Video Games – The Maurice Bear Times

Lost Media Files: Top 15 Lost and Cancelled Video Games (Part 7)

Published on June 12, 2023June 12, 2023 by MauriceBear21Leave a comment

June has arrived so in this annual tradition which I have dug myself into way back in 2017: it’s time we deep dive back into lost and cancelled video games, and unlike E3 it won’t be canned unless I get bored with these so as tradition these are the 15 entries of lost or cancelled video games.

15. Panel de Pon (NES)

Let’s start off with a very obscure game title with a fascinating piece of history. “Panel de Pon” was a game set to be released on the Super Famicon in Japan and the Super Nintendo in 1995 with a different title called “Tetris Attack”. The interesting part of this game that no build was ever released nor any info not even a screenshot as its existence has been heavily debated for years. Some say it could be a tech demo for the future Nintendo 64 which could be a possibility.

The game however would be reworked to become the future Pokemon Puzzle Game released on the N64 in 2001 at the end of the life cycle for the system, now whatever happened with “Panel de Pon”? The game was said to have a prototype build that remained unrealeased for almost 30 years. In 2020 Youtuber Gamers Manual found a prototype cartridge that has the game then uploaded the footage to YouTube. The gameplay resembled a Nintendo GameCube exclusive game released in 2003 called “Nintendo Puzzle Collection” though the game has yet to be released online even though “Gamers” said he’ll release it soon.

14. ECW Anarchy Rulz (PS1)

I seem to have picked up wrestling games in this list haven’t I? Oh well here goes again.

“ECW Anarchy Rulz” was set to be released on the PlayStation and Dreamcast in mid-2000, Acclaim the game company has had a history of releasing WWE games in the past for the Super Nintendo, this was to the sequel to “ECW Homecoming Revolution” that was received positively selling for 600,000 copies. “Anarchy Rulz” for the PlayStation and Dreamcast had a least about of success mostly negative as this would be the last game ever released before the company folded in April of 2001.

There was a planned Nintendo 64 release which wouldn’t be a surprise. Nintendo Power from a 2000 April issue revealed the game was to be released on the N64 in September to co-align with the PlayStation and DreamCast releases though to confirm the rumor from the issue the heads of Acclaim would give no answer. In E3’s Acclaim presentation only the PlayStation version was released than the N64 with very little info. The game would go unreleased for the platform the only piece of evidence was this lone issue from the magazine which often would give it some eyes.

13. Epic Mickey 3 (Wii U)

Oh Epic Mickey, why aren’t you more well known.

The Epic Mickey franchise has had three well received titles, “Epic Mickey”, “Epic Mickey 2” both for the Nintendo WiiU and “Epic Mickey: Power of the Illusion” for the Nintendo 3DS as these games focused on the adventures of Mickey and using not so well known Disney characters into the limelight including well known for bringing back Oswald the Lucky Rabbit back into the fold for Disney after a exchange trade from Universal to the company for ESPN’s Al Michaels.

Warren Spector the creator of the game was very open for a trilogy and the second “Epic Mickey” game did leave off on a little tidbit from Pete planning something big for Mickey Mouse. In an interview Warren said:

“I don’t do anything that isn’t extensible. And I will certainly feel that I have not done my job if we can’t make other games in this world with these characters. In my head, I’ve got two more planned.”

Warren also mentioned that musical numbers would be a vocal point as the second game introduced them. Sadly this ambitious third game would be cancelled because of Disney shutting down Junction Point Studios the game developer for the games in January of 2013 as Warren in a 2015 interview would state:

“In Mickey 3 I wanted to really up the multiplayer action. What we did in Mickey 2 was pretty simple. I also wanted to make a truly interactive musical game. I have some weird ideas about how to use music and how to make music in the context of a game that no music-game has done yet.”

Such a shame this game was cancelled but I have seen better titles cancelled before reaching their climax. Still waiting on that Half-Life game Valve.

12. Dynamic Trial 7

Classic arcade games from the Mortal Kombat era goes unnoticed.

This arcade racing game was early planed by developer Toaplan in late 1993 and it was heavily promoted, though early testing of the game wasn’t received well as said by Twitter user @GoldWing1992 posted on a tweet so it seems whoever this person was part of Toaplan. He introduced this to Tomonobu Kagawa who was graphic designer for “Truxton II”.

The began the long trek of this game in question throughout the years starting in 2010 “Dynamic Trial 7” was playable in Japan however this game would disappear, then in 2016 an avid arcade collector acquired “Dynamic Trial 7” as he posted photos of it but unable to upload it online, then in 2018 another Twitter by the name of “7144GMI” upload a proper emulated version of the game. Then in 2022 a developer by the name of David “MameHaze” Haywood built a proper driver for “Dynamic Trial 7” ran on a special module of the hardware as it still unable to be released.

11. Madness: House of Fun (SEGA Genesis)

One of the games that would bump off Guitar Hero off its pedestal.

“Madness: House of Fun” was a title based of the band and off of their #1 hit from the 80’s “House of Fun” from their album “Change of Direction” though none of the band members appeared. The game starred a character named Mr. Smash who was based off one of the members of the group Carl Smyth to search inside a funhouse for goodies, but the entire place is overrun by specters and the only way of defense is throwing discs at the ghouls.

This game had 14 levels designed as it was going to be a remake of another game called “Harlequin” but was cancelled close to completion as by the 17^th issues of “Mean Machines Sega” and “Mega Force”. In November of 2016 a source code was released by Piko Interactive founder Eleazar Galindo Navarro and in January of 2017 the game or a completed build was uploaded by Unseen 64. So even though it’s completely lost the game lives on by screenshots and footage we have.

10. Taxi Driver (XBOX 360)

Not going to lie alongside “Goodfellas” and the “Godfather” I never seen “Taxi Driver”. Guess that should be on my bucket list to watch.

This in-game movie tie in to one of the most acclaimed films of Martin Scorsese was planned to be a video game and it was highly anticipated. The game’s plot loosely followed on the same events on the film as the developing studios of the game Mejesco and Papaya were looking for a Grand Theft Auto type of game and they approached Robert De Niro to be involved with the game as then on E3 of 2005 the game was hyped up and it was given positive press. So how did this game not get released?

Simple: Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader was at odds also adding on Majesco had some financial issues were at a point that the planned innovated game was cancelled and Papaya sued Majesco for a lawsuit they would eventually win alongside the rights to this game. Such a shame this game had some promise, but money and differences are always the deciding factor. There are many videos to this game that show the development like a trailer and several screenshots of “Taxi Driver”.

9. Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kirathi (Super NES)

Not much is known from this space title other than screenshots from a magazine issue.

“Wing Commander 2” was a sequel planned to be released on the Super NES by studio Origin Systems. Unlike the first game was released in something called MS-DOS and Amiga both for the PC, this Nintendo version would be a arcade-like gameplay elements within the cockpit of better view so its sounds like that one second level of the StarFox and a different script for the game’s plot. The game was finished and presented at the Electronics Game Monthly and GamePro issues would reveal the screenshots of the game however what made this game unreleased and cancelled was financial issues. Again. Isn’t that nice that money issues often the bad indicator of games that dooms it in the end?

8. Sukiya (PC)

Translating this to English means: “House contains a tearoom”. Neat.

This point and click game was made by developer: Lankhor studios a French gaming company, the main designer Jerome Lange also created two other point and click titles like “Mortville Manor” and “Maupiti Island” as Mortville Manor was innovative for the first ever speech synthesis which is like the first ever game of speech with voice overs. Unfortunately, poor sales of one title called “Black Sect” would hinder the development of “Sukiya” saw it as an indicator to not make anymore click and point adventures games. Which is disappointing because outside of King’s Quest as a notable PC game none has been made. “Sukiya” was later cancelled as Lankhor shut down in 2001. Outside of screenshots it is unknown if this was ever released or how much was completed.

7. The Venture Bros: Shop and Destroy (Flash)

So, nobody thought that Venture Bros had a game eh?

I’m not going to beat around this bush to say what is the Venture Bros. Muscle bound venturer with two teens and a very wimpy villain. I think were clear on that. The game was planned to be released on the Adult Swim website as the plot was to be based of the first season episode “Tag Sale – You’re It!” which the plot is Thaddeus Venture is having a tag sale but it doesn’t go well as villains and heroes want his items so does his archrival The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend.

Judging by the screenshot of the gameplay because that’s as far of better info there is, the game was to be a collect ‘em all flash game, however this game would disappear due to Adobe Flash Player’s discontinued in 2021. Andre Moore’s blog has posted artwork of this game and screenshots was eventually released online. I guess the yard sale wasn’t the only thing that was cleaned up.

6. Star Wars Battlefront III

One of the most famous titles all of gaming Pandemic’s Star Wars Battlefront has held a great reputation as an innovated shooter title. This was before of EA’s version of the game and say what you will of EA’s Battlefront at least in the second Battlefront installment after the microtrans and lootbox controversies the game finally became what players wanted it to be with different maps, modes and heroes and villains to play. Also RIP to the 500 credit lootbox. Yes!

Now, as to Battlefront III the game was developed not by Pandemic but by Free Radical Design the makers of famous titles like Timesplitters and some of the people involved were former Rare employees. Now this game is too long in itself but here’s the short version. Battlefront III has sadly garnered a reputation that was in development hell and Free Radical Design was crunched due to pressure and their parent company Ubisoft wanting some of their own games finished not to mention our good friend: financial issues. Though Crytek would jump in to acquire the floundering company others would be let go on Christmas. Ouch. The game was cancelled altogether but the only piece of evidence was a screenshot of a video recording in 2008 to show gameplay like different planets and spaceship flying in Coruscant. If you guys want to know further there is a documentary of the doomed game here in this video.

