Sony

Neo Geo Battle Coliseum [ARC PS2 – Beta]

Neo Geo Battle Coliseum is a 2 on 2 tag team fighting game developed by SNK Plyamore and released in 2005 for the Atomiswave arcade board, with a Playstation 2 port in the same year. Mikel noticed some beta differences in a trailer from the JAMMA/TGS 2004:

At 0:20, you’ll see Mai do her trademark Super Deadly Ninja Bees move, you may notice that when she starts the move, you will see that the Desperation Move Sparks are The King of Fighters XI, the Desperation Move sparks in the final version of Neo Geo Battle Coliseum are different, and the Desperation Move sparks you see later made it to The King of Fighters XI.

At 0:24, you’ll see Asura (From Samurai Shodown 64-2 (The 64 doesn’t mean that it’s for Nintendo 64, it’s for an old, abandoned Arcade Board by SNK named the “Hyper Neo Geo 64”)) preform a Double Assault, the Double Assault spark was later reused for the Leader Despeation move spark in The King of Fighters XI, and the Double Assault background is somewhat absent.

At 0:31, you’ll see Yuki doing a strange pose while K’ does some Light Kicks then K’ later taunts, the sprites for the pose Yuki was doing were absent in the final game.

At 0:33, you’ll see Fuuma doing a weird taunt that has him spinning his head around holding a folding fan, then he opens the folding fan (i.e. Mai Shiranui) at the end, I am not too sure if that taunt is in the final.

At 0:41, you’ll see that Hanzo’s stance is different, that stance was replaced with a new stance in the final game.

At 0:42, you’ll see that when Ai walks backwards, only one sprite shows up, she gets sprites when she walks backwards in the final game, and Ai’s taunt is also different.

At 0:47, you’ll see K’ preform his double assault with Tung Fu Rue, you’ll see that the background is black.

At 1:21, you’ll see Asura preform one of his moves, you will also see that the background doesn’t fade to black when he does the move (I forgot the name of the move, if you know the name, tell me right away).

Thanks to Mikel for the contribution!

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Hell On Wheels [PS2/XBOX – Unreleased]

Hell On Wheels is a prototype for an action game / beat ’em up that was in development by Skylab Entertainment in 2003 / 2004. Even if the name and the settings could make you to relate this game to Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels, this one was a different project, not related to the LucasArts series. The Skylab Entertainment studio was launched in March 2003 and it was based in Austin, Texas: it included original team members from Ritual Entertainment and Gathering of Developers. Hell On Wheels was their first original project, but it seems that they never found a publisher interested in it and in the end Skylab closed in down in 2005 without any released game.

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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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Total Overdose 2: Tequila Gunrise [Cancelled – Xbox 360 PS3]

Total Overdose 2: Tequila Gunrise is a cancelled open world action adventure that was in development by Deadline Games in 2006 for the PS2 and PC, but soon moved to next-gen consoles (Playstation 3 and Xbox 360) before being canned. The project was a sequel to the original Total Overdose, a combo-focused action game with over-the-top gunfights that was published by Sci Entertainment / Eidos in 2005 for the PlayStation 2 and XBOX.

Deadline Games started to work on an updated Total Overdose graphic engine to use it in this next gen sequel, but the game was never finished. It seems that their publishers were not interested in a sequel, so the team moved their resources on new original projects. As we can read from an old Gamespot interview with Deadline Games’s former CEO Chris Mottes:

GS: And can we assume that your next game is going to be a quality action title?

CM: I would almost guarantee it.

GS: Tell us what little you can about the project.

CM: It’s a game that is set in an environment similar to Total Overdose, although the project is very different. We’re actually, I have to say, not doing Total Overdose 2, which a lot of people seem to still assume, because unfortunately Eidos pulled out of that, and you know, once bitten, twice shy. So, the next project is an action game, and it’s going to be based on some really cool things that happened in the real world.

On May 2009, Deadline Games filed for bankruptcy, only a few months after releasing Watchmen: The End Is Nigh. The company has previously been reported to have been struggling to find new projects and publishers for their games. Shadow Hunter, Faith and a .45, Killing Pablo Escobar and Total Overdose 2: Tequila Gunrise, vanished with the closure of the studio.

Thanks a lot to Jonas Springborg and Adam Rishede for the help in preserving their artworks created for this project! Some more images are from Carsten Brandt’s website. All images are copyrighted Deadline Games.

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Killing Pablo Escobar [X360 PS3 – Prototype]

Pablo Escobar was a real Colombian drug lord that gained world infamy from the drug trade:  two major feature films on his life, Escobar and Killing Pablo, were announced in 2007 and in the same year Deadline Games started to work on a prototype to create a licence game based on the films, with the title “Killing Pablo Escobar”. The project was planned to be released on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

Killing Pablo Escobar was going to follow the true story of how Pablo Escobar was killed and his Medellín cocaine cartel dismantled by US special forces and intelligence, the Colombian military, and a vigilante gang called Los Pepes, controlled by the Cali cartel.

The gameplay could have been similar to other Deadline Games’ titles as Total Overdose (an open world / sandbox action game) but with a more realistic feel and team squad cooperation. After some time and a playable prototype, Killing Pablo Escobar’s development had to be halted because of lack of resources.

On May 2009, Deadline Games filed for bankruptcy, only a few months after releasing Watchmen: The End Is Nigh. The company has previously been reported to have been struggling to find new projects and publishers for their games. Shadow Hunter, Faith and a .45, Killing Pablo Escobar and Total Overdose 2: Tequila Gunrise vanished with the closure of the studio.

Thanks a lot to Jan Ditlev for the help in preserving his artworks created for this project! Some more images are from Carsten Brandt‘s website. All illustrations are copyrighted Deadline Games.

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