Killer 7 is an adventure game developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and published by Capcom for the GameCube and PlayStation 2. It was released in 2005 but it was first announced in 2002 as one of the original “Capcom 5” games. In 3 years of development the game changed a lot from its original concept trailer and when Killer 7 was finally released many parts of the story were removed. >>> Read the full article: Killer 7 Beta Analysis
Panzer Dragoon II Zwei is a shoot ’em up released for the Sega Saturn in 1996, it was the second Panzer Dragoon game released but it is a prequel of the series. It was developed by Team Andromeda, one of Sega’s internal development studios. [Infos from Wikipedia]
In the bonus section of the game, the “pandora’s box”, you can find an interesting beta video that shows gameplay from its own prototype (from the Episode 2 mission, mostly from the easy path, with a couple clips from the hard path.). The beta graphic and the details of the level and the dragon / enemies are differend from the final game and you can notice that the music is completely different as well.
Thanks to Mozgus that has ripped this video from the Panzer Dragoon Zwei disc we can take a good look at the beta / proto and compare it to the final version below!
A Panzer Dragoon Zwei proto (45% complete – Feb 02, 1996) was leaked in 2008 thanks to Hidden Palace and The Will Of The Ancients community, a build that is visually nearly identical to the final. It just has a variety of small differences like font and gui colors, different prologue music, and a lot of minor gameplay adjustments. You can see in the third video below a list of those differences.
Thanks a lot to Mozgus for the contribution!
Prototype Video:
Final version (Episode 2, Route 1) Video:
Video from the Prototype 45% Completed:
We love you Peter! That’s what we like, more developers that share infos on their cancelled projects! IGN made an interview with Molyneux about Project Justice and Project Survivors, two interesting concepts that were in development at Lionhead Studios before their cancellation. Check the video below and hear more about them:
Celine has found a screenshot and a little description from a misterious Saturn adventure game, that was know as “Chinese Detective”: we cant find any more informations about this title and it could have been cancelled, or maybe released with a different name. Do you have any clue?
Thanks to Celine for the contribution!
Update: this game was really released for the Saturn as “WanChai Connection“, you can find the final boxart and some infos at Segagaga Domain. Thanks a lot to Yakumo for the information!
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“It Came from the Desert” is a 1989 computer game developed by Cinemaware. It was originally released for the Amiga and the gameplay centers on the player choosing what they want to do by selecting an option on the multiple choice screens that pop up.
This unreleased Sega Genesis / Megadrive version was going to be released in 1990. The game has little in common with the Cinemaware classic as it’s more action oriented: an overhead shooter with the main protagonist running around on foot, and able to walk in all directions. Among the differences in play mechanics, the Sega version allowed the player to create powerups that were fashioned by collecting machinery pieces and joining them together in different combinations.
Note that the Sega version was originally cancelled and never actually released in physical cartridge: only later it was distributed as a ROM from the Cinemaware website after the turn of the 21st century. Despite the similarity of camera perspective, the Sega version did not appear to reuse any of the graphical elements created for use in the computer-based versions. [Infos from Wikipedia]
We cant thanks Cinemaware enough for their decision to share this unreleased game with everyone, instead to forgot it somewhere in their basement! An interesting interview with the main programmer of this project can be read at SEGA 16.
Here’s an interview by Ross Sillifant with Bob Jacob (Cinemaware)
Ross Sillifant: What happened to the MD/Genesis version of It Came From The Desert? I believe it was a very different game in terms of plot and gameplay, being more akin to an overhead shooter. Why the changes to game format and further canning of project?
Bob: I don’t remember! (getting old)
Ross Sillifant: It’s been claimed that when S.D.I was in process of being ported to
another format, it’s release was delayed as the company had asked the programmer to add extra features and such needed extra time, is this claim true? If so which format was it and what extra features did you ask for and why?Bob: The port referred to has to be the C64. It was never completed, not because we asked for features, but because the programmer was not up to the task (he later became quite good).
Thanks to Celine for the contribution!
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