New Cancelled Games & Their Lost Media Added to the Archive

Fable 2 [Beta – Xbox 360]

Fable 2 is an action RPG developed by Lionhead Studios and directed by Peter Molyneux, published by Microsoft Game Studios. It’s the sequel to Fable  and it was originally announced in 2006 and released in October 2008. [Infos from Wikipedia] In these images we can see a series of early concept arts that were used to create the final game, some of which show armors that were never used in the end.

In some early screenshots there is a beta version of the Bowerstone Market city market, an unused NPC (the little bald man), a different looking hero’s sister, a removed desert area and an unknown forest that looks still incomplete. Attacks that used the world’s scenery were removed. The developer diaries showcase this incomplete versions of Bowerstone market and those attacks that did not make it.

Here are some more removed features:

The dog can be called using the voice communicator, too, although Molyneux told the crowd that feature was still iffy and not ready to be shown.

There’s no HUD and no mini-map on the screen in Fable 2. Instead, you’ll have the dog acting as a scout. He’ll always stay a few steps ahead of you and try to guess where you’re headed.

Sound like a lot for one dog to handle? Well there’s more. The dog also acts as your journal of sorts. He’ll point out what’s new in a region you’ve previously been to and remind you of important things that you may have forgotten about in your questing.

Puzzles will also exist that you’ll need the dog to help solve, he’ll act as your bloodhound to follow scents, and even help you get chicks – just like real life. If that weren’t already enough, the dog will also be playable in a variety of minigames.

He also mentioned that your dog will play with other dogs. In fact, he said it has to happen although he was hesitant to add any details other than saying, “You’ve got to be able to meet my dog.” They’ll all be unique in both mind and appearance and will be customizable to match your desires. The aim is to have no two dogs be alike.

While your melee weapon is linked to the X button, there are dozens of variations you can attempt. Combat is largely rhythm based but, unlike many games with similar systems, the range of the timing seems fairly broad. Pressing X, X, (hold) X and then releasing creates a different result than X, (pause) X, (hold) X and release. To help players feel the rhythm, drums begin to pound when you string combos, signaling times to press the X button. It’s an almost tribal experience. And though the drums are initially jarring, their beat melds into the ambient noise quickly. It wasn’t long before it felt as if the music were in rhythm with my button taps and not the other way around. Blocking is also done with the X, simply by holding. This also powers you up for an attack, but each time you parry that charge is instantly dissipated. So you can’t block and then suddenly released a powerful strike.

In Lionhead Fable II Diaries (that you can download at the official Lionhead website or check below) we can even see some footage from various prototypes of the game, as the Combat Demo, world creation and other interesting development stuff. The earliest  Fable II prototype was created with the Fable I engine, but we still don’t have any screens from that version.

Also, Robert Seddon linked us to an article on Kotaku about pregnancy in games, where we can read about another removed feature from the game:

Technically, your female character in Fable II doesn’t get “pregnant” – you just get a cut scene that explains you gave birth and then the game resumes with a cradle in your house. It’s the same for male characters as it is for female. But that wasn’t the way that Lead Designer Peter Molyneux designed it.

“Originally we did plan to depict pregnancy in game with the female hero’s stomach expanding,” he said. Lionhead Studios decided to opt for a cut scene instead, though, after considering all the moral quandaries that come of having a six-month pregnant mom-to-be wielding a broadsword and getting cut up by bandits.

Thanks to Randy for the contribution!

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Chinese Detective [Saturn – Cancelled?]

Celine has found a screenshot and a little description from a misterious Saturn adventure game, that was know as “Chinese Detective”: we cant find any more informations about this title and it could have been cancelled, or maybe released with a different name. Do you have any clue?

Thanks to Celine for the contribution!

Update: this game was really released for the Saturn as “WanChai Connection“, you can find the final boxart and some infos at Segagaga Domain. Thanks a lot to Yakumo for the information!

