Missing In Action - The Evasive Games Thread

[TheRedEye]

For my first thread as Grand Overlord of Prototype Central, I'd like to start a discussion on unreleased games that have yet to be found. Specifically, I'd like to hear which unreleased game you'd most like to play. Our range can span all of gaming, from Hulk for the 2600 to Crank the Weasel for the Gamecube, and before and beyond. From there we dissect, discuss, and explore our resources for clues. With any luck, our combined archaeological digging can bring us closer to that which we crave.

Choose wisely. I don't want a list, for the time being I want your ONE holy grail of prototypedom. Words, descriptions, and pictures are optional, but appreciated. Catching someone's interest could make a huge difference. More importantly, though, I want to know why this game in particular interests you so much.

That way we can, you know, have conversations. Like normal people.

I'll begin.

http://www.lostlevels.org/urnes/ultimatejourney/uj01.jpg

I love my NES.

Sure, I was born with a 2600 in the house, I spent more time with my Genesis than my mother, and I had my first complete revelation of what a videogame should be with my PC, but the NES is tops in my book.

It's hard to describe, really, but NES games just had that...feel. They're smooth. Natural. Even the more unique titles, as few and far between as they are, have a familiarity to them that fits my gaming psyche like a glove.

I don't think it's a tangible quality. Master System games, for example, feel klunky. As smooth as the gameplay, graphics, and sound might be, Alex Kidd (god bless the monkey-assed bastard) feels like a floating cardboard cutout gliding across my screen. Wonderboy III, brilliant as it is, simply responds to my commands. It doesn't immerse me. I am not Wonderboy when I play, I am merely his god. Which is fucking boring.

Nostalgia? Conditioning? Likely. But I find myself more excited playing a new game with that "NES feel" than most anything. It's like discovering a lost part of my childhood, like seeing a crucial deleted scene to your favorite movie. Even if it's crap, it's a piece of that unspoken puzzle.

http://www.lostlevels.org/urnes/ultimatejourney/uj04.jpg

Ultimate Journey, planned by Bandai for a summer 1991 release, looks unremarkable in every conceivable way.

"[It's] not an innovation in any sense, just good action with some twists!" said EGM's review.

Ultimate Journey was to put you in the role of a young Native American tribesman named Mojavo. Mojavo's nameless tribe has been experiencing something of a hassle with its local medicine man, Wrathkon. It seems Wrathkon is unsatisfied with the simple limits of the tribe's traditional practices, and decides to explore his options a bit. Ultimately, he turns to the dark side, practicing forbidden black magic.

Wanting no affiliation with such madness, the tribe's chief exiles Wrathkon from their village and appoints a new medicine man, Haypavo.

Life goes on in the village, even as Wrathkon erects a foreboding castle deep over the horizon.

http://www.lostlevels.org/urnes/ultimatejourney/uj32.jpg

While Mojavo is away, hunting for food, Wrathkon returns. The attack is both unexpected and unavoidable. He destroys the entire village and its inhabitants, and runs off with Haypavo, so that he may absorb his magical qualities and increase his own power.

Mojavo comes back to see his home and entire civilization destroyed. His father's dying words reveal that he and his tribe can never rest in peace until Wrathkon is destroyed. And thus begins the ultimate journey to seek out and kill Wrathkon, traversing by foot to the top of Outcast Mountain, where his castlie lies in wait.

http://www.lostlevels.org/urnes/ultimatejourney/uj02.jpg

From the brief reviews and screenshots that we have, Ultimate Journey seems for all the world like a very typical addition to the "jump around and beat people up on your NES" genre. And at its core, I'm sure that it is.

The game adds a few twists. Mojavo's spirit grows as he journeys forward. In stereotypical Indian fashion, he's able to transform into animal spirits in later levels.

http://www.lostlevels.org/urnes/ultimatejourney/uj23.jpg

By the time Mojavo reaches Wrathkon's castle, he has become a full-fledged chieftan, and can do cool stuff like shoot fire.

http://www.lostlevels.org/urnes/ultimatejourney/uj30.jpg

What follows is, I'm sure, a very substandard ending to a game with little ambition to begin with.

Why do I want to play this? I don't know. It's the familiarity I'm sure. The NES is full of what I call the Ninja Gaiden Genre which, as mediocre as it can get, is one that I enjoy.

And ultimately, one that doesn't exist much anymore. It's simplicity. I don't imagine there's much plot complication or puzzle-solving here and, like the other games that inspired it, I'm sure it's repetitive and cliched. Ultimate Journey would not have offered anything in the way of innovation.

But maybe that's what I want. As I get older, I'm starting to think that we should focus on approaching an idea at all angles before moving on to bigger and better innovations. I'm sure most would disagree with me, but I welcome, let's say, the onslaught of Grand Theft Auto clones for the time being. There's a lot that can be done there with the genre. Let's see everyone throw their minor little tweaks an innovations into the pool. How else are we going to learn what works and what doesn't?

Most likely, though, I'm just thinking too much. The hunt, as I've always said, is much more rewarding than the prize.

[Dr. Morbis]

Well, I'll tell you that my prototype holy grail is Bio-Force Ape. When I first saw that blurb in NP as a child, I wanted to play it so badly that I told my mom that I wanted it for my birthday a month ahead of time. I'm STILL waiting. I don't know if it's the name or the bizarre description in NP that drew me to this game, but I am sure that it's complete (or very near complete).

I'm waiting for the day that it gets it's due in a feature on the lost levels.

[TheRedEye]

I'm waiting for the day that it gets it's due in a feature on the lost levels.

Me too. We've got some REALLY cool stuff up our sleeves, but not that, unfortunately. Here's some scans of mine, to tide you over. Or drive you insane.

http://www.lostlevels.org/urnes/bioforceape01.jpg
http://www.lostlevels.org/urnes/bioforceape02.jpg
http://www.lostlevels.org/urnes/bioforceape03.jpg
http://www.lostlevels.org/urnes/bioforceape04.jpg
http://www.lostlevels.org/urnes/bioforceape05.jpg

I wish every magazine had Nintendo Power's paper quality back then.

[Bratwurst]

Where did those scans come from of Ultimate Journey, Red? I can't say that I read every magazine back in the day but I never heard of this one up 'till now. I even remember Bio Force Ape- same ish that NP was talking about a US port of Ufouria, am I right?

The concept of developing a full head dress is bad-ass I must say.

[TheRedEye]

I'm not sure of where any individual scans came from, but I know my collection of scans came from EGM, Game Players, Nintendo Power, and GamePro. I'm actually missing a few published ones too, I need to flesh out my library a bit more.

[ArnoldRimmer83]

I have to only choose one proto? Very hard choice, but I guess I'd go with Donkey Music Education, an early Famicom proto. Some screens can be found on Skrybe's unreleased Nes page.

http://64.53.95.207/ujap/dkmusic/dkmusic.html

I loved Nintendo 83-86 early releases. I even have a soft spot for Urban Champion. For whatever reason, these early titles evoked a nice feel, and were simple yet addicting enough to play for a long time.

When I learned about DK Music, I was disappointed to find out it was a cancelled game. Ever since seeing those screens I often fantisized playing it. One thing that looks interesting about the game, is that it seems to use a new engine, and new graphic poses for Donkey Kong and the gang. The previous educational games by Nintendo, were just DK Jr, and Popeye's engines reused.

This is a very bizarre choice I know, but me and the early Nes releases go way back. I still have very strong nostalgia for them, and playing a lost title from that era would be very fascinating to me. Even if it's an educational one.

Unfortunately the game will probably never be dumped, cause it's a first party Nintendo proto, specifically a Japan one. And the game is very old, and if a proto even existed at one point for it, it could be long gone by now. There's also the possibility that it never even got to proto stage and those screens are just mock ups. (A scenario that occured to me after Final Fantasy 4 Famicom.) Well here's hoping it exists somewhere. With all these rereleases of old Famicom games, the only way Nintendo would get me to willingly pay for them is to release this game. Heh

[badinsults]

I would have loved to see Transformers for the snes, but this game was only rumored to be in development. It was supposed to use the Super FX chip.

[TheRedEye]

I actually Photoshopped out the watermarks on those Donkey Kong shots for an upcoming magazine feature, so I guess I may as well post them:

http://www.lostlevels.org/dkme/01.jpg
http://www.lostlevels.org/dkme/02.jpg
http://www.lostlevels.org/dkme/03.jpg
http://www.lostlevels.org/dkme/04.jpg

Also, I'd never heard of that Transformers project. Did it get magazine coverage?

[Kid Fenris]

I don't think it's a tangible quality. Master System games, for example, feel klunky. As smooth as the gameplay, graphics, and sound might be, Alex Kidd (god bless the monkey-assed bastard) feels like a floating cardboard cutout gliding across my screen. Wonderboy III, brilliant as it is, simply responds to my commands. It doesn't immerse me. I am not Wonderboy when I play, I am merely his god. Which is fucking boring.

Hey, you're not TheRedEye! You're TIM ROGERS!

Anyway, I guess it's my turn.