5. StarBlade: Operation Blue Planet (Arcade)

Oh, hi Namco. Nice to see you here.

“Starblade” was to be a passion project for Higashiyama Asahi ever since the original Starblade was released in 1991 made by Namco. This long-awaited sequel was aiming for a 2002 release to respond to the declining Arcade market because home consoles were more exclusive than ever. The game was presented in the 2001 Amusement Machine Show and was the highlight as it was given high praise for the game. Unfortunately, the game was never fully tested and another reason of issues was the lack of coin operation arcade machines, putting cease of the game and then cancellation. Bandai would upload a complete gameplay video online in November of 2007. Judging by the gameplay of this one it did have some improvements and quality. No full ROM was ever leaked as of 2023.

4. Shin Nihon Wrestling Gekitou Densetsu (Virtual Boy)

It has been six years since I covered the Virtual Boy as this cancelled game is a fascinating one and yes wrestling creeps its away into the limelight again.

This cancelled Virtual Boy title with the long absurd name, was to feature eight New Japan superstars as one of them would feature future WWE Hall of Famer Jushin “Thunder” Liger, the game in development was to feature title match mode alongside another mode called Time Attack. Another interesting addition was to be the G1 Climax which is a tournament that has 10 competitors in two separate blocks for a title shot. This game was cancelled due to the poor sales of the Virtual Boy’s sales being poor because Nintendo hasn’t fully utilized 3D or what the PlayStation Vita or Oculus Rift would fully utilize years later. Some say that someone has bought the prototype of the game, but whoever that is remains unknown.

3. Saints Row: Part Four (XBOX 360/PS3)

I never played the reboot of Saints Row and judging by it, I rather not with so many bugs and bad glitches.

“Saints Row 4” was under development after the sequel of “Saints Row 3” that featured Hulk Hogan, Rob Van Dam. For some reason. Although the game would be released, this would feature a different plot as the original idea would feature Johnny Gat who died in the third game brought back to life as a clone alongside bringing back most infamous people of history: Genghis Khan, Cleopatra and Joseph Stalin? Cleopatra in this feels out of place given her history of a very upstanding ruler of Ancient Egypt.

Now why this game never went further? THQ the parent developer was under say it with me financial issues that would they eventually shut their doors years later, they wanted a game that would keep them alive. The actual Saints Row would prove somewhat successful; however, the cancelled game would be recycled later.

2. Mini Poocha (Nokia Series)

A Phone game not from an IPhone? What is this world coming through.

“Mimi Poocha” was a game planned to be released as a mobile phone title for the Nokia, kind of like how the one Kingdom Hearts game for the Nokia phone. The developers were 5^th Cell Media behind Scribblenauts and Drawn to Life, as the focus of the game was Tetris. So, you know same colors in their place the stuff. The Nokia Series phone would be discontinued. Emulating the game would give the person a blank screen past the title card. Thanks for nothing Nokia.

1. Sabreman Stampede (XBOX/XBOX 360)

Time to close this out with a title that has some extensive history and a Microsoft buyout.

This game was originally to be a sequel to “Diddy Kong Racing Adventure” as it was almost fully completed, however a snag would play into the role. Microsoft acquired Rare and all its library titles in September of 2002 cancelling several games including “Diddy Kong Racing Adventure.” So now with this game in the can, what was Rare to do? Simple, from a Rare magazine in 2002, Sabre Wulf revealed a future in development title for the original XBOX that would become known as “Sabreman Stampede”.

It seems while in development the “Diddy Kong” sequel was repurposed and reworked into “Sabreman Stampede” as the idea gameplay was to be Grand Theft Auto with animals. In 2005 and 2006 Rare featured some interesting titles like “Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts” and “Viva Pinata” for the future so where was “Sabreaman?” Simple, it was cancelled due to lack of progress. It is a shame because the game in development had great promise and here we close out another month and year of cancelled titles and video games.

And that concludes this entry of the top 15 Lost and Cancelled video games as for the sixth anniversary I’ll rather keep that as a surprise at the moment, so I won’t tell you what it is because it is something I wanted to talk about more with a certain Can with Label. Oh yeah, I’m going to cover that and a certain controversial animator.

Follow me on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/MauriceBear21

Also check out Lost Media Wiki: https://lostmediawikia.com/home

Lost Media Files: 6th Anniversary edition

Published on July 18, 2022 by MauriceBear21Leave a comment

An article from a 99 issue of N64 Magazine about “SlamFest 99”

Welcome to the sixth Anniversary of the Lost Media Files and six years to the day I started this series and I thank you everyone who has seen my pieces of Lost Media through these years so what will this be about I’ll be discussing is the illusive and infamous promotion of all time: Super Smash Bros Fest 1999 livestream.

Dateline 1999. The world was a totally different place compared to today: Digimon and Spongebob made the airwaves, NASA launches the Mars Polar Lander, Star Wars Episode 1 is released in theatres to everyone’s joy, dismay and then admitting the prequels weren’t so bad years later and in the wrestling world WWE leads the Attitude Era in the highest of highs and WCW finger poked themselves into their demise and years later lessons has still not been learned: looking at you WWE and AEW. But an all-time classic gaming franchise gets started: Super Smash Bros for the Nintendo 64. Now what this game was pitted every Nintendo character into combat: Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Mario and Pikachu then years later would expand into every gaming franchise that would open the forbidden door. From Solid Snake to Bayonetta, from Minecraft to Sonic they all would duke it out, but while this is technically about Smash Bros it’s about an event that happened.

On April 24^th of 1999 in Las Vegas, Nevada at the MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park Nintendo held a promotional event called Slamfest ’99 which promoted the first release of Super Smash Bros to the Nintendo 64 as what happened here was a wrestling match pitting Mario and Yoshi vs. Donkey Kong and Pikachu in a tag team match playa so here it was a wrestling event held in Vegas while there was a few WCW PPV’s happen and WrestleMania at Caesar’s Palace this was still cool to witness. According to a few description’s Mario and Donkey Kong started the match for their team, Donkey would attack Mario forcing Yoshi to get involved into the match that would have Pikachu jump in to attack and turn into a giant brawl within the minutes of the match so much so that everyone turned on each other even the ref which is usually a casualty in matches gets in the brawl and bites Pikachu’s ear saying it was “tasty as chicken”. The referee would eventually declare this match over waiving it as a draw, much to the dismay of the audience. If this was me, I would see Steve Austin barge into the ring and stone cold stunning everyone in the ring and even the ref and peacing out with a beer party.

So how did this search start? It began on August 22^nd of 2014 a NeoGAF message board user called “Rosti” revealed there was the original page of the event hosted by a website domain name “MediaOnDemand” however the video that contained the video was taken down so the hunt would subside. In 2020 which might as well be called the stay at home year, the “Supper Mario Broth” Twitter revealed a photo of the costumes of Pikachu, Mario, Donkey Kong and Yoshi that was also picked up by GameExplain’s Andre as the search for this illusive livestream would really take bloom. In 2021 the Lost Media Wiki kicked off the hunt for the lost Super Smash bros Slam Fest stream began though after it dwinded of interest: Ed Espinoza a Golin Harris employee who worked for Nintendo’s PR private message LSuperSonicQ that he worked on it then more would follow like Eric Mangol a former director of “MediaOnDemand” revealed that he may have a recording, while Jimmy Vaughan revealed that Nintendo decided if this was recorded or not which I would argue nowadays they must have offered to be recorded. Ed also discussed that the performers were from Cirque de Soleil as the ring announcer who read the script was to be cheesy as Hulk Hogan’s magnum opus: No Holds Barred. Minus Zeus. Thank goodness.

Now after all this information have we found it? Or has this been found? No. but with many screenshots of the event and many backstage behind the scenes photos I would argue that it’ll eventually be found no way Nintendo even if Japan’s government is very strict with their pieces of media I.E. sending copyright strikes to nuke YouTube channels like Suede or wrestling Youtubers even if under fair use? I won’t divulge into that now that such a monumental promotional campaign like this can’t stay hidden for long.

That covers the infamous lost livestream of Super Smash Bros SlamFest 99. For August I will divulge deep into the world of comics about a former Image Comics member and his lost comic. See you then.

Lost Media Wiki: https://lostmediawiki.com/Home

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/MauriceBear21

Lost Media Files: Top 15 Lost or Cancelled Videos Games (Vol. 6)

Published on June 27, 2022 by MauriceBear21Leave a comment

To close this month of June it’s time for the monthly tradition of looking at the top 15 lost or cancelled projects of video games that we never got to see or play for ourselves. Looking back on how this started from 2017 and now looking at video game history has always been fun to look up,

15. The Fast and the Furious (2003)

Starting off with a franchise that has been trucking ever since for almost two decades. You want to feel old, “Lilo and Stitch” and “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimerron” were released two decades ago and these are two movies that hold up even today. Genki and Universal Interactive were in production of a tie in video game of the first “Fast and the Furious” movie that was to be released in November of 2003.

Very little information of this supposed game has been revealed but details of this game was to be similar to other racing titles like “Tokyo Extreme Racer” and “Midnight Club 2”. The gameplay was to show create a reputation in game and customize vehicles and street race with other licensed vehicles. Now why this game got cancelled? Some within the company felt disappointed that “Need for Speed Underground” released I the same year unironically stole its thunder and blew expectations. Ouch, to be outwitted by a game that would do well and build a franchise better then this? That is a fast and furious feeling.

14. Die Hard

A Die Hard video game sounds cool to be honest who wouldn’t want to play it.

Two lost builds of this attempt we’ll be looking at. First is the lost build to the sequel of Die Hard 2 planned to be released on the Sega Master system as this game followed along the same plot to the film. This SEGA port was first shown in 1991 by a UK magazine called “SEGA pro” and aimed for a release a month later, but then it would echo the same thing going towards July of 1992 where it was postponed meaning the project was cancelled with SEGA growing dissatisfied about the project.

They would try again with a trilogy of Die Hard games from the first and the third installment to which I have seen and to be honest it was good but this was point where the wheels fell off with the fourth and fifth installments. A magazine called “Mean Machines Sega” announced a port releasing on the SEGA systems however much of these claims had little evidence of a release outside of the latter one having screenshots of a build, and this was where SEGA was set to release the SEGA Saturn so that also contributed to the end of this project.

13. City of the Dead (2006)

I’ve only seen “Dawn of the Dead” and maybe the homage “Shawn of the Dead” if you want to make it a stretch?

This cancelled video game was set to be released on the PlayStation 2, XBOX 360 and PC as they were developed by Kuju Entertainment and published by Hip Interactive. Now these games are intriguing to play given that its George A. Romero’s film franchise being a hit for horror guru’s. The plot for “City of the Dead” was to take place on an island called “Ningun Futuro” which translate to Spanish as “No Future”. Fitting name.

In 2005 on E3 a one-minute trailer was released, and it was revealed that Tom Savini famous make-up artist and actor was involved which sounds very promising given the reputation of Tom, however the game was cancelled due to lack of funding and Hit Interactive was super tight on the budget which is a shame that this never seen the light because I feel like it could’ve served to expand on the franchise.

12. WWE SmackDown vs. RAW online

It’s been like what five years since something video game related appeared on this list.

“WWE SmackDown vs. RAW Online” or “WWE Online” was a cancelled PC free to play pro wrestling video game developed by Vertigo Games and published by THQ for Windows. Which is odd then to find out then nowadays it’s for regular consoles. Now why this game about was to seek the South Korean markets as many of the features from the SmackDown vs RAW franchise would be on it like create a wrestler, finisher, movesets and such that includes 3D paint and Microtransactions. I’m sure that won’t become an issue later down the line.

However on February 2011 the game would be cancelled as TGQ was re-evaluating its strategy to release western games on a Asia market, as a result to this cancellation THQ would lose 9.9 million dollars and years later would shut down. No builds of WWE Online was not released nor shown to the public.

11. BattleBots (2003)

Now this takes Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em robots to a whole new level.

Battlebots was set to be released as a tie-in to the TV show which features robots battling each other like that Simpsons episode they parodied on that one episode. It was planned to be released on GameCube and PlayStation 2 in November of 2002 and the previously mentioned THQ was their developers and publishers as they also planned a future XBOX and PC release of the game. Battlebots was showcased on E3 of 2002 a playable demo of five robots with a single arena. As the actual game would feature many different robots and customizations to choose from which sounds very exciting.

Now why this game would be eventually cancelled was because Comedy Central chose to not renew their contract for another season not to mention bugs and issues that plagued development that pushed the release date and eventually to cancellation. Now would I play a game like this? Oh I would, however there is some good news to follow-up Twitch streamer GatorBox uploaded gameplay footage to BattleBots last year of 2021 and in this year of 2022 the prototype was uploaded to Internet Archive which I say good show, but the PS2 portions of the game remains lost.

10. Crash Village

one of the surviving screenshots of “Crash Village”

Who’s heard of Club Penguin, now meets its well clone of that.

Crash Village was similar to that of Club Penguin on the Crash Bandicoot website in 2007 as this was to promote “Crash of the Titans” and “Crash: Mind over Mutant”. Players would create their own characters and walk around, emote and chat by text and emotes. Boy how far we have come with sites like Facebook or Twitter.

The game also offered activities like throwing fruit or rock, paper, scissors. Sorry but Hunter x Hunter did it a lot better. In 2011 the servers shut down permanently and the game is considered lost including its minigames that was part of the service. The only existence of “Crash Village” is screenshots.

9. Galaxian Heroes (2015)

This unreleased game was under development by Project Aces and Bandai Namco. This video game from a 2015 tweet by Kazutoki Kono who was the producer of the “Ace Combat” franchise as the game was going to feature a similar game play feature and engine to the Ace Combat games. However this game has fallen under the cracks if you will and it being super secretive and any info has been scarce. Which some to speculate the game might not exist. The only piece of evidence is a music track released on Youtube but that is what we know of the project right now.

8. Fright Night

The five Action MAX box arts including “Fright Night”

Now hands up who has heard of action Max VHS game systems? If you’re the percentage that doesn’t know about it, then I’m with you because it was the first I have heard.

The Action Max was a game console developed by California-based company called Toy of Wonders in 1987 and in this time video game developers wanted full-motion video integrated in games so their main focus was VCR’s as it was in every home in the world. Which is hilarious or sad given how much home media has evolved.

They planned five releases for this innovative project which was “Blue Thunder”, “Hydrosub 2021” so where was our “SeaLab” and “Hydrosub 2021” guys? “Sonic Fury”, “Ambush Alley” and “The Rescue of Pops Ghostly”. Now why this is lost is because of the Stock Market Crash of 1987 in October which literally rocked the world that is huge of its own merit for a research topic but in short this market crash affected World of Wonders and forced them to shut down in 1990 and the only pieces of evidence was box art.

7. Knights in Armor

You know what I have never covered before? Arcade Titles more unless I did before and forgot I must say: ‘I’m sorry’.

“Knights in Armor” was an arcade game developed by Project Support Engineering “PSE” as the gameplay has two knights engaging in combat which is a two-player game and that is the just of it. Remember this are arcade games before home consoles would explode sometime later.

The arcade cabinet was considered lost, but the hardware that it ran on was too tough to emulate for ROM versions, but the graphics from this title was stored inside a ROM chip that can be online however none of this have been revealed or uploaded.

6. Left 4 Dead 2 “Cabin in the Woods” DLC

Valve the company that can’t create a video game that can’t count past three helped developed the 2008 sequel to the game which is four random settings with four survivors heading into escape points while in Left 4 Dead 2 has a interlocking storyline of four new survivors. So, what can they do for an added DLC: How about a tie-in to the 2012 Cabin in the Woods film?

I’m sure talking a lot of this entry of film adaptations to video games but this will be the last one I promise. “The Cabin in the Woods was a 2011 film from Josh Whedon. Josh and Drew Goddard approached Valve to create a tie-in game to promote the movie. In a Reddit AMA players would step inside the cabin, walk around and fight monsters.

So, let’s get into why this never came to be: originally was to be out in 2010 but MGM pulled it forward to 2011 a year later, then would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy however Lionsgate would pick up the film rights and release the movie where it was praised, and I liked this movie however this cancelled the movie tie-in game.

5. Microsoft Train Simulator 2

One of the screenshots of Microsoft Train Simulator

If you heard of hit “Microsoft Flight Simulator” here’s an obscure game you never heard.

“Microsoft Train Silumator 2” was a planned sequel to “Microsoft Train Simulator” as it was developed by Kuju Entertainment and released for their defunct “Games for Windows” service, and it operates as much as Flight Simulator does though it would not go anywhere for a first attempt.

Aces Studios took over for the rights from Kuju to focus on a revival attempt for the sequel. In August of 2007 Mircrosoft revealed the Train Simulator game in Gamescon at Germany and it looked promising however Aces Studios would close in 2008 and the game was cancelled. Only footage exists from this game is a YouTube video.

4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold

No I’m not going to talk about the trial here, wait for the year end review. Your going to hear a very, very, unpopular opinion about it. Other than that, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Good” was a arcade game released within DisneyQuest as it was prominent from 2000 to 2017, as this interactive attraction took inspirations from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Walt Disney World as it replaced a Hercules interactive game that I talked about years ago.

To make a long story short Disney attempted to expand their parks so they created a regional park called DisneyQuest which was a five story 100,000 square building that opened in Florida in 1998 and in 1999 in Chicago. However the Chicago location would close in 2001 and the Florida one would close in 2017 because it was proving to be unpopular so it was replaced by a NBA interactive game called “NBA Experience” opening in 2019 and still does to this day.

As for the game it was interactive and had seven rooms where guests would fire cannons and one would take the helm of the Jolly Roger, personally I’d had more fun playing Assassins Creed: Black Flag than this but its me. As it would tour an island which would become a burning volcano. Shame this isn’t on VR because this would be fun to do on something like the Occulus Rift. The only piece of evidence to this was a YouTube video here and that is it.

3. Treasure Bear

Let this one be a tale of the dangers of crowd funding games.

Treasure Bear was a retro puzzle platform aiming for a PC release as its plot was about to be a Pirate Bear with a sentient chest looking for gold. Canadian developers Bear and Boar were working on the game and set this for Kickstarter that started in November of 2013 as it was to be a standard puzzle platformer that I’m glad the genre of puzzle solving hasn’t been lost.

However, let’s talk about how this game getting cancelled and why this happened it’s Kickstarter was released during the holiday season. Not a very smart move which would not pay of as well as they thought and with a underwhelming crowd backer goal the game was cancelled. Which is a shame but also a danger when crowd backing rarely pays off well. Only two playable demos exist from this game is known to exist however none were released on the internet.

2. TNA IMPACT! 2

A sequel to one of the greatest video games about TNA IMPACT! I’m so excited. Oh wait no just mind boggled on how it had a sequel planned. Also remember Suicide being a thing for a hot moment on IMPACT? I remember.

After the success of the 2008 IMPACT Wrestling game from Midway they would announce a sequel that was to be released in 2009 while the original was successful it had mixed results with players and seeing those graphics it felt like a hand me down version of WWF No Mercy. Samoa Joe in a ESPN interview said the game was to improve from the first as he said mo-cap and brainstorming sessions have been in the works to showcase. However there would be trouble afront.

Now it was no secret Midway was bleeding money fast and even though TNA IMPACT! was successful it would be the last thing Midway would make as in February of 2009 they would unfortunately close doors as it had a serious debt of 280 million dollars. Even though Warner Bros offered a bid to make TNA games, South Peak Games would step in to buy the rights but not what they wanted more like DS titles and for IMPACT 2 the games was cancelled.

1. Tomb Raider

To close out this entry is two Tomb Raider games that never saw the light.

Tomb Raider Anniversary was a game hoping to rebound the franchise after the disastrous release of “Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness” which didn’t do so well, this was just a remake of the first game as it aimed to release on the PlayStation Portable Eidos cancelled the project while 60% was completed of the finished game. Though why it was not released it was probably due to Core their design company was sold to another group. The only existence on this game was a screenshot of a menu title and a trailer.

Lastly is “Tomb Raider: Apocalypse” was a 2D adventure game developed by Mind’s Eye Interactive for something called the Sky Gamestar which was like a interactive service for TV’s for workable internet. These episodic interactive games would focus on Lara Craft’s attempt to steal the Eye of Osiris which would take her journey to Egypt given the idea time place and it would conclude with her saving the world.

Now how this works as a different take then the Lara Croft of console games but more of the Sky TV remote to operate running, turning you know the basics. The service would go towards in January 31^st of 2015, so do we blame Roman Reigns in this one too? Which means every service that operated would follow alongside it unless a company has it saved this one maybe lost to time.

And that is it for this entry to the Lost Media Files for this month, for the Sixth anniversary of this subject and it is amazing how I have attempted to keep up with this within the years and during a pandemic nonetheless but I would just have to say thank you as for what it is this will be about the illusive lost tie-in to Smash Bros that has remained illusive: its the Super Smash Bros Slamfest 1999 event. So tune in on Canada Day for this piece of lost media.

Lost Media Wiki: https://lostmediawiki.com/Home

My Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/MaurirceBear21

Top 10 Scariest Fallout creatures

Published on October 27, 2021 by MauriceBear21Leave a comment

Fallout stumbled out of the hole they dug themselves out from the disastrous release of Fallout 76 to make it at least a tolerable game, but that’s not what this is about I am going to run down the beasts of the Fallout franchise the creatures that prowl the wastelands with no fear or no guff taken but here are the ground rules: no robots which is a shame the Assaultrons are my favorite from Fallout 4, no humans or Super Mutants not even Frank Horrigan but I will give some honorable mentions to some cut creatures never making it into the final release like the Ghoul Whale from Fallout 4 and Gojira yes there is a Fire Gecko called Gojira that was cut and for a BIG reason why: now let’s run down the list of the Top 10 Fallout creatures for the fourth week of Scare Your Pants Off V

10. Venomous Angler

In Far Harbor lies an underwater creature that is menacing as they are devious your just here to pick some lure weeds then what pops out is an Angler no problem, but at certain point when your above level 51 you will encounter the Venomous Angler oh joy, these buggers are the strongest Anglers with a ridiculous heath can be a nuisance if you’re not prepared for a fight so If you have some laser weapons or your friendly Assaultron like I bring over to clean the way you may need some running distance to duck them, but compared to the rest of the monsters in this foggy desolate land they are just the appetizer.

9. Dusky Yao Guai

The Yao Guai’s are mutated bears that were named after Chinese prisoners of war, and they are as deadly as they look normally, they can be no problem to handle but one is going to put them to shame like a Hulk Hogan push. Meet the Dusky Yao Guai, it can be found at Level 76 and levels with the player so no matter what you do your stuck with this behemoth and can kill you in a few swipes if you are unprepared for this fight.

8. Feral Ghoul Reaver

Ghouls are what happens when a human becomes radiated some will maintain their human identities and talk potentially to become allies, but to feral ghouls they can become a nuisance as one of them towers above all: the Feral Ghoul Reaver in Fallout 3 is a Ghoul is like the Terminator of all Ghouls and that is terrifying.

When these enemies attack, they pack a punch giving you a good amount of radiation damage that your stimpak maybe give you a sting and they can chuck radiation grenades at you and if your clever in trying to sneak away from them these guys have laser eye vision because they can spot you even if you are using a Stealth Boy or Stealth Armor fantastic…

7. Albino Hermit Crab

Hermit Crabs look adorably cute don’t they? Well Fallout’s New Harbor DLC has you covered; Hermit Crab’s here are large and can be found in four locations on the map one in Briney’s Bait and Tackle, west of the Oceanarium, north of the Waves Crest Orphanage and north of Eden Meadow’s Cinema but on rare occasions you will be given a quest called “Deadliest Catch” to join the Far Harbor citizens to find a very rare Hermit Crab and a lot of the times is an Albino version. The creature upon being attacked will release smaller Hermit Crabs to nip at your ankles. Makes you glad we have the cuter versions and not these behemoths.

6. Albino Radscorpion

Some of these entrees were from Fallout 4, don’t worry this will break the mold.

Radscorpions can range from small to giant, but these will make you flee in terror: the Albino Radscorpion from Fallout 3 sounds like a cruel trick played by Bethesda, these scorpions can one shot anything even a Super Mutant Behemoth into oblivion so these nasties are nothing to mess with, also when they are low in power at some times they gain their health back from the shining light of the sun’s rays also they appear in packs, fantastic I’m running the other way.

5. Cazadors

The true pain of Fallout: New Vegas Cazadors alone are scary but what make these flying furies a nuisance is when they attack, they will hit you with a devastating poison effect that if you don’t got any antidote on the side, Cazadors will drop you as fast as when you enter their territory they have been the bane of my nightmares whenever I play Fallout New Vegas. These things even attack when you are not expecting it by surprise. Ugh!!

4. Wendigo Colossus

In Fallout 76 lies the big bad boss that almost reigns if it wasn’t behind the Scorchbeast Queen: the Wendigo Colossus. A giant monstrosity that is the definition of the bigger they are the tougher they fall. Fallout 76 has a collection of beasties that could guarantee its future entrée from the Grafton Monster all the way to the Sheepsquatch but keeping it short, if you want to fight the Colossus you better bring the pain because it has an effect of a player fleeing whenever it attacks not to mention normal Wendigo’s spawn to attack players to protect their big bad.

3. Legendary Bloatfly

What you think a bloatfly is going to scare me? Hah no way, oh is that a legendary bloatfly? Yeah, I’m outtie 5000. Bloatflies aren’t really that tough but this one is what they say: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

The Legendary Bloatfly can be found at the Old World DLC from Fallout: New Vegas hidden inside a cave where this creature calls home, and the only way you have to defeat it is by shooting by a safe distance or by picking its wings and beating it to death but watch out, they tend to blow up but inside this thing contains 50 pieces of Bloatfly meat and a lot of chems for you junkies, are you willing to take the chance?

2. Mythic Deathclaw

Deathclaws are a mainstay to the Fallout franchise, these monsters are Jackson Chameleon that was once used to being weapons of war by the Enclave but broken free to scavenge the wastelands, now normally one or two can be terrifying to handle but this one given the right timing can ruin your day: introducing the Mythic Deathclaw.

This monster among Deathclaws is built like a tank with no fear like Goldberg during his early WCW run and if your character hits level 91 this monster will appear, as it is the strong enough to one shot you so much so that if your player hits level 76 that Deathclaw may spawn anyway for a early scare so I brace for a fight or hide.

1. Enraged Fog Crawler

And here it is the king of all creatures: Fog Crawlers are mutated shrimp that looks like something that got dipped in some Forced Evolutionary Virus but these things mutated to become the hunters in the fog but there is a Fog Crawler that is anything but: meet the Enraged Fog Crawler.

This creature is packing some real juice as it has a damage resistance of 4000, a base health of 2200 and not even using the Mysterious Stranger can help you out making it the strongest creature in Far Harbor and it will appear if your player hits level 75 but in my playthrough I remember it appearing when I was level 61 which was a surprise I’d say bring some major laser weaons because this creature would look at normal bullets and keep on coming.

And that is the top 10 Scariest Fallout creatures for this Sunday to close this month off is going to be the top 10 Scariest Wrestlers in Wrestling what a way to finish this list is something wrestling related. Stay tuned.

Follow me on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/MauriceBear21

Lost Media Files: Top 15 Lost/Cancelled video games (part 5)

Published on June 14, 2021 by MauriceBear21Leave a comment

E3 rolling around again and here we are with the Lost Media Files right on track, here we cover lost video games, movies, TV shows, books, art whatever and here we are with more cancelled and lost video games that remains unreleased to this day and also some bonus entries that arisen of their recent status so here are in no particular order.

15. Ghost ‘N Goblins 64

This unreleased title was originally planned to be on the Nintendo 64 consoles as Capcom was their developer as in 1996, they had a list of titles as one of them was Ghost ‘N Goblins 64. Now to speculate that this game was to be a future 3D title because that would make sense given how a lot of titles would turn out to become. Neil West, an editor for Next Generation Magazine claims that this title was in the development stages as Super Mario 64 being such a success it served to be an influence however since then the game was unreleased and quietly cancelled, maybe it was difficult for them how to replicate their game into 3D as it proved to be much tough then it easily sound.

