This cell-shaded shooter is a prototype that should have been in development in 2004/2005 by 2015 Inc (?) for PC and Xbox. After working on Men of Valor, it seems that the studio tried to create this new shooter with a less realistic graphic style, but the project was later cancelled for unknown reasons.
Thanks to Han for the contribution!
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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!
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In 2009 an arcade developer, Raw Thrills (best known for big buck hunter, fast and the furious and H2overdrive), were developing an arcade music game based on the popular show American Idol, but it got cancelled after some time, probably because of licencing issues.
The game was expensive to play, but you were able to record your own video. After you’d finished playing the machine would either send the video of you playing the game via e-mail or it would burn it to dvd for you.
You can read more about this unreleased game at Arcade Heroes.
Thanks to Kieranmay for the contribution!
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Neo Geo Battle Coliseum is a 2 on 2 tag team fighting game developed by SNK Plyamore and released in 2005 for the Atomiswave arcade board, with a Playstation 2 port in the same year. Mikel noticed some beta differences in a trailer from the JAMMA/TGS 2004:
At 0:20, you’ll see Mai do her trademark Super Deadly Ninja Bees move, you may notice that when she starts the move, you will see that the Desperation Move Sparks are The King of Fighters XI, the Desperation Move sparks in the final version of Neo Geo Battle Coliseum are different, and the Desperation Move sparks you see later made it to The King of Fighters XI.
At 0:24, you’ll see Asura (From Samurai Shodown 64-2 (The 64 doesn’t mean that it’s for Nintendo 64, it’s for an old, abandoned Arcade Board by SNK named the “Hyper Neo Geo 64”)) preform a Double Assault, the Double Assault spark was later reused for the Leader Despeation move spark in The King of Fighters XI, and the Double Assault background is somewhat absent.
At 0:31, you’ll see Yuki doing a strange pose while K’ does some Light Kicks then K’ later taunts, the sprites for the pose Yuki was doing were absent in the final game.
At 0:33, you’ll see Fuuma doing a weird taunt that has him spinning his head around holding a folding fan, then he opens the folding fan (i.e. Mai Shiranui) at the end, I am not too sure if that taunt is in the final.
At 0:41, you’ll see that Hanzo’s stance is different, that stance was replaced with a new stance in the final game.
At 0:42, you’ll see that when Ai walks backwards, only one sprite shows up, she gets sprites when she walks backwards in the final game, and Ai’s taunt is also different.
At 0:47, you’ll see K’ preform his double assault with Tung Fu Rue, you’ll see that the background is black.
At 1:21, you’ll see Asura preform one of his moves, you will also see that the background doesn’t fade to black when he does the move (I forgot the name of the move, if you know the name, tell me right away).
Thanks to Mikel for the contribution!
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Hell On Wheels is a prototype for an action game / beat ’em up that was in development by Skylab Entertainment in 2003 / 2004. Even if the name and the settings could make you to relate this game to Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels, this one was a different project, not related to the LucasArts series. The Skylab Entertainment studio was launched in March 2003 and it was based in Austin, Texas: it included original team members from Ritual Entertainment and Gathering of Developers. Hell On Wheels was their first original project, but it seems that they never found a publisher interested in it and in the end Skylab closed in down in 2005 without any released game.
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