Welcome to Random Lists, this is an articles I'll do on occasion just for fun because I enjoy making lists. Today's list is my Top 9 canceled games, what does it take to get on the list? The title must have been offically announced in some capacity, the title must either have been anticipated, hyped, or just had a cool primise. Without further delay, here is my list of the top 9 canceled games...
9. Ninja Gaiden (Sega Genesis)
In the late eighties, Sega acquired a license from Tecmo that allowed them to produce three games for the Ninja Gaiden series, two of these games were released for the Game Gear and Master System, however Ryu's Genesis adventure wa never completed. The game featured Ryu going to America to hunt down a fellow Dragon Clan ninja who has stolen the Scroll of Huma. This game's story, like the other Sega developed games, is not related to the main Ninja Gaiden series, this game also differed from the rest of the 2D games due to being a beat-em-up, as apposed to an action platformer. The game was never finished, due in large part to negative pre-release press, but a beta rom image does exist that was released on to the internet, however, while the beta rom does feature all of the levels, it is plagued by programming bugs and also has unfinished sections in some levels.
8. Capcom Fighting All-Stars (Arcade, Playstation 2)
Capcom Fighting All-Stars was a 3D fighter that played with a more 2D feel, similar to SNK's later released King of Fighters: Maximum Impact. The game was an in house crossover game using several of Capcom's own franchises including Street Fighter, Final Fight, Rival Schools, and Strider, in addition to a few original characters. The game used a three tier life bar system where when one tier of a player's life bar was depleted, there would be a break then the fight would start again, similar to the system in Capcom's Darkstalkers games, a new feature would see your Super Combo bar gain another level each time one of your tiers would be depleted, meaning that unlike other Capcom games you would need to be at lower life in order to pull off level two and three super combo attacks. The game saw a beta release but after negative feedback from players from the Japanese location tests, the game was scrapped. A later 2D game released by Capcom, Capcom Fighting Evolution, was released using a similar premise as All-Stars and featured Ingrid, the only original character retained from the canceled All-stars.
7. Frame City Killer (Xbox 360)
This title was announced by Namco prior to the lauch of the 360, it was set to be the first game by a Japanese developer that was going to use Epic's Unreal Engine 3. FCK was a third person game action/shooter game, in a similar style to Hitman, where you play as a hitman named Crow. Set in the futuristic East Asian Metropolis of Frame City, Crow has been sent to assassinate Khan, a terrorist in charge of drug cartel. There are several gameplay videos available online, as the game had been demoed several times. The game was intended to be an Xbox 360 launch title, but after several delays Namco canceled the game in May of 2006, this was a shame as the gameplay videos that were released showed some impressive graphics for a title that was planned to be released in the 360's launch window and the gameplay also seems fairly polished, suggesting that the game wasn't in an early part of its development cycle.
6. The Legend of Zelda: Mystical Seed of Courage (Gameboy Color)
Intended to be the third game in the Oracle series on the GBC, this game was set to have you solve puzzles using a time mechanic that revolved around different times of day, as opposed to Oracle of Ages season changing mechanic. While no story details seem to be available, the game was planned to work just like the other two Oracle games, as you could play though the games in any order and once the game was completed entering the password you were given into either of the other games affected that game's storyline so the games played more like a trilogy than three indiviual games. During development, the teams from Capcom and Nintendo realized that implementing the password system with three cartridges was just too much and they decided to release the two games as Oracles or Ages and Seasons (Chapter of Earth and Chapter of Space and Time in Japan). This game title, Mystical Seed of Courage, came from the projects original name which was the Triforce Trilogy, which would have seen the three games titled The Mystical Seed of Courage, Wisdom, and Power had the trilogy seen release. Another notable thing about this project was that Capcom originally was slated to release six GBC Zelda games, four original titles and two remakes for existing games, while at one point the original Zelda was being remade for the GBC as part of this projcet, it was ultimately scrapped and we received only two of the six planned games.
5. True Fantasy Live Online (Xbox)
True Fantasy Live Online was a massively multiplayer online role playing game in development for the Xbox by Level-5. The game was announced in 2002 and was quickly became a high anticipated game, especially in Japan, where Microsoft made TFL it's premiere title for selling it's new Xbox Live service. Being an MMO, the game had no real story, though Microsoft was promising voice chat and servers that could house three thousand players each. Sadly, due to straining relations between Level-5 and Microsoft, the game was ultimately canceled, despite claims by Microsoft that the game was near completion. Recently, the president of Level-5, Akihiro Hino, has stated that he would like to resume work on TFLO again in the future.