14. 64 Wars

A screenshot of the 64 Wars from a magazine

. Sounds like someone from Nintendo likes Star Wars huh for this title?

64 Wars was a RPG 2D game future planned release of the Nintendo 64 to interconnect to another related game called “Game Boy Wars 2”, the game was featured on Spaceworld 1999 and released in January of the same year, as it would feature 3D battles and how it would work alongside the Game Boy was Transfer Packs. So in speculation it would’ve been a test as a DLC add-on as modern games would have today. Even though we have screenshots of this game and footage the game was cancelled, and the build has been lost ever since.

My guess here that this game must’ve work for the Nintendo 64 DD add-on feature given it was to be interconnect to another game but its highly unlikely it works like that also I never had any of those Transfer Packs.

13. Cel Damage 2

This cancelled sequel to the classic video game was planned to be released in 2003 on the Nintendo GameCube but also PlayStation2 and XBOX. The plot was the returning characters of the game with redesigns and new maps like a Volcano and a laboratory in the future. Also in addition the game was to feature hand to hand combat so it would probably be a fighting game then a racer. So, with this much knowledge of this game how come Cel Damage 2 was cancelled?

That is a mystery, some say that EA cancelled it due to the poor sales of the original Cel Damage, or with Mario Kart becoming popular the game would’ve been overshadowed. After Psuedo the developer for Cel Damage 2 was closed, Ted Kim would post concept art on his DeviantART page of the cancelled sequel.

One of the concept maps of the Laboratory level

12. Crazy Frog Collectible Faces

Does anyone remember this thing unleased into the world in 2003? I do…

Crazy Frog like every internet fad blew up in popularity as a ringtone ad for European phone provider Jamba and then later Jamestar for North America to become a phenomenon with a album release in 2005. You’d be surprised to also know that this thing also had a future video game being planned, their first was “Crazy Frog Collectibles Art School” for the Nintendo DS. A sequel was long planned to be made.

The developer was Cypron Studios and published by Mercury Games. The game’s description was to be a puzzle game that supports multiplayer however very little info of this game was ever been known nor ever been released at all. A Discord user by the name “SpongeBot678” revealed that Mercury Games went bankrupt during development and their people was never paid. However for whatever reason Crazy Frog reemerged in 2020 to announce a future new album in the works. Sure why not in that year…

11. Desert Island 64

This cancelled video game was developed by Imagineer and aimed to be released on the Nintendo N64 add on the Disk Drive under the title “Super Real World”. The plot was controlling as lone character to survive on a desert island to create a new civilization and aimed to take advantage of the features on the add-on.

So why was this cancelled if this game was so grand in the making? Imagineer faced financial problems was forced to cancel this game and another title in development which was Quest 64 II. The only existence of this game was screenshots of the original demo that was shown in Spaceworld 96 from a magazine in Germany.

10. Doom

You’d be surprised that this game has had some lost titles, first Doom had four parts with eight levels as John Romero revealed that there was a fifth episode within the original game called “E5M1” but for unknown reason was scrapped the piece of info is this screenshot.

Next is “Doom Absolution” which was for the Nintendo 64 after the success release of Doom 64, as the aim here was to be multiplayer based and hope to compete with Goldeneye 007 but this game was cancelled and then shifted focus to Quake 64, very little info of this game anywhere has been shown at all.

Lastly its Doom 4 as the game planned to be release on the PlayStation 3, XBOX 360 and PC where it was announced during Quake Con 2007, then a year later in 2008 it began in earnest however in 2009 the game was very absent even though a mention that it would be shown in 2010. Also ID was working on RAGE when it was finally released it felt very Borderlands-ish and the reception wasn’t very good. In 2012 screenshots was leaked about Doom 4 as it was to be like Call of Duty or Battlefield. Maybe not a bright idea to be like your competitors. The game was eventually cancelled in 2014 then shifted to the reboot of the series in 2016. As a few things we don’t have of Doom 4 is the alpha builds of the game.

9. Dragon Ball Z

Before I start with this entry can I say that the Dragon Ball games just feels like they are re-hashing the main show like introduction of Vegeta and Frieza rather than doing something original?

Dragon Ball Z I spoke about lost anime dubs before but that’s not the only ones that was lost they had a couple lost video games: one is an English version of a Dragon Ball game meant to be released on the Super Nintendo called Dragon Ball Z Super Butouden 2 as the game’s plot focused on the Cell saga of Kai which is where Cell is formed to cause havoc and made a tournament for the one person to defeat him. Like I said before it feels like the Dragon Ball games is replaying the old anime arcs rather do something different. Nothing from this game has been shown but scans of a Mexican Nintendo magazine.

“One of the Mexican screenshots with Super Butouden 2”

The other game cancelled is a mobile based game called “Dragon Ball Z Bucchigiri Match” which was launched in 2018 but shut down in the year that was 2020. This game from the looks of it was another fighting game pitting the best Dragon Ball Z characters. Why this shut down is the game kept losing money and interest which wouldn’t surprise me at all and the only thing available of its existence is gameplay videos.

8. Guitar Hero 7

Would it be a surprised I never got into Guitar Hero even though I had fun?

Guitar Hero is a rhythm-based game that was popular at its time to sing and play musical instruments that was often sold separately for each game purchased because I remember seeing that in Walmart and EB Game stores at the height of its popularity. Activision the publisher of the franchise cancelled the series including this sequel of the video game because “it has gotten stale and no innovations” I wonder what is there take in the Call of Duty franchise itself rather Guitar Hero?

According to a Kotaku article notable songs were being planned to be added in Guitar Hero 7 like Metallica’s “Turn the Page: or “I Believe in a thing I called Love” by the Darkness. It was until in 2015 that Activision released a reboot to Guitar Hero called “Guitar Hero Live”. The only existence of Guitar Hero 7 is this screenshot.

7. Inkawar

Now this is another game that should’ve been an innovator.

Inkawar was a game made by Peruvian developer Luis Grimaldo which was made in 2007 and from the looks of it it appears to be a flash game of sorts. The game previously was shown in 2005 for the Imagine Cup which is an international Student Developer Competition for he won. The site that allowed his game including another which is called “Inca Empire” shut down which is a shame that this game looks like it could be a big innovator and the only existence of this flash game is videos online I think personally we need newer countries to test video games as its become the second important medium behind filmmaking to expand and experiment, so go for it newer countries.

6. Nuclear Sub Command

One of the surviving ads of Nuclear Sub Command

This cancelled video game was being made for the Commodore 64 as developer VMC Software aimed to have a nuclear post war game simulator so think a video game version of Battleship but underwater. The game was being sold to disks but other than that nothing else has come from this title nor any screenshots or videos about it online. Given that it’s the Commodore 64 being unpopular given that Nintendo and SEGA were dominating the console wars it could also be that.

5. Sgt. Saunders’ Combat!

Super Famicon cover of this cancelled title

I thought this was Sgt. Slaughter for a minute but that would be cool huh?

This cancelled video game is a Japan-exclusive title for the Famicon based of the American TV show of the same name and developed by Play Avenue and Published by ASCII Entertainment and the previously mentioned Activision planned to bring it to North America for the Super Nintendo however this game was cancelled before talks ever started. The only existence of this game is a ROM that was sold on EBAY in 2004 but the ROM was never released.

4. Spider-Man 4

Yes, this almost happened and became a reality. After the release od Spider-Man 3 featuring the Sandman and the polarizing appearance of Topher Grace as Eddie Brock, Sam Raimi attempted to have a Spider-Man 4 release as the sequel plans were to have the Vulture played by John Malkovich which would be a step up to Topher easily, but also have Curt Connors finally turn into the Lizard and the debut of Felicia Hardy or the Black Cat played by Anne Hatheway. Who knew DC had her eyes to play another feline anti-hero.

Tobey McGuire was penciled in to play Peter Parker and Spider-Man but issues between Sony and Sam Raimi continued as in January of 2010 the movie was cancelled. Its more likely this game would’ve followed the same idea but with a open world feature. The game was also cancelled but elements were made into Prototype 2. Even though the Wii versions were found as on December of 2019 with screenshots the other build ports are still lost to this day. Also how long will Felicia Hardy and Black Cat be in the MCU? You know it’s a matter of time for it right?

3. Bean Ball Benny

Bean Ball Benny advertisement from a magazine

This cancelled title was aimed to be released on the SEGA Genesis as they were developed by Microsmiths and published by Nuvision Entertainment, your mission is to play Benny and stop crooks by bopping crooks of the criminal underworld. Nuvision would shut down leaving this game to eventual cancellation including two other titles they were working on which was The Swamp Thing and Angels Safety Patrol. However, in 2010 a build of the game was uploaded to YouTube with a found prototype of the game but little else was shown.

2. Split/Second 2

Split/Second I remember playing an enjoyed since I love the Burnout franchise.

Split/Second 2 was the sequel of developer Black Rock studios of the original game and what made this game famous as it used these mechanics called Power Play and Route Changer like if something happened to a certain landscape the course would change and since it sold well a sequel was planned. But like everything else it got cancelled on December of 2010 when new management rolled in as 100 people were laid off as 40 remained and Black Rock would shut down in 2011. Huh a decade ago, ouch?

Even though there was no builds existing as of this writing however a video of gameplay for Split Second 2 by BigBit Ltd. But those videos would be taken down and the only existence of this game was screenshots.

One of the known artwork of Split/Second 2 of a track

1. Clayfighter: Clay of Putty

And now to the game that really intrigues me.

