New Cancelled Games & Their Lost Media Added to the Archive

Black-Eyed Noir: Cielgris Chronicle [WonderSwan – Cancelled]

In March 2000 game developer Gust announced the sequel to their PlayStation 1 simulation RPG Kuroi Hitomi no Noir: Cielgris Fantasm for Bandai’s Wonderswan. Called Kuroi Hitomi no Noir: Cielgris Chronique or 黒い瞳のノア ~シェルグリスクロニーク~ in kanji (translated as Black-Eyed Noir: Cielgris Chronicle) the game is actually a prequel.

The main character is a young swordsman known as Sels, who is a pioneer of the foundation of his kingdom. After he gathered 8 warriors, they get blown into the storm of war.
The game’s system was supposedly been made simpler for the portable version and a new feature was added so that the weight of the characters’ equipment influence the turn order, allowing more strategy when equipping characters. This RPG was planned to be released in June 2000 but for unknown reason it was never distributed.

Images/Artworks:

Technomancer [Cancelled – XBOX / PS2 / PC]

Technomancer – A Calcaphon Adventure is a cancelled action game that was in development by Qube Software for the original Xbox, Playstation 2 and PC, that would have been published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment. The project started in early 1999 and the development continued till 2003, with a playable prototype / beta version, but they never finished the game. As the main focus of Qube has always been the development of 3D software for 3D middleware and not games,  maybe they had some development problems and Technomancer was  cancelled. Only a video is archived in the below, to preserve its existence.

Thanks to MegaMoto85 for the contribution!

Videos:

Insect Breeder [WonderSwan Color – Cancelled]

Around 2000 the breeding genre was very popular fueled by Pokemon, along with japanese kids always in love with insects, as in the Mushiking phenomenon. Probably Bandai decided to greenlit an insect breeder game (インセクトブリーダー) for its handheld Wonderswan Color to ride the boom. Too bad this game was never released and no information was ever shared, with the exception of a single image.

Images:

James Bond 007: Risico (Raven Software) [Cancelled – Xbox 360 / PS3]

As we can read on Wikipedia, James Bond 007: Risico is a cancelled game that was in development by Raven Software studios. This early replacement of Blood Stone was never officially announced, but some screenshots and videos were leaked on the internet. Risico was based on Ian Fleming’s short story “Risico” with the plotline expanded and involved with other unseen elements from James Bond novels written by Ian Fleming himself.

It’s possible that this Raven Software’s new James Bond title was cancelled because of MGM’s financial troubles, while G4 reports that the team has been told to put its  Bond project on hold and instead develop map packs for Treyarch’s Call of Duty: Black Ops. Also, James Bond 007: Risico might have been intended for a release during Christmas 2010, if Bloodstone had been released (as originally planned) in 2009. Two Bond games in the same timeframe – that was even enough for Activision.

Thanks to PyratRum for the contribution!

Videos:

Melon Brains [Beta – LaserActive]

Thanks to the LaserActive Preservation Project, we can take a look at a beta version of Melon Brains, a dolphin edutainment title for the platform. You can find the beta footage at the 5:30 mark in the video below. The main menu is in a very unfinished state, as is the interface while the video is playing – white boxes and stand-in text are in place of the later finalized icons and banners.

Thanks to Max Krieger for the contribution!

Videos: