New Cancelled Games & Their Lost Media Added to the Archive

Mercs Inc. [X360 PS3 PC – Prototype]

Mercs Inc is a spin-off title based on the Mercenaries franchise, planned for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. Pandemic Studios worked on a prototype of the game until its closure in November 2009. After a video of this prototype leaked, EA announced that the game would be developed at EA LA.

As we can read on Wikipedia:

The game was first rumored to be in development by Pandemic Studios as either Project X or Y which were rumored to be based on the Mercenaries franchise. Footage of the game was first leaked onto the internet on November 24, 2009, the footage was a multiplayer trailer of the game. The game was then officially announced by Electronic Arts less than a day later though without a proper platform or release date. The announcement of the game came less than a week after the closure of Pandemic Studios by Electronic Arts as it had been development there under the name, Project Y, the game is currently being developed by remaining Pandemic Studio staff members located at EA Los Angeles.

In november 2010 another Mercenaries video leaked from Kotaku, but we are not sure if it’s from the same project as Mercs Inc, as they call it Mercenaries 3: No Limits.

Images:

Video:

Metal Head [32X – Beta]

Metal Head is a 3D shooter with mechs developed and published by Sega and released for the Sega 32X add-on for the Sega Mega Drive in 1994. Rod_Wod found some screens from an early beta / prototype of Metal Head, in which the main robot was still an unfinished ensemble of basic polygons. Check the video below (from the final version) for comparison!

Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

Images:

Video (Final Version):

Flying Nightmares 2 [Cancelled – PC, Playstation, Saturn]

Flying Nightmares 2 is a cancelled flight simulator / shooter that was in development for PC by Eidos Interactive, with a presumed port for the original Playstation and Saturn. As we can read in an interview by Combat Sim with Bryan Walker, Lead Producer of the FN2 project, the game was “a sequel to AV8B Harrier Assault, a game that Domark and Simis developed several years ago, and went on to become SVGA Harrier, the first 640×480 flight sim on the PC, and Flying Nightmares on the Macintosh“.

An online multiplayer mode up to 16 players was also planned. It seems that Eidos decided to shut down Flying Nightmares 2’s development team for unknown reasons and the game vanished with them. Only a self-running PC tech demo was released before the cancellation.

There is not much info on the presumed Playstation and Saturn ports, but Celine was able to find a scan with a short article about them on CD Consoles issue #4. We can assume that the console ports would have been a downgraded version with a more arcade-ish gameplay and no online mode.

Check the FN2 preview at Combat Sim for more info!

Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

Images:

Videos:

Crusader: No Pity [PSP – Tech Demo]

Crusader is a series of action-oriented computer games developed by Origin Systems and published by Electronic Arts. The series consists of two titles: Crusader: No Remorse, released in 1995, and Crusader: No Regret, released in 1996. [Info from Wikipedia] In 2006 a tech demo for a new / remake Crusader (called Crusader: No Pity) for the PSP was created by Outsider Development and pitched to EA, but the company was not interested in funding development. As we can read in an article by The Gaming Liberty:

“they had a functional version which I found quite impressive, but they didn’t have any luck convincing EA to let them finish and release it.”

Thanks to Denis Murphy for the contribution! Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

Images:

Videos:

Environmental Detective [SNES GEN MD – Cancelled]

Environmental Detective is a cancelled platform / adventure game that was in development by Magicom for the Super Nintendo and Mega Drive / Genesis. There is scant information about the project, save for a short description in an old Mean Machine magazine, found by Rod_Wod. Players would have taken the role of “Ozone Kid” to solve various green-related puzzles.

The character was meant to be an environmental do-gooder who picks up trash in his home town, “Recycle City” and always takes his refuse to the recycling centre. His other numerous antics include stopping spray cans from making holes in the ozone layer and preventing the rainforest from being cut down by evil crocodiles (WTF?). The general idea of the game was to inform children of environmental problems… but something went wrong during the development and Environmental Detective was never released.

Thanks to Rod_Wod the contribution! Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

Images: