The Lost Dragon, Lost Games, Interview Thread.

I don't know if you have contacted, but do you know anything about the Alien vs Predator for 32x? Says the legend that it was the arcade game from Capcom, i think it was also rumored being the Atari Jaguar game.

Also, I was wondering about Alien 64, some people says it was fake, there is images in unseen64, but they were from Alien Trilogy, however the Ripley one in a CG Test looklike was stated by an member in an Alien/Predator forum that he has saw this character test once, the model and pose was used in Alien Trilogy intro, but in that screenshot, it was in an empty test space.

 

There have been a lot of claims over various Alien/AVP games over the years (and sadly still today) with magazines and certain others, posting up various claims.

If you take something like Alien Trilogy (Probe) you'd find Gameplayer Magazine claiming it was def.coming out on 32X as a 32X CD game, Maximum meanwhile would have you believe it was coming to Mega CD and 3DO.What seems to be factual is the games CONCEPT was proposed for the Mega CD, but technology not powerful enough to do concept justice, it was then PROPOSED again as a 32X game (feelings differ on cart or CD title), but again no work ever started, it really began life on PS1/PC with Saturn version following and when Mean Machines annouced the saturn version, they used CGI cutscenes as actual in-game shots, claiming the game would make Jaguar AVP look like The Wizzard Of Oz......this is why mag claims should always be taken with hefty dose of salt.So many mock up or other version screens used as 'proof'...

 

AS for AVP, if you ignore the unfounded claim of Atari 7800 AVP on YouTube which (sigh) uses a screenshot from C64 Aliens as if to give 'proof'... (rolls eyes)..Here is what i know:

Activision aquired the rights to produce a HOME game or game/s based on the AVP Franchise a year or so before Capcom's Coin-Op arrived (Capcoms deal would i guess of been for Arcades only) and they annouced this to the 8/16 Bit Home Micro magazines of the day (C.U/Your Sinclair, C+VG etc) but never produced any games.It wasn't until the SNES and GB they used the I.P.There were plans for both a PC and MegaDrive version of SNES AVP, Realtime Associates were given that task, but plug was pulled after Activision were said to be unhappy with how MD version was developing...more likely appalled by review's SNES version was pulling in.


GTW had the info on the planned MD/PC versions and idve supplied them with UK Press cuttings for the Home versions.

Moving onto the 32X/Jaguar Era:Rebellion have publically said Atari had to aquire the AVP rights from Activision, in order to produce both versions of AVP, those being the sadly cancelled Lynx version and the released Jaguar version.Atari were initally keen to have Rebellion produce a 2D side-scrolling affair, similar to the SNES title (yeah, that'd showcase the '64bit' aspect of the Jaguar...), but Rebellion convinced them otherwise (thankfully).



So for any planned 32X version, aparty would either of had to obtain the home console/computer rights from Activision for an original title or possibly approached Capcom to see IF they still had the rights for the coin-op to be converted.


I've honestly no idea IF the deal Capcom signed included potential home conversions.I'd assume not, as otherwise i would of expected a conversion to SNES/Mega Drive or more likely Mega CD, espically after Final Fight was released on SNES/MCD not to mention the home micro's.


So until i see otherwise, i'm putting 32X AVP alongside Atari 7800 AVP, speculation that's gotten hold after people have maybe taken a Press claim as face value.

Not sure if that was the answer you were looking for? but that's what research has so far given us.


GTW attempted to contact a lot of Alien Trilogy people to ask about early proposed versions, i myself had Q's sat with Saturn coder, but he had to pull out due to work.

IF anything new comes to light, i'll let you know.

 

The 32X AVP Claim comes from the supposed annoucement Capcom made at a CES show, did it not? they are said to of annouced AVP and darkstalkers were to be headed to 32X, Darkstalkers starting work only AFTER the saturn version was complete?.

If this is true, then i'd be very surprised they even considered making AVP a 32X Exclusive.History had probably already indicated to them just what a risky buisness it was supporting an add-on, rather than a core machine and IF Final fight sales on the Mega CD were not all that, i doubt they had any faith in Sega's ability to convince people to back the 32X, espically since saturn had already made it look out dated already.

I'll have to dig through a few of the old UK Mag claims over what Capcom had planned for the Mega CD, let alone 32X to give this further perspective.


Update:Well, that was even easier than i expected, here we go:


As a Day 1 Mega CD Owner, i was led to believe, with 'thanks' to Mean Machines (again) that Capcom were set to release all manner of wonders on the format and not just Final Fight...

Indeed apparently i could look forward to an enhanced CD version of:Forgotten Worlds, better audio+visual than existing cart version....

Strider Deluxe-lot more levels than the cartridge version (And i'd assume the speech missing from the MD cart version).

And an exclusive to MCD, rather than improved on existing version on MD, Captain Commando was said to be headed to MCD thanks to Capcom.


I'd of killed for any 1 or more of these 3 to appear on MCD, might of made the cost of the unit a bit easier to stomach.