When the PlayStation hit, most developers used the system for 3-D stuff: Warhawk, Ridge Racer, Assault Rigs. That sort of thing. A smaller share of companies ignored this brave new polygon world and instead explored traditional 2-D game design, creating such old-fashioned tiles as Gunners Heaven, Arc the Lad, and Hermie Hopperhead. Amid the glut of PlayStation software, most of these 2-D throwbacks were ignored, and at least one game was canceled entirely. That game was Data West’s Bounty Arms.

Never even slated for a release outside of Japan, Bounty Arms was, to my knowledge, featured in only one American magazine: the April 1995 issue of Diehard GameFan. Here, Nick Rox padded out a hodgepodge page of PlayStation previews with a four-screenshot, two-sentence look at Bounty Arms.


http://www.kidfenris.com/bountyarms.jpg

This scant coverage tells us little about Bounty Arms aside from its genre, the field of overhead shooters typified by Capcom’s Commando. We see some cool flame effects, a huge robotic serpent boss, some metal structure, and the game’s two playable characters, who are evidently named Chris and Rei. That’s it. Months later, GameFan mentioned Bounty Arms again, this time in response to reader’s inquiry about the game. “Canceled, I suppose,” was the curt reply.

Why am I interested in Bounty Arms? Well, I like shooters, and I like obscure imports that let you sound vaguely erudite when you mention them. What’s more, Data West made some fairly good 2-D games, including a decent Zelda rip-off called Brave Prove and a grueling line of Gradius-style shooters known as Rayxanber. I’d like to think that they could do just as well with a Mercs/Commando/Outzone clone.

And well-made Commando clones are hard to come by. Outside of SNK’s Shock Troopers series, there hasn’t been a decent example of the genre in years. Sadder still, it’s a line of games that died before it was truly born, before its formula was brought as near to perfection as possible. A genre needs an icon: Super Mario Bros 3 for platformers, Radiant Silvergun for shooters, Grim Fandango for adventure games, and so on. Commando-style titles have no such champion. Hell, they don’t even have a proper place in gaming nomenclature. Should we call them vertical character shooters? South American Commando Slaughters? Run-and-guns? Ugh.

Bounty Arms might not be the lost savior of that unnamed genre, but it seems a shade more inventive than the usual commando slaughter, what with the robot snake and rings of fire and aren't-we-cute heroines. A shame that it’s even harder to research than canceled American games. I doubt that anyone over here had prototypes –even Nick Rox was probably using shots from a Japanese publication. Data West is still around, though they’re down to making boring graphic adventure games, and their site (http://www.datawest.co.jp/amusement/gamefra.html) doesn’t mention Bounty Arms. For all I know, they've deleted the game from their records completely.

Anyway, I keep my eyes open. I sift through Google once in a while, seeing Bounty Arms mentioned only in early PlayStation release lists. I check eBay for any Japanese gaming magazines from 1995. And I bring it up in discussions like this.

[TheRedEye]

Hey, you're not TheRedEye! You're TIM ROGERS!

BRING ON THE MIDDLE-AGED ASIAN WOMEN.

Seriously, though, did Tim say something similar? Or did my vague writing "style" slip into his voice for a second?

Anywho, good post. You got about a million bonus points when you said that Grim Fandango was the pinnacle of adventure gaming. Wish I could help with better screenshots, but I don't have that issue.

Hey, at least I know where your Lost Levels Forums avatar came from now!

Good luck with that. If I were you, my first goal would be to figure out how "Bounty Arms" was being written, character-wise, in Japan. I'd be surprised if there isn't already a website with screenshots, you just need to plug the proper characters into Yahoo Japan.

[Kid Fenris]

Hey, you're not TheRedEye! You're TIM ROGERS!

BRING ON THE MIDDLE-AGED ASIAN WOMEN.

Seriously, though, did Tim say something similar? Or did my vague writing "style" slip into his voice for a second?

The latter, sort of. The tone of that passage vaguely reminded me of Tim's stuff, only without a reference to, say, a Shibuya guitar shop that sells replacement strings shaped like uncooked ramen. And the Japanese girl who loves them.


Anywho, good post. You got about a million bonus points when you said that Grim Fandango was the pinnacle of adventure gaming. Wish I could help with better screenshots, but I don't have that issue.

No worries. I've got the issue and bigger scans of the screenshots. They've been analyzed in excruciating detail.


Good luck with that. If I were you, my first goal would be to figure out how "Bounty Arms" was being written, character-wise, in Japan. I'd be surprised if there isn't already a website with screenshots, you just need to
plug the proper characters into Yahoo Japan.

