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Tiny Toon Adventures: Plucky Duck in Hollywood Hijinks
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The cancelled Atari Jaguar game Tiny Toon Adventures: Plucky Duck in Hollywood Hijinks ran into trouble with its art direction. It originally used photorealistic backgrounds, uncharacteristic of the cartoon and described by a developer as "build and[sic] engine and insert your favorite licensed character here." Despite a complete reset being done to the game's art direction following this iteration, the art did not live up to Warner Bros.' standards for how the Tiny Toon characters and world should look, lacking color and brightness. After Warner Bros. provided model sheets with specific instructions for drawing the characters, the development team instead switched to taking photos of the TV show and converting those into sprites, which caused issues as the sprites would come out corrupted. Atari ultimately concluded that no artist at Telegames was able to create proper Tiny Toons art, requiring art duties to be swapped out to Digital Delirium, which also failed to deliver Warner Brothers-quality animation, which caused the game's development to start implementing pencil tests into their animation process, which slowed down the game's development significantly. Eventually, all of the art for the first 2 worlds was finished, however Telegames stated they did not need the art at that point, with the art (and its respective levels) not being implemented over a year later. Telegames laid out an offer where they would only release a milestone document if a fully laid-out stage map could be provided, something the developer who released this story believed was a stalling tactic, as they already had the art and mockup stage layouts. Shortly after this, the artist assigned to complete the level layouts was laid off, requiring Digital Delirium to be brought in-house, and some music was made for the game that was completely unfit for the source material.
Yo! Noid 2
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One of the developers of Yo! Noid 2 also worked on STRAFE, a game featuring Totino's product placement. Through these food industry connections, said developer managed to contact Domino's Pizza and almost pitched the idea of having some kind of official collaboration. The developers ultimately did not go forward with, as the game's developers didn't feel they had enough energy to go through the hassle of making a pitch document. Despite the pitch not being made, the developers did compile a video of streamers talking about how the game made them hungry for Domino's for the purpose of the pitch.
Clockwerk
subdirectory_arrow_right Next Level Games (Company)
1
In 2011, Next Level Games began work on a game called "Clockwerk", that never made it to the prototype stage before its cancellation. The game was about a pair of elderly Hausmeisters named Otto and Herman, who take care of "The World Clock", a magical clock tower that governs the flow of time throughout the universe. On the day before their retirement, however, a group of gremlins attack and dismantle the clock tower's innards, forcing the grumpy pair to defeat the invaders and fix the inner workings before they can finally retire. Supposedly, it was pitched to multiple companies (including Sega and Nintendo), but was ultimately cancelled when the company they had partnered with felt that the gameplay was too similar to another game they were publishing.
Darkened Skye
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Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl
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Although Nickelodeon interfered signficiantly with the development of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, moveset and gameplay designer Thaddeus Crews has stated that he was surprised and grateful for the amount of creative control the game's teams were given:

"I'm just happy we had as much freedom as we did, because people can look at the game and very much see what feels like restrictions and make very, very valid criticisms based on that, which can be difficult from a developer view to not comment on, but it is at the same time, not entirely, wholly restrictive, the fact that movesets were able to be constructed by development team, and still would have to be approved through due process, but at its origin, were on our end, and then implemented by us - that is rewarding, that is more rewarding overall to work with these than it feels like pressure."
Bubsy 3D
subdirectory_arrow_right Bubsy 2 (Game), Bubsy (Collection)
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While Bubsy 3D is often considered to have killed the Bubsy franchise until its revival in the late 2010s, the franchise was not killed by Accolade as one may expect. Accolade wanted a new installment titled Bubsy 4 (Bubsy in Fractured Furry Tales not being considered part of the franchise's official numbering) after Bubsy 3D's release, but series creator Michael Berlyn was the one who pulled the plug on the franchise, believing that Bubsy 2 and Bubsy 3D had dealt too much damage to it:

