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Possibly unreleased SNES, Genesis and Jaguar games

 
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pentarou



Joined: 05 Oct 2003
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Location: England

PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2003 1:34 am    Post subject: Possibly unreleased SNES, Genesis and Jaguar games Reply with quote

These were all in an old EGM from 1994, in a feature about upcoming games... it had a brief description and a screenshot for each game, as far as I know these were all unreleased (at least in the US) and a GameFAQs search seems to confirm that. If any of these were actually unreleased and anyone's interested, I can provide scans.

SNES:
Galactic Defenders (appears to be a Super Chinese game)
Super Soccer Champ 2
Ranma 1/2 Part 2
Akira

Genesis:
Itchy & Scratchy Game
Fireteam Rogue
Lord of Darkness
Megaman The Wily Wars (released in Europe)
The Mask

Sega CD:
Prime
Myst
Akira

Jaguar:
Battlezone
Runier
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Li Wang
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Joined: 29 Aug 2003
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2003 2:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Galactic Defenders is Super Chinese World 2. The only place I personally read about it was and ad in that failed US version of Newtype Gaming. I promptly got all excited about it and then never heard anything about the game again.

A raid on Culture Brain's old US headquarters would kick so much ass...
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KlarthAilerion
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2003 4:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Perhaps that Lord of Darkness game for Genesis would be the same as the Koei game Nobunaga's Ambition: Lord of Darkness that was released for SNES (and possibly home computers as well).

Itchy and Scratchy was released for Genesis (see this).

To my knowledge (and I'm not a Sega guy, keep in mind), The Mask was not released for Genesis, but it was released for SNES.
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TheRedEye
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2003 4:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have that issue. If we can clarify what's released and what's not, I'll gladly scan anything worth looking at.
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PopaSmear
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2003 5:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

as far as the ranma 1/2 games, the first one was released in america with changed sprites as a generic fighter (called "Street Battler" or something), the second one (Ranma 1/2 Hard Battle) came out here more or less unchanged, and the third one, (Ranma 1/2 Super Battle) didn't come out in america. Depending on which Ranma 1/2 part 2 they're talking about, we either got it, or only japan did.
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KlarthAilerion
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2003 9:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ranma 2 please observe exhibit A.
Anything Goes Martial Arts, estimated ©1991, Toho Co.
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lugnut
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2003 10:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had always thought Prime for Sega CD was released since EGM also reviewed it at a later date and they tried to avoid reviewing pre-release copies, but of course, that doesn't mean anything. I guess it does, however, mean that the game was finished. And as I remember, it scored really poorly - perhaps that has something to do with why it didn't come out.

And while on the subject sort of, does anybody know if the Genesis version of Lufia was released? It was advertised and shown all over the place, but I can't find any record that it actually came out.
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Sardius
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 04, 2003 1:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The SegaCD version of Ultraverse Prime was released...sort of. It was such a crappy game that it couldn't be released on its own, so it was bundled with Microcosm and sold in one of those Sony Imagesoft 2-for-1 (DOUBLE DEAL!!!) packs that were released late in the SegaCD's life. It was never released as a standalone game, as far as I know.

Genesis Lufia was advertised pretty heavily, but it kept getting delayed, and in the end it was never released. Suck.

Edit: Also, neither Myst nor Akira were released for the SegaCD, as far as I know. And "Runier" for the Jaguar may be Ruiner Pinball, which was released.

Li Wang, you scare me.


Last edited by Sardius on Tue Nov 04, 2003 1:34 am; edited 1 time in total
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Li Wang
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 04, 2003 1:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Prime was released in one of those 2 for 1 "help us liquidate this crap" packages with Microcosm. Genesis Lufia got delayed at least once and was later cancelled.
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PopaSmear
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 04, 2003 2:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That half.com thing is cool, but the durn game NEVER CAME OUT. This implies that there could be a very complete proto out there somewhere though...
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PopaSmear
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 04, 2003 2:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

For confirmation, check out gamefaqs, where obsessive anime nerds discuss why the game never came out. (one theory: the creator didn't like the american voice acting. riiiiiiiiiiiight.)
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KlarthAilerion
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 04, 2003 3:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh, I know it ("it" being the second Ranma) didn't get released here.. half.com just has box art and information (including barcode numbers?!) for all kinds of games, some of which were or were not completed. For instance, they have info for Super Soccer Champ 2 from Taito on there as well, and it's another of the unreleased SNES games from the EGM issue we're talking about.
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Ichiban Crush
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 04, 2003 7:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

PopaSmear wrote:
(one theory: the creator didn't like the american voice acting. riiiiiiiiiiiight.)


As sad as it sounds, there is something that keeps that theory floating amongst people, and that's the fact that Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2 writer/artist and Japan's richest woman) is in fact an avid video game player. Now speaking as an anime dork AND as a sponge for dead video gaming era knowledge, I don't think it's likely that story of her playing the American version of Ranma 1/2: Hard Battle and suddenly saying "if this is how they're going to voice the characters, don't even bother releasing the other game or anything else for that matter" is completely (if at all) true, there is one thing to consider, and that's the fact that Takahashi is very protective of her work, moreso than most other manga artists.