Good idea. The few relevant Japanese sites that I've found put "BOUNTY ARMS" in all-caps English, but I'm sure I'll have better luck when I work out the katakana spelling.

By the way, was Ultimate Journey ever supposed to come out in Japan, perhaps under a different title? I was under the impression that Bandai had only Japanese developers in the NES era.

[TheRedEye]

By the way, was Ultimate Journey ever supposed to come out in Japan, perhaps under a different title? I was under the impression that Bandai had only Japanese developers in the NES era.

Well, I don't have any Japanese magazines, but there are some great online resources. None of them have it listed. But you're wrong about Japanese exclusivisity, lest we forget Dick Tracy, Gilligan's Island (though it was DEVELOPED in Japan), Toxic Crusader, and The Rocketeer.

...actually, on second thought, I think I'd rather forget those.

[gamergary]

Legend of Hero Tonma for famicom and nes. Looked like a good game but it probably wouldn't compare to the pc engine version.

[adaml]

As smooth as the gameplay, graphics, and sound might be, Alex Kidd (god bless the monkey-assed bastard) feels like a floating cardboard cutout gliding across my screen.

You've written out exactly what I have been trying to put into words about the SMS for years.

Don't get me wrong, I actually enjoy playing most SMS games, as they have more in common to my beloved NES than anything on any recent console, but you pretty much hit that puppy right on the head. Alex Kidd controls like most of the Color Dreams/Wisdom Tree characters.

Poor Raccoon Lad can't be enjoying this thread too much.

Speaking of the SMS, has anyone ever confirmed an SMS Godfather proto? THAT would be something.

As for my NES holy grail, there's still something about Black Tiger. Perhaps seeing a screen shot in that old Game Players (I think it was Game Players) way back when I first started playing the NES and knowing it would have been an early NES Capcom title make it the one game I would absolutely love to play. Unfortunately, the one screenshot of the game ( You have to copy and paste the following link to actuall see it: http://nestral.topcities.com/nr2/blackt.jpg ) leaves a lot to be desired and I wonder if the pic is even from a proposed NES version.

"It's you against a tremendous blue dragon in a fight to the death. A great wise man has been captured by the sinister serpent and taken to its lair. You can save him only if you collect important weapons and defeat the goblins and warriors that block your way." - Game Players for Nintendo Vol 1 #1 (pg 102).

Don't you just want to play it? The wise man couldn't have been too wise to have been captured by a serpent. Think about the logistics. Did the serpent have arms to carry away the wise man? Did he have hench-men that carried out the deed? We may never know.

The mysterious Black Tiger was last mentioned in a March 1990 Funco ad. It was never mentioned in any official Nintendo publication, so my best guess says that a proto never came out and that pic was indeed from a different platform, most likely the C64 ( http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/c64/data/1272.html ).

Thanks to JeffD's Unreleased (& Rumored) NES Games list for the references.

[adaml]

Something else that's been bugging me: Has someone at Digital Press actually confirmed a Gun.Smoke 2 prototype? It is listed in the 5th and 6th editions.

[TheRedEye]

Just for confirmation, Gun.Smoke 2 is in the Rumor Mill section, which doesn't mean that a prototype has been confirmed, but that the game was at the very least rumored to be in development at one point.

Where? When? I have no idea. It was added to the guide before my time.

[jerkov]

This is a very interesting topic......I'm going to have to go with Ace Harding: Lost in Las Vegas for the NES, which is the sequel to Deja Vu. I know it's an old PC game and it finally saw a release on the Game Boy Color a few years back, but I'd still give a hell of a lot to get my hands on the NES version. I am (and have been since I was a kid) a huge fan of the ICOM simulation games; I remember following the development of the game in Nintendo Power and keeping track of Funcoland's monthly price lists to see if the game had been released or not. I remember buying a used copy of Uninvited at a Funcoland years back and taking a price list just to see what a used copy of Ace Harding would be as soon as it came out - I was really excited over its impending release. I may have even asked for the game for my birthday or for Christmas, but I can't remember if I actually did. Needless to say, it never came out and I never heard of a prototype being found. I picked up a copy of Deja Vu 1 & 2 for the Game Boy Color as soon as it hit stores, but it's not quite the same as playing the unreleased NES version.

Although I'm cheating a little bit, it'd be damn cool if anyone ever discovered a prototype of that Shadowgate Rising game for N64.....

[Postermen]

http://www.lostlevels.org/dkme/02.jpg


What game is this song from? It is driving me crazy!

[TheRedEye]

I'm going to have to go with Ace Harding: Lost in Las Vegas for the NES, which is the sequel to Deja Vu.

