Fighting Circus: Elandoll
From Sega Retro
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| Fighting Circus: Elandoll |
|---|
| System(s): Sega Saturn |
| Publisher: Sega Enterprises, Ltd. |
| Developer: Sega CS1 |
| Development timeframe: 1994[1] |
| Genre: Fighting |
| State before cancellation: Early in development |
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Fighting Circus: Elandoll is an unreleased Sega Saturn 3D fighting game produced by Sega CS1. In development around 1994, it is believed that Sega of Japan's desire to use the game's director, Naoto Ohshima, in what would become Sonic Team eventually lead to the project's cancellation.[1]
History
Some time after the release of Sonic the Hedgehog CD in late 1993, director Naoto Ohshima and another senior game designer (possibly Masahide Kobayashi based on patents[2]) began work on the Fighting Circus project[3]. The senior game designer was transferred away from the project in 1994, exchanged for 3 newcomers[3] who joined in April of 1994: game designer Yosuke Okunari, and 2 programmers, Koji Aiba and Yasuhiro Watanabe[2]. The team also included Masahito Shimizu (more commonly known as Roppyaku Tsurumi), a former arcade game director who had been reassigned to Sega Saturn development and would coordinate these newcomers[3].
A prototype of the game was developed within 2 months to be presented to executives, with design documents compiled by Okunari and rough polygonal models created by the programmers using a Sega Saturn development kit[3]. While feedback was positive, it also happened around October, when Sega Technical Institute in America had just finished developing Sonic & Knuckles, leading to discussions of bringing that game's team (and in particular, producer/lead programmer Yuji Naka) back to Japan, and attempt to bring Sonic the Hedgehog's original developers back together into a single team[1]. Ultimately, this necessitated Ohshima be let go from Fighting Circus to coax Naka moving back to Japan so that the original Sonic developers would reunite under the newly-created Sonic Team. Fighting Circus was left in the hands of the new developers like Okunari,[3] but due to a corporate restructure which took place in October, the project was cancelled[4], with Okunari saying that he had only been a game designer for 6 months before being given a new role in publicity[3][5].
Production credits
- Director: Naoto Ohshima[2][6]
- Coordinator: Masahito Shimizu[2][3]
- Planner: Masahide Kobayashi[2], Yosuke Okunari[2][3][6]
- Programmers: Koji Aiba[2], Yasuhiro Watanabe[2]
Artwork
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 @gosokkyu on Twitter (Wayback Machine: 2023-09-06 22:30)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 https://jglobal.jst.go.jp/detail?JGLOBAL_ID=201103041768553990&
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 https://news.denfaminicogamer.jp/interview/190909a/2 (Wayback Machine: 2019-10-12 02:00)
- ↑ @NaotoOhshima on Twitter (Wayback Machine: 2023-08-30 13:45)
- ↑ http://nights.sega.jp/nights1/ps2/image/memory/vol17/home.html (Wayback Machine: 2008-09-22 03:38)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 https://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?threads%2Fsegas-fighting-circus-unreleased-game-worked-on-by-ohshima-okunari.41991%2F (Wayback Machine: 2023-09-06 01:47)