Last week’s column was about the top 30 lost or cancelled video games and everything was there, from Sonic the Hedgehog to Halo, from Assassins Creed to even Kirby but on this finale edition of the Lost Media Files covering video games is or was supposed to be an add-on for these exclusive games to be like extra content but continuous delays and then released later becoming a commercial failure the add-on was discontinued resulting several games to be cancelled or reworked to other Nintendo consoles. This is the Nintendo 64DD. 1. Nintendo 64DD content
First some backstory the Nintendo 64 was released on June 23, 1996 in Japan, on September 29th, 1996 in western markets and a year later in March 1 in European markets and the system in general was an answer to SEGA’s Saturn system and Sony’s PlayStation system respectively for 3D graphics and better quality of gameplay as the N64 originally was named the Ultra 64 and shown to the public in November in 1995 during the Nintendo Space World event or then it was called “Shoshinkai” which was an exclusive event for Nintendo eventers in Japan, that the 64DD would be released in the next year after the N64 release but nothing specific about what it does was revealed. Then a year later in November, the wait was over and Nintendo debuted the 64DD which was first called the “Bulky Drive” as notable attendees were American business partners including the former Nintendo President of America Howard Lincoln and Director of Corporate Communications Perrin Kaplan as they viewed Super Mario 64 being played for the add-on including some extra features like mapping the audience into a 3D animator avatar however it was sort of left vague which would add for its downfall.
As 1997 rolled along the 64DD would go through some tough delays towards 1998 as Nintendo said a release would be in March but nothing to add for a western release as E3 rolled along Nintendo promised some titles for the game like “Donkey Kong 64”, “SimCity”, “Mario Artist”, “Pokémon” and “Earthbound 64” then as 1998 came around the N64DD again was delayed then nothing about the console was announced for E3, then in 1999 again with another set of delays was really putting some strain and Nintendo’s patience with the system which I don’t think it was anyone’s fault for that matter but the technology for the game maybe to much for the people. Then at December in 1999 the game was finally, finally release to the public but with a package deal for something called a Radnet Starter Kit to which I have no idea what that is supposed to be but from the best guess some sort of service that includes a few games and a yearly internet service. Though unfortunately for the system Nintendo predicted this would fail and they were right as in 2001 the Nintendo 64DD and the Radnet service was discontinued which was a shame but understandable.
Now that the backstory of this video game’s long history and problems was revealed let’s look at the cancelled titles for the N64DD that became cancelled but had to be rushed into the N64 itself for a full release:
One of the game’s released or planned was something called “Cabbage” that was developed by Shigesato Itoi, Tsunekazu Ishihara and Shigeru Miyomoto the god of Nintendo or troll one of the two. The came was originally supposed to be what Tamagotchi’s were for the handheld and not to spoil anything what will become Digimon. The game would have the player control of some Tamagotchi as the Internal clock for the system which was to act as what time it is in-game and I think act as a regular clock and the Game Boy the Tamagotchi would be transferred to it and take care of your in-game creature. The game didn’t make any appearance for Space World or E3 then it was cancelled but the game lives on through “Animal Crossing” and those “Nintendog” titles to which I must confess I never played them at all.
The next game is “Desert Island 64” which is a game originally was to be a simulator game and surviving in a Desert Island so basically Nintendo’s version of “Minecraft” before “Minecraft” was conceived. Oh, Nintendo. The game was announced in 1996 for E3 but was quiet for a good while because developer Imagineer had some trouble financially and had to cancel this title and another title “Quest 64 2” I’m pretty sure it delights Yuriofwind to know end. The only surviving images of “Desert Island 64” is a few screenshots and a concept art.
Another title was called “Diablo” before the game would be a PC/Playstation success franchise Nintendo purchased the rights for “Diablo”. Nothing has been revealed about the title not even screenshots or gameplay footage.
A video game about “Kimba the White Lion” based of the anime series was also in development and Shigeru Miyamoto and the son of Oozamu Tesuka, Makato teamed up as it would be an action-adventure RPG series but Makato was inexperienced with video games that caused problems. Delightful. The game was cancelled, and the only evidence of the game is gameplay footage. Damn this suck.
Lastly its “Super Mario 64 2” which is very interesting about this because it was sequel to the N64 hit “Super Mario 64” and Square Soft the company would be later named “Square Enix” but the game would be reworked for the “Paper Mario” series.
So, does this add-on exist now it’s 2018? Well they are rare, like secretly rare and the ones that exist is auction sites like Amazon oh by the way before we finish check out the price for one functioning N64DD add-on. Yeah, that much huh? That’s like the equal for buying a house or a car for yourself for down payments. Geez. In conclusion the N64 DD add-on was a disaster that Nintendo had a lot of promise but technical problems far from their control sealed its doom but the N64 legacy didn’t hurt it but gave it more interest and more promise for the title and what they had.