Clayfighters was a game made by Interplay the originators of Fallout tobe playable on the Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64, as this game was very ambitious as mostly revolve around actual clay fighters which took some ingenious time to build and put into the game. Clayfighters was a success until they pushed for another entry which was rushed and it REALLY shows when its literally fighting with yourself. Also how come the Snowman looks like the one from Donkey Kong Country 3? Just sayin’.

So this sequel game was to have a story, training, and multiplayer modes but also Clay-talities which is Mortal Kombat fatalities but deaths with Clay. Notable characters like Bad Mr. Frosty, Earthworm Jim yes they had him in this game and the N64 title and classic others fighters. Would Michael Buffer be in it? Probably. Interplay aimed for a Nintendo DSi and Wii but it was cancelled in 2011 and the only existence of this game was scrennshots which sucks but more video games with clay would be introduced so it didn’t go to waste as a concept look at Yoshi’s Wooly World you have to think they used a ball of yarn for it right?

One of the surviving Screenshots for Clay of Putty

And that is this edition of the Lost Media files and will there be a part 6? Oh yeah I’m not leaving this out especially if Beyond Good and Evil 2 might be cancelled or currently in production hell so we’ll see, so for the fifth anniversary of this series which is July I’m going to leave it as a surprise for you to know it could be anything so I let you sizzle on what subject it could be.

Follow me on Twitter: https://www.Twitter.com/MauriceBear21

Lost Media Month: Top 15 Lost or Cancelled Video Games (Part 4)

Published on July 27, 2020 by MauriceBear21Leave a comment

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

One of the early screenshots of the in developed game.

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 18^th, 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 31^st, 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

image of the in-game select screen

“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

One of the early screenshots from “Coolskin” from a magazine

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

Early concept art of a pirate level of Diddy Kong’s 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

One of the revealed screenshots released by user “a_a_bm from twitter for “Legend of the Magical Kingdom”

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

One of the surviving images of 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

A screenshot from Loya before the site was deleted

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)

Title screen of the tech demo involving Mii’s

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.

Gameplay footage of the tech demo with Mii’s (c) from GameExplain

5. Videoway Games

Screenshot of Burgertime from a Videotron build

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

title screen of The Irate Gamer Video Game

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…

one of the surviving images of gameplay for The Irate Gamer

3. “The First Erotic Hardcore Gamer in the World”

Comparison of Armaeth and Machot which likely could’ve been the same thing

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

Bill Heinemann (centre) holding a printout of a source code for the orignal build of Oregon with Dan Rawitsch (left) and Paul Dillenberger (right)

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?

Original Oregon gameplay. (c) of vghchannel of YouTube

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 3^rd 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

Top 10 Scary levels in non-horror games

Published on October 28, 2019October 28, 2019 by MauriceBear21Leave a comment

Top 10 scary levels in non-horror games.jpg

Part 3 of our month long “Scare Your Pants Off” entries so far, I have done Lost Episode Creepypastas and the top 8 Halloween animated episodes, now for this time it’s the top 10 scary levels in non-horror games for this top ten the criteria to fit is a certain level in video games to have a level that is suddenly scary in non-horror games so for this list to count were excluding one-off titles like Five Nights or Slender: the Arrival and some boss levels will count. Other than that, let’s get on with the countdown.

10. Mad Monster Mansion – Banjo Kazooie

Starting off this entry is one of Rare’s famous best titles Banjo-Kazooie. What has happened to you man, you started so well, and you faltered, do not get me started with Nuts and Bolts.

Banjo-Kazooie is one of the best visual games and often get compared to Donkey Kong 64 despite both games were under development but both games were great. In the pursuit to finding your sister Tootie captured by Gruntilda thanks Banjo not even Seto Kaiba is that heartless, you arrive in Mad Monster Mansion a level with a clever title named after the Rankin-Bass film “Mad Monster Party” released in 1967, your task is to ground pound enemies and collect ‘em all the jiggies and solve puzzles. But what makes it scary is the music setting making the mansion look haunting and menacing and even better two stop and swap eggs are here, but do they work? Wooooooo! Not bad Grant Kirkhope, let’s hope that Yooka-Laylee get far as a franchise.

9. Those! – Fallout 3

Two Fallout entries on this list and I’ll leave out a certain controversy, but this is the first part.

The mission is called “Those” which is the parody of the movie “Them” which is a movie about giant mutated ants attacking a city, this one is something similar but with a twist: fire breathing ants and it begins where a kid named Bryan runs to meet the lone wanderer near the Super Duper Mart and ask for help in a place called Grayditch a small town abandoned from the fire ants, as he is the lone resident he’ll offer some help if you pass a speech check to look for a dumpster for some random loot. He only requests to find his father but spoiler alert even though its not technically a spoiler his dad is dead in one of the homes. After killing the ants above ground head into the underground railroad tunnel nearby and yes more are underneath but also there is a scientist living underground and the sole reason why the ants have fire breathing abilities and he’ll give you an option to kill the fire ant guards which are five and you head deeper underground you see a giant Ant Queen. Yep in all of Fallout 3 this is the scariest encounter. But something else later will pop up, side note I have seen the Ant Queen glitch through the walls underneath and made my travels scarier like a pop-up jump scare, the rewards are worth it though.

8. Death Chamber – Sonic Adventure 2

I ain’t scared of no ghosts, these ones though may be a problem.
Playing as Knuckles in the Death Chamber level of Sonic Adventure 2 you must clear way some Boos, yes there are boos except the ones you are familiar from Mario which I am surprised SEGA got away with but these ones have the seriously scary looking eyes, which looks like they had an acid trip. Upon after clearing them out you think you are done however; you haven’t seen the big bad. King Boom Boo. He can be seen previously in Pumpkin Hill however this is where he truly haunts and roams for anyone unlucky to approach. Now it’s a trace for survival to try conquering this ghastly ghostly ghoul, are you able to defeat him? Also, I am not going to stop with the Halloween puns.

7. The Oracle – Halo 2

In space no one can here you scream. What a fitting line.
During Halo 2 the Arbiter is forced to deal with rebels in a gas mine, after disposing said group our side main character encounters something else, they encounter the flood. Now in Halo 2 the Flood is basically parasites that can take many forms from terrifying zombies to walking pod carriers that bursts out little parasites to invest a dead body and when one lives long enough it becomes a self-aware being called the Gravemind. In this level it’s a chase to find the rouge traitor in the mists of the Arbiter’s ranks and fight of the hoard. Who here has died and get jump-scared when you see those walking pod-carriers? I have, still gives me the creeps and the shrieks years later even playing the anniversary edition of Halo. Only the good three that also includes ODST and Halo: Reach Bungie’s swan song 4 is ehhh, let’s just say that after 4 was the downtrend of Halo personally.

6. Creepy Castle – Donkey Kong 64

Fitting title ain’t it?
Donkey Kong 64 is an underrated N64 title, it has many fantastic designs in levels, characters, and the music is awesome. However, before facing off with King K. Rool you arrive at Creepy Castle which is a tower surrounded up in the sky and the only way back is down. In this level are enemies like Books who oddly resemble Cheato from Banjo-Kazooie, Ghost kritters, and of course King Cutout which is what you thought it was: a cutout version of King K. Rool. At first him popping out from one side to another with the sounds of someone having way too much fun and I’ll admit it sounds a bit too silly, but I’ll forgive it for being hilarious. Now are you finally prepared to face the big man? By the way the music for Creepy Castle was originally for Banjo in Prickly Pear Isle a level cut from Banjo. Reuse and recycle, not bad.

5. Quarry Junction – Fallout New Vegas

Las Vegas is a nice place just to chill out, gamble, drink and enjoy the night for all to content and on the outside you have raiders, wannabe Romans in the form of the Legion, Super Mutants and of course one of the infamous locations in game: Quarry Junction. Now a few missions happen here one of them is to retrieve eggs here for Red Lucy another is assist a man named Chomps Lewis in clear out of some unwelcomed visitors in the quarry, what is the problem? The entire area is infested of Deathclaws.
Deathclaws are one of Fallout’s stable and most scary creatures in game, mutated from the harmless Jackson’s Chameleon’s these fierce predators are a pain to any player and will kill ANYONE even each other in random encounters in Fallout 4, in this location there are swarms of Deathclaws including an Deathclaw Alpha Male and Mother with a litter of young, if you kill them and the mother is alive: well you better pray the mother doesn’t find you. Also try it on level 1: heh good luck. To add one time I was playing this in Fallout New Vegas I was somehow sent flying into the air and fall near to a scaffolding and then killed. Might have been a mother, they say that “hell have no fury like a mother’s scorned”. Boy is that fitting. At least its better than dealing with Cazadors, their both scary and annoying enemies.

4. The Spooky Chapter – Conker’s Bad Fur Day

Don’t you hate it when you have to visit your uncle and some villagers barge in? How rude.
Conker’s Bad Fur Day is far from the normal kids’ game considering its very raunchy and adult like content however it’s still awesome and it’s not like anyone at least tried to play it during the N64 days. In this chapter Conker visits his great uncle Count Batula, and he is hungry so when a horde of angry villagers arrive to interrupt the count turns Conker into a bat to abduct and carry every villager for the count to grind them in a grinder and eat their blood. However he gets fat and falls into a grinder on the ground and is murdered instantly, you think it’s the end of the story but no, out comes from the grave is zombies and all you have to do is do the “Shaun of the Dead” approach, bash them in the head. That’ll teach ‘em Conker is for kids.

3. King Boo’s Castle – Super Mario 64

You know why this is on the entry.

