Another unreleased game for the SNES - scans found!

[Kitsune Sniper]

I mentioned this game to a few people a few years ago, but nobody believed me back then. Well, this time I HAVE PROOF!

Anyway. Back in 1996, Nintendo of Mexico was supposedly planning to bring over a videogame based upon a very famous (at the time) anime. The game?



Yep. Screens of a prototype English version of Dragon Ball Z: Super Butouden 2 were published in the March 1996 issue of Club Nintendo. I've been trying to track down the magazine for a few years now, and recently a friend of mine (Furahi) scanned the article with info on the game for me. He sent me high resolution PNGs (available upon request), which I downsampled and posted on my website.

http://vice.parodius.com/stuff/dbz/

I won't really bother translating the article, since it's 95% made up of instructions on how to play the game. The last scan only has some info on the (as of then) unknown characters - the series hadn't gotten that far when the game was planned for release in Mexico. I believe we were barely at the end of Dragon Ball! The only thing worth mentioning is the opening paragraph:

"It seems like Bandai is finally giving in, thanks to the negotiations that Itochu (Mr. Kikuchi*) has made with the company - they'll be sending Dragon Ball to our continent, or at the very least, Latin America. The game is based on the hit TV series of the same name, and it's made us happy because this could be the first title of many which are brought to our market, straight from Japan. We may not get it in Spanish, but depending on how well this game sells, we may be able to demand/request Spanish localizations."

(* Mr. Kikuchi was Teruhide Kikuchi, then CEO of C.Itoh of Mexico, the company which distributed all Nintendo products back in those days. I don't know what he's doing now, or how distribution is handled nowadays.)

The letters column in a later issue had an inquiry regarding the status of the project. The magazine declared it officially cancelled due to licensing costs - they claimed that it would be too expensive to pay for the rights to publish something based on Dragon Ball.

... so yeah. Did anyone hear of this project in your US magazines? I know the French got this game (and the other three SNES games)... but I don't recall anyone here mentioning this anywhere.

[mills]

Hmmm...should I play with 1 or 2 people?

Nah....I like to watch

[cyberfluxor]

I've played the ROM of this game that was JP but would have been nice to get a North America release. I do believe however that a group translated the game and released a ROM for English but can't recall 100%.

I'm currious btw, did they release the RPG game in America? I remember playing a translation ROM but never seen an actual copy of a North America version.

[Abelardo]

Hi,
I actually got this issue of Club Nintendo (I am from Mexico), also got a few others, not too many of them (probably my parents trew a lot of those away), I also remember they had a Super Metroid prototype (I can't find the issue), I don't know if that has been dumped, I'm sure these guys had a lot of prototypes.
I would like to help, but how?

[Kitsune Sniper]

Hi,
I actually got this issue of Club Nintendo (I am from Mexico), also got a few others, not too many of them (probably my parents trew a lot of those away), I also remember they had a Super Metroid prototype (I can't find the issue), I don't know if that has been dumped, I'm sure these guys had a lot of prototypes.
I would like to help, but how?

I don't really remember seeing any info on Super Metroid. Then again it's been years since I've seen these magazines...

Do you mean a prototype Spanish Super Metroid? Or something else?

[Daria]

I'm currious btw, did they release the RPG game in America? I remember playing a translation ROM but never seen an actual copy of a North America version.

No they didn't.

[Abelardo]

Hi,
I actually got this issue of Club Nintendo (I am from Mexico), also got a few others, not too many of them (probably my parents trew a lot of those away), I also remember they had a Super Metroid prototype (I can't find the issue), I don't know if that has been dumped, I'm sure these guys had a lot of prototypes.
I would like to help, but how?

I don't really remember seeing any info on Super Metroid. Then again it's been years since I've seen these magazines...

Do you mean a prototype Spanish Super Metroid? Or something else?

Not a Spanis Super Metroid, just a prototype of the US relese of the game, look here http://www.clubnintendomx.com/contenido/contenido03.htm , it probably should be in the one that says "Año 3 Número 2", I'll try to find that issue, in wich you can clearly see the presentation screen and right below where it says "c1994 Nintendo" there was something else written that read "Version X" or something like that, a reader later even asks about it I think later in another issue and they said it was a prototype.

[suppafly]

I have several dozen issues of club nintendo if anyone would be interested in some info,,,,I could scan it for you

Greeetings from Yucatan to all the fellow mexican gamers here on DP