Cancelled video games project
This project concerns cancelled games in the range of 1995-2005.
Section: #
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1/4
Expected release date: Winter 2000
Electronic Gaming Monthly issue 131 (June 2000)
The game would have involved fighting many enemies on screen at once.
The game was to be a comedic mix of Gauntlet and Dynasty Warriors.
Your quest is to defeat the lord of darkness.
You would play as a fairy who gives the orders to three other characters.
That's why the game is called 1/4, because you are a fourth of a quartet.
You can choose between four characters from a selection of eight.
Electronic Gaming Monthly issue 132 (July 2000)
Edge issue 85 (June 2001)
After a year since the Tokyo Game Show 2000, 1/4 was heard of again.
On 2nd of May, 2001, 1/4 was put on indefinite hold.
From Software moved its resources to other games and scrubbed their website clean of references to 1/4, effectively cancelling it.
Gameplay from 2000
http://au.ign.com/games/14/ps2-14421
http://thegia.com/archive/psx2/1-4/1-4.html
http://thegia.com/archive/news/0004/n01m.html
http://thegia.com/archive/news/0105/n07c.html
http://www.rpgfan.com/news/2001/1116.html
https://www.unseen64.net/2008/04/10/14-rpg-dc-cancelled/
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20,000 Leagues: The Adventure Continues
20,000 Leagues: The Adventure Continues is a cancelled PC game by SouthPeak Games.
It was to to be an FMV-heavy point-and-click game loosely based on the book.
Expected release date: Q4 1999, then Spring 2000
PC PowerPlay issue 35 (April 1999)
Captain Nemo's submarine Nautilus has been discovered in the distant year of 2008.
You and your team get inside the ship.
Explorer the world with the ship, mindful that there are those out there that want the ship.
You would play as Will Stewart, the marine biologist behind the dive team.
Your crew would consist of Lisa Perettian, Larry Lockhart, and Stefan Wolffe.
The aim is to gain the approval of your crew with smart decision making.
The game was to be a puzzle-based affair, including the navigation system.
Locations would include Atlantis, Malabar, Fiji, The Lost Island, and Nemo's Antarctic base.
All the while you are chased by Jayne Abbot, who thinks the submarine can end world hunger.
The game was to use the Video Reality engine.
This makes it seem like you're playing an interactive movie.
The filming for the game took 40 days; that's longer than some films!
20,000 Leagues: The Adventure Continues began as a project for Sanctuary Woods Multimedia, Inc.
When they went belly up, the designer and writer Lee Sheldon brought the game to SouthPeak.
They heavily rewrote and redesigned everything.
20,000 Leagues was cancelled in 2000.
A new inexperienced team took over and ran it into the ground.
It was thus cancelled for quality reasons.
A strategy guide by Prima was made. Because of course. Pffft.
Footage from the demo
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6Gun / 6Gun II
It was to be a SOCOM-style third-person WWII military action strategy game.
Expected release date: 2005, then 2006
GamePro issue 192 (July 2005)
You play as the leader of GUNSLINGER Assault Team 2, a classified military unit.
An entire SEAL time is lost. Your task is to find out what happen.
The missions calls for total secrecy, yet this isn't a stealth-focused game.
The plot unfolds over four campaigns over at least twelve levels (48 missions total).
Missions would range from target elimination to hostage rescuing to blowing up targets.
The action would have the usual flavours: standard gunplay, CQC, sniping, and parachuting.
Official UK PlayStation2 Magazine issue 62 (August 2005)
Oddly, BattleBorne began working on the sequel during the production of the first game.
This was a cancelled PS3, Xbox 360, and PC game.
Getting a bit ahead of yourselves, eh lads?
Expected release date: 2007
Both games went belly-up when BattleBorne went defunct in early 2006.
It seems Acclaim going bankrupt in 2004 put Battleborne on limited time.
https://web.archive.org/web/20070102232636/http://xbox360.gamespy.com/xbox-360/6gun-ii/
https://www.ign.com/games/6gun
https://www.ign.com/articles/2007/02/01/missing-in-action-the-lost-games-of-ps2
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/news240205sixgun
https://www.unseen64.net/2008/04/15/6gun-xboxps2-cancelled
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12 Volt
It was to be an arcadey racing game featuring slot cars.
Expected release date: 2003
The game would have played like Re-Volt or S.C.A.R.S. with Micro Machines settings.
With the cars being magnetically attatched to the track, you can tackle it at full speed.