And that was it for the two-part Lost Media Files of lost and cancelled video games to the Nintendo 64 DD add-on system. Join me next month as it’s the one-year anniversary of the Lost Media Files and for this occasion is about one of mankind’s historic feat in human history and the lost recordings of this venture became the subject of conspiracy theories that just won’t go away no matter what piece of evidence they bring as its simply not true and something extra for a little bonus add-on in July about what I plan to do with this series going forward.
E3 2018 is only two weeks away and all the most famous video game studios like Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Bethesda, EA will all compete for our wallets like every-year and it should be an exciting time for gamers, even I am excited for what’s in store and as of this writing I don’t know what we’ll expect sure its unpredictable because that’s what it was made to be. For every game being released to market there are some that become lost along the way either games being stolen, some become cancelled or some becomes lost in development hell. These I will countdown for this E3 edition of the Lost Media Files and some of the rankings on this list is going to be a mix of modern and classic video games in no particular order as some will be most obscure, and some rather interesting history attached, and I already spoke enough of P.T. since it was early this year so that won’t be on the list.
30: Big All Game (online BBC game)
Starting off this list is a web game that was originally planned to be released to coincide with the 2001 BBC documentary Big Al as this was a spin-off from the 1999 documentary “Walking with Dinosaurs” of Dinosaurs living in each separate time periods of earth’s history: Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous. Which I must point out is one of my favorite documentaries out there beside the edge of the galaxy one that had Alec Baldwin’s narration.
The game would have the player guide an Allosaurus through the late Jurassic. In 2011 a decade later the BBC updated their website with a documentary called “Planet Dinosaur” as “Big Al” was silently removed and other click and point games. Not much is really known other than the title and a screenshot of the game of its only existence.
(screenshot of “Big Al”)
29: Ōji Binbin Monogatari (RPG Famicon game 1988)
“Ōji Binbin Monogatari” or in English “Legend of the Throbbing Prince” was a cancelled game that was planned to be released to the Super Famicon system in 1988 that was developed by East Cube, the main plot of the game is Snow White leaving the prince and the king and the queen kicks out the prince and refuses to let him in until he brings her back. So, this is basically a lost sequel to Snow White and the Seventh Dwarfs? Huh, well that is an interesting plot.
The gameplay would be your standard RPG game with weapons, money, levelling up and fight in many battles in the journey to bring the princess back while during the game the player would also try and create many traps, so they would avoid enemies as also this game would be set to be difficult. Not much information of the game was released but a magazine review of said game not even prototypes have been known to exist. (the only evidence of the RPG game “Ōji Binbin Monogatari”)
28: WCW 2000 (unfinished PlayStation game)
WCW in 2000 was a hot garbage in many ways; in that year alone, the company had many ridiculous title changes some that it was baffling, so many booking gaffes, questionable angles and moments like Judy Bagwell in a forklift, Viagra on a pole, San Francisco 49’ers match, the fiasco that was Bash in the Beach 2000 with Vince Russo’s attempt of a heel promo that did more harm then good and him winning the WCW Championship. Vince Russo can say WCW killed him, but he didn’t even try and help it so who is really at fault. I’ll talk about that infamous moment down the line someday, but back to this game. WCW 2000 was a planned wrestling release title by EA Sports in 2001 for the PlayStation 2 console that was eventually cancelled when WWE bought WCW on March 26th in 2001.
What we know about the game so far gameplay wise it would’ve been like that of “Backstage Assault” that would mean instead of fighting in a wrestling ring would be backstage with weapons. How exciting. Also, gameplay wise it would’ve been the first time that the game used facial scanning for models that would not be used later for WWE 2K15. And I have it and they made them look ugly and the title of said game was just a placeholder while pitching a new title. Other than that, it is what we now about this video game other than a PlayStation magazine article.
(magazine articles about WCW 2000)
27: Trigun: The Planet Gunsmoke (cancelled PlayStation 2 game)
I have never heard or watched Trigun ever so, don’t hate me for this.
Trigun as a series is about the adventures about a man called “Vash the Stampede” and his friends Meryl Strife and Milly Thompson who keep him in check to not cause any damage from an incident that he cannot remember that had a sixty-billion-dollar bounty to his name. So, from the sound of it sounds like a mesh of Star Wars and Fallout. The game “Planet Gunsmoke” was to be developed by Red Entertainment and produced by SEGA. The game was cancelled later in 2002 with SEGA giving no reasons whatsoever why.
A likely explanation to why this game got canned was maybe in place for another game called “Gungrave” which was released four months later in that year was a modified Trigun game in place and the surprising amount of evidence that both games are the same thing but neither developers had come out to answer those rumors or not. The original game nor any prototypes of “The Planet Gunsmoke” has been revealed or appeared online other than a teaser and a small preview trailer.
(logo of “Planet Gunsmoke”)
26: DonDonpachi (arcade game 1997)
I think this game is some special edition or remake its one of the two for an arcade version of this game for 1997 developed by studio CAVE and gave us those “bullet hell” shooter games you know those games with 2D platform that has a plane or whatever shooting upward at enemies like Galaga.
This new adaptation for this game was to have newer things like better gameplay quality, bigger enemies, better difficulty, and something called hyper mode which will expand into its upcoming sequel game title “DaiOuJou”. This campaign mode was only awarded as a special prize to win and it is extremely rare to come by and its contest rules state the person with the highest record score in 72 hrs wins. The only evidence of this game’s existence was a convention for CAVE called CAVE Matsuri in 2006.
(screenshot of “DonDonPachi”)
25: Hellraiser (NES game)
Based off the 1987 film of the same name “Hellraiser” the video game was under development by company Color Dreams who are well known to make video games with very poor quality attached (just you watch what Nintendo did with Zelda sometime later with the CDI) and at the time if you want to create a video game to be great and if your partner was Nintendo then they would have to evaluate and be given a license seal. Well what happened here was Color Dreams refused that and went ahead on without their approval and thanks to that the game was cancelled due to very high costs.
Gameplay wise I think as far as I can tell it was to be a puzzle and adventure game as the player would find some ingenious ways to manipulate the game as the Cenobytes from the film would try and interfere to stop the player. The only evidence from this game existence is magazine covers and a box art about the game.
(screenshot of the video game “Hellraiser”)
24: Dinosaur Planet (cancelled N64 title)
Anybody remember Star Fox Adventures for the GameCube? I thought if anything it’s an underrated video game, sure it may not deliver on Star Fox and his ship but using some Wind Waker ideas made the game fun for me but what you may know originally it was supposed to be a different game. This was to be for a game called “Dinosaur Planet” which was to be Rare’s Swan song for the Nintendo 64 before turning to the GameCube.
The premise for the game was to have different characters named Crystal (who would be downgraded to be a damsel in distress in Star Fox Adventures) and Saber who would be changed to Fox McCloud and use several types of attacks with companions and magic spells and the game was to be released in 1999 or 2000 considering some issues. The game would eventually be retooled to the title it is now on the GameCube while the original prototype build has been lost because it hasn’t surface other than a video of what Dinosaur Planet was to be.
23: Fascination (unreleased Nintendo arcade title)
This would not fly today whatsoever.
“Fascination” was an unreleased video released for the Nintendo Arcade which would utilize a 16mm film rather the traditional arcade titles and it was to be a western shooter game and the idea was to shoot the clothes off of women until they were nude. The game was then pulled because Nintendo didn’t want a game to have something that would ruin their family friendly image but what really cancelled this game was Gunpei Yokoi’s interview about the game it was too complacent and fragile to have. Though I’ll believe one of the two rumors but nothing from this game has surfaced online nor any prototype build.
(only known photo of the Fascination prototype)
22: Final Fantasy 64 (lost tech demo)
You didn’t expect this one to exist, didn’t you? Even I found this out on a random video from Yuriofwind.
Before this was the game that became a hit for Sony, Square Soft sooner to be named Square Enix, had a very interesting tech demo which was called “Final Fantasy: The Interactive CG game” that was introduced to Nintendo for the N64. The rumor for this began on an October 1995 issue of GameFan Magazine was for a future release of the N64 though the rumor of said game was shot down by Square Soft announced “Final Fantasy VII” that was to be developed for the PlayStation system. So that’s where are we with this game. Or is it?
A playable tech demo was introduced on SIGGRAPH 1995 and it had Locke, Terra and Shadow in a fight against some sort of boulder being in some sort of revamped battle system that would be a part of “Final Fantasy VII” as it ran on a SG Onix system for 3D modelling and it looks pretty good it’s a little messy, but it could’ve worked on the N64 later. Other than the tech demo nothing else has surfaced.
21: Twelve Tales: Conker 64 (lost N64 tech demo)
I played “Conker’s Bad Fur Day” this game is awesome with Rare’s usual antics and compared to this to the history attached, I want to see what this game was.
Nintendo and Rare planned for a release of a game called “Twelve Tales: Conker 64” or “Conker’s Tales” was to be what was “Conker’s Bad Fur Day” was to be but people criticized Rare for making another cutesy game like “Banjo Kazooie” so they put it under wraps for a year then came in 1999 a redesign was revealed to the press and a different Conker was shown as raggedy but became a fail since it didn’t sell well and after the N64’s lifespan. So, what became of “Conker 64?” Well footage of a playable demo of the game was uploaded in 2012 to YouTube and revealed it was to be an adventure game going to different worlds and Berri looked different to her final design and used animals for combat. Other then recordings nothing from this game has surfaced not even Demos. You guys want to know more check out BETA 64 and his vid about the game originally and the final product.