"I pitched [Sparky and Bolt, an unmade, Jetsons-inspired game] to Accolade, and Accolade said, "Ummmmm, I don’t think so. We’re more interested in a Bubsy 4." And I said, "I really think Bubsy’s dead by now. Between what you guys did with Bubsy 2 and what I did with Bubsy 3D, it’s time to move on." They didn’t agree."
Franchise: Crash Bandicoot
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Attachment In 2021, information leaked on a cartoon adaptation of the Crash Bandicoot franchise being developed by Eek! the Cat co-creator Bill Kopp for Amazon. The show would have been titled Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Cartoon Show (a name with a similar formatting to that of one of Kopp's previous cartoons, The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show), and would be an episodic slapstick cartoon rather than having an overarching plot. Supposedly, Activision wanted the show to lean more into adult innuendo, while Amazon wanted something more clean, and the straw that broke the camel's back for the series would be a single unspecified joke in an episode about Dr. Cortex transforming into a baby, like in the end of Crash Bandicoot: Warped. According to Kopp, Activision were the ones who aborted the project and not Amazon, though he had no clue what in particular caused the cancellation, but that the experience inspired him to work independently on his next series, Dumb Bunny and Jackass.

Allegedly, Activision also wanted to license Super Mario out for a cameo in a Crash Team Racing-themed episode, something the team found ridiculous and made them believe Activision was not taking the project seriously. The series would have also featured the Land Shark from the cancelled 2010 Crash Team Racing pitch.
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month January 11, 2024
Sonic X-treme
subdirectory_arrow_right Sega (Company)
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Relations between Sega and its various regional offices, particularly Sega of America, have been rather tumultuous throughout the company's history. This is perhaps most notable during the development of Sonic X-treme, where the conflict between the two played a major role in the game's eventual cancellation. Supposedly, some of this conflict originates from the 1990s due to former president Hayao Nakayama's admiration of Sega of America. According to former Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske:

"There were some guys in the executive suites who really didn't like that Nakayama in particular appeared to favor the US executives. A lot of the Japanese executives were maybe a little jealous, and I think some of that played into the decisions that were made."

However, video game journalist Steven L. Kent has made claims to the contrary. According to him, Nakayama essentially bullied the American executives under the belief that the Japanese executives were the ones who made the best decisions. When asked if communication between the two was really that bad, he said:

"Hell yes! Stolar, Kalinske, Moore, they all will tell you the same thing: they dreaded going to Japan. Look, I told you things were bad when Genesis was selling well in America and lagging in Japan. How warm a reception do you think Kalinske got when Saturn was dying in America and popular in Japan?"
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month January 10, 2024
Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories
subdirectory_arrow_right Steambot Chronicles (Game), Poncotsu Roman Daikatsugeki Bumpy Trot 2 (Game), Irem Software Engineering Co. (Company), Granzella (Company), Zettai Zetsumei Toshi (Collection)
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In the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Irem Software Engineering was forced to cancel the majority of its video game projects, most notably Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories and a sequel to Steambot Chronicles titled "Poncotsu Roman Daikatsugeki Bumpy Trot 2". They then refocused their resources into the slot-machine and pachinko industry, which they were initially a part of prior to becoming a video game company. This led numerous Irem designers (including producer Kazuma Kujo) to form a new company called Granzella to continue creating video games. Notably, they acquired the IP rights to the Disaster Report series and revived Disaster Report 4. Additionally, while no longer involved in the development or release of new games, Irem is still involved in the games industry via licensing their IPs to other companies.
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month January 6, 2024
Franchise: Batman
subdirectory_arrow_right Konami (Company)
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Konami wanted to license out Tim Burton's film adaptation of Batman for an arcade game, but were not able to as Atari Games claimed the license first.
Dying Light 2: Stay Human
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In June 2020, the game's writer Chris Avellone was publicly accused of sexual assault and harassment by two women in the video game industry on Twitter claiming to have been victims of his behavior. Avellone denied the allegations, stating that he has never sexually assaulted or harassed anyone. Techland, the developer of Dying Light 2: Stay Human, later announced that the two had agreed to let him go from his work on the game, with Avellone also losing work on other games. However, in March 2023, after Avellone brought on a libel lawsuit, the women retracted their statements claiming that they were misinterpreted, and paid Avellone a seven figure payment as part of the settlement. In a joint statement, the women said that Avellone "never sexually abused either of us. We have no knowledge that he has ever sexually abused any women", and they "believe that he deserves a full return to the industry and support him in those endeavors."
person ProtoSnake calendar_month December 25, 2023
Dying Light 2 writer Chris Avellone accused of sexual assault and harassment:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200622211330/https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/365244/Dying_Light_2_writer_Chris_Avellone_accused_of_sexual_assault_and_harassment.php

