was not able to put more time and money into them.

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The Bard’s Tale [PS2 XBOX PC – Unused Stuff]

The Bard’s Tale is an action adventure developed by InXile Entertainment, and released in 2004 for the Playstation 2, Xbox and PC. DCodes7 found a way to activate the debug menu in the PS2 port. Most of the debug functions are disabled and the only working functions are the level/area select and level load option. Thanks to the debug menu it’s possible to reach three unused yet complete areas that can be played. Some names of removed (?) test maps were also found:

  • TM_Anntest
  • TM_Grass
  • TM_Obtest
  • TM_PatsMap
  • TM_Prop
  • TM_Interior

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Untitled Shooter [XBOX/PC – Prototype]

This cell-shaded shooter is a prototype that should have been  in development in 2004/2005  by 2015 Inc (?) for PC and Xbox. After working on Men of Valor, it seems that the studio tried to create this new shooter with a less realistic graphic style, but the project was later cancelled for unknown reasons.

Thanks to Han for the contribution!

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Mech Arena [PC XBOX – Cancelled]

Mech Arena: The First Match (aka Battle Arena III) is a cancelled action / fighting game that was in development in 2002 / 2003 by Made By Kiddies, for PC and the original Xbox. As the title can suggest, the player had to combat against huge mechs in various arenas, to win the competition. In the end Mech Arena was never released, maybe because they did not find a publisher interested in the project.

The main features of the game were:

– Supports Single and Multi play

– Play from 10 different stunning interactive arenas.

– Play 18 challenging Single arena missions.

– Multiplayer action over Internet, modem or LAN. Human opponents deliver new tactical challenges with every engagement with battle records.

– Battle statistics

– Repair, upgrade and organize your player. The weapon and armory inventory is displayed at the garage with money available for the next upgrade.

– Buy new weapons and pilots with resource points gained by winning missions or trade in equipment you no longer need.

– Repair and refit your Mech to your own specifications.

Thanks to Userdante for the contribution!

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South Park [N64 PSX PC – Beta]

South Park (originally titled South Park: Deeply Impacted during development) is a FPS based on the first few seasons of the popular TV series of the same name. The game is powered by the Turok 2 game engine and was released in 1998 by Acclaim for the PC, Nintendo 64 and PlayStation. Acclaim had announced a sequel to be released sometime in 2000, however this project never surfaced. [Info from Wikipedia]

As noticed by BattleBattleBattle, the game’s plot was initially different from what we got in the final version:

The close proximity of the blasted piece of space debris causes the local turkeys to revolt. It’s now up to you to stop those gobbling overgrown chickens who paint half of their faces blue, trying desparately to infringe on American lifestyle by refusing to get eaten. Oh, and Cartman’s mom was kidnapped by aliens, too. To add insult to injury, Skuzzlebutt’s also out of control, making it imperative that Kyle, Cartman, Stan, and Kenny step in, armed with a host of gadgets ranging from cow launchers to fart dolls.

We never see Skuzzlebutt out of control.

The beta multiplayer had 5 different modes to play with, as “Capture the Flag”, a “Grudge Match” and “Kick the Baby”, but in the end only the classic deathmatch mode was finished. The radar in multiplayer was different too (there was only 1 radar for everyone) and in an early screen we notice a level that could have been removed.

Also, Acclaim originally had planned two different styles of games, with the PlayStation version theoretically appearing in a Lost Viking-style of gameplay instead to be a FPS like the N64 and PC versions. A South Park game for the GameBoy Color was also in development, but never released.

If you can notice more differences in the beta screens, please let us know!

Thanks to BattleBattleBattle, MamaLuigiBarrelRoll and Nat for the contributions!

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