20: Mass Effect Andromeda lost DLC add-on (2017)
Pretty recent game on the list but hey I want to rip into Mass Effect Andromeda a bit.
As you don’t know “Mass Effect – Andromeda” was a terrible game and of course the problems range from facial glitches and technical problems, so basically something that Bethesda would have and not fixing said bugs. Good. “Andromeda” was originally to have a Add-on DLC called “Quarium Arc” and the story here was to be the discovery of the Pathfinder discovering the Andromeda Galaxy and the eventual conflict of a alien race called Archon and a story based mission and of course it would venture around the galaxy also what happens with Quarium’s but the game was cancelled due to BioWare Montreal closing its doors before release. Did I forget to mention it was highly anticipated? But a novel called “Mass Effect Annihilation” will be publish later this month (or as of this writing) so this might be the fate of this add-on.
19: Akira (1994 anime/manga game)
One of anime’s most influential and important films in history behind “Princess Nausicaa”, “Akira” was to be a tie-in for the anime film and manga adaptation of the same name as it was published by THQ and to be released to the Super NES, SEGA, Game Boy and Gear consoles as from an interview from Jim Gregory that Black Pearl sent the rights to THQ during development but limitation issues between the consoles and more technical issues sealed the game’s eventual cancellation.
No other ROM’s of this game has been revealed but an ad for a 5$ mail-in rebate for the game was added in to the 1994 VHS release which is odd, then years later in 2013 a piece of footage from E3 1994 revealed some gameplay footage of Akira it was to be a beat-em up title and in 2016 some other gameplay footage surfaced about the game came about including some from its final eventual release of content. Other than that, nothing of Akira has surfaced.
18: Project Velocity (cancelled XBOX 360 title)
Not much is really known of this XBOX title, what we know about it so far is this game was in development in 2005 Visual Sciences and published by Sierra Entertainment in 2007 a gamer discovered this title during a debut XBOX and it was called Project Velocity, but nothing has come from this game since Visual Sciences shut down in 2006.
The game was to be similar to the “Need for Speed” series so it would’ve been an open world game and race opponents as for avoiding police officers, but the game was unfinished and had some content unknown when this title was cancelled. The only known footage of this title was a video game trailer and to close out this entry Eninem had several songs recorded when this game was uploaded in 2012 from a Youtuber but it was unfinished.
17: Ushiro (lost 2009 PSP title)
Who remembers the PSP? Anybody? Its okay if you don’t, Sony has sort of forgotten about it too.
“Ushiro” was a horror RPG planned to be released on the PSP and mobile phones at 2009 and Level 5 Studios who created the “Professor Layton” series, “Ni No Kuni” and of course “Yo-Kai Watch” was the developer, the plot was to tell the story of Reiichiro Ushiro a spirit who could give a person a wish but at the cost of their lives and Ushiro would manifest and possess other people and battle evil spirits within. Sounds like something they used for “Yo-Kai Watch.”
During the 2008 Tokyo game show “Ushiro” was revealed more as a trailer and screenshots was shown to the public and showed some cutscenes that was produced by OLM Inc. an animation studio behind the Pokémon anime franchise, “Future Card Buddyfight” and “Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures”. However, the game was said to be cancelled in 2010 but Akihiro Hino the CEO of Level 5 said in an interview planned something new like a manga adaptation published by Kadokawa and Fields in 2014 but wouldn’t be serialized in 2015. This game as of last year has been regarded as the most wanted game for lost media enthusiasts.
16: Kirby (cancelled video game titles)
Well Kirby has had some unfortunate cancellations in your history, have you?
First up is “Kid Kirby” for the NES mouse that was under development by DMA design who would find later success with the “Grand Theft Auto” franchise as Rockstar North, and it was to be a Angry Birds like game which would be interesting if it was released, then we would see some Kirby memes. Nothing came from “Kid Kirby” but concept art.
Next was “Kirby Bowl 64” which was a prototype build for “Kirby Air Ride” which was eventually cancelled for the Nintendo 64 but would find some reemergence for the GameCube. “Kirby 64” was highly anticipated in gaming magazines in 1995 during the Tokyo Game Show for a release but in 1996 when the Nintendo 64 was released it vanished meaning it got canned. Which is a shame because this would’ve been an interesting game.
15: Earthbound 64 (cancelled N64 title)
As of this writing don’t expect a “Mother 3” anytime soon to be released in North America the day when it does get an actual western release, I’ll do the Harlem shake. Anyway, Earthbound is a very laid back but serious when it needs to be franchise, with Mother being their first released in July of 1989 for the Super Famicon system then released fully into North American markets via Virtual Console in 2015 in a remake called Beginnings, as for “Earthbound” it was released in August 27th in 1994 and June 5th in 1995 in the west, but there was one that was so close to release it got canned before it could see the light.
