Part 4 of another series for top 15 cancelled and lost video games, you know the drill let’s get on with the list as this was meant for last month and for this month for a closure of the Lost Media month? Wait till the end of course.
15. Attack of the Killer Rabbids from Outer Space
Well this one is an interesting one to start this list. This video game was planned to be a spinoff and it would feature the rabbids. You know those rabbit things that yell and do noises like the Minions? Boy Rayman sure is getting shafted Marty Janetty style into a barber shop and was under development to release in the XBOX 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii U and the Rabbids would have to face off with their counterparts from outer space, pretty sure doing what the Rabbids do: make noise and yell. Here’s what the gameplay description says from what I can gather
“While the freaks remain similar to the Rabbids but given a reptilian appearance. Set in Post-Apocalyptic London 1-4 players pit against the alien horde to survive. An early trailer and gameplay video were made to show off weapons for each character.”
The developers of the game figured this game would be too violent for such a title under the Rayman name even if it were for a spinoff. So, it was then change to “Killer Freaks from Outer Space” which sounds like a sequel to “Eight Legged Freaks”. The game was revealed in E3 2011 to launch as a Wii U exclusive however again proving to be unhappy about this game even though reception was positive, Ubisoft again changed to a standard Zombie shooter game called “ZombiU” and released in November 18th, 2012 and ported into next gen consoles later. Outside of a teaser trailer and concept art. The builds to the Rabbids and the alternate game is lost still today.
14. Agartha
SEGA is likely going to have a presence in this list, this one will be one of the exceptions.
“Agartha” was originally planned to be released on the SEGA Dreamcast and developed by a French company called “No Cliché”. The plot of the game was to take place in Romania in the year 1929, where a village was destroyed by a landslide from a likely Earthquake and the main character named Kirk was to discover this underground city called Agartha. In addition, the player was to make decisions (which has become so derivative by today) that would affect the game.
The game was to be somewhat similar to “Alone in the Dark” and the “Resident Evil” games so much so they had Frederick Raynal who had a hand in both games’ development and success. The game was to be released in 1999 as a trailer was presented at the Electronic Computer Trade Show 2000 along with other video games but was moved to 2001. However due to the Dreamcast being that unpopular and behind the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation not to mention the future development of the XBOX, PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Gamecube SEGA ended the Dreamcast on January 31st, 2001 by stopping their manufacturing and the game was cancelled later in that same year. Years later in 2008, UnSeen 64 a site dedicated to video games cancelled and release made a site page about the game as then each developer would comment about “Agartha” then in 2018 a E3 demo of the game was discovered after a EBay auction and was uploaded online. That’s where we stand on so far.
13. Avatar: Legends of the Arena
“Avatar: the Last Airbender” needs no introduction it was a animated series released by Nickelodeon in 2007 that was successful and praised for its storytelling that had a sequel that was mistreated by Viacom and Nick so much that they released the last episodes online and enough about The Last Airbender the better.
“Avatar: Legends of the Arena” was a online multiplayer game that was published by Digital Eclipse Software and distributed by ValuSoft. The game was released in September of 2008. The game featured in game character creations, or play one of the established characters like Aing, Toph, Zuko, Kotara and Sokka the comedy relief. Players faced off in four player match and earn rewards by winning and earning gold to spend on upgrades and equipment. Kind of like today’s microtransactions. Oh no…
The game is no longer playable unfortunately since the servers were shut down long ago and the only evidence of this game were gameplay videos.
12. Coolsville
This cancelled video game was meant to be released on the PC and to be for kids for a planned release of 1994 as the game was developed by Music Pen and released by Media Vision. The game was focused in the city of Coolsville, which sounds like some sister city to Townsville in the Powerpuff Girls, but this city has anthropomorphic animals who are into jazz case the title. The city was split into four sections of the city and related to Jazz like Ragtime, Blues, Be-bop and Big Band as the city was led by gurus who would reunite once a year for a performance called “The Great Gig”.
Coolsville was a original title idea by Brian Gaidry its art director, although it was said to be an adventure game it was going to be a educational game like one of those Disney interactive ROM’s or Magic School Bus ROM’s. However due to the shut of their developer Media Vision the game was cancelled. The only evidence of “Coolsville” existence is early screenshots. No prototypes or builds have been known to exist.
11. Diddy Kong Racing Adventure
I think I will do a future File on this one because this one weather you agree on the decision or not this was big.
