UPDATE: Gary Liddon, Ruffian Games business and management top dog, has uploaded footage of the re-imagined 3D brawler complete with audio.
Apparently this is mega alpha prototype stuff, pretty much a proof of concept . “It was something we built very rapidly and represents pre-pre-pre-pre (lots of pres) pre-Alpha quality,” explained Liddon. “Even so it has a certain charm 🙂
“What’s the story behind it all? Like a lot of developers we work on a lot of different prototypes, they’re just not usually shown in public. In this case an older version of the same video was leaked last week which came as a bit of a surprise if I’m honest. As it had no sound I thought there wouldn’t be any harm sharing a version with audio.
“Beyond that there’s not a lot more I can say unfortunately :)”
A twitter user asked former Ruffian developer and project leader Sean Noonan why the plug was pulled. “I don’t really have a solid answer to that :(,” came his reply.
Check out the updated video below.
Sometimes a project gets a lot of ambition behind it, but never see the light of day because the development goes wrong, or the publisher just doesn’t like the way the project is taking. That’s a big case in point for Sega, who have cancelled a number of projects over the years that didn’t quite live up to their potential, including a new VectorMan for PlayStation 2 and the revamp of Altered Beast that didn’t even come close to the original (even though it did get released in Japan).
But one project that you may not have known about is a follow-up to the Streets of Rage series, which was quite popular back on the Sega Genesis. For a while there, Ruffian Games was working on a follow-up to the series, though that project has since been cancelled. Still, some footage has appeared online this morning that shows just what might have been for the reboot.
And, honestly, it’s not much. The footage shows that the game has been converted into a 3D brawler, one that shares some stuff in common with so many other 3D brawlers. There’s nothing that really stands out here, save for some ridiculous enemy design and iffy hit detection.
But don’t let us describe it for you, as you can watch the footage for yourself. There’s no sound (you’ll have to hum your own Yuzo Koshiro soundtrack tunes), but it’s still an interesting watch.