Ah, yes, another of the ones I'd love to see. I agree: while the game is easily available for the PC and Gameboy, I know Deja Vu as an NES game. In all honesty, although I loved the first one, I have yet to play the sequel in the hopes that the NES version turns up.

And in keeping with the tradition of this thread:

http://www.lostlevels.org/urnes/aceharding01.jpg
http://www.lostlevels.org/urnes/aceharding02.jpg
http://www.lostlevels.org/urnes/aceharding03.jpg


Although I'm cheating a little bit, it'd be damn cool if anyone ever discovered a prototype of that Shadowgate Rising game for N64.....

I kind of doubt one exists. From what I'm reading it only really got as far as a stable development environment, which means next to nothing for one looking to play a game. If you haven't seen it, TRM has a thread (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28095) about the game, which is looking kind of lonely. Why don't you go revive it?

[Postermen]

I just hit me that the song is the Frogger song.

[TheRedEye]

EDIT: ^^beaten


What game is this song from? It is driving me crazy!

I have no idea. I don't recognize the title as a Famicom game. What are you reading, the title or the music? Can you make us a MIDI of it?

[jerkov]

TheRedEye, I agree with everything you said about Ace Harding; even though Deja Vu was a computer game long before it was ported to the NES, I'll still always remember it as an NES game. That's why I'd love to get my hands on a prototype of Ace Harding. I also appreciate those screenshots; those all appeared in Nintendo Power, didn't they? Takes me back about 10 or 11 years.....

I would have to assume that Kemco must have been pretty much finished with the game, based on those screenshots and the fact that it was a rumored release for so long. I'm just guessing here, but it wouldn't surprise me if they decided to scrap the project because of the declining sales of the NES in the 16-bit era. This just gives me the hope that a real prototype of the game will surface one day.

As far as the Game Boy version, I just couldn't resist playing it after all these years. I even had the PC version on one of my old computers a while ago, but I didn't play it a whole lot. I have beaten the Game Boy version, but it's been years since I've played it and I honestly don't remember a whole lot about the game. Like I said before, I'd still love to play through the NES version.

[Reverend JagDiesel]

Shelock Holmes Consulting Detective for the Odyssey2 is my must have-never released game...
The later games for the Odyssey2 actually had some fun value to them. The Master Strategy Series games were way ahead of their time, with the use of Board game, Keyboard overlay, and multiple players in action/adventure games.
I know there's supposed to be a copy of this somewhere out there.. If only it could make its way into my grubby paws!

[TRM]

Another comment on the Deja Vu 2 game. As with the rest of you guys, I would love for a prototype of the NES version to turn up. On the Gameboy Color version, the commands are all picture-based for Deja Vu 2 (and 1 as well? I can't remember...) I was upset by this, the text commands are so much nicer.

[TheRedEye]

I know there's supposed to be a copy of this somewhere out there.. If only it could make its way into my grubby paws!

Well, yeah, someone has a prototype of the game code itself, but none of the board game crap! I'll bet that even if you had the game, you couldn't have much fun without the other stuff.

[Reverend JagDiesel]

Maybe, maybe not.. Its amazing what a bored mind can come up with!

[TheRedEye]

The "As Seen in Octopussy" shot looks nice, and actually kind of believable. Moonraker in 3D, though? Yuck.

Also, Roger Moore is no James Bond.

[Skrybe]

Just for confirmation, Gun.Smoke 2 is in the Rumor Mill section, which doesn't mean that a prototype has been confirmed, but that the game was at the very least rumored to be in development at one point.

Where? When? I have no idea. It was added to the guide before my time.
I very clearly remember someone posting a list of supposedly verified protos, including a PAL version of Gun.Smoke 2, over at Sardius' old Bravenet board. I was under the assumption that they were all owned by the same person, and War on Wheels was on the list too. Has anyone asked the guy who owns War on Wheels about Gun.Smoke 2?

And my most wanted unreleased game? The uncensored Famicom version of Monster Party, no question about that.

[TheRedEye]

War on Wheels is owned by Chris Bienick at Tips & Tricks. He most certainly does not have Gun.Smoke 2.

[Roi]

This topic deserves a kick!

http://img.neoseeker.com/p/Games/Dreamcast/Strategy/Tactical/picassio_mini.jpg
Since I saw this image in a N64 magazine (the were talking about the Dolphin) I fell in love with Picassio! (Cube/DC)

[emumuumuucowgomoo]

For my first thread as Grand Overlord of Prototype Central, I'd like to start a discussion on unreleased games that have yet to be found. Specifically, I'd like to hear which unreleased game you'd most like to play. Our range can span all of gaming, from Hulk for the 2600 to Crank the Weasel for the Gamecube, and before and beyond. From there we dissect, discuss, and explore our resources for clues. With any luck, our combined archaeological digging can bring us closer to that which we crave.



