Rocket Boy is a cancelled platform game that was in development by Rocket Science Games for the Sega Saturn in 1994 / 1995. Players were able to explore a full 3D world set in a weird / fantasy galaxy, with the goal of finding a way to return home before the parents of the main character were back for dinner. As written in an article in Wired 2.11 (page 108), Rocket Science decided to cancel this project because it was too similar to other platform games of its time:
The trend toward more literate games means that some projects well along the Rocket Science pipeline have had to be scrapped. “We saw some things at the Consumer Electronics Show very similar to our Rocket Boy and DarkRide, so we’ve put those on hold,” says Caldwell. “But we still have Wing Nuts, a World War I dogfight game, in the works.”
In 1997 Rocket Science had to close down due to financial problems and Rocket Boy vanished forever with them. Celine found a pic of the game in Cd Consoles magazine issue #5 and Rod_Wod found one more in another magazine! These images are likely concept artwork and not in-game.
Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!
UPDATE:
On Mega Force issue 36 there is an article about Rocket Boy. The project initially was planned for Sega Mega CD (and 32X combo) and featured pre-rendered graphics which were very popular at that time. The game was an action/platform with an isometric view similar to SegaSonic the Hedgehog. Added “real screen shots” images in the gallery with the scanned article.
Sorcery is a cancelled fighting game that was in development for the original Playstation in 1997 / 1998 by Sony Interactive Studios America, later renamed to 989 Studios (Sony’s San Diego team). Players would have been able to choose between many fantasy characters that used fighting moves and spells to battle their opponents.
The first concept of Sorcery was much different from the playable prototype, as originally 989 Studios wanted to develop an ambitious multiplayer RPG, with a big overworld, quests and huge cast of characters. Because of the limitations of the PSX hardware and for economic reasons, Sony ordered the team to scale down the project to an arena fighting game (which was seen as more profitable / less risky).
As their own project was killed and because 989 Studios had no experience with fighting games, Sorcery went through various development issues that lead to its final cancellation after 2 years of work.
The original concept would have worked great in today’s on-line environment. The scope, which started out as a split screen, was to run around a large world, setting magical traps, using magic to detect and find your opponent, then finally tracking him down and combating him, kept getting whittled down further and further until it devolved into a magical arena fighting game, where opponents would stand across from each other in very small (fits on a single screen) arenas and dispatch each other with spells and counter spells.
Thanks to Stone and baphomet for the contributions! Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!
Cold Winter is a FPS developed by Swordfish Studios and published by Vivendi Universal Games in 2005 for the Playstation 2. The game uses the Karma physics engine, allowing for interactivity with items in the game world and for ragdoll effects. Using a small inventory menu, some weapons and tools can be constructed, such as Molotov cocktails and lock picks. Originally the item creation system was more complex, but they had to scale it down for time and development issues. A previously announced Xbox version was later cancelled. [Info from Wikipedia]
Destructor1890 noticed some differences in the early 2003 screenshots:
Spellcraft is an unreleased Super Nintendo conversion of the original Spellcraft RPG / Strategy Game that was released for the PC in 1992. This port was in development by Ybarra Productions / Ascii and as we can read on Wikipedia, it is very different than the PC version as it focuses on adventuring instead of strategy. A playable, almost complete ROM of Spellcraft SNES was somehow leaked online and it should be easily findable through Google. The game was probably cancelled for quality issues.
Thanks to Celine for the contribution! (Scan from Super Power issue #7 and #12)
Mega Man X Command Mission (Rock Man X Command Mission in Japan) was released only a few months before Mega Man X8, yet it takes place arround 100 years AFTER the events of X8. Also of note, is that it’s the first Mega Man X Game NOT to follow the standard style, due to the fact of it being an RPG adventure. Below, you will see what appears to be a prototype build, and two beta builds, along with a few videos.
Demo Videos
There’s some unused dialoge between the characters, namely what Cinnamon says to you… that, and the fact that she’s even where she is doesn’t make much sense. The fight with Wild Jango starts VERY differently in the final, and although the battle area is right, how you get there, is WAY off.
Also, you go into battle with X, Zero, and Axl. In the final version, all you have at your side is Spider, but then, in this demo, almost everything is out of order, so I just assume it’s a demo from E3 or something, which would make sense. In the final, the voices and text are in english, instead of like in the videos. Also, these were uploaded to IGN on august 6th i think, at least a month before american release, and just after japanese release.
Here are a couple of Trailers of the game. One of which shows X using a slightly altered version of his Action Trigger, Charge Shot. The screen goes black upon firing, and the camera is behind the enemy. In the final, the charge shot attacks more than just one enemy, doesn’t go behind enemy/enemies, and the screen DOESN’T go dark.
Pictures
Prototype (?) version
In these, the most notable difference is that X is in his standard form. No special colors, just standard X. In the final, he looks MUCH different. And to those that have played the game themselves, notice the vendor for the shop just to the right of X? Vendor my eye, that’s an enemy!Also, the attack seen in the In Battle picture, is currently unknown. It appears to be a Final Strike. Also of note, the Battle HUD is different from next version’s, and also different from the final. And, take notice and compare the Battle HUD in this version, the the one in the next version. Something odd going on here.
Version 2 (beta)
Here can be seen a few differences from the final. Dialoge is different, battle HUD is different, and so is the map.
NOTICE THESE!
I wanted to do a special point out for the above pictures. Character mugshots are in the “turn” lineup, that aren’t even in the battle at the moment. Also, I could be wrong, but, I don’t think you can switch characters mid battle, and even if you could, how could it predict something that hasn’t been set yet?
My personal guess is that there was more to the battle system planned at this stage of development. Also of note, is that the Battle HUD is the EXACT SAME in all three pics, so at this point, it’s just as possible that the HUD is just an overlaying image. Look at the numbers used for the character stats even. they go in almost perfect sequence. I mean, X’s life energy and weapon energy put together, read 1234567, then zero’s reads 7890234, axl’s reads 3456456.
Version 3 (near final)
There’s not alot here that’s different from the final, but still of note, is the fact that the beta map is still in use. The final map, isn’t too much different than the beta map in either version, but one very noticable difference is the white lines on the right and bottom sides are gone in the final.
Now then. Like I said, if there’s something I missed, please let me know, or if there’s something i’m calling beta and isn’t, let me know that too.
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