Now mainly, she's known for sueing individuals that have perved her work for profit (save fanartists that don't sell their work and don't claim it as their own original creation) and the like. I DON'T know if she'd go that far for lousy voices in a Ranma video game, but it's interesting to point out that the only other game based on a Takahashi work that was brought to America, the Inuyasha fighting game for PS1, doesn't even HAVE English voices; it's all Japanese with English text translations.

I think the main reason that Toho cancelled the game was licencing disputes with Viz. About 8 or 9 years ago (yeah, i was barely a teen at the time), I called Viz (before they became as big of a company as they are today) to check on the availability of several items, one being the Ranma 1/2 Hard Battle SNES game. What they basically said was "nope, absolutely not, we have NO plans of ever selling ANY video games ever". They wouldn't go into specifics, but at that time, they seemed VERY anti-video game.

Viz never advertised or mentioned anything about the Anything Goes Martial Arts game in their Animerica magazine or the Ranma 1/2 comics (while they sold the Hard Battle game through it's Mail Order service); the only ad I ever saw for AGMA was in EGM. That kind of leads me to believe that Viz prevented Toho from releasing the game somehow. Reason? Might have been a licencing dispute, may have been Takahashi's wishes (I'd like to think it was more than just shitty voices if this was the case, seeing as to how a lot of Viz's own anime dubs aren't exactly vocal masterpieces themselves), could have been a combination of both, but it's one of those weird things that keeps me thinking "why?"

Then again, I have the import version of the game...it ain't that much of an improvement from Hard Battle. But I'd still like to hope there's a proto of it floating around somewhere.

*EDIT: retraction. Viz never advertised anything regarding the first SNES game in any of their comics other than their mailorder service ads which were sometimes in the back of the comics; i had original posted that Hard Battle/DTMC ads appeared in the translated Ranma 1/2 comic. My mistake. I'm honestly not sure about Animerica however, but it's likely.
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KingMike



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PostPosted: Tue Nov 04, 2003 4:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Akira was re-planned for the Nintendo ("Ultra") 64 (according to about the Feb. '95 issue of NP).
Mask for Genesis was cancelled because T*HQ thought it would be too long after the movie was released (according to a GamePro reader mail response).
Fireteam Rouge was not released for either SNES or Genesis, to my knowledge (wonder why, it seemed to be well-praised by the magazines I'd read).
Supposedly, Megaman: The Wily Wars (US) was sold to Sega (who supposedly only released it for play on the Sega Channel (but as I only owned an SNES, can't vouch for it)).
Could Taito America's closing be any reason why Lufia for Genesis was cancelled? (Taito planned to release Lufia 2 themselves summer '95, but of course, it didn't come out until Natsume bought it and released it a year later).
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Johnny Undaunted



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PostPosted: Tue Nov 04, 2003 5:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ranma 1/2: Super Battle was planned for the US. I used had the ad lying around complete with fully localized screenshots and an ad phrase which went "you don't want to be messing with these guys... sorry, girls" or something like that.
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Kid Fenris



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PostPosted: Mon Nov 10, 2003 10:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

KingMike wrote:
Could Taito America's closing be any reason why Lufia for Genesis was cancelled? (Taito planned to release Lufia 2 themselves summer '95, but of course, it didn't come out until Natsume bought it and released it a year later).


Perhaps, but to my knowledge, the Genesis version of Lufia was never released anywhere, not even in Japan (where it would've been called "Estpolis.") Even if Taito's American division had been unable to release the game, the parent company would still have released it to the RPG-loving Japanese market. It's more likely that Taito simply scrapped the project across the board.

I'm not sure how far the development was, anyway. The only promotion I've seen for Lufia on the Genesis consists of a poster and two ads, all of them free of screenshots. Does anyone have any images of the game itself?

I'd be interested in seeing those screens of Akira. The movie's old Streamline VHS release included a flyer for the Genesis and SNES versions of the game, though it didn't feature any shots.
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pentarou



Joined: 05 Oct 2003
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'll scan the ones that were actually unreleased as soon as I have access to a scanner that doesn't suck ass, which should be sometime tomorrow.

I've also got a few from a couple of issues of Total (a British Nintendo mag) - some were accompanied by short articles and screenshots, others were just mentioned.

SNES:
Muhammad Ali Heavyweight Boxing
Power Slide
Dynablazers
Socks the Cat
Sound Factory
Full Metal Planete (sic)

GB:
Ragnarok

So I'll scan those as well, unless any of them were released.
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Ichiban Crush
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2003 5:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Socks the Cat WAS at least ALMOST complete before it was cancelled, as it was reviewed in NP (don't know which issue, SF2Turbo-era). I'm not sure if or not it was actually released. I don't recall ever seeing the game available.
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pentarou



Joined: 05 Oct 2003
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Location: England

PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2003 8:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

OK, I've scanned the relevant previews, so here you go.
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