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Golden Sun: The Lost Age [GBA – Unused Content]

Robert Seddon has linked us to an interesting topic in the Golden Sun Hacking Community Forum, in which they have found a lot of unused  items, sprites and Psynergy spells that were still hidden in the Golden Sun: The Lost Age code! All of these can not be obtained in the final game without hacking. Betweem the unused NPC there’s one that looks a bit like Link from The Legend Of Zelda and we can only wonder if it was going to be a cameo from the Zelda series, later removed for some reasons. Also several characters from the original Golden Sun are among the game’s sprite collection despite not actually appearing in the game. Maybe these sprites are still in there because the developers used the original Golden Sun code to build the second game and they just forgot to remove that old stuff.

[spoiler /List of Unused Items/ /Hide the List of Unused Items/]

398: Divine Camisole – Shirt: Raises Defense and Luck
Price: 2700, Defense: 10
Is a rare item
Can be equipped by: Mia, Jenna, Sheba.
Luck +5

399: Herbed Shirt – Shirt: Reduces Defense
Price: 1900, Defense: 7
Is a rare item
Can be equipped by: Anyone
Use: Herb, Breaks when used.

401: Casual Shirt – Shirt: Restores HP & Raises DEF
Price: 50, Defense: 3
Is a rare item
Can be equipped by: Isaac, Garet, Ivan, Felix, Piers
HP recovery +5

405: Knight’s Greave – Boots: Raise Defense & HP
Price: 2700, Defense: 8
Is a rare item
Can be equipped by: Anyone
Max HP +5

406: Silver Greave – Boots: Raise Defense & Luck
Price: 3800, Defense: 11
Is a rare item
Can be equipped by: Anyone
Luck +4

407: Ninja Sandals – Boots: Raise Defense & Evade
Price: 2000, Defense: 5
Is a rare item
Can be equipped by: Anyone
Critical Hits +15

411: Aroma Ring – Ring: Restores 100 HP to all allies
Price: 2300
Is a rare item
Can be equipped by: Anyone
Use: Healing Aura, breaks when used

412: Rainbow Ring – Ring: Deludes multiple enemies
Price: 900
Is a rare item
Can be equipped by: Anyone
Use: Delude, breaks when used

413: Soul Ring – Ring: Use to raise a downed ally
Price: 1800
Is a rare item
Can be equipped by: Anyone
Use: Revive, breaks when used[/spoiler]

[spoiler /List of Unused Psynergy spells/ /Hide the List of Unused Psynergy spells/]
129 – Reflect
A Psynergy usable in battle. No apparent use has been found.

155 – Ma???? (Magnet)
A Psynergy usable outside of battle, a ring appears around the player which dissipates after a few seconds. Can be used in Psynergy Test 2 Debug Room to mess with a pile of rope.
The ability may cause transitions between locations, and menus to become glitchy.

157 – A?? (Arrow)
A Psynergy usable outside of battle, a bow appears in front of the player, and shoots an arrow which sticks in NPCs, and other objects. Can be used in Psynergy Test Debug Room to light a torch, and annoy Kraden.
The ability appears glitchy sometimes since it ignores the height-map, and thus may appear at the wrong elevation.

298 – Aurora Field
A Psynergy usable in battle. Fully heals & revives your party.[/spoiler]

Huge props to Atrius and all the GS Hacking Community for these finds!

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Hero (Midway Prototype) [Xbox 360 PS3 – Cancelled]

In 2008 Midway were working on various prototypes for the Xbox 360 and PS3: this one was a proto for a third person shooter / hack ‘n’ slash (that somehow reminds me of Phantom Dust), based on Unreal Engine 3 and inspired by Gears of War style cover system, that at the time was known as “Hero“. With the bankruptcy of the company, this project was cancelled but you can find a lot of info in the video below.

Thanks to Hey Hey for the contribution!

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Wheelman [XBOX / PS2 – Unreleased]

In 2005 Rat Bag Games were developing an action game for the original XBOX and Playstation 2, with third person shooter and racing elements. After Midway bough the studio and shut it down, the Rat Bag project was cancelled and team was fired right before Xmas. It seems that a year later, Midway took the assets from this cancelled project to build a “new” Wheelman game, announced in February 2006 and then released in March 2009 for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

Thanks to Hey Hey for the contribution!

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