Cyber Sled

Cyber Sled

System(s): Sega Saturn^[1]
Publisher: Namco^[2]
Developer: Namco Hometek^[1]^[3]
Original system(s): Arcade
Development timeframe: 1994^[4]-1995^[5]
Planned release date(s): 1995-07, 1995-10^[2], 1995-11^[6], 1996-03^[7], 1996-06^[8]
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
State before cancellation: Late^[1]

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Cyber Sled, also known as Cyber Sled Remix^[9], is an unreleased Sega Saturn 3D arena shooter developed by Namco Hometek. A port of the company's 1993 arcade game of the same name, it was initially scheduled to be published by Namco in late 1995.^[2]^[6] Despite being pushed back as far as June 1996^[8], the port was ultimately cancelled, leaving the nearly-complete Saturn version on the cutting room floor.

History

Development

“	CYBERSLED was a remake of the Japanese hover tank tournament game, which at that time was was an arcade and Playstation release. It was the first game I worked on at Namco Hometek, Inc. We worked on versions for the Sega Saturn, PC (networked game), and a Windows 95 game. All were very near completion, but were cancelled. My tasks on this project were designing/building original tanks in Wavefront, mapping, concept art, textures, and some cinematic work.	„
— Rick Lucey^[1]

Prerelease

Late 1994 concept artwork by Rick Lucey.

A Sega Saturn port of Cyber Sled was announced in May 1995^[10], with its release date scheduled for October of that year.^[2] This date was later pushed back to November.^[6] Talk of the game re-merged in Spring 1996 as Cyber Sled Remix, revealed to be in-development by Namco Hometek, and now boasting an enhanced single-player experience and additional playable characters.^[9]

Following this, Cyber Sled disappeared from the gaming press. Despite this, internal Sega of America documentation reveals it was still scheduled to be published as late as June 1996.^[8] This date would ultimately pass, and the Saturn port of the game was quietly cancelled. Namco would not end up releasing any Saturn games throughout the console's run - following the success of the PlayStation's launch title Ridge Racer, it appears the company chose to abandon all non-PlayStation projects.

Legacy

While no official reason for the game's cancellation was given, some have speculated that Namco's close relationship with Sony resulted in the PlayStation version gaining the equivalent of an exclusivity deal late in development. Additionally, rumors circulated which claimed that difficulties developing for the complex Saturn hardware may have been a factor, and that the team's lead programmer had been poached by Shiny Entertainment.^[11]