New Cancelled Games & Their Lost Media Added to the Archive

Sydney 2000 [GBC – Unreleased]

In early 2000, Eidos announced to release a game for the Olympic Games 2000 for Game Boy Color. Developer of the title, David A. Productions, even declared that “no detail was spared to produce the most realistic sports game ever on Nintendo’s Game Boy Color”.

Activities included were 100m Sprint, Hurdles, Hammer, Javelin, Triple Jump, High Jump, 100m Freestyle Swimming, Olympic Sprint Cycling, Skeet Shooting, Super Heavyweight Weight Lifting, 10m Platform Diving and Kayak K1 Slalom.

Despite being completed and approved, Sydney 2000 was never released on Game Boy Color.

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Batman (SC) [SNES – Cancelled]

In november 2008 Sample_Seller opened an auction on Ebay for a Batman prototype that was in development by Software Creations for the Super Nintendo.

BATMAN super nintendo SAMPLE/DEMO US NTSC version

Very early 2 level demo, no sound… undiscovered batman game!!

Devoloped by SOFTWARE CREATIONS.

Original development sample game direct from Nintendo !!

Rare unreleased/unannounced game !! Only a few were made, unique item for any collector !!

As we can read on Wikipedia, Software Creations were primarily known for their video games based on movie and comic licenses like Marvel Comics, Cutthroat Island, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and original titles Solstice and the sequel Equinox.  Their Batman project was never released for unknown reasons.

As Yakumo as noted, this Batman demo has been on the scene for years, infact since the begining of the Super Magicom, Wildcard, profighter and so on. A rom of the demo was leaked and should be easily findable with google.

You can read more info on this beta at SNES Central!

Thanks to Yakumo and Celine for the contributions!

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Tetris & Dr. Mario [SNES – Unused Stuff]

Tetris & Dr. Mario is a compilation for the Super Nintendo, containing the two individual games. Nensondubois has found that there is an unused and fully complete options menu in this compilation, that was removed for one reason or another from the final version.

The options menu can still be acessed thanks to a code created by Nensondubois. To access the Tetris options menu, you will need this PAR code 7E1E1B03, which will modify the menu selected. The options menu contains a set of options that are standard to most games. You will find a fully working control setup and input test (for testing the buttons on your controller). The sound test is somewhat incomplete (maybe Nintendo was lazy and didn’t bother finishing it).

For Dr. Mario it is the same situation. Here is the PAR code for Dr. Mario: 7E1E7203. Mixed Match is quite different but the game contains the same fully working set of options: to access it you will need to go to Tetris then activate this code 7E1E0E02 and you will be taken to the Mixed Match options menu. There are also some unused sounds in the Sound tests. There is also a Tetris debug menu that is very difficult to get working, but you could see it with “7E1E0E09”. This code will allow you to replace the selected game with the Tetris debug menu.

On a related note, there is also a way to access the entire game of Tetris & Dr. Mario in the BS version of Dr. Mario with these codes: 7E1E7203 –

Thanks a lot to Nensondubois for the contribution!

We love Tetris… feeling nostalgic? Try Tetris Online at Readers Digest!

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Specwarrior [XBOX/PS2 – Cancelled]

Created by Pandemic Studios, Specwarrior is a cancelled third person shooter set in the Vietnam War that was  in development in 2002 / 2003. After some time the game was cancelled by its publisher, Midway. About a year later Pandemic released Full Spectrum Warrior (published by THQ), but it’s not clear if the published game used some assets from the unreleased project. Specwarrior was the reasons that lead Pandemic to file a lawsuit against Midway, because they cancelled the game to avoid payment.

The lawsuit claims Midway’s move was unwarranted, and says Midway owes money for services Pandemic completed during its months of work on the project. Pandemic is seeking damages of more than $4 million and some $750,000 in fees, according to a Reuters report.

Thanks to Hey Hey for the contribution!

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Don’t Call Me Max [GC – Cancelled]

In 2002 Prolific Publishing were working on a new platform / action game for the GameCube, known as “Don’t Call Me Max”. The project was going to be  originally published by TDK and later by Destination Software, but in the end it was never released for some reasons. As we can read from the original press release the story was a real masterpiece:

In Don’t Call Me Max! the player takes control of a kangaroo named Max, who has run away from home looking for the circus that his father once traveled with. Max arrives at the Great Circus, only to find that it is a ramshackle, a shadow of its former glory. The circus has been overtaken by the curse of the evil Ringmaster. At the circus Max stumbles into an abandoned tent and finds himself surround by magician’s props. The ghost of the magician appears and gives Max his quest to travel to the magic realms and release the circus clans from the evil Ringmaster’s curse. Max’s only companion is the spirit of his father who resides in the magic staff he carries over his shoulder. Together they must travel through a variety of unique circus worlds, using magic and skill to survive the perils set forth by the Ringmaster. Can Max free the innocent Circus clans from the spell of the Ringmaster, and change the fate of the Great Circus?

Thanks to Hey Hey for the contribution!

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