“Diddy Kong Racing Adventure” was a game in development and a sequel for “Diddy Kong Racing” on the N64. The plot was to focus on Wizpig planning his revenge and you don’t see much anymore; you think with Nintendo’s long history of bringing back previous characters albeit in small cameos in Mario titles to show up. Wizpig would form an alliance with the Kremlings to raid Kongo Island so it’s up to Diddy Kong and friends to join up and stop Wizpig and Kremlings.
This game was to bring back Adventure mode, plus multiple hub worlds that would lead to Wizpig’s lair and of course Candy and Lankey Kong were to assist Diddy Kong and friends. Plus, Banjo from the “Banjo-Kazooie” series was to be actual playable character rather then a previous replaced character. This game was cancelled in place of Donkey Kong Racing however that game would be eventually be cancelled all together because of this moment that I won’y get into here for now. The only existence of Diddy Kong’s sequel was a few screenshots.
10. Kero Kero Keroppi no Maho no Kuni Densetsu
A very long title for an obscure game huh? I don’t blame you.
This title was meant for the Famicon is translated to “Legend of the Magical Kingdom of Kero Kero Keroppi” and planned for a 1993 holiday release based off a Sanrio creation called Keroppi and set in a magical kingdom and no not that kingdom but then again if Super Smash Bros and Mario Kart cross over with others why not?
How this game was cancelled was obvious the new Super Famicon was under development and planned for a release itself that stopped this game and others dead. The only existence of this title is screenshots from twitter user “a_a_bm” revealing them in December of 2017.
9. Sonic Synergy
I’ll say this right here Sonic Boom I will say in its defense was different sure “Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric” was a glitchy broken game that may have hindered its own future, but the TV show was awesome. It had its moments and witty writing including compelling characters including Sticks the Badger whom I enjoyed, plus at the end here send a tweet or anything to SEGA: bring back Sticks and Boom Knux. Yeah, I said it, bring back Boom Knux. They may try to pretend this series does not exist, but I want to see Sticks in the main Sonic Comics and maybe Knuckles to become bulkier like his boom counterpart. Also weren’t the Echidna clan in Sonic were bulker and muscular? Because I feel like I saw them that in previous Sonic series. Let me know in the comments if they were or not, I am curious.
Anyway before “Rise of Lyric” became an infamous game due to those reasons I stated before, the original plan for the title was something completely different. It was originally titled “Sonic Synergy” as it was SEGA’s attempt for a western Sonic series release, as Big Red Button a development company made up by former Naughty Dog members was involved to produce the game. some elements of the game survived into the actual game storyline like the Ancients, Lyric the main antagonist of the game sealed away and Sonic and Tails being descendants linking to the past, but here some exceptions: remember Chao those little blue creatures you once raised and force the to do cute battles on Sonic Adventure? They were planned to be here in this game plus Dr. Eggman rather being the comic relief evil scientist to rule the world was to be a time traveler. Also, it was not to be a WiiU console exclusive but ported into original consoles like PS3 and XBOX 360 or likely XBOX One or PS4.
The only piece of evidence of “Sonic Synergy” is concept art, a gameplay trailer of “Synergy” was revealed online. The original build of the game has been lost ever since.
#BringBackSticks
#BringBackBoomKnux
8. Laffy Taffy Puzzle
Never heard of this title, I don’t blame you.
“Laffy Taffy Puzzle” was an online game for an online site called Wonka, this was a 2D drag and click platform developed by Left brain Games that would make other games for the site. Does anyone remember the old ‘addictinggames’ site back in the 2000’s? It was that but a much small degree.
This game was about jigsaw puzzles after many flavors of laffy taffy (also I am going to point this out, I never had laffy taffy ever in my life sorry laffy taffy bros) like forexample watermelon flavor, banana, grape or cherry. Left Brain Games would continue to develop more games for the site until 2007 when they stopped. The only existence of this online game was a screenshot and that’s it.
7. Loya
This video game title has an extensive history connected to it.
“Loya” was under development and meant for a release in 2002 for the PC, Mac and XBOX as the company The Flying Fishes were tasked to make this game and it came from creator Thomas Cheysson for a adventure game which was a likely direction for this game to go. The plot was about from descriptions say a trio of people would be the main focus: one would be a adventurous but a victim to his own past, his other two would be driven to different vetures one by money and wealth as the other by love.
“Loya” was eventually cancelled which was a shame considering an idea this game would utilize that would be used in sites like YouTube or Twitch, this game would be the first to have some interactive scenes that would be watched online or even a film cinema. The only existence to this game was this single screenshot of a shutdown website. No demos or prototypes have been known to exist.
6. New Super Mario Bros (WiiU Tech Demo)
Super Mario Bros needs no introduction, this franchise has been going strong ever since the eighties and shows no sign of ever stopping. You know the drill: capture princess, saving princess with a plumber and fighting off many Koopas, Goombas and King Bowser and his seven children.