4. Mega Man Mania (Gameboy Advance)
Planed for release on the Gameboy Advance, Mega Man Mania was updated and color versions of the original Gameboy Mega Man games. After several delays, various rumors had begun spreading that the game had switched to the Nintendo DS and that some of the original source code for the games had been lost, meaning that for the games to be ported, Capcom would have to rewrite the game code from scratch. Despite the fact that box art and screen shots of the game in action had been released, Capcom announced in January 2006 that the project had been put on idefinate hold due to production costs and declining support and interest for the Gameboy Advance.
3. Star Craft: Ghost (GameCube, Playstation 2, Xbox)
Announced by in 2002 by Blizzard, Star Craft Ghost was to be an stealth game based in Blizzard's popular Star Craft universe, developed by Nihilistic Software and later Swining Ape Studios, the game was planned for the GameCube, PS2, and Xbox. SC: Ghost stared Nova, a Ghost, who was trained by the Terran Dominion, in the game Nova was equipped with a cloaking device to aid in the stealth gameplay, along with several other gadgets including thermal goggles and a small EMP device. Blizzard had also planned on including several weapons in the game, presumably more for the planned multiplayer modes than the stealth based campaign, these weapons included assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, flamethrowers, and grenades, of course Nova was also training in hand to hand combat which allowed to take care of enemies more quietly. Though the game was put on indefinite hold in 2006, Blizzard stated that they were looking at possiblities with the seventh generation consoles, little information was been released on the game since it was placed on hold, Chris Metzen of Blizzard stated that elements of the game's story would likely appear in Starcraft II, furthering rumors that the game will likely never see the light of day. Currently, Blizzard has yet to formally cancel Ghost, but since we've seen little from the game since it was put on hold, the game is concidered by many to be canceled and with Blizzard more focused on Diablo III, Starcraft II, and World of Warcraft we will likely never hear anything from the game again.
2. Star Fox 2 (SNES)
Planned for release in 1995 on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Star Fox 2 was a direct sequel to the original Star Fox, unlike Star Fox 64 which was a enhanced remake of the original game. Star Fox 2 was slated to have an enhanced version of the Super FX chip and sport two new members of the Star Fox team, Fay and Miyu, and was also to be the introduction of Star Wolf, who were introduced in Star Fox 64 instead. The story of Star Fox 2 was that Andross had survived the battle in the original Star Fox and was now mobilizing his forces to conquer the Lylat System, the Star Fox team was then called to help defend Corneria from Andross' forces. Upon starting the game, the player was greeted with a map screen where you must defend Corneria from attacks by enemy forces, including fighters and Andross' interplanetary missiles, the goal of the game is to protect Corneria, making sure it's damage is kept under 100%, and to take back captured planets, some of which are guarded by members of Star Wolf. Though the game was completed, it was never released due to the impending release of the Nintendo 64, a beta version of the game can be obtained online in ROM format, this version also has a full english patch, so the game is playable despite never being released. Many elements of the game did end up being used in the later games in the series, All Range Mode and Star Wolf were in SF64 and the real time map was later used in Star Fox Command. One of the designers for the series, Takaya Imamura, said it is unlikely that the game will see a Virtual Console release, so an official release for this game, sadly, will probably never happen.
1. Sonic X-Treme (Saturn)
Originally planned as a title for the Sega 32X, development of the game was shifted to the Saturn, likely due to the commercial failure of the 32X, and the game was planned to be the first fully 3D Sonic title. The game's story was to have Sonic helping Professor Gazebo Boobowski and his daughter Tiara, the guardians of the Rings of Order, to acquire the Rings from Dr. Robotnik. The game has Sonic working his way though Sphereical worlds, somewhat similar to those found in Mario Galaxy, and despite the game never being finished a number of gameplay videos are available on Youtube and developer, Chris Senn has also made some of the music planned for the game available from his website (
http://www.senntient.com/...cts/xtreme/sxc/index.html). Sonic X-Treme has a long and interesting development history, more so than any other game on this list in my opinion, and is worth looking into. The wikipedia article is a decent start, but Senn did an interview back in 2004 for the website Lost Levels (
www.lostlevels.org) it's a great interview and Senn recounts his experiences on the project from 1994 until the game was cancelled. Ultimately, Sonic X-Treme was ultimetly cancelled, and even if the game had released it probably wouldn't have been the killer ap Sega was hoping for, as the lack of third party support and Sony's Playstation were the true nails in the Saturn's coffin.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, I would like to express my gratitude to the people who have read and commented on my previous articles, and the staff here at RFGeneration. I'd also like to mention that this list was originally intended to be longer, but information is pretty scarce or a number of the games I wanted to write about, and I'd prefer to write more than a sentence or two about each game, anyway feel free to leave a comment with your thought, opinions, or if you have an idea for a list you'd like to see me do. Thanks again, and look forward to another article from me either this weekend or early next, and expect these lists once or twice a month in addition to regular weekly updates.
