New Cancelled Games & Their Lost Media Added to the Archive

Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony

Cool Boarders: Sold Out [PS2 – Cancelled]

U64 Staff & Contributors
26-04-2012
No Comments

Cool Boarders: Sold Out  is a cancelled game that was in development in 2002 for the PlayStation 2, by Idol Minds. The Cool Boarders series is a snow boarding racing simulator, that was initially developed by UEP Systems for the original PlayStation in 1996. In terms of gameplay, Cool Boarders: Sold Out was probably going to be similar to the previous Cool Boarders games, but it’s a different game than the japanese-only Cool Boarders: Code Alien.  Some 3D models from the game, created by Jason Stempel, are saved below, to preserve the existence of this lost project.

Tech. Notes on the Character Models:

“Concept Artist Jason Burch provided front and side orthogonal concept sketches and it was my responsibility to match the exact likeness of the illustration style and character silhouette.”

“Each character was constructed for use during gameplay and IGCS so each had an articulated face with work, eyes, brow, mouth, jaw and hair joints and also articulated finger control.”

“Modeling and texturing of each character ranged from 3-4 days”

Thanks to Superannuation for the contribution!

Images:

PSP, Sony

echochrome [Beta – PSP / PS3]

U64 Staff & Contributors
26-04-2012
2 Comments

As we can read from Wikipedia, Echochrome  is a puzzle game created by Sony’s JAPAN Studio and Game Yarouze, which is available for PlayStation 3 and PSP. Gameplay involves a mannequin figure traversing a rotatable world where physics and reality depend on perspective. The world is occupied by Oscar Reutersvärd’s impossible constructions. This concept is inspired by M. C. Escher’s artwork, such as “Relativity”. At Siggraph 2007 Art Exhibit Sony shown a beta / concept version of Echochrome, with a nice level-debug editor.

Post by The Monokariba (AKA Monokiba), thanks to bruto77 for the video below!

Videos:

Microsoft, Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony, Xbox

Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks [Beta – PS2 / XBOX]

U64 Staff & Contributors
25-04-2012
1 Comment

Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks is a beat-em-up developed by Midway LA (formerly Paradox Development) and published in 2005 by Midway for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. In april 2012 a beta version of Shaolink Monk was shared online in the Assembler Games Forum, and Stranno noticed a few differences with the final version: textures, effects (water, lights) and some background changed like “the pit” level. In the E3 beta demo the moon is really shiny, in the final you can actually see the moon and there’s an UFO (?) flying around.  The final enemy in the demo is Baraka (you cannot finish it), in retail there is one ogre-boss-like generic enemy, this Baraka fight comes in the next level, the monks academy. Options menu was reworked and there’s no aspect switch.

A sequel, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks 2 (Fire & Ice) was in development for the Xbox 360, but it was soon cancelled.

Images:

Videos:

GameCube, Nintendo

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance [Beta – GameCube]

U64 Staff & Contributors
24-04-2012
No Comments

As we can read on Wikipedia, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance tactical RPG developed by Intelligent Systems and published in 2005 by Nintendo for the GameCube. Path of Radiance is the first Fire Emblem title to feature three-dimensional graphics on the battlefield, replacing two-dimensional sprite animations and landscapes with fully rendered 3-D models. It is also the first game in the series to make use of full motion video and voice acting to present cinematic sequences at key points in the game. The FMV sequences were animated by Production I.G.

Below you can see a bunch of scans from the beta version of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, where the story and characters are slightly different. Ike’s name is Paris, for example. Also, a video of Fire Emblem 9 close to completion, but with different HUD elements. If you can notice more differences, please let us know!

Thanks to Iven Allen for the contribution!

Images:

Videos:

Nintendo, Wii

The Last Story [Beta – Wii]

monokoma
22-04-2012
No Comments

The Last Story is a RPG developed by Mistwalker and AQ Interactive, published for the Wii in 2011 (Japan) and 2012 (Europe / America. During the development the game had a different storyline and it was known as “Last World“, with a more futuristic theme, settings and weapons. As we can see in the concept arts below, the combat system was also much different, while in the 2 beta screenshots we can notice a missing wooden door and an early version of the castle courtyard.

Hironobu Sakaguchi talked about this beta version in an interview published in a French magazine. Here’s  a translation thanks to Youloute:

I would much rather have used my original script, which in my opinion was much better. For example, at the beginning of the game, the heroin was blind and had tears of blood streaming down his face … Nintendo doesn’t want it. That said, I am grateful for the financial support they provided (laughs).

Thanks to KEK8 for the contribution!

Images: