Unreleased Mega Drive games

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Over the course of the Sega Mega Drive's lifetime, a number of games went unreleased. Sega VR games are not listed here — see the main article for details. This list also omits games that did not make it past the concept phase, like Spinny and Spike.

Legend
Cancelled near completion or late in development
Cancelled during development
Cancelled early in development — but known to be playable
One particular version unreleased
ROM released but game status unknown
ROM released but legitimacy unverified
Unknown status

Name	Involved Companies	Details	ROM Found and Released?
AD2001/Power Ball AD2001	HiCom	Info on this page is all that's known. Was almost completed according to former HiCom employee Jason Park.	No
Akira	THQ	Shown in Player One #44, Console Plus #44, and Console Plus #35. Cancelled for unknown reasons.	No
"Amegedon" Project	Softmax	Info on this page is all that's known.	No
Aspect Warriors	Electronic Arts	This Unseen64 page shows magazine scans (TODO IDENTIFY WHICH MAGAZINE) which is all that's known about this game.	No
Baby Boom	?? (probably STI)	drx released three prototype builds of this game as part of his 23 February 2008 release. Otherwise, nothing is known about it (one build has the same serial number as Eternal Champions which leads to the STI assumption).	Yes
Baby's Day Out	Designer Software, Hi Tech Entertainment	Cancelled for unknown reasons.	Yes
Barbie Vacation Adventure	Software Creations, Hi Tech Entertainment	Cancelled for unknown reasons.	Yes
Beastball	Spectrum HoloByte	Mentioned by MrMark0673 (who released the Swamp Thing and Dragon's Lair prototypes also listed here) in a forum post on Sega-16. No other info is known at this time.	No
Battle Mission	Sega, Renovation	Cancelled for unknown reasons. This Unseen64 page has no text — only two magazine scans (TODO IDENTIFY WHICH MAGAZINE) — and that is all that's known about this game.	No
B-Bomb	Sega	Shown in EGM #39. More information. Cancelled for unknown reasons.	No
Bean Ball Benny	Nuvision	Cancelled when Nuvision went under. Lost Levels is known to have put up a CES flier for the game, but hasn't properly labelled it as such (TODO).	No
Beethoven's 2nd: The Quest for Pups	?	drx has a prototype but has yet to release it.	No
Beyond Zero Tolerance	Technopop	The sequel to Zero Tolerance. Cancelled when Technopop closed down. The copyright holders eventually released a prototype ROM to the Internet.	Yes
Bill's Tomato Game	Psygnosis	Cancelled for unknown reasons. A prototype cartridge was sold in 2009, but neither the buyer nor the seller ever dumped the ROM.	No
Blood Money	Psygnosis	Cancelled for unknown reasons. Matt Furniss, the game's composer, confirmed its existence on Sega-16.	No
Bounty Hunter	?	This Unseen64 page is all that's known about it; no clue if any of the info is actually correct.	No
The Chaos Engine 2	The Bitmap Brothers, Renegade Software	Cancelled for unknown reasons.	Yes
City Heroes	Samsung	All that's known comes from this Hardcore Gaming 101 article: Developed by the Uzu Keobukseon team and intended for international release; it was cancelled because the then-new South Korean game censorship laws were so confusing that they got lost trying to censor the otherwise completed game.	No
Congo	??	Cancelled for unknown reasons. Not sure if this is a prototype of an unreleased game or an unlicensed game. The SNES Congo appears to be an entirely different game, despite the SNES one being based on and the MD one appearing to be based on the film.	Yes
Converse Hardcore Hoops/Converse City Ball Tour	Virgin	Announced in GamePro #72 and CD Consoles #8. Cancelled for unknown reasons.	No
Cybernauts: The Next Breed	Accolade	Advertised by Accolade in the packages for some of their later games... and a lot of other places too. Cancelled along with Fireteam Rogue below because they were overmarketed to the point that there would be no realistic way to have the games completed the way they were advertised and still be fun — so new Accolade management dropped them.	No
Dando/Vasum	Treco	Advertised in magazines, but no actual info is known. (MAGAZINE SOURCE UNVERIFIED — TODO)	No
Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat	Tradewest	Cancelled for unknown reasons. DreamTR acquired a copy of the prototype and sent it to MrMark0673, who combined text on the prototype with art from the released NES version of the game to form a 50-copy reproduction run that ran in the summer of 2011. Whether or not a ROM dump from the original or pictures of the original will come has yet to be determined.	No
Davis Cup II	Virgin	Cancelled for unknown reasons.	Yes
Devil Buster	SIMS	Shown in the April 1993 issue of Beep!. Cancelled for unknown reasons.	No
DNAction: The New Breed	Accolade	Shown in Games World #1, Banzzai Magazine #21, GamePro #56, and Player One #4. Cancelled for unknown reasons.	No
Dominus	Asciiware	Cancelled for unknown reasons.	Yes
Dragon's Lair: The Adventure Continues	Eden, Elite Systems, Taito	Cancelled for unknown reasons. Dumped and released by MrMark0673 in mid-2011. They claim it's a 100% complete port of the SNES game but I'm not entirely sure...?	Yes
DynoBlaze	Bonsai, Virgin	A press release was released by Bonsai/Virgin, and is still available on Bonsai's website. Cancelled for unknown reasons.	Yes, but not actively circulated (and is a completely different build from the one used to take the existing screenshots and footage — in fact, it might not even be correct)
Elite	Hybrid Technology	Ian Bell, one of the developers of the original BBC Micro/Acorn Electron versions of Elite, released a tech demo ROM of this version of the game — but the link appears to have died. The link here, however, works. Nothing else is really known about this version; it's presumed to have not left the tech demo state.	Yes
Environmental Detective	Magicom	Shown in some issue of Mean Machine (TODO FIND OUT WHICH). Cancelled for unknown reasons.	No
EXP: The Excellent Potato	Open Production	Info on this page is all that's known. A DOS version was completed and released in Korea.	No
Explode Star	NCS	The Japanese release of Trampoline Terror!. Cancelled for unknown reasons. Promotional fliers were distributed before the game was cancelled. (FLIER DISTRIBUTION METHOD UNVERIFIED — TODO)	No
Fido Dido	Kaneko	Cancelled for unknown reasons.	Yes
Fire & Ice	Graftgold	Cancelled for unknown reasons.	No
Fireteam Rogue	Accolade	Advertised by Accolade in the packages for some of their later games... and a lot of other places too. Cancelled along with Cybernauts: The Next Breed above because they were overmarketed to the point that there would be no realistic way to have the games completed the way they were advertised and still be fun — so new Accolade management dropped them.	No
Flash Point	Sega	Cancelled for unknown reasons (presumably for the same reason Tetris was pulled from production after some copies had shipped). The ROM was included with Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol.28: Tetris Collection, which probably explains what happened.	Yes
Fun Car Rally	?? (possibly Accolade)	Cancelled for unknown reasons. Unsure if this is a prototype of an unreleased game, a prototype of Accolade's Combat Cars (with which it shares many things, including at least one course), or an unlicensed game.	Yes
Halloween Capsule	Softmax	Info on this page is all that's known. Cancelled for unknown reasons.	No
Hardcore	Digital Illusions, Psygnosis	Digital Illusions, now called DICE, had nearly completed the game when publisher Psygnosis cancelled it (and according to this linked video, taking every other unfinished MD game with it — was ResQ below a victim?). According to this linked video, which is of the game being showed by DICE to a demoparty in 2010, DICE were in talks with Sony (who owns Psygnosis, who still today owns the game's distribution license) to try to get the game released somehow — these appear to have gone nowhere.	No
IF	HiCom	Info on this page is all that's known. A DOS version was also in development, but unreleased as well.	No
Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures	Factor 5, US Gold	Reviewed in GamePro and German GAMERS. Conversion from the SNES game. Reportedly completed in EGM preview. Cancelled for unknown reasons.	No
Interplanetary Lizards	Tengen	This Unseen64 page shows a magazine scan (TODO IDENTIFY THE MAGAZINE) which is all that's known about this game.	No
The Itchy and Scratchy Game	Bits, Acclaim	Cancelled for unknown reasons.	Yes
It Came from the Desert	Cinemaware, Electronic Arts	Cinemaware released the prototype ROM. An interview with the lead programmer on the project reveals that the game was "99.99%" complete when cancelled and that it was cancelled because publisher Electronic Arts wanted to focus only on sports games from then on (that didn't happen).	Yes
Jelly Boy	Probe, Electronic Arts, Ocean	Cancelled for unknown reasons.	Yes
Jester	STI	A rather elusive game; very little is known about it (though SOA did advertise it). Cancelled for unknown reasons.	No
Jim Power: The Arcade Game	Loriciel	Cancelled due to "financial troubles."	Yes (but is marked as a bad dump for unknown reasons)
Kartoon Kombat	Technos, Elite	A damaged prototype ROM handed to MrMark0673 on a floppy disk from Elite is all that is known of this game. Cancelled for unknown reasons. (MAGAZINE SOURCE ON UNSEEN64 PAGE UNVERIFIED — TODO)	No
Keeper of the Gates	Razorsoft	Supposedly a sequel to the MD version of Stormlord. Shown in EGM #40 and #41. Cancelled for unknown reasons.	No
Land Buster	Seismic	Cancelled for unknown reasons. This Unseen64 page has no text — only two magazine scans (TODO IDENTIFY WHICH MAGAZINE) — and that is all that's known about this game.	No
Lobo	Ocean	Reviewed in EGM and GamePro. Cancelled for unknown reasons. Found and dumped by SEGASaturno and released by drx.	Yes
Madness: House of Fun	Gremlin Graphics	Shown in Mean Machine #17 and Mega Force #17. Cancelled for unknown reasons.	No
Mega Bomberman: Special 8 Players Demo	Hudson, Factor 5	Hudson went with Mega Bomberman for unknown reasons.	Yes (only in GoodGen)
Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra	FCI, New World Computing	Cancelled for unknown reasons.	Yes
Mission Impossible	Ocean	Developer unknown. Shown in Joypad #44, Top Consoles #4, and Console Plus #45. Cancelled for unknown reasons.	No
Mutant League Speed Demons	Electronic Arts	Cancelled at the second to last build for unknown reasons; the only known cartridge with a prototype used RAM chips that needed to be powered by batteries — so the game is lost unless another prototype exists.	No
Monster Hunter	??	This Menacer game was only known to be shown in EGM #51.	No
Moon Dancer	?	Cancelled for unknown reasons. This Unseen64 page has no text — only two magazine scans (TODO IDENTIFY WHICH MAGAZINE) — and that is all that's known about this game.	No
Mr. Nutz 2	Neon, Ocean	Reviewed in several European magazines. The game is a conversion of Mr. Nutz: Hoppin' Mad for the Amiga and has been reported being completed by the main programmer, Peter Thierolf, who still keeps a fully finished game ROM but cannot release it due to copyright issues. Game screenshots running on Gens emulator were taken by him. Source code of the game was released but cannot be compiled in a full ROM.	No (though source code is available — see left)
Ninja Gaiden	Tecmo, Sega	Cancelled for unknown reasons.	Yes (but with hacked headers)
Ninja Gaiden IV	Sega	Shown in Gamefan #1 and EGM #37 — which shows pictures from Level 2 of the Ninja Gaiden ROM above. Not sure if this is still the same as Ninja Gaiden above — needs investigation. Both the above ROM and this small preview come from 1992.	No
Pac-In-Time	???? (though Namco is involved)	Listed in Guardiana but no information given. Released on the SNES.	????
Pinky	Data Design Systems, Tengen	Advertised in magazines. Cancelled for unknown reasons (there are guesses as to what the reason is). (MAGAZINE SOURCE UNVERIFIED — TODO)	No
Pit Fighter II	Tengen	Shown in EGM #49. Cancelled for unknown reasons.	No
Popeye	Technos	Shown in Console Mania #28, Game Fun #94, and Mean Machine #17. Cancelled for unknown reasons.	No
Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame	Broderbund	Cancelled for unknown reasons. Found by DreamTR, dumped by jurai, and released by drx.	Yes
Putty Squad	System 3, Ocean	Reviewed in some European magazines. Coversion from the SNES game. Cancelled for unknown reasons. drx seems to have a working prototype of the game.	No
Ratchet & Bolt	Sega	Shown in some French magazine Supersonic, July-August 1994 Moved to the 32X before cancelled.	No
ResQ	Tempest, Psygnosis	Cancelled for unknown reasons.	Yes
Road Riot 4WD	Tengen	Shown in Joypad magazine #7, EGM #40, and EGM #41. Cancelled for unknown reasons.	No
Robot Wreckage	Novotrade, Sega	Isn't this a prototype of Cyborg Justice? Or is it a sequel? Either way, ????	Yes
Rocket Rescue	Hotshot	This Unseen64 page, has magazine scans ('TODO IDENTIFY WHICH MAGAZINE) which is all that's known about the game.	No
Savage Heroes	Electronic Arts	Cancelled because the project was too ambitious and the developer chosen (unknown) produced a prototype that did not impress EA managers.	No
Scrabble	Supervision	Cancelled for unknown reasons.	Yes
Shadow of the Beast III	Psygnosis	Cancelled for unknown reasons. Matt Furniss, the game's composer, confirmed its existence on Sega-16.	No
Slam: Shaq vs. the Legends	Tiburon	Released by drx.	Yes
Smaartvark/Dreyfuss Smaartvark	Codemasters	More info (might need confirmation) and magazine scan clipping (TODO IDENTIFY WHICH MAGAZINES) are at this Unseen64 page. Codemasters also advertised the game in the January 1994 EGM. Cancelled for unknown reasons.	No
Socks the Cat Rocks the Hill	Kaneko	Advertised in magazines. Cancelled for unknown reasons. (MAGAZINE SOURCE UNVERIFIED — TODO)	No
Sonic-16	STI	The game was intended to tie into the Sonic the Hedgehog "SatAM" cartoon, but Sonic Team head Yuji Naka disapproved. See the linked article for more details.	No
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Limited Edition	Sega	Meant to be a combined Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles on a single 3MB cart. Mentioned by several magazines — see the linked article for details. drx did release two "Sonic 3C" ROMs — there is no known confirmation that these are prototypes of this game.	Unsure
Speed Racer	Accolade	Advertised in magazines. Cancelled for unknown reasons. (MAGAZINE SOURCE UNVERIFIED — TODO)	No
Speedway Pro Challenge	Renovation Products	The planned American localization of Human's 1991 Mega Drive game Fastest 1. Cancelled for unknown reasons. Box scans exist.	No
Stone Protectors	Kemco, Eurocom, VIC Tokai	Cancelled for unknown reasons. Found, dumped, and released by The NES Player.	Yes
Swamp Thing	Microsmiths, Nuvision	Cancelled when Nuvision went under. Found, dumped, and released by MrMark0673 of SegaAge.	Yes (but overdumped)
Tecmo Cup/Tecmo Cup Football Game	Tecmo, Sega	Unreleased port of Tecmo's 1992 NES game Tecmo Cup Soccer Game (which is a localization of their earlier Famicom game Captain Tsubasa). Cancelled for unknown reasons.	Yes
Time Trax	Malibu Interactive	Cancelled for unknown reasons. The music would have been composed by Tim Follin with a sound driver by Dean Belfield. Follin released a recording of the title screen theme on his website; it can now be found in the "Wine Cellar" section, however the link has died — someone else uploaded the song to YouTube.	No
Wacky Races	Eden	Cancelled for unknown reasons.	Yes
Waterworld	Ocean	Cancelled for unknown reasons.	Yes
Whizz	????	Listed in Guardiana. Some information is given, but it needs to be translated from French (TODO)	????
WildSnake	Spectrum HoloByte, Bullet-Proof Software	Cancelled for unknown reasons.	Yes
Wimbledon II	???? (Sega?)	Listed in Guardiana, even showing a box and one review. Who knows.	????
X-Women: The Sinister Virus	?? (presumably Clockwork Tortoise)	Another X-Men license. A promotional video of unknown origin and a clip from EGM #89 are all that are known about the game. It was supposedly developed by Clockwork Tortoise.	No
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles	??	Not sure if this is an unreleased game or a prototype of Instruments of Chaos Starring Young Indiana Jones. If is unreleased, then cancelled for unknown reasons.	Yes
Zombie High	Electronic Arts	Cancelled for unknown reasons.	Yes

Note: the Mega Drive Command & Conquer ROM, long believed to be an unreleased port, is actually an unfinished pirate.

Some Others

• http://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasschenck mentions a hockey simulation; GDRI claims it was called Road to the Cup Hockey '94 and was to be published by Electro Brain
  • there are a number of others on that GDRI page as well that need to be checked