In this level you’re on the continuous quest of saving Peach from Bowser and you arrive in the castle haunted by Boos now this is the normal Boos then Sonic’s acid trippy cousins but more popular than them, sorry guys. Anyway, upon reaching this level the music goes quiet and upon reaching one of the rooms before the never-ending stairway there is a Piano sounds normal right? Getting closer the piano then moves sentient and chases you and you can’t kill this thing. Is it worth it to reach for a blue coin hiding behind it? Not to mention other enemies like flying eyeballs and a merry-go-round of death. Originally it was possible to kill this guy, maybe it was a April Fools joke. Kinda like Luigi.

2. Lavender Town – Pokemon

Yeah something bounced this from number 1 but still memorable.
Lavender Town like I stated in the Halloween episode entry is one of gaming’s most infamous levels with the creepy music playing in the background, possessed people walking about and a haunted tower awaits your visit. Now this is the sight infamous of a mysterious ghost hand on your shoulder and of course the ghost of a Marowak that was killed defending its Cubone from Team Rocket but also holds the Sylph Scope, that was also featured during an episode of Pokemon: Origins. Originally it was also to feature a different boss, the Buried Alive boss defeat him will crash your game, lose he’ll drag your soul to the grave and your resting place. Thanks mom. By the way is that a white hand on your shoulder?

1. The Cave of the Past – Earthbound

And now to our king of scary levels.

In this final level Ness and friends are about to fight the big bad alien Giygas who aims to possess anyone he sees fit for his agenda: animals, people whoever for conquest. In this boss level you have to be prepared and walk up to fight Pokey who has sealed the monster alien within his machine as Pokey turns it off and seals Ness and co into the darkness to fight Giygas. Now this level is also infamous for Giygas as a few theories have sprung up about what it is; an aborted fetus but was later disproven as the concept was or a character sprite that oddly looks like Mewtwo in “Earthbound Beginnings”. The concept for Giygas came a from a traumatizing moment when Shigesato Itoi as a child stumbled upon a film called “The Military Policeman and the Dismembered Beauty” in seeing a love scene and mistakenly calling it a rape scene. I think I have spoken enough on how traumatic and how memorable this creature became to us gamers.

And that is it for this list and to close the “Scare Your Pants Off” entries for this year on Halloween day is the Top 20 Haunted locations in Canada, just because this country in general is where the Maple Leaf is forever, it’s not free from any ghosts or ghouls living in the dark of the night. Stay tuned.

Follow me on Twitter: https://www.Twitter.com/MauriceBear21

Subscribe to my Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/MauriceBear

Lost Media Files: Top 15 Lost or Cancelled Video Games (part 3)

Published on June 7, 2019July 19, 2020 by MauriceBear21Leave a comment

Welcome to June and this is the glorious return of the Lost Media Files where I rundown lost pieces of important media throughout the years like movies, games, music, art whatever and on this edition since E3 2019 is around the corner and it’s that time again I will rundown more lost or cancelled video games in what will probably be a regular thing so let’s get this done, this is the top 15 lost or cancelled video games part 3 and at the end I will reveal what will be the topic for July of the second anniversary of the Lost Media Files.

15. Chucky: Wanna Play?

Chucky Wanna Play.png

(main menu of cancelled Chucky game)

Starting off this entry is a cancelled title for a video game everybody’s sociopathic doll: Chucky. Originally planned for a 2012 release for PC players, this was to be a stealth game set in the Chucky universe and he’s back for an incoming movie starring Mark Hamill as the role of the talking doll. Don’t get me wrong him as a villain is a genius casting since he voiced the Joker in Batman.

The game was announced in 2011 by TikGames and attached was a Kickstarter campaign, now this was no surprise because some famous titles like Yooka-Laylee or Friday the 13th are notable examples, however this game failed to reach its funding goal of &925,000 as the total amount only reached $585,000 dollars in 2012. If I did a list of failed kickstarter campaigns this would rank the top 5 easily but this looks interesting, then again, I’m pretty sure this would be another one of those games YouTubers would play for clicks. Screenshots of the cancelled game is the only evidence of its existence including its Kickstarter pledges.

14. Godzilla: Destroy all Monsters

Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Magazine.png

(magazine teaser for Godzilla)

This cancelled title was to be a planned fighting game like the future Godzilla NES title but for the Super Famicon as a Japan exclusive game and based likely from the film of the same name released in 1968 and a sequel to the previous title “Godzilla Battle Legends” on the TurboDuo. Also, I have to add this how many console exclusives does Japan have that never got released western?

The game was to be released in April of 1995 in addition the game was to be somewhat similar to the Street Fighter series, however outside of a Nintendo Power article stating a future release nothing came from it. What happened was the game was eventually cancelled due to the poor reception of “Super Godzilla” and the Nintendo 64 system a year into its pre-production and development. Also, an interesting tidbit that this game was almost complete sort of how Star Fox 2 and the previously mentioned Earthbound 64 in last year’s list that got cancelled and in 2002 a Godzilla game with the same title was released for the GameCube. Its unknown if any ROM’s exist for this previous version.

13. Hercules in the Underworld

(promo screenshot of the shut down game)

On June 19th, 1998 Disney Parks released an attraction called Disney Quests and why it was made for is interactive games and planned for a worldwide release however, the attraction in general suffered low attendance in years to come until the theme park would officially close in 2017.

One of the games that is lost is “Hercules in the Underworld” a virtual reality arcade game inside the attraction that used something called the CAVE system. The Cave system is where players is enclosed with multiple screens and plays along with the use of 3D glasses, the plot of the game is four players working together with as they played as Hercules, Megara, Phil and Pegasus as they traveled through the underworld to stop the plans of Hades (how did he get out of that swirling pool in the movie) and his henchmen Pain and Panic. The game was removed in 2000 and replaced with a Pirates of the Caribbean and the original hardware may be lost entirely considering Disney Parks has a habit of throwing away stuff. The only evidence of the game’s existence is this YouTube video.

12. Crash Bandicoot

Crash Bandicoot.jpg

Crash Bandicoot maybe back from obscurity and maybe down the line a future title (we can only hope) but he along with the rest has a collection of lost media.
Starting with a Crash and Spyro crossover title called “Crash Bandicoot & Spyro Adventure World” released in 2004 on the site candystand.com as a tie-in with Crash Bandicoot title “Riptide Rampage” and Spyro’s “The Cortex Conspiracy”. Outside of screenshots nothing else has been revealed not even a plot.

The second is a cancelled title for Crash called “Crash Landed” was under development in 2009 and aim to release on the PlayStation 3, XBOX 360, Nintendo Wii and DS, however Activision the company that owns the rights laid off the entire team which is Renegade Kid as they changed focus to “Prototype 2”. The evidence to confirm the existence of this game is screenshots and a demo for the 3Ds.

The third cancelled game is a series of racing titles the first is “Crash Tag Team Racing” of course this game was eventually released in 2005 for PlayStation 2, XBOX and Gamecube but the Ds port of the game was cancelled due to a likely rumor that Mario Kart DS was to be released on the same time which is November 14th 2005, but another rumor of this game’s cancellation was a creative differences between Sensory Sweep and Sierra Entertainment. Outside of character models and screenshots of racetracks these are the only available information of “Crash Tag Team Racing” as of now.

Lastly is “Crash Team Racing” that was made also in development with the aforementioned “Crash Landing” that also got cancelled and suffered the same fate with Activision. The only existence of the game was a gameplay video, and this was under development by former members of Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games.

11. Married… with Children

Married with Children.jpg

(title card of “Married… with Children” game)

If your asking yourself “How can this be a video game” I’ll answer: yes this was at one point to be a video game and slated to release on the NES system and based on the hit Fox sitcom series and published by Sharedata, however not much other information is known about this video game other than a article within a magazine cover. No images or a prototype build of the “Married with Children” game has been revealed since Sharedata struggled maintain finances.

10. Worms Battle Rally

Worms Battle Rally.png

(one of two screenshots of “Worms Battle Rally”)

This cancelled racing game was under development by Team 17 and was to feature the same chaotic gameplay under the Worms franchise. This was to be released for the XBOX, PlayStation 2 and GameCube however this was later cancelled and changed to another Worms title called “Worms Fort: Under Siege”. Not much is known outside of an interview from one of their developers Martyn Brown that the racing title was under development by an unknown company, and despite almost completed the publisher was unhappy so this was changed to the later “Worms Fort”. No other information of this game has been known to exist outside a single screenshot or any available demos.

9. Ultimate Journey

Ultimate Journey Cover.jpg

(cover art title of “Ultimate Journey”)

Well this title is an unfortunate loss. “Ultimate Journey” is a cancelled action game planned to be released to the Super NES in 1992 as the player controls a Mojavo Indian, who fights a witch and her army who destroyed his village. Also, what was planned was the Mojovo fellow was to take form of different animals like dolphins and eagles.
The idea for this game was from Dan McArthur, a programmer from Bandai of course how this game got cancelled is going to be odd. Bandai was very impressed with the game during development as the game when testers tried it out it the gameplay was said to be similar to Ninja Gaiden and say it with me was almost nearing completion when Bandai went and scrapped the game abruptly. Maybe newer heads of Bandai couldn’t see a game involving a Native American Indian character as appealing to a Japanese audience, something like this is not common look at Scalebound which was set to be released to the XBOX 360. The only information of this game that we know off is box art and screenshots, no ROM’s exist as of this writing.

8. Scalebound

Scalebound cover.jpg

(Scalebound cover)

Speaking off said “Scalebound”, this cancelled title was under development by Platinum Studios and was planned for an exclusive XBOX One release in 2017 a more recent entry of this list, the game was to be an action RPG. The plot was to follow a third-person perspective with a character named Drew in a fantasy world and they can control a dragon named Thuban. Boy very innovative, outside of Skyrim.

