New Cancelled Games & Their Lost Media Added to the Archive

Microsoft, Others, PC / MAC, Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony, Xbox

Leisure Suit Larry: Island Tale [Cancelled – Xbox, PS2, PC]

monokoma
17-04-2020
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Leisure Suit Larry: Island Tale (AKA Cocoa Butter) is a cancelled adventure game in the Leisure Suit Larry series, which was in development by High Voltage Software around 2005 – 2006. The project was planned to be a sequel to Magna Cum Laude, to be released for Xbox, Playstation 2 and PC.

In the game Larry would visit San Areolas Islands to seduce women and resolve simple puzzles. Some more details were shared online by a former HVS developer:

“Cancelled at about 70% complete, this adventure game (like its predecessor) would have certainly pushed the boundaries of both story, design and taste. The focus of this UI was the match the game’s island feel, with warm sunset skies for the main menu and bright, colorful blues and reef colors for the in-game experience. We used classic postcards as inspiration for how we wanted the user to feel while in the menus, while still injecting a bit of Larry’s sexual references within the design work itself. We had the UI about 80% finalized when the game was sadly cancelled, so what you see here was pretty much final.”

As far as we know Vivendi Universal canned the game, possibly to cut costs during a difficult time. Because of this High Voltage Software had to lay off some of their staff, as reported by Gamasutra and GameIndustry in January 2006:

“Chicago-based independent developer High Voltage has officially announced that the company has “right sized” its operations from 156 full time employees to 120, following a recent project cancellation.”

“The layoffs are believed to have occurred last Friday, January 13th, and according to a source within the company, the cancelled project was one being undertaken for Vivendi Universal Games – which has published several of High Voltage’s recent titles.”

Some images from the game are preserved in the gallery below, to remember this lost project.

Thanks to Sean-Paul for the contribution!

Images:

Nes / Famicom, Nintendo

Jiku no Tsubasa (Space-Time’s Wing) [NES, Famicom – Cancelled]

monokoma
12-04-2020
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Jiku no Tsubasa (時空の翼, translated as Space-Time’s Wing) is a cancelled fighting / RPG hybrid that was planned for Famicom / NES by G.Amusement Co., a rather obscure Japanese company which published a few different games during the ‘90s (such as Final Stretch).

Unfortunately there are not many details available on this lost game, but thanks to Heimao we know it was going to offer two main modes: a “battle” mode and a “scenario” mode. Battle mode would have probably been similar to other 1VS1 fighting games, but the scenario mode would have been structured like a role-playing game.

As it often happens with old, cancelled Famicom titles, we’ll probably never see much more from Jiku no Tsubasa, nor know what really happened to it.

Thanks to Heimao for the contribution!

Microsoft, Others, PC / MAC, Sony

SNO (Headstrong Games) [Cancelled – PC, PS4, Xbox One]

monokoma
10-04-2020
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SNO is a cancelled action adventure that was in development  by Headstrong Games in 2014 – 2015, planned to be released for PC and unannounced consoles (possibly PS4 and Xbox One). The project was officially announced in February 2015 on their site and by reading its description it sounds a bit like Okami, but unfortunately it soon vanished with no explanations.

“Usher in Spring and bring your frozen world back to life in this 3rd person action puzzle game.

Clear the ice and snow that have blanketed your world. Encounter and defeat mysterious ice demons intent on holding back Spring. Discover ancient secrets and paths through the frozen wasteland as the Gods guide you on your journey.

SNO toys with your expectations, leaving you wondering whether you’re a dead soul raised to tend a magical land, or an android designed to repair a deserted spacecraft. As you emerge from your grave-like stasis chamber, it’s apparent a catastrophe has occurred – the world is carpeted in a thick layer of snow. As you clear the ice and snow, you reveal verdant patches of grass that catch the light and start to fend off the creeping frost.”

Headstrong were mostly known for their Art Academy series and Battalion Wars series published by Nintendo, but around 2017 Kuju Entertainment (their parent company) dissolved the team to incorporate their employees directly into Kuju.

If you know someone who worked on this lost game and could help in preserving more images or footage, please let us know!

Microsoft, Playstation 3 (PS3), Sony, Xbox 360

Need For Speed 10: TerrorFive [Cancelled – Xbox 360, PS3]

monokoma
10-04-2020
1 Comment

Need For Speed 10 “TerrorFive” is a cancelled chapter in the long-running NFS racing series, pitched to Electronic Arts around 2008 and planned for Xbox 360 and PS3. It was conceived as a strange mix between a racer and some kind of terrorism – hacking adventure, trying to imagine illegal street racers in a post 911 US city.

A racing gang / terrorists named “TerrorFive” would drive around the city while doing missions and hacking jobs, such as looking into the Police network and security cameras. Yeah, it sounds a bit like Watch Dogs, but probably most of these concepts were just meant to be the settings of the game and not it’s main gameplay.

While EA never officially announced this game, in 2010 they released Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit which was a completely different project. We can assume the pitch for TerrorFive never went much far from its early concept or prototype. Concept art for the game was found online around 2014, as reported by Kotaku.

Images:

Videos:

Nintendo, Others, PC / MAC, SNES + Super Famicom

Drakkhen 2 (Infogrames) [Cancelled – SNES, PC]

monokoma
04-04-2020
5 Comments

Drakkhen is an early-3D western RPG originally developed by Infogrames in 1989, published for Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS and Super Nintendo. In 1994 Kotobuki System / Kemco developed a spiritual successor for the SNES, published as Super Drakkhen in Japan and released in North America as Dragon View.

However in 1991 Infogrames was already working on an official sequel by the same team, planned for PC, Amiga, SNES and FM Towns. While this lost version of Drakkhen 2 is now forgotten by everyone and not many details are available, Youloute was able to find an article with some screenshots, published by french magazine Generation 4 (Issue 38 and 41, November 1991 / February 1992).

Thanks to Olivier, who translated the main details in these pages, we know more about the project:

“Game would be released for PC 256 colors, Amiga, FM Towns and Super Famicom. Cartridge would of course feature a battery to allow in-game saving. There’s only one warrior and animations are more detailed. More beat em up phases where each gamepad button would be used in the Super Famicom version. Moving across the world will be in 3D, except Super Famicom where game will use its specific hardware. Release still being planned for Q1 1992.”

“To learn a bit more about Drakkhen II, we asked project manager Philippe Agrpnidis: video games production is slowly getting close to movie production, visual quality with VGA and MCGA, sound with Roland and Sound Blaster, and new CD platforms such as CDI, CD-ROM, changed the landscape within six months. Hence, like a movie production, the game requires multiple people: Philippe Agipnidis as project manager, François Marcela-Froideval for scenario, Etienne Guerry for story-board, Guy Selva for production and, of course, another one for graphics, plus one for sounds.”

Rest of the text mentions there would have a been a small book included with the game box to help gamers.

Also, as mentione by Julien, Drakkhen II would have been more like an action adventure than a RPG.

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