The game and comics industries are grappling with widespread allegations of harassment and abuse:
https://www.polygon.com/2020/6/25/21302341/video-game-tabletop-game-comics-allegations-harassment-abuse-racism-metoo

Fallout Writer Chris Avellone’s Accusers Settle Libel Case For Seven Figures:
https://kotaku.com/fallout-new-vegas-avellone-sexual-misconduct-libel-1850270184

Chris Avellone resolves sexual misconduct allegations, claiming a "seven-figure payment"
"There are still many very real challenges that we face but am confident we can face them together.":
https://www.eurogamer.net/chris-avellone-resolves-sexual-misconduct-allegations-claiming-a-seven-figure-payment
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl
subdirectory_arrow_right Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 (Game), Nickelodeon (Collection), Cartoon Network (Collection)
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person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month December 25, 2023
Marvel's Wolverine
subdirectory_arrow_right Insomniac Games (Company)
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On December 12, 2023, a ransomware gang named Rhysida announced they they had hacked internal servers at Insomniac Games and stole upwards of 1.67 terabytes of data, including unreleased screenshots and concept art of the then-upcoming game Marvel's Wolverine, a timeline of upcoming Insomniac releases, as well as HR documents, emails, tax forms, internal conversations, and passports relating to current and former Insomniac employees, with the group posting a selection of this data as evidence of the theft. The group claimed it only took them 20-25 minutes to access the company's domain server and their motive was to publicly hold the stolen data for ransom. They offered to auction it off to anyone for 50 bitcoin, or $2 million USD, so long as the data was not resold by the new owners, with the deadline being a week from then. Reportedly 2% of the stolen data was purchased by unknown parties, but Insomniac did not purchase any of it back, leading Rhysida to release the remainder of the stolen data to the public.
person ProtoSnake calendar_month December 19, 2023
Spider-Man 2 developer Insomniac Games hit by Rhysida ransomware attack:
https://www.cyberdaily.au/culture/9931-spider-man-2-developer-insomniac-games-hit-by-rhysida-ransomware-attack

Sony Investigates Alleged Hack of Spider-Man Developer Insomniac Games:
https://www.pcmag.com/news/sony-investigates-alleged-hack-of-spider-man-developer-insomniac-games

Hackers release footage from upcoming Wolverine game and 1.3 million other stolen files:
https://news.yahoo.com/insomniac-games-hackers-leak-13-million-files-after-demanding-2-million-ransom-102134429.html
Baldur's Gate 3
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In a December 15, 2023 article published in PC Gamer, Swen Vincke, the CEO of Larian Studios, revealed that the Dungeons & Dragons team he initially worked with on the game was now gone due to Hasbro layoffs. The layoffs resulted in a significant reduction in the number of people working on the game, with Vincke stating that "there’s almost nobody left".
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In 2023, Activision Blizzard was ordered to pay $35 million by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over its failures to maintain proper workplace disclosure controls and violations of whistleblower protections. The fine was imposed due to the company’s failure to ensure proper employee protections against workplace harassment and gender discrimination, which led to many women leaving the company. The SEC used a 2021 lawsuit by the state of California’s Civil Rights Department against Activision Blizzard to launch its own investigation meant to determine whether the firm’s handling of the situation constituted a breach of its fiduciary duty to investors. The proceedings were started after the company’s home state charged it with violations of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act in summer 2021.
Crush Crush
subdirectory_arrow_right Yandere Simulator (Game), Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals (Game), Ayano's Lovesick Labyrinth (Game), YandereDev (Company)
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person chocolatejr9 calendar_month December 14, 2023
Donkey Kong
subdirectory_arrow_right Crazy Kong (Game)
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Crazy Kong was an officially licensed clone of Donkey Kong released by Falcon Inc. to compensate for Nintendo's inability to make enough Donkey Kong machines as there was demand for. However, Crazy Kong was only allowed to be distributed in Japan, but Falcon released the