New Cancelled Games & Their Lost Media Added to the Archive

Pulseman [MD GEN – Beta]

Pulseman is a side-scrolling action platform game developed by Game Freak and published by Sega for the Mega Drive / Genesis in 1994. The game was released in cartridge format only in Japan, with the North American version being released via the Sega Channel as an “exclusive”. When first announced, Pulseman was originally named Spark.

Derboo found a screen of the beta Spark  from the Korean gaming magazine, Game World #5 (1994). The on-screen display changed, and the screenshot shows a boss from the game with a slightly different sprite in a totally different situation.

The palette is also different, but the article also shows artworks with the characters colored just like in the final game, so it was probably just the prototype palette for the underwater effect.

Thanks to derboo for the contribution!

Beta:


Final Version:

Images:

Last Action Hero [Sega Mega CD – Cancelled]

Last Action Hero for the Sega Mega CD is a cancelled game adaptation of the Arnold Schwarzenegger film of the same name, developed by Bits Studios to be published by Sony Imagesoft.  The NES, Super NES, Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Boy and Sega Game Gear versions were released, but they all look different from the Mega CD version, that used pre-rendered characters and background, as in the Bram Stoker’s Dracula CD game. A Sega Master System version was also developed, but never released.

Thanks to Celine and S.J. Reed for the contribution! (scan from EGM51! and a few from HG101)

Images:

Dragon Sword 64: finally shared and preserved!

Created by Team Storm at Interactive Studios (the creators of Glover N64), Dragon Sword is a cancelled hack and slash game (similar to Gauntlet Legends) that was in development in 1997 / 1998 for the Nintendo 64. Sadly, this game was never finished because of some issues with the publisher.

Dragon Sword 64 was in danger to be lost and forgotten forever, but thanks to an anonymous collector, a playable beta was shared online and now  the community can help to preserve it.

If you loved Gauntlet Legends on the Nintendo 64 in multiplayer, probably you are going to have fun with Dragon Sword too. Before playing this beta, please keep in mind that it’s an unfinished, unreleased Nintendo 64 game that was in development more than 12 years ago.

Obviously it has lots of bugs and we still miss some of the planned content, but for what it is, Dragon Sword is a nice game, especially if you can play it in coop with a friend.

The Dragon Sword beta can be found in this nice online archive.

If you can find a way to load the 3 lost levels, to find a debug menù or interesting content still hidden in the game’s code, please let us know!

Read more about the game in our Dragon Sword 64 Archive or check the video below for a preview of the 7 available levels:

Mech Arena [PC XBOX – Cancelled]

Mech Arena: The First Match (aka Battle Arena III) is a cancelled action / fighting game that was in development in 2002 / 2003 by Made By Kiddies, for PC and the original Xbox. As the title can suggest, the player had to combat against huge mechs in various arenas, to win the competition. In the end Mech Arena was never released, maybe because they did not find a publisher interested in the project.

The main features of the game were:

– Supports Single and Multi play

– Play from 10 different stunning interactive arenas.

– Play 18 challenging Single arena missions.

– Multiplayer action over Internet, modem or LAN. Human opponents deliver new tactical challenges with every engagement with battle records.

– Battle statistics

– Repair, upgrade and organize your player. The weapon and armory inventory is displayed at the garage with money available for the next upgrade.

– Buy new weapons and pilots with resource points gained by winning missions or trade in equipment you no longer need.

– Repair and refit your Mech to your own specifications.

Thanks to Userdante for the contribution!

Images: