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Cases where a game is completed but never released

T

Takao

Banned
I was recently reminded of Rodea the Sky Soldier, a game from Yuji Naka's Prope studio for the Wii and 3DS. It was reportedly finished in 2011 yet its' publisher, Kadokawa, has shown no interest in actually releasing it. Can anyone name any similar situations? It seems kind of bizarre.

I remember ASH for DS had the entire English translation done before Nintendo just decided to not release the game.
 
D

Dylan

Member
starfox2-a.png
 
D

D-e-f-

Banned
^Starfox 2 as mentioned above.

There was that N64 Indiana Jones game that even got reviewed but never released.
That N64 version of Ruff & Tumble was done as well, I think
NBA Elite is the most recent example, I think.

English version of Mother (earthbound zero)
European/German translation of Final Fantasy VI (SNES)
 
Jawmuncher

Jawmuncher

Member
Wasn't duke Nukem forever with its earlier builds basically finished but they kept scrapping it to try and release it as cutting edge?
 
D

darthbob

Member
D-e-f- said:
^Starfox 2 as mentioned above.

There was that N64 Indiana Jones game that even got reviewed but never released.
That N64 version of Ruff & Tumble was done as well, I think
NBA Elite is the most recent example, I think.
Click to expand...

Indian Jones and the Infernal Machine?

I played it on my N64 when I was like...8 or 9. Bad game.
 
K

Korigama

Member
That PS1 fighter Thrill Kill was one of them (cancelled and never released at retail, but apparently some finished versions of the game still got out).
 
P

Pudge

Member
There was that stupid violent fighting game for the PS1 that eventually got reskinned and turned into that Wu Tang game I believe.
 
P

Pudge

Member
Jawmuncher said:
Wasn't duke Nukem forever with its earlier builds basically finished but they kept scrapping it to try and release it as cutting edge?
Click to expand...

I feel like there was never a completed version of the game, they just kept restarting the project when new technology came out instead of buckling down and finishing what they had. There were certainly levels on old tech that were done but never a finished product.
 
R

Recall

Member
Pudge said:
There was that stupid violent fighting game for the PS1 that eventually got reskinned and turned into that Wu Tang game I believe.
Click to expand...

Thrill Kill was never finished, was it? It was killed off with being about 85% done I believe.

I have a copy of the game labelled as Beta. I believe it was one of those very well downloaded games from back in the day.
 
H

Het_Nkik

Member
Nightmare Busters for Super Nintendo.

hSzNoHj.jpg



Though I guess it's supposed to be getting released sometime this year. At least I hope that pans out seeing as I gave the team planning on releasing it some money.
 
T

Timo

Member
Propeller Arena for Dreamcast. Supposed to come out not long after 9/11, so it got canceled. Alright little game.

rdqT9vJ.jpg


edit// I was too late.
 
D

Dead Man Typing

Member
Half Life - Dreamcast port. I've still never finished HL1. I'm sure I would have if it had released on DC in mid 2001, like it was supposed to.

edit - Beaten because that image didn't load for me first time round
 
D

Dunan

Member
Remember Super Baseball Simulator 1.000, with all those "Ultra Plays" like the Leaf Hit, the Photon Ball, etc.?

There were two sequels in Japan, with updated rosters -- in Japan they had real teams and players -- and the second one was translated into English but never released.

sfc0667.png


(I translated the sequel myself, back when I was into that community. Fun game!)
 
J

Jindujun

Neo Member
wasnt there a unreleased english version of Final Fantasy III for NES, albeit not fully fixed dialogues, or something?
 
D

darthbob

Member
D-e-f- said:
I guess it was the PAL version that got canceled then, right before it was supposed to come out.
Click to expand...

That sounds right. Also, I never bought it. It was definitely a Blockbuster rental, which jibes with what another poster mentioned. As far as I can tell, it was not a retail release in the states either.
 
H

Het_Nkik

Member
Jindujun said:
wasnt there a unreleased english version of Final Fantasy III for NES, albeit not fully fixed dialogues, or something?
Click to expand...

Final Fantasy II. I have a reproduction cart with the unfinished translation. Turns tragic scenes into hilarity.

darthbob said:
That sounds right. Also, I never bought it. It was definitely a Blockbuster rental, which jibes with what another poster mentioned. As far as I can tell, it was not a retail release in the states either.
Click to expand...

No retail but you could buy copies from LucasArts' website. I have the game. I was never able to beat it because of some glitch where the game would just hang after I beat some snow level.
 
J

JWong

Banned
The former True Crime was suppose to be that.

Thank god for Eidos making it happen for UFG and Sleeping Dog.
 
T

toythatkills

Member
This is quite an interesting topic, but kinda disappointing if people are just listing games. The interesting part is why it wasn't released and what happened to it, not just "name of game."

Does anyone know the story behind the game they posted?
 
L

lupin23rd

Member
Not concrete examples, but do we know how far Final Fantasy V (Extreme) and Grand Knights History got before they were cancelled.

Going to guess not far on FFV but I think GKH was fully translated? Whether that was developed much I'd be curious.
 
L

Lavalamp1138

Member
Weren't there rumblings about a sequel to Chromehounds being shelved by Sega even though it was pretty much done yet they didn't have much faith in the IP's financial viability after the first one's lackluster sales?
 
D

Dunan

Member
Oh, and the obligatory biggie: Final Fantasy Type-0, which has supposedly been fully translated but is still in Square Enix's vault.
 
MrCunningham

MrCunningham

Member
noquarter said:
The strategy guide even came out for this put was pulled since the game never came out. Would have probably played it if it had :(
Click to expand...

Yeah, the ISO was leaked to the net years ago. The entire game is playable from start to finish, along with Blue Shift which was 100% complete too. Blue Shift and the high polygon character model pack did survive though and was released together as an expansion for PC.
 
S

Syril

Member
twomms_zps2c5f1c49.jpg


These two cabinets are the only copies of this game that exist. If they were to ever stop functioning, Marble Madness II will be lost forever.

toythatkills said:
This is quite an interesting topic, but kinda disappointing if people are just listing games. The interesting part is why it wasn't released and what happened to it, not just "name of game."

Does anyone know the story behind the game they posted?
Click to expand...

They did some location tests for it, but it wasn't very popular because they were trying to release it in the middle of Street Fighter II's heyday, so they didn't bother.
 
T

Takao

Banned
lupin23rd said:
Not concrete examples, but do we know how far Final Fantasy V (Extreme) and Grand Knights History got before they were cancelled.

Going to guess not far on FFV but I think GKH was fully translated? Whether that was developed much I'd be curious.
Click to expand...

GKH was fully translated, but Vanillaware was taking too long to reprogram the game with English text, which was why it got canned.

toythatkills said:
This is quite an interesting topic, but kinda disappointing if people are just listing games. The interesting part is why it wasn't released and what happened to it, not just "name of game."

Does anyone know the story behind the game they posted?
Click to expand...

For the two I noted, I have no clue about. I guess Rodea Wii got axed due to a declining Wii market, but the 3DS version is just ??? to me.
 
D

darthbob

Member
Het_Nkik said:
Final Fantasy II. I have a reproduction cart with the unfinished translation. Turns tragic scenes into hilarity.



No retail but you could buy copies from LucasArts' website. I have the game. I was never able to beat it because of some glitch where the game would just hang after I beat some snow level.
Click to expand...

The only way I could get to that level was with a gameshark, and yep, game locked up at a certain point.
 
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