Sam and Max 2.


SAM. AND MAX. 2.

SAM.
AND.
GODDAMN.
MAX
2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2 SAM AND MAX 2.

And speaking of which, someone mentioned Grim Fandango in this thread, another fine release by Lucasarts, arguably the last quality release they ever put out before turning into "George Lucas and His Talentless Workerbee Hivemind Drones Pump Out Shitty Star Wars Games for Imbecilic 13 Year Olds Who Don't Give a Crap About Arts". It's a graphic adventure, and that leads me in a roundabout way to the point:


SAM AND FUCKING GODDAMN MAX {HIT THE ROAD} 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And that is all.

I would really like very much to see this game ever released, finished, finished and released, or the rights picked up by a company that doesn't suck, though I don't know if such a thing exists in the Graphic Adventure market these days.

[TheRedEye]

A good majority of the Sam & Max: Freelance Police team is working at Telltale Games on Bone.

[lurpak]

Sherlock Holmes - consulting detective, master strategy Odyssey 2 game...

how I would love anything on this, artwork, concept, let alone a game.


but more reasonable...

A G7000 version of the great wall street fortune hunt..

Im sure there will be one somewhere, with a videopac box and everything..

[Mouse]

I would have loved to see Transformers for the snes, but this game was only rumored to be in development. It was supposed to use the Super FX chip.

Sorry for the thread necrophelia here. I remember the Transformers for SNES rumor. It was born of people seeing an early version of what became Vortex, the Super FX chip game. Some old Gamefan or something is where this comes from IIRC. But I definitely remember this rumor, and it definitely turned out to be Vortex.

[badinsults]

Sorry for the thread necrophelia here. I remember the Transformers for SNES rumor. It was born of people seeing an early version of what became Vortex, the Super FX chip game. Some old Gamefan or something is where this comes from IIRC. But I definitely remember this rumor, and it definitely turned out to be Vortex.

That is what I assumed to.

[ubersaurus]

I'd love to see that Harrier game that was in the works for N64. I remember waiting and waiting for that to come out, and uh...it never did.

[Mouse]

Yeah, I have a big stack of old Gamefans. I'm not sure which one it's from, but it's gotta be in there. I was really interested in Vortex until I actually played it.

[handofg0d]

I'm actually missing a few published ones too, I need to flesh out my library a bit more.

Here are a few I found:
http://www.retrones.com/Juegos%20Descartados/Ultimate%20Journey/uj6.jpg
http://www.retrones.com/Juegos%20Descartados/Ultimate%20Journey/uj5.jpg
http://www.retrones.com/Juegos%20Descartados/Ultimate%20Journey/uj4.jpg

[Dutchman2000]

My one prototype I'd like to see is Atari 2600 Zookeeper. The sounds that I recovered were very good and for a 16k SARA chip game, it might have been really good. We may never know....

[Ed Oscuro]

Arc Hound, by Konami...I've heard conflicting things about this (including how it's spelt, some say Arkhound, I believe); some say it's Contra Force, other people say it ain't.

[MissingNo_1231]

well, I hope I'm not going off some kind of topic or anything...

But my dream is really to play a full working English version of Earthbound 64.

[Tupin]

well, I hope I'm not going off some kind of topic or anything...

But my dream is really to play a full working English version of Earthbound 64.
Well, the game switched platforms three times (started on just N64, went to N64DD, and then back to N64), and also had a playable demo, so there's probably at least one floating around. Most likely not in English, and most likely in a dark corner of NOA's basement.

If by any chance they DO find it, they won't release it. Remember when they found Sim City on NES while moving and gloated about it in their magazine?

[MissingNo_1231]

Well, the game switched platforms three times (started on just N64, went to N64DD, and then back to N64), and also had a playable demo, so there's probably at least one floating around. Most likely not in English, and most likely in a dark corner of NOA's basement.

If by any chance they DO find it, they won't release it. Remember when they found Sim City on NES while moving and gloated about it in their magazine?

eh, I think you're right dude.

But still, one can dream.

[PACHUKA]

The first version of Resident Evil 2 (I'm done calling it 1.5 anymore) which I managed to locate a copy finally. Now all I need is an insane amount of money to toss at it.

A much later version of Sonic Xtreme, although that game has kinda played itself out with the holy grail routine.