“Earthbound 64” was set for a 1998 release and the plan for the game was to take inspirations from Super Mario 64 with its 3D innovated graphics but just as most things there has to be a few snugs. The game had a troubled development cycle when it was originally planned to be released on the Famicon in 1994 but nothing came from it, then the game was switched to the Nintendo 64 and the creator of Earthbound, Shigesato Itoi and his team had little experience in 3D and the game was shelved in 2000 and claims from the late Satoru Iwata and current Japanese President of Nintendo Shigeru Miyamoto said it was between 30% and 60% finished. A Trailer for Spaceworld 1999 was revealed about “Earthbound 64” and gameplay wise it looked pretty good that could’ve been finished other than that the original build and prototype has been lost.
14: 1 vs. 100 (lost XBOX Live video game)
Remember those video game titles that had Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy? I found those entertaining even though I grew tired of both shows when CBC stopped airing them, fun times.
1 vs. 100 was the next game to be released on XBOX Live and was to be inspired by the TV show in the same name as the object of the game was multiple choice questions as the player would be the one answering the questions or the mob to outlast the player and those XBOX avatars would be the contestants. I miss those kinds of games instead of just trivia the newer ones have, so many fun times. The game was available to XBOX gold members but after two seasons it was cancelled then pulled due to not being the success it had with Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy and it is inaccessible today. The only known footage of “1 vs. 100” was a season 2 let’s play uploaded to YouTube.
13: Assassin’s Creed: Lost Legacy (lost Nintendo 3DS title)
“Assassin’s Creed: Lost Legacy” was a planed “Assassin’s Creed: game to be released to the Nintendo 3DS developed by Ubisoft and announced during E3 2010 along with “Assassins Creed: Brotherhood” as Enzio the main character in the previous titles would venture into the village of Maysaf and his adventures into discovering the Templars in game which are a long-going assassins guide.
Ubisoft planned this to be one last adventure with Enzio before the next entry “Assassin’s Creed III” would focus on the American Revolutionary War then the game “Lost Legacy” was silent then got cancelled. What happened? Well Debby McDermitt a writer for “Assassin’s Creed: Revelations” explained in an interview that “Lost Legacy” morphed to what it was as the game was then cancelled in 2011. No screenshots or demos have been revealed.
12: Bubsy (lost video game titles)
Bubsy is fully back as of 2018. I don’t know how to even fell about this, but it looks good so at least even a video game title like that can even redeem itself from a poorly made 3D title yesteryear ago, but this wasn’t the first time for an attempt of a Bubsy game.
“Bubsy II” was the sequel to the first game released for the NES and Sega consoles and planned to be released in 1994 then a Game Boy release in 1995 and eventual PC release as of 2015, so it took only twenty years later to remember Bubsy but the good news considering “Bubsy” getting a second chance we’ll see what happens with E3 2018 maybe “Bubsy II” will get a eventual release considering “Bubsy II” was cancelled for both ports.
Another cancelled title was “Bubsy 3D” for the SEGA 32 system for a 1997 release and considering the reception on that one for the PlayStation yeah enough said on that game as it was cancelled, and the only evidence was an article snippet.
11: Casino Royale (lost movie tie-in video game)
Casino Royale was a good movie, right? It’s a bit fleshed down and different plus it was the new movie that had the new James Bond himself Daniel Craig at the lead after Pierce Bronson.
There was a movie-tie in to the game was planned for a PS3, XBOX 360 and Nintendo Wii systems and scheduled for a November 17th release in 2006 though this game was under some bad luck during development when MGM and EA ended their contract with the poor sales from “From Russia With Love’s” reception was lukewarm at best and MGM talked to Activision for a new contract and the deal was struck later in the same day that would go through 2014 but not be official until 2007. “Casino Royale” the game was cancelled, as it was only 15% complete other than that only concept art from the planned game has been known to exist.
10: Mega Man (cancelled video game titles)
Oh, Mega Man how come Capcom has abandoned you so much? Its about time they try again on the 11th time but finally a new Mega Man game.
Mega Man has had only three cancelled titles to known to have exist; one was for an anniversary collection for the Game Boy but in 2003 there was one planned for the PS2, XBOX and GameCube but those games had been under some delays until it was cancelled indefinitely. The second game cancelled was “Maga Man Legends 3”. Earlier in 2010 the game was announced during New York Comic-Con and would add two-new characters however; Keiji Inafune would leave Capcom after 23 years in the company even though he would return for the crap-tacular “Mighty No. 9” sometime later. In 2011 the game was cancelled including another Mega Man title called “Universe” that was a bit similar to “Super Mario Maker” was to be released to the PS3 and XBOX but the cancellation of the game came from the infamous Tohoku Earthquake in March of that year.
