Propeller Arena: Aviation Battle Championship

Propeller Arena: Aviation Battle Championship

System(s): Sega Dreamcast
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega-AM2
Planned release date(s): 2001-08^[1]^[2], 2001-11-09^[3]
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1-4
State before cancellation: Completed
Status of prototype(s): Prototype dumped and released, pressed GD-ROM undumped

Propeller Arena: Aviation Battle Championship was an infamous unreleased Sega Dreamcast game developed by Sega-AM2. The game has since been leaked onto the internet.

In the game, the player flies various planes across arenas and engages in dogfights, making it a spiritual sequel to Wing War. Propeller Arena was also designed with online multiplayer in mind, and had the servers been activated, would have supported the Dreamcast Microphone (except in Europe, where online play was not set to be featured^[3]).

Propeller Arena was reportedly finished and ready to be released in late 2001, but was cancelled at the last minute in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States of America. It is assumed that the "Tower City" stage was the main reason for this decision, as it is possible to fly around and crash planes in a city based on New York, and, according to Sega of America, allows "a determined individual to deliberately play the game in a manner that generates images similar to those we have seen on the news"^[4].

Propeller Arena was not the only video game to be affected by the news, but is one of the few to be cancelled entirely because of it (another was a planned re-release of Crime Patrol).

During development the game was known as Propeller Head^[5].

Production credits

Director: Makoto Osaki
Chief Programmer: Tetsuya Sugimoto
Programming Supervisor: Takashi Fujimura
Game Programmers: Takeshi Iwasaki, Masaru Moriguchi, Takayuki Muramatsu, Sumito Aso, Fuminori Sato
Network Programmers: Takashi Fujimura, Tetsuya Sugimoto, Masaru Moriguchi, Shiro Takehara
Chief Designer: Junichi Yamanaka
Plane Modelling: Shigetaka Kyoya
Stage Modelling: Yukitoshi Katsuyama, Wataru Sakomura, Shigetaka Kyoya
Character Design: Shoji Takeuchi
Character Modelling: Rie Sakurai, Atsuo Takayasu
Effect Designer: Takeshi Inaba
Motion Designer: Takashi Ohta
Chief Sound Creator: Tatsutoshi Narita, Keisuke Tsukahara

BGM "SOJ Selections" Staff:

Musicans: Martin Hirsch (Vocals), John Underdown (Vocals), Yu Watanabe (Guitar), Daisuke Nihei (Bass), Yuuki Maeda (Drums)
Engineers: Hiroyuki Hamano (Main Engineer), Tomoyuki Niitsu (Assistant Engineer - IRc2 st), Chitumi Karasawa (Assistant Engineer - MIT st)
Producers: Makoto Suzuki (COMPOZILLA), Takeshi Uehara (MIT GATHERING), Kaori Takai (COMPOZILLA), Tatsutoshi Narita
Composers: Sachio Ogawa, Tomoya Koga

BGM "SOAD Selections" Staff:

Contract: Rob Alvarez (SOAD), Cord Smith (SOAD)
Musicians: Fat Wreck Chords Label

Consumed
Mad Caddies
No Use for a Name
Rise Against
Zero Down

Victory Label

Old School 101

Localization Staff (Sega of America Dreamcast Inc.): Jin Shimazaki, Osamu Shibamiya (SOAD), Howard Gipson (SOAD), Daniel Chang (SOAD)
Marketing (Sega of America Dreamcast Inc.): Rob Alvarez, Cord Smith, John Golden
Publicity:
- SOJ Staff: Taky Kihara
- SOAD Staff: Gwen Marker, Teri Higgins
Creative Services (Sega of America Dreamcast Inc.): Bob Schonlisch, Angela Santos, Arianne Pitts
SegaNet Producer: Jerry Markota
Lead Network Analyst: Darren Magtalon
DC Server Operations: Doug Land, Eric Fehr
Network Producer: Takashi Kosaka
Special Thanks:
- SOAD: Peter Moore, Chris Gilbert, Joe Culley, John Golden, Charles Bellfield, Peter Nguyen, Molly Fitzpatrick
- AM2: Masayuki Sumi, Tohru Murayama, Masashi Katoh, Junnichiro Matsuura, Motohazu Tsubono
Producer: Yu Suzuki

Magazine articles

Main article: Propeller Arena: Aviation Battle Championship/Magazine articles.

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average

Publication	Version	Score

	N/A
Based on 0 reviews

Dreamcast, US

Disc

Promotional material

FR print advert
Box Sample (JP)
Box Sample (JP)

References

[:File:NextGeneration_US_78.pdf_p74-1] Next Generation, "June 2001" (US; 2001-05-22), page 74

[:File:TipsandTricks_US_077.pdf_p51-2] Tips & Tricks, "Volume VIII, Issue 8: July 2001" (US; 2001-xx-xx), page 51

[:File:DreamcastMagazine_UK_26.pdf_p10-3] 3.0 ^3.1 Dreamcast Magazine, "No. 26" (UK; 2001-09-08), page 10

[:File:GamePro_US_159.pdf_p36-4] GamePro, "December 2001" (US; 2001-1x-xx), page 36

[:File:ODM_UK_20.pdf_p23-5] Official Dreamcast Magazine, "June 2001" (UK; 2001-05-24), page 23

[:File:ConsolesPlus_FR_102.pdf_p104_.28104-106.29-6] Consoles +, "Juillet/Août 2000" (FR; 2000-0x-xx), page 104-106 (104)

[:File:DCM_JP_20000218_2000-05.pdf_p23-7] Dreamcast Magazine, "2000-05 (2000-02-18)" (JP; 2000-02-04), page 23

[:File:Dorimaga_JP_20021011_2002-18.pdf_p34-8] Dorimaga, "2002-18 (2002-10-11)" (JP; 2002-09-27), page 34

[:File:ODM_UK_12.pdf_p88_.2888-89.29-9] Official Dreamcast Magazine, "October 2000" (UK; 2000-09-07), page 88-89 (88)

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