Did you know that one of these games has a lost demo? No, I’m not talking about Super Mario 125 even though that has a bit history itself to the once cancelled Super Mario 64 2. Super Mario for the Wii U that had a tech demo involving Nintendo Mii characters, you know those ones avatars from the XBOX that was for the WiiU and Switch. However, this tech demo has been lost ever since it was introduced in E3 2011 and no longer available today.
5. Videoway Games
Does anyone remember cable interactive games? I remember seeing them heck we even had them.
Videoway Games was a cable service from Videotron in Quebec between 1990 and 2006. It was to be the first interactive television entertainment system in the country. It also offered services like weather, horoscopes, sports, news you name it. But what was its focus was video games. Over 50 games were made including bowling, blackjack, hockey, poker and others including a Pacman clone.
When it was popular Videotron released 300,000 cable units in French speaking languages in Quebec, including 70,000 units surprisingly enough in London, England until the service folded in 1997. Some of these games were originally made however they ended up lost when the service ended in 2006 and the only existence of these games are screenshots.
4. The Irate Gamer
Remember The Irate Gamer, who saw a crossover with him and AVGN coming?
Anyway, The Irate Gamer was created by Chris Bores who reviews video games and the series ran from 2007 to 2016 but was replaced with the Chris NEO show on YouTube which reviews does the same thing. After the AVGN having a movie adaptation of himself that was a critical hit and an IOS game, he released his own game in the App Store.
It was a 2D platformer style game that involved TIG to rescue his video game collection from the Shadow Overlord. Reception to this game was negative so much so that reviewer LarryGuru said
“the game being un-intuitive with poor controls, being too easy with generous health refills while also being too hard with one-hit enemies and being generally un-creative and repetitive”.
People then found out it was a reskin of another IOS game called “Commander Cool” after the negative reception the game was then dropped from $3.99 to $0.99 on the App Store before being dropped entirely. The only existence to this game was screenshots and gameplay footage of other people playing the game. What’s next me and Blameitonjorge in a crossover? Hmm…
3. “The First Erotic Hardcore Gamer in the World”
You are not dreaming this is or was an actual game.
This was a first mentioned in a French video game magazine called “Generation 4” and meant to be released on the PC as it was to be a full page mail order for something called “The First Erotic Hardcore Gamer in the World” the plot was this
“EXCLUSIVE:
The First hardcore erotic Game in the world !
You are on a HOT investigation inside a woman hotel… Games for women… and men… Designed for adults who are in a hurry, puzzles without hurting your brain, so you can have fun, relax, watch…”
Copes of this game were to be ordered in a 3,5- or 5,25-inch floppy disks but said you’d have to be 18 to purchase. Other than screenshots nothing from this game has been known to exist.
2. Oregon
The Oregon Trail is one of gaming’s long running and oldest titles.
Loosely based from the film starring John Wayne, “The Oregon Trail” is the obvious survive and travel to Missouri to Oregon only with the wits and limited resources. Although this one is the more well-known version, you may not know about original version.
Creator of the game Dan Rawitsch during his time in high school along with Bill Heinemann and Paul Dillenberger originally wanted to create a board game where players would travel as pioneers using dice or cards. But would come together to create the game Oregon. However, this original version of “Oregon” hasn’t been released to the public nor has been in as of this writing in 2020. Bill Heinemann later revealed he has a copy of “Oregon” but hasn’t released it either. But not a bad piece of history eh?
1. YTV.com
To close out this entry is a game site that is near and dear to us Canadians.
YTV is an online website that continues to this day for the channel service YTV that has a long extensive history going back into the early 90’s and has aired notable shows like Spongebob but mostly known for anime’s like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh and Digimon though I was introduced by the VHS tapes that had the Ranma 1/2 , Jungle Emperor Leo and The Dog of Flanders and then the series later.
However, many games from this site has become lost to this day; thanks to the Internet Archive some of them have been archived but some unplayable to this day or may not work at all which is pretty sad because I remember playing some of these games and looking up episode information on the site, YTV may have changed but the memories still remain.
And that will cover this week’s entry of the Lost Media Files, to close out this entry and the 3rd anniversary of this series; I will cover a piece of lost media that began from a Reddit thread about a search of a lost piece of animation detailing someone’s recollection of a grizzly scene.
Check out Lost Media Wiki: https://lostmediawiki.com/Home
Check out Unseen64 for more cancelled and lost video games: https://www.unseen64.net/
Check me out on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MauriceBear21
The Maurice Bear Times 