9: Halo: Chronicles (cancelled XBOX title)
I’ll just say this right now Halo should’ve ended with Halo: Reach. That was the swan song of Bungie’s partnership with Microsoft and probably what set the stage for the other titles like Halo: Combat Evolved to Halo: 3, Halo: 4 was meh and Halo: 5. Enough said on that one.
Halo: Chronicles was planned to be an interactive based game like something of the Tell-Tail franchise of games and the whatever happened in the game would be permanent and would receive multiple endings regardless of what happened in-game with Master Chief himself. Other than that, no screenshots of “Chronicles” has been seen since it was canceled in 2009.
8: Mean Girls (cancelled Nintendo DS port)
I never saw the movie “Mean Girls” though is it bad to say that I enjoyed “White Chicks” as a film?
“Mean Girls” was a Nintendo 3DS to be something like the previously mentioned “Casino Royale” to be a movie-tie in however this game would be released in 2010 in North America and in Europe on September 11th, 2009 unfortunately the game was cancelled in April of 2010 with no reason given but what we do know about this game was it was to be like the movie adaptation with the player’s new day in high school and your job is to the next prom queen and go against jocks, nerds and art freaks to be the top of the school. Yeah, the plot sucks.
What cancelled this game? Of course, this was under financial trouble during it’s development not to mention Lindsey Lohan’s negative attitude and attention further sunk this game into cancellation. While nothing came from this game a few screenshots surfaced from Pan-Pizza from YouTube revealing screenshots of “Mean Girls DS”. It’s not that good but I’ll let you be the judge.
7: Pokémon (cancelled video game titles)
Pokémon is back into the Lost Media spotlight and what do we have this time. Well cancelled and unreleased titles.
One is “Meowth’s Party” who wants to party with Meowth, the nerve really. The game was nothing much, but a tech demo shown at Spaceworld 2000 while Game Freak was busy with Pokémon Stadium to show-off the GameCube’s capabilities. Was this to be a working game? Who knows, the tech demo has yet to surface online in any form that may not be anytime soon.
Next is “Pokémon PC Master” was a Japan-exclusive PC game to be released in 2006 for educational purposes you know typing, learning, browsing the works so its basically Mavis-Beacon for Pokémon geeks but nothing else since it was down in 2007. A trial version of the game was partially found by someone as recently as of 2018 that can be found on this mediafire link below, also a trailer online was revealed and a few screenshots.
Next was “Pokémon Picross” as it was an unfinished game set to be released to the Game Boy in 1999 as it was advertised heavily but then for no reason it was cancelled. But years later they would try again later years for the 3DS.
Lastly is “Pokémon 2000: Adventure Game” as this was an online click and adventure title to be released during the screenings of the second Pokémon film: “Revelation Lugia” or in English is “The Power of One” the developers involved was Cyberworld International Corporation for a specific browser. However; the game didn’t last that long and was pulled four weeks into its browser cycle by Warner Bros. As of last year, DoomTay an LMW user investigated and found one via the wayback machine but was not sure to play it. Other than screenshots online nothing else has come forth from this internet game.
6: Super Mario (cancelled video game titles)
Mario has had years of adventures though many worlds, in space and fighting his rival and arch enemy Bowser or Sonic if we’re lucky on the Olympic titles but Mario has had a lot of cancelled video games under his plumber belt, though I may not get into some.
First was “Super Mario 128” this was at first a playable tech demo showing how many Mario’s it can take to toss over a floating platform or multiple Mario’s that couldn’t perform well on the N64 but GameCube. The game however was cancelled but the mechanics would be added into other titles like “Super Mario Galaxy”, “Twilight Princess” and “Pikmin” the tech demo has been lost to this day.
Next is “Super Mario Strikers” which was to be a Volleyball and professional wrestling game that was to be originally released on the GameCube but was switched to the Wii system but was eventually cancelled. NLG during development showed a playable tech demo of the game but hasn’t been found online or seen anywhere.
Lastly its “Mario Takes America” which was a Phillips CD-I game developed by Canadian developer Cigam and pitched it Phillips and was very impressed, which could’ve been a terrible thing to see yet laugh at. The game was to have Mario arrive in New York City to travel across America and reach Hollywood for his feature film. Geez what was the end goal to watch Super Mario Bros. the movie? I would pass, and the game unfortunately was cancelled because we all should know what the CD-I offered, the assets of the game was repossessed by the Canadian Imperial Commerce. Which was a good thing and Cigam went bankrupt.
5: Star Wars 1313 (cancelled Star Wars game)
Now this was an unfortunate game that was cancelled but boy what could’ve been.
“Star Wars 1313” was supposed to be a game to take a different route from the major titles of Star Wars but focus on Bounty Hunters including the rise of Boba Fett inside the underworld of Coruscant and exploring “1313” which is a mysterious level. Guess what? LucasArts was sold by Disney for a billion-dollar payout and ceased productions of all current LucasArts titles under development to focus on Star Wars Battlefront’s reboot. Other than footage of trailers and gameplay online nothing from “1313” has surfaced online or in any form.