The game was previously revealed in 2014 at E3 but was absent in 2015 but was shown at Gamescom in a playable demo along with other titles like Crackdown 3 and Quantum Break. Scalebound was to be released in 2016 and then moved again until 2017. My guess was the game was too innovated for them beyond their control and the game was eventually cancelled in that year. The info we have of Scalebound is E3 trailers from 2014 and 2016 and a playable demo from Gamescon 2015. No builds of “Scalebound” has been released.

(From YouTuber user: UpcomingTopGaming)

7. Sam and Max

Sam and Max.jpg

(Sam and Max)

Before becoming a video game Sam and Max was a comic strip by Steve Purcell and a animator for Pixar later for such titles known as “Ratatouille”, “Brave”, Incredibles 2” and “Coco”, Sam and Max followed the story of a fedora wearing detective and his sidekick a white rabbit in many misadventures. Of course Sam and Max had a video game title released in 1993 called “Hit the Road” for the PC and became critically acclaimed, so naturally a sequel was announced years later called “Plunge through Space” announced in 2001 and aimed for a release on the XBOX as an exclusive title developed by Infinite Machine which was formed by executives who left LucasArts.

Unfortunately, it was not to be, Infinite Machine would later go bankrupt cancelling not just “Plunge through Space” but another rumored title “Freelance Police”.
Steve Purcell later said in an interview about what he wanted to do with “Plunge through Space” was based on a previous comic strip with the same title to recover a lost Statue of Liberty when its being used as a alien casino location and to focus on adventure than action. They would also control Sam and Max to solve puzzles that could’ve worked perfectly if the money problems didn’t bury the developer. What’s left of these two cancelled titles is production sketches for “Plunge through Space” and for “Freelance Police” what’s left of this project is animation reels.

6. The Flintstones

The Flintstones.jpg

(The Flintstone family)

Yes, the Flintstones once had planned video game titles set to be released.

The first was based of the movie “Viva Rock Vegas” to be released on the Dreamcast but after the Sega console died it was later moved to PlayStation 2 and also for the Nintendo GameCube but knowing how that movie did it’s a good guess why this game got cancelled because has one ever watched that movie at all? Why was this made is the obvious because maybe not unintentionally resulted in the rise of Mario Kart, but there was a sharp rise of video game and racing titles, but some failed to deliver as did this one since it was cancelled. As of now no build of the GameCube port has been known to exist.
The second cancelled Flintstones title was “Dino to the Rescue” originally to release on the Game Boy Advance developed by Tantalus Games and Swing! Entertainment. The player was to take control of the Flintstones’ pet dinosaur named Dino to rescue either the Flintstone or Rubble family, nothing really is known of this title outside of an interview on why this game was cancelled. John Szoke said they were planning to release this game soon but ran into a dilemma of another game slated to race called “Top Gear Racer” in October of 2003 so they pushed the release into the next year, but nothing came from it. No ROMS of “Dino of the Rescue” is known to exist but screenshots do exist.

5. RubyDong

(one of five screenshots of RubyDung released by Notch)

Before we had Minecraft, we had this lost unreleased demo.

Minecraft today has exploded into popularity and was created by Marcus “Notch” Persson and released all the big consoles like XBOX, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, IPad and PC, but before we had this, we had RubyDong the precursor to Minecraft. The inspiration of said game was based on “Dwarf Fortress” an open sandbox title released in 2006 by Tarn and Zack Adams to which years later Adams would praise Minecraft as the inspiration. Not a bad stamp of approval.

Many of RubyDong’s textures that would eventually be grass and cobblestones blocks were reused for Minecraft. For whatever reason Notch never made RubyDong public and then remade it into the game that we know of Minecraft. The only existence of RubyDong is screenshots released by Notch in October of 2009 via his Tumblr blog but nothing else has surface.

4. Marl Kingdom: Happy Hunt

Marl Kingdom.jpg

(promo post card for cancelled “Marl Kingdom” game)

Before being known as the developers that released “Disgaea” Nippon Ichi Software released their magnum opus was the “Marl Kingdom” series that was released into the original PlayStation and PlayStation 2. The main character is a sixteen year old girl named “Chocolate” who lives in a museum and she has a ability to communicate with puppets then uses a flute to command them for battle as each plot of this mobile game was to follow three chapters that were later translated but the third chapter was unable to translate due to errors, the first was to follow Chocolate meets a prince named Lunin who gets turned into a doll and has to meet sage to reverse the spell, the second chapter is about Lunin sending a letter to Chocolate to attend a ceremony but they later go on a circus.

This mobile game was removed when more “Marl Kingdom’s” were released it became unavailable making it impossible to track.

3. Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto 64.jpg

(screenshot of Grand Theft Auto 64 from a Spanish magazine)

Now this one would’ve been interesting.

Grand Theft Auto is one of gaming’s most successful franchises even though it has a lot of controversial subject matter I won’t discuss but I will discuss two interesting ports that never made past development.

The original Grand Theft Auto was released on PC’s in 1997 and eventually the original PlayStation in 1998 but also planned for the Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64 and both of them had magazine articles covering their releases one for the Sega Saturn from a UK article in 1995 and a IGN article for the N64 version in 1999 from a Spanish magazine preview. However these games were later cancelled into their development phase and as for the N64 version this was to use enhanced graphics, new levels and new characteristics and was shown in 1999’s E3 conference but and say it with me almost completed when that project was shelved, I may have to have a counter for each time I use that word. No prototypes of both the Sega Saturn and N64 has been leaked.

2. Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong.png

(Donkey Kong)

Will this ape have another adventure down the line? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Donkey Kong is my favorite series having spanning from the days of feuding with Mario and going as far as part of the Super Smash Bros. roster however, this ape has a collection of lost titles. First is “Donkey Kong no Ongaku Asobi” or “Donkey Kong’s Fun with Music” was a planned educational game for the SuperFamicom and it starred Donkey Kong Jr teaching kids how to play music, so did Guitar Hero take inspiration of this? Maybe. This was originally planned to release in 1983 on the SuperFamicom system but was cancelled due to likely legal issues on the licensed songs, of course the Famicom looked compared towards its future NES predecessor, and the fact that the microphone didn’t analyze sounds properly and other info was scarce until Twitter user DentoTeramachi uploaded a screenshot from a magazine article.

Donkey Kong music.jpg

(screenshot taken by Twitter user “DentoTeramachi”)

The second were two racing game titles one was “Diddly Kong Racing Adventure” and the other was “Donkey Kong Racing” and both were planned to release on the Nintendo GameCube but we all what changed. In 2002 Microsoft purchased RARE the developers of Donkey Kong, Goldeneye, Banjo-Kazooie and Perfect Dark and a lot of upcoming titles set to release with the partnership of RARE and Nintendo were cancelled. Only trailers and original artwork of the planned are known to exist and its unknown if any playable demos were ever leaked.

1. Bio Force Ape

Bio Force Ape.png

(Nintendo Power Magazine about “Bio Force Ape”)

And now we have come to the legend of “Bio Force Ape” that has caused more in-fighting between people then now with AEW and wrestling fans.

Bio Force Ape was a video game title set to release for the NES in the west in 1992 after been released in Japan a year previously but was cancelled for unknown reasons, could it be an April Fool’s joke? It wouldn’t be the first time like the infamous Yoshi gag on Pokémon for a Nintendo Power magazine or the ever-legendary Mew underneath the truck. The plot was to follow a chimpanzee that performs pro wrestling moves on enemies like suplexes and piledrivers. So, he originated Suplex City before it became a thing, sorry Brock.

For a long while this game was shrouded in mystery and discussed in many of message board sites and leaving people puzzled on whatever happened to this famous game until in 2005 a man named Paul Brown revealed to have found a prototype copy of “Bio Force Ape” and a lot of his captured footage matched the details of the Nintendo Power article, then what happened something caused fans something of a divide to weather or not to sell the game some in favor of selling it and some to not that would damage the value and the discussions got way out line until Paul Brown revealed an image of the smashed up prototype but that was then later revealed to be a joke.

Eventually it went back into obscurity until later in 2010 a prototype of the game surfaced in March of that year from a Yahoo auctioned site from a buyer who priced it very high like $250,000 yen seemingly unknown to what was inside the cartridge or did this person know? Who knows and it was a lot on the line for Chris Covell do they make the deal or not, or will this cartridge work or not? Chris eventually bought it along with the infamous Paul Brown who was a forum user by the name Bratwurst” and Lost Levels founder Frank Cifaldi and offered $2,700 to pay for it and on April 1st of 2010 Chris revealed a disappointing photo of a smashed cartridge however a day later an uploaded gameplay footage of Bio Force Ape was revealed for all to see. These guys sure do love messing with fans.

(Bio Force Ape playthrough from Frank Cilfladi’s YouTube channel)

And that is it for this month’s edition of the Lost Media files, join me for July’s edition of the files as it’s the 2nd anniversary since this series kicked off way back in 2017 and in this one is profiling one of Argentina’s most out spoken but unknown animator’s at a time where the political turmoil was at its height in that year in his home country while the first world war was at its height, but again he would face those turmoil’s again later in his life, this is a profile of Quirino Cristiani and his lost films.

Follow me on Twitter: https://www.Twitter.com/@MauriceBear21

Subscribe to my YouTube channel: https://www.YouTube.com/c/MauriceBear

Also check out the Lost Media Wiki and support them on Patreon

Lost Media Wiki: https://lostmediawiki.com/Home

LMW in Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lostmediawiki

Also check out Unseen64 and Lost Levels

Unseen64: https://www.unseen64.net/

Lost Levels: https://www/lostlevels.org/