So, yes, an awful lot of cobblers printed as fact then and indeed now by UK Jurno's sadly and it gets taken at face value and appears on Lost game listings, without anyone seeming to really look into, as Mags A-Z said.......

 

I didn't know about an Darkstalkers port being rumored, i was looking at 32x cancelled games, finding any info about the Daytona USA planned port, and then i've stumbled across this AVP one, while some said it was the arcade one, others had the SNES Activision screenshots, or the Jaguar box art on it.

Do you know if Alien 3: The Gun would have an sequel or an official explanation to whether the playable marines died on the shootout?

And one more thing( sorry), do you know anything about the Scud Race (Vanishing Point developer dream returns here) Dreamcast port, i've heard that the tech demo was actually made by Core.

 

I'd take various Lost Game claims online for 32X etc with a pinch of salt, depending on source, as like i say in my personal exp. a lot of them are just a compilation of Press reports from the time.Games that were announced/proposed etc do not mean signed or work actually started on.

95% of the work that's gone into the research i do for GTW/Unseen64 etc has been finding which magazines claimed what and then seeing just how much truth, if any there was in the claims and screenshots.

If you take something like Freelancer on Jaguar CD, which looked like a superb cross between Doom and Aliens, screens were from the PC CD version which was miles ahead, using high end PC's running BRender software, but still struggling to hit a decent frame rate, for the Jaguar version, Imagitec had hoped to licence the Doom Engine....


I've never seen anyone interview Sega about Alien III:The Gun, despite it cropping up in magazines like RetroGamer etc as part of features on games based on the films, my own personal exp.of it is limited to MAME, so sorry i cannot be more help here :-(


As for Daytona USA..yes, i saw 'The Claims'..1st in Sega Magazine that it was headed to 32X and this at a time they were claiming 32X was more powerful than the Saturn, in it's current form, but then they also claimed Elite was headed to the MegaDrive as was Wing Commander headed for a cartridge release on MD, cart would contain the MCD's Sprite-scaling chip inside...so they haven't been the most realiable of sources.


As for the claim Core design had a running demo of SCUD Racer shown behind closed doors, Sega had asked them to produce it to convince 3rd party developers to get on-board with the Dreamcast....i heard that in C+VG Magazine, but so far, none of the contacts i have established from Core Design, nor those Unseen64 have, know anything about it, so it must have been done by a small team or seperate part of Core.......

The 1 person who would know, Jeremy Heath-Smith, has never replied to any emails i've sent, despite being recomended to him and in all the times i've seen Edge/RG Magazines interview him, they never asked him...which was a wasted opp.i thought.


As for folks using SNES screens/Jaguar box art to 'suggest' which version the 32X game was going to be, for myself that's up there with using C64 Aliens screen to suggest Atari were bringing 7800 AVP out or using 3DO/PC CD/Saturn video footage to imply what a Jaguar CD game might have looked like.

It would help if sites etc reported on source for theses lost game claims for starters.

In each case they tend to forget hardware differences between platforms and Jaguar AVP was written for strengths of Jaguar hardware, Predator's vision modes etc based around it, it wouldn't of been the Jaguar game converted, nor the unfinished Lynx game as Atari held rights to those, nor would it of been the SNES game as Activision had just sold those rights to Atari, so putting up placement shots is a bit strange IMO.

 

A few more UK 32X claims i never heard more on:

1)Konami were doing a game using charachters from Contra/Probotector games, but using a Doom-style game engine.

2) Konami had annouced I.S.S on 32X, then few months later claimed it had been moved to Saturn instead.

3)Fox had annouced Die Hard Trilogy was headed to Megadrive, 32X and Saturn...


4)Ocean were doing 32X Waterworld

5)Interplay were doing 32X Alone In The Dark, then it was annouced it wouldn't be coming to UK as Interplay didn't have the rights for a UK release....

 

Might as well finish off with 32X etc Aliens games info.
The 32X version of Alien Trilogy had a provisional release date of:Summer'96.
Mean Machines printed a story in their gossip section, that Fox had phoned Acclaim, pointing out that the contract they had with Fox, allowed Fox to reposses the Alien Trilogy license, IF a version was not released by a certain date, cue the PS1 version being released 1st.
No idea if this is true, but IF so, it does make me wonder what sort of time period etc Capcom had with it's AVP license and why we never saw any home conversions.

Update:Looks like folks are saying Capcom annouced 32X AVP, Darkstalkers,SF:The Movie etc at Summer CES in 1994, but all were to arrive after Saturn versions, then in May 1995, 'officially' cancelled ALL 32X development, if there ever was any actually started that is...

Odd that UK Press like Mean Machines seemed unaware of any such annoucements though...

 

OK, UPDATE time.

Just had my 1st interview for 2016 (that i carried out in 2015, if that makes sense?) come in and been forwarded on, i'll put the link up once she's live...


No, it's NOT Heart Of Darkness related, but should have something of interest for fans of the MegaDrive/Genesis era, coin-op fans and Atari 2600 fans.

 

Here we go then:

http://www.grumpyoldgamers.co.uk/index.php?/topic/4120-the-lee-actor-interview/

 

Chased up another interview i've had out for a while, chaps flat out busy and wants to do it in French...which might be tricky...

Plus forwarded details onto Slipstream (Konix Multisystem site) of 3 people who are meant to of worked on an un-named Konix game (though we have a bloody good idea what it would of been), so hopefully the investigation Mark from Slipstream carries out, will bear fruit.

 

Looking forward to this.

 

updates...updates

we think we DO know the Konix game a Mark has a PDF f the proposal for it and it in many a way, was an odd choice of game, would of made use of Power Chair, early video exists, but hopefully would of made use of the Konix's horsepower to vamp up the visuals...if nothing else, Mark now has THE 3 names behind it to try and track down.

The chap who wants to reply in French, mainly done on behalf of Unseen64, if your a survival horror fan........


Speaking of which (seamless link...lol)..put a few Q's a while ago tonight to a person who worked on some flagship PS3/360 titles (but not asked about those) regarding his work on 2 canned PS2 titles, a 3rd person arcade adventure and a promising Silent Hill-esq Survival Horror, so lets see what springs forth..and bloody'ell he worked on a Atari Jaguar title, so that alone should make for an interesting reply.

 

Hmmn.Slow news kinda day :-(

Put C64GTW onto 2 possible updates, will be snail mailing Unseen64 physical scans of misc lost Team 17 Games and that survival Horror game i mention above, over next few days.

Nothing come in my side in regards to interviews that had been out for ages :-(

But then Unseen64 are having similar bad luck, had this email this morning:

As most of the other people that i sent questions to are not responding at all, i think now i will limit the questions to 10, maybe if they are not too much it would be easier for them to answer.. so no need for many questions, just the most important ones!

- Luca

 

Mark over at Slipstream has been able to carry out 2. follow-up interviews thanks to findings of RVG via their Dave Perry interview and MYSELF, for passing on the names of ODE, who were converting C64 Sailing to the Konix.You can read BOTH here:

http://www.konixmultisystem.co.uk/index.php?id=interviews&content=kevin#start

http://www.konixmultisystem.co.uk/index.php

And brief word from Mark over at Slipstream himself:

'
Hi Ross,

I managed to blag a short interview with Kevin Ayre for the website - nice guy.

There's no Konix code or dev-kits or any such (he did look through his archive though) however there's some nice little things about his fairly limited time with the machine.


Thanks for the lead - it was the names that were most helpful and it bore fruit!

Keep 'em coming!

Cheers,
Mark.'

 

Had an email in regarding certain insights as to why we sadly never saw ST Myth finished and released.

I'm not going to name names or go into detail, as info was given in confidence, but my understanding shall we say of why the games industry suffers from so many promising titles reaching the stage of being so close to completion, yet sadly never being finished, has been increased by a further degree and it's no wonder people often don't want to chat about Lost Games .

 

I had an email back from Ged Keaveney, whom i asked on the off-chance he might of known IF ST Chuck Rock II was ever started, his reply:

'For Chuck Rock II I honestly don’t recall the details, I’d worked with the guys (Chris, Lee etc) to help out with a few bits but it was their project and I had my own projects, also my memory is hazy after all this time'

I also asked if he had any idea if claims that another titile, Litil Divil, was at least planned to appear on likes of MegaDrive/Jaguar etc, were true:




'As for Litil Divil that really isn’t something I know about. Jerr and I created the first draft of that game on Amiga at Gremlin but then we moved on to setup The 8th Day and didn’t have anything to do with it after that.'

So sadly nothing much to report, but i appreciated Ged taking the time to get back to me and share his involvement with projects.

The search continues

 

Latest interview just landed and has been forwarded over to Grumpy Old Gamers to clean up, will post a link, once she is live
It's none other than Dan Hunter who worked on Jaguar Attack Of The Mutant Penguins to start with, but went onto work with Lionhead Studios, Digital Extremes etc on such titles as Dark Sector, Bioshock II and The Darkness II.
I was after info on:Necroscope+Titanium Angel and Dan delivered.
But i'll leave a teaser from interview, with Dan's thoughts on the Atari Jaguar:
'No machine with a controller that ugly deserves to be anywhere other than a landfill.'

 

Interview went 'live' far sooner than expected:

http://www.grumpyoldgamers.co.uk/index.php?/topic/4190-the-dan-hunter-interview/#comment-35254

 

Updates time:

Fingers crossed the last of my Atari Jaguar related interviews should arrive soon.

Plus, just forwarding a few Q's to guy involved with Amiga:

Trained Assassin/Shockwave+Scorpion, so might find out what became of annouced Atari ST versions.

He was also involved on Megadrive Aspect Warriors, so will be asking about that.