Scruffy looking nerf-herders… oh and putting in micro transactions.
4: Fallout (cancelled titles)
Fallout 76 is coming soon and thanks to the clever promoting I.E. Bethesda shenanigans I am hyped but can’t wait to see what is in store but let’s focus on the titles that could’ve been.
First is “Fallout Extreme” which was in early development in the early 2000’s but the game was to be released on the PlayStation and XBOX consoles and it was to use Unreal Engine, but the game was way early in development when it was cancelled so nothing has come from this other than a few drafts.
“Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2” was another game cancelled and was to be a sequel to “Brotherhood of Steel” to which I saw gameplay footage of the first game and all I can say: “That is not Fallout”. The game was cancelled in 2004.
Lastly was “Fallout: Van Buren” that would later be “Fallout 3” as this one has quite a bit of history attached between the two games because “Van Buren” was to be released in 2003 but was cancelled due to original developers Interplay shutting down and laying off 75% workers out of the job that also cancelled “Brotherhood of Steel 2” as their assets would be sold away to Bethesda creators of the “Elder Scrolls” and “Doom”. Bethesda took what was left and re-worked the game to “Fallout 3” to which there were complaints that it was not the same it was a huge success and new life into the franchise. “Fallout New Vegas” would use some elements of “Van Buren” like the Hoover Dam and NCS the New California Republic into the main game’s story as “Van Buren’s” original build has been lost aside tech demos and documents.
3: Sonic the Hedgehog (cancelled titles)
Speaking of Sonic, he too has had a rocky road to rebuilding, then low-point then return to rebuild. I think we can all agree that he has had a rough ride until we got it right on “Sonic Mania” or “Sonic Forces” so let’s dive down on some of his lost and cancelled video games.
Let’s begin with “Sister Sonic” the game was about Sonic’s long-lost sister which feud the fire of the infamous Sonic community and giving them angry letters that the game was cancelled then bite people back with “Sonic Underground”. I’m pretty sure SEGA had a good laugh when that came on TV.
Next was “Sonic Synergy” and it was the original build for “Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric” and it was under working development for years since 2007 when they retooled it in 2014 to fit the new Sonic narrative. We can all agree “Sonic Boom” was a terrible game but TV wise the show was a decent success and I consider it the third or best Sonic series under Sonic SatAM and above Sonic X.
Last title canned was “Sonic X-Treme” and woo boy what a production history this game had and what could’ve been. “Sonic X-Treme” was to be released in 1996 in December and this was tossed to the Genesis then X-32 system before being on the Sega CD. The plot of the game would be Dr. Ivo Robotnik now called Eggman released a Doom Virus and infects Sonic and he would have to seek a cure. But what canned this title was the production trouble and meddling between SEGA and the people working on the game and it was shelved until a final working build was found in 2014 by Andrew75. Wow what could’ve been indeed.
2: Unreleased Virtual Boy content
The Virtual Boy was one of Nintendo’s biggest gaffs in history that was design to be some sort of future foil of the Oculus Riff headset and the Virtual Boy has had a treasure trove of lost content that remained unreleased to the public.
Like for example: “Goldeneye 007” one of my favorite shooters and I’ll take it better than “Doom 64” (fight me on that) but before it appeared on the “N64’ it was originally set for the SNES but suffered hardware limitations then it was passed to the Virtual Boy but that was shelved in favor to the Nintendo 64.
Another shelved title was a Super Mario video that was given no title but “Mario” however nothing has come from that it was a tech demo showing the capabilities of the “Virtual Boy”.
Another cancelled title was “Dragon Hopper” which would’ve been about a warrior named Dorin and rescuing his family who was sent to prison, but he trips and falls into a hole then wakes up in a land called Faeron. Now why did this game and others not get canned quick? Well do you want to play a game that would run of batteries quick and give you eye problems? Well those were the problems that surrounded the Virtual Boy and a lot of the Virtual Boy games were cancelled or sent to the N64 to be better worked.
You maybe wondering why is this part a part 1 column and what is number 1 on this list? Well that is where this little gem came in, next week is part 2 as I dive down one of Nintendo’s biggest backfiring of all time that could’ve been one of there biggest success stories but the hardware limitations that was their major flaw on this system put its nail in the coffin. Also, you may be wondering what it is and why the Nintendo Virtual Boy was number 1? Well it has the more interesting history and more lost content than the Virtual Boy has. Oh, next week I’ll reveal the one-year anniversary of the Lost Media Files for July of something that is very interesting and out of this world.
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Welcome to the lost media files, blog entries about lost media through the years of the evolution of media but was lost to the sands of time; films, video games, art and music whatever as in this entry to kick off the new year of blog entries this is about a video game that was hyped up with a very intriguing concept to rejuvenate a franchise, however a squabble later that would cancel the video game but it’s mechanics and story concept would pass on towards another video game franchise: this is PT or Playable Teaser.