Virtua Hamster 32x, Castlevania 32x, The dreamcast Castlevania, Toejam & Earl 3 on DC, Socks the Cat, Myst on sega CD (No joke), Zelda 64 (Before it became what it is today) Resident Evil Zero for N64, and finally Shadowhawk for the SNES. Probably some others I'm forgetting.

[WindowsKiller]

The first version of Resident Evil 2 (I'm done calling it 1.5 anymore) which I managed to locate a copy finally. Now all I need is an insane amount of money to toss at it.

Me too. Donate $10,000 and I'll release it. LOL

[k8track]

I totally missed this thread the first time. Now I'm obsessed with wanting to find and play Donkey Music Education. Looks very cool, and I too love the very first NES/ Famicom games.


I actually Photoshopped out the watermarks on those Donkey Kong shots for an upcoming magazine feature, so I guess I may as well post them:



http://www.lostlevels.org/dkme/03.jpg
http://www.lostlevels.org/dkme/04.jpg



Just for the record, the song in these two screenshots is "I've Been Working on the Railroad", just in case any of you have been wondering about that for the past 4 and 2/3 years.

[DreamTR]

How is Virtua Hamster not dumped? There's like 5+ copies floating around....

[PACHUKA]

Me too. Donate $10,000 and I'll release it. LOL

yeah yeah, you don't have it either.

[PACHUKA]

How is Virtua Hamster not dumped? There's like 5+ copies floating around....

Hoarders.

[DreamTR]

Hoarders.

Let's not start this crap again. If you have the money to buy this stuff to get it dumped, or sold to you, I am sure people are more than willing to do it.

[Tupin]

Hoarders.
Someone around here was selling it, if only they would have sold it earlier this year....

Donkey Music Education has to be out there somewhere. The only way we'll ever get to play it is if some pirate puts it on a multigame cart.

Ah, if only Popeye was good at teaching English and DK Jr. at Math, we might have gotten DK to teach us Music. LOL

[Tupin]

Let's not start this crap again. If you have the money to buy this stuff to get it dumped, or sold to you, I am sure people are more than willing to do it.
If I found a Virtua Hamster proto, I would dump it. (but not before gloating :p) The only case in which I wouldn't dump something is when I discovered a game no one knew about or that I was looking for myself.

In either case, I would back it up to a computer.

[DreamTR]

If I found a Virtua Hamster proto, I would dump it. (but not before gloating :p) The only case in which I wouldn't dump something is when I discovered a game no one knew about or that I was looking for myself.

In either case, I would back it up to a computer.


Anything I've ever had "dumped" I've had to send to someone to do it. It's not like everyone in the world has time or can just figure out how to dump EPROMS. I don't even have an emulator on my computer myself. I do have a Virtua Hamster proto sitting in a box somewhere that I will gladly dump/get the ROM released as long as get enough back to compensate what I paid for it so it's not completely devalued.


About Donkey Kong Music, I seriously doubt that is anywhere but inside internal Nintendo.

[Guy Bramsworth]

The first version of Resident Evil 2 (I'm done calling it 1.5 anymore) which I managed to locate a copy finally. Now all I need is an insane amount of money to toss at it.


So what,s going on with this, are you setting up a fund like drx does? Have you told that bioflames community yet? I'm sure they'd go nuts!

I don't personally care about this game, just curious :p

[jondrewfoo]

ugh, to whomever brought up the sim city nes proto that nintendo found and posted about in the tenth anniversary or whatever special edition it was, thanks for ruining my day again, i was just getting over reading that a week or two ago... at least we know the differences in the game, they talked about them beside the screenshots...

[Tupin]

ugh, to whomever brought up the sim city nes proto that nintendo found and posted about in the tenth anniversary or whatever special edition it was, thanks for ruining my day again, i was just getting over reading that a week or two ago... at least we know the differences in the game, they talked about them beside the screenshots...
What issue was that again? Wikipedia says July 2005, but I remember reading about it in mid to late 2007 at the earliest.

[PACHUKA]

Let's not start this crap again. If you have the money to buy this stuff to get it dumped, or sold to you, I am sure people are more than willing to do it.

Already done my fair share thx. If I get more, I'll dump it or have it dumped, like I always have.

[ProgrammingAce]

I had about a terabyte worth of betas for ps2/xbox that i tried to give away. Nobody could handle the bandwidth A couple i tried to have distributed ended up getting horded by the people at assemblergames, which left a bad taste in my mouth. I ended up selling them off for less then $3 each. I doubt the buyer will ever dump them...