Combined with realistic physics and unconventional weapons, this could of have been a winner.
12 Volt was cancelled for unknown reasons.
Maybe the game was too complex and resource-heavy for Sproing.
https://web.archive.org/web/20040620205348/http://www.sproing.com/website/html/games_12v.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20050209000344/http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/12-volt/556925p1.html
https://www.unseen64.net/2010/02/18/12-volt-ps2-xbox-gamecube-cancelled/
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100 Bullets
100 Bullets is a cancelled PS2, PSP, and Xbox game from Acclaim.It is based on the popular graphic novel of the same name.
Expected release date: October 2004, then Fall 2004
Official Australian Xbox Magazine issue 27 (May 2004)
You play as Cole Burns from the comic.
He's the hitman of the Minutemen.
He was put into 'deep cover' via hypnosis until he was awoken by Snow Falls.
Snow Falls is a new character created for the game.
She is the second playable character in the game.
Not much is known about her.
You would alternate playing as these two as the story progresses.
Agent Graves is also involved in some way.
This game had an original story crafted by Brian Azzarello, the creator of the series.
It also had art direction from Eduardo Risso, the artist of the graphic novel.
The gameplay was to be part Max Payne and part anarchy.
You had a rage meter that builds up with kills. When full it can be unleashed to kill everyone.
You could also use enemies as human shields.
The game would have you travel from LA to Paris top Atlantic City to New York City.
It was a promising ambitious game.
Edge issue 138 (July 2004)
P2 issue 48 (July 2004)
100 Bullets was cancelled following Acclaim's bankruptcy and closure in 2004.
D3Publishing got the rights to make the 100 Bullets game adaptation in 2006.
Expected release date: Q3 2007. Cancelled.
How do you like that?
Talk about one cancelled game and I end up covering two cancelled games.
The PS2 prototype got dumped. Download link below.
https://hiddenpalace.org/100_Bullets_(Jun_30,_2004_prototype)
The Xbox prototype got dumped as well; two builds in fact!
https://hiddenpalace.org/100_Bullets_(Apr_22,_2004_prototype)
https://hiddenpalace.org/100_Bullets_(Aug_6,_2004_prototype)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_Bullets_(video_game)
https://assemblergames.com/threads/100-bullets-2004-acclaim.59830/#post-859180
http://au.ign.com/articles/2004/03/10/100-bullets
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/100-bullets-first-look/1100-6086886/
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/100-bullets-updated-impressions/1100-6091071/
https://www.unseen64.net/2008/04/15/100-bullets-by-acclaim-xboxps2-cancelled/
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1906: An Arctic Odyssey / USS Antarctica / Lost Mantis
1906: An Arctic Odyssey is a cancelled PS2 and Xbox game by Darkworks.
It was to be an survival action-adventure game loosely based on the works of Jules Verne.
Expected release date: 2001, then 2002
The year is 1906 and much of the South Pole remains a mystery.
The game would be like Alone in the Dark but set in a icy setting.
You would control two people as you fight for survival in search of the unknown.
In 2001 the title of the game was changed to USS Antarctica.
The gameplay was shifted to include team-based stealth.
It was intended to be a trilogy.
Along the way USS Antarctica was renamed to Lost Mantis.
Either that or Lost Mantis is one of the games in the trilogy.
USS Antarctica was cancelled when it failed to find a publisher.
Some of the elements from it went into another Darkworks game: Cold Fear.
How do you like that? Start with one cancelled game and end up covering three. Pffft.
Timeline:
1999: 1906: An Arctic Odyssey announced
2001: game is re-titled to USS Antarctica
2002: game is re-titled to Lost Mantis
2003: game is cancelled
https://web.archive.org/web/20010304081416fw_/http://www.darkworks-studio.com/news/1906.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20010710011248f/http://195.154.250.226:8000/uss.cfm
https://web.archive.org/web/20100925103410/http://www.hydropix.com/Gallery/thumbnails.php?album=9
https://www.ign.com/articles/2000/06/24/1906-an-antarctic-odyssey
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/1906-an-arctic-adventure-first-impression/1100-2609183/
http://www.xboxaddict.com/news/689/1906-is-renamed.html
http://www.sparth.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=45
https://www.unseen64.net/2012/03/25/1906-an-antarctic-odyssey-ps2-cancelled/
https://www.unseen64.net/2008/04/15/1906-an-antarctic-odyssey-xboxps2-cancelled
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