Has anyone ever played a video game that was on the home console’s demo store and think to yourself after “Wow that was scary, but it had a fun build and it makes me excited to play it fully?” then the game got cancelled to the point that it’s game demo was taken down from the console store? This is the sad story of PT the Video Game. Now let’s go back to the debut of the Silent Hill franchise to see where this reboot almost took off. Now Silent Hill is like the Resident Hill franchise it was created by Capcom and Konami with Hideo Kojima, but it had a different plot; a father’s young daughter is taken to an abandoned town of Silent Hills where Zombies and many other frightening hordes of the night would haunt the player’s challenge to find his child. Silent Hill was a success giving many praise that it is a clone to Resident Evil, but it was creative enough to create a different plot than the other, the fog and darkness worked to the game’s presence of the setting even for hardware limits, the music is also on par with Resident Evil’s score with the atmosphere. Then came later as the series’ continued and just like successful franchises it started to lose that praise after Homecoming onward and it became mediocre even Resident Evil began a slow decline after the fifth installment (because I like blaming the fifth Resident Evil game).
Then in 2014, something was hidden behind the scenes that was shown to the world. A teaser in its playable form was revealed during Gamescon 2014 that was called “PT” under the fake name 7780’s studios that opens with someone walking alone a home through endless hallways for the first half living in a Groundhog Day like situation then after the third or fourth time a figure is in your way then after running away for a bit, that figure vanishes then later the figure is pursuing the player if you will then it eventually finds you in a frightening jump scare that catches you off guard (take some notes Five Night’s at Freddy’s). Then at the end of the demo it was revealed to be a reboot for the Silent Hill franchise called “Silent Hills” that was co-directed by Hideo Kajima and acclaimed Hollywood Oscar-winning director Guillermo Del Toro. The game alone has at this point peaked you’re interested with that name since Del Toro help directed classic films like Happy Feet, Pacific Rim, Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy and Blade II, you know the one, that had a Triple H cameo as a werewolf and involved with P.T. was Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus as the voice of the protagonist. The game at the time was to use Kojima’s Fox Engine to develop PT, as also Kojima wanted to utilize his trademark puzzles to make the game harder as one would play during the in-game storyline. This makes you want to play this game to see what these creative geniuses is going to bring to the table? Let me bring you down to Earth and give you a reason why this video game is cancelled reduced to being lost.
Konami that was to publish the reboot was looking to lay off Hideo Kojima because even though there were good partners, there were some bad blood between the two, but I don’t know if those rumors were true or not, but the company intended for PT to happen only without the involvement of Kojima and Del Toro. Konami then decided to cancel the project altogether that would leave Hideo Kojima to leave after the completion of “Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain” and Del Toro to not make video games ever again, they even went to the surprising extreme to take down the playable demo from the PSN store that caused outcry from fans as it was getting worldwide praise and was anticipated highly. Even though the game is lost, some elements of P.T. has remained in other games like for instance Lisa the antagonist appeared in “The Phantom Pain”, “Allison Road” another indie game that was in development took inspirations from P.T., “The Park” and “Layers of Fear” both indie games that was eventually released were inspired by P.T. and the largest of influencers was Resident Evil for “Resident Evil 7: Biohazard” in almost a mirror version style of P.T. from their demo title that resulted “Biohazard” one of the best games of 2017 with their plot, setting and characters involved within the story. The only known evidence of P.T. are countless video game let’s plays from Game Grumps, Markiplier to even Team FourStar’s own Krillin and Nappa playing in a hilarious yet scary fail attempt and a story trailer of P.T. on Youtube from the 2014 Gamescon trailer. Will this mark the end of Silent Hill as a franchise? We don’t know, I’m just a blogger but we must wait and see.
Next month’s edition of the Lost Media Files is a bit of the break from the video games and films lost but something that has a profound effect to the sporting world that dates to the Ancient times that was to honor the gods from this country to some worldwide sporting event every 2-4 years, however; very little perseveration of these events dating back from the 1896 to 1920-1950’s was lost before this worldwide association decided to preserve the previous events that was ever found.
Also, I would like to take this moment to say one of the blog posts I wrote for the Lost Media Files previously called “Lost Media Mysteries” has been found. It’s the long rumored to exist Clock Man animated short. Let’s bring it up to speed, this animated short was long into inexistent territory after forums about the short from a blogger named “Commander Santa” to have remembered watching it as a kid from an animated segment featured on a show called Pinwheel which is a Sesame Street clone. Then it was finally found in December of 2017 last year, though the audio is in a European language mostly Polish. Will there be a review to this short? Someday but for now I’d like to dub this lost piece of media found.
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(the only evidence of the RPG game “Ōji Binbin Monogatari”)
The Maurice Bear Times 