[PACHUKA]

I had about a terabyte worth of betas for ps2/xbox that i tried to give away. Nobody could handle the bandwidth A couple i tried to have distributed ended up getting horded by the people at assemblergames, which left a bad taste in my mouth. I ended up selling them off for less then $3 each. I doubt the buyer will ever dump them...

Relay them to me. I seed a lot of torrents based around prototypes. I have ripped a few PS2 prototypes, mostly just review discs. One or two were mid-production and are currently on sites like bitgamer and such.

[PACHUKA]

aw fuck I reread that. tis the season to type on eggnog.

[DreamTR]

Already done my fair share thx. If I get more, I'll dump it or have it dumped, like I always have.


and I haven't done my fair share? Like I said, if someone wants to pay me like always, sure, but I'm not obligated to go through games and change my life around to get things dumped. Drx and TheRedEye have worked with me before on getting my stuff dumped, which works a lot better than you think.

[Cryomancer]

I brought a harddrive with me to MGC like you said ProgAce, but I never did find you. I would have gladly taken them off your hands then. Hell I still am if we can arrange a meeting or something. Any decent game related private tracker would love to have them as well I'm sure.

[PACHUKA]

and I haven't done my fair share? Like I said, if someone wants to pay me like always, sure, but I'm not obligated to go through games and change my life around to get things dumped. Drx and TheRedEye have worked with me before on getting my stuff dumped, which works a lot better than you think.

I'm not 100% sure where you got the idea that I said you didn't. Take a chill pill homeboy, no one is calling you out. I think maybe the fact that the internet lacks tone and emotion through text kinda pushes you to infer things that aren't there. I'm using the term hoard in it's purest form. Which means to hide. If something is hidden, as far as I'm concerned it's hoarded. I think people 'round these parts are a little too sensitive. You're not obligated nor did I state you were. Relax.

[DreamTR]

I'm not 100% sure where you got the idea that I said you didn't. Take a chill pill homeboy, no one is calling you out. I think maybe the fact that the internet lacks tone and emotion through text kinda pushes you to infer things that aren't there. I'm using the term hoard in it's purest form. Which means to hide. If something is hidden, as far as I'm concerned it's hoarded. I think people 'round these parts are a little too sensitive. You're not obligated nor did I state you were. Relax.

I'm sorry if I misinterpreted it...

[MASTERWEEDO]

I'm still waiting on Mutant League Basketball, or Zombie High.

[PACHUKA]

I'm sorry if I misinterpreted it...

It's all gravy dawg. I have a very sharp and irritating personality.

[Borman]

I had about a terabyte worth of betas for ps2/xbox that i tried to give away. Nobody could handle the bandwidth A couple i tried to have distributed ended up getting horded by the people at assemblergames, which left a bad taste in my mouth. I ended up selling them off for less then $3 each. I doubt the buyer will ever dump them...

I know I forgot to release ZoE, damn lol. I think it crashed on my PS2 though, and was waiting to get it to work. I know I released Red Star e3, which was the only other thing you sent me. So I hope that wasnt directed totally at me :P

[Borman]

And to make up for it, heres Zone of the Enders, TGS 2000. I know it crashed on my PS2, but who knows, maybe its of use to someone else.

http://rapidshare.com/files/177226609/ZoneOfTheEndersTGS2000.zip

Sorry about that Ace.

[PACHUKA]

And to make up for it, heres Zone of the Enders, TGS 2000. I know it crashed on my PS2, but who knows, maybe its of use to someone else.

http://rapidshare.com/files/177226609/ZoneOfTheEndersTGS2000.zip

Sorry about that Ace.

Wow, that game reminds me a LOT of Sega's Virtual ON

[parallaxscroll]

Vasum aka Dando for the Mega Drive / Genesis, by Treco


http://i30.tinypic.com/358dwy8.jpg
http://i31.tinypic.com/eufq4g.jpg
http://i29.tinypic.com/xb0kur.jpg
http://i29.tinypic.com/zjukhw.jpg
http://i30.tinypic.com/2cxukck.jpg

http://www.disgruntleddesigner.com/chrisc/1990/Vasum-101990.jpg

[ProgrammingAce]

I know I forgot to release ZoE, damn lol. I think it crashed on my PS2 though, and was waiting to get it to work. I know I released Red Star e3, which was the only other thing you sent me. So I hope that wasnt directed totally at me :P

That wasn't directed at you, I tried to get a few more things out the door that didn't end so well.

Thx!


If anyone else has trouble getting it to run, i might have screwed up the rip. LMK, and i'll dump it again.

[Borman]

Ah that sucks :\ Im always good for it, so long as I remember lol