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Playstation

Prowler (also know as Storm Troop and Prawler) is a cancelled sci-fi action game with mechs, that was in development at Origin Systems (the team behind the Wing Commander series) in 1994. Initially the project was meant to be released for the 3DO, as their Super Wing Commander remake, but with the failure of the console the game was soon moved to the Playstation. As we can read in an interesting article written by Sean Murphy (former Origin Systems designer) on the Wing Commander News website, the project had many problems right from the start:

Team communication was poor. Leadership was iffy. There was almost no dialog between the art staff and the programming staff. I remember one day, months into the project, sitting in a meeting and hearing the programmers drooling about how cool the game was going to be, how “dark…and gritty…and dirty, and oily and all mechanical and functional and stuff!” Clearly they had not gotten the memo about our grand notions of Neo Victorian design…
And some time later – as little as three months, possibly as long as six months – sure enough, EA pulled the plug on Prowler and let most of the team go.

You can read the full article from Sean Murphy in here. Some early concept videos from the game were preserved by the Origin Museum in 2008, and they will be shared with the community sooner or later. For now you can see some concept arts in the gallery below.

Celine was also able to find an in-game screenshot of Prowler, from TopConsoles #4 and CD Consoles #4 magazine (the same screen was in the 2 magazines). Anatoly Shashkin found even more promotional screenshots in July 2018!

Thanks to OMJoe for the contribution!

Images:

Playstation, Saturn, Sega, Sony

Mega Man X4 [PSX/Saturn – Beta / Unused Sprites]

monokoma

29-11-2009

No Comments

Mega Man X4 (aka Rockman X4 in Japan) is the fourth game in the Mega Man X series, released for the Sega Saturn and PlayStation in July 1997. Kei was able to find an old preview/trailer of the game from an equally old April 1997 Multiple Option CFC (Capcom Friendly Club) Style videotape from Japan. As Kei has wrote in the U64 Forum:

While this preview may not include much immediate beta/pre-release differences, there is one particularly noticeable element that can be heard in this video. For one, X sounds completely different as you see him jump and shooting out charged buster shots in the video; we’re talking about a pre-release video of the Japanese version here. Apparently, he had a different voice actor, as he sounds like a girl, much like he does in the English final version of RMX4. Zero also sounds slightly different as well, his Saber slashes are odd too.

Also, Bowserenemy and Protodude noticed some more differences in the same beta trailer:

Enemies are in different spots; Zero’s missing a few frames in his mid-air slar, and the hit detection is a bit off here and there. […] it’s the same as the third slash in his 3 hit combo, so just compare the two.

Hidden in the game’s code, Ace Spark from The Mechanical Maniacs has found some unused animation frames for Double, that could be from removed dialogue sequences [UPDATE: The running animation for Double is actually used in the game, but you only see it for a split second after you select a stage in the game. Thanks to OKei!]. An unused mugshot is in there too.

Some beta screenshots are available too, in which we can notice that the intro stage had a drill enemy in the beta, that was removed from the final game. When the place starts blowing up there are even more drill enemies. You can read more info on the beta at The Mechanical Maniacs!

Images:

Video:

An even later beta build than the one above with many more differences can be seen below:

Nintendo, Nintendo 64 & 64DD, Playstation, Sony

WWF War Zone [N64/PSX – Beta]

monokoma

22-11-2009

6 Comments

WWF War Zone was the first 3D WWF title to be released, developed by Acclaim Studios Salt Lake and published by Acclaim Entertainment in 1998 for the PlayStation and Nintendo 64. As Andrew has noticed, there were some beta screenshots in an issue of Game Informer (?) with Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi on the cover. At the time, the game was simply referred to as WWF ’98. This beta version has no health bars yet, the ropes are red, white, and blue instead of just red, and the arena has American flags. There was a beta video on Youtube but it seems to have disappeared.

Thanks to Andrew McMahon for the contribution!

Images:

Playstation, Sony

Barnstormers [PSX – Cancelled]

monokoma

14-11-2009

No Comments

Barnstormers is an arcade racing game in the vein of Mario Kart (but with flying aircraft), that was in development by 989 Studios in 1998, for the original Playstation. The project was later cancelled for unknown reasons, but you can still check some target renders in the gallery below.

Thanks to Hey Hey for the contribution! Some more concept art for racing tracks were archived from Concept Art Org

Images:

Others, PC / MAC, Playstation, Sony

Parasite (Ar’Kritz the Intruder) [PSX – Cancelled]

monokoma

02-11-2009

9 Comments

Update: this game was later released and renamed to Ar’Kritz the Intruder for PC only! The Playstation version was never released.

Parasite is a cancelled side-scrolling action adventure that was in development by Virtual Studio (while other sources report that it was created by Sony Interactive or Psygnosis / Sony Studio Liverpool) and it was going to be published in 1996, for the original Playstation and PC. Even if it looked nice and it could have had a fun gameplay (somehow similar to Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee maybe?), in the end the project was canned for unknown reasons. As we can read in the original press release:

Parasite is a film-noir thriller with a twist. In it you play an ordinary guy thrown into extraordinary circumstances – possessed by an alien law enforcer, you’re forced to walk the mean streets in search of undercover extra-terrestrials. But as the alien slowly mutates your host body, you’d better help him solve this one quickly, before you shape-shift beyond recognition.
Parasite features two quests in one, as you balance your own need for an
antidote with the relentless demands of the alien who’s got an agenda of his own.
Featuring a fully rendered 3D city to explore (with over 300 screens of, this dark adventure game explores an alternate reality where Raymond Chandler meets William Gibson.

There are not much more info on Parasite, but Celine was able to find some more screens in Game Pro issues 75 and 79.

Images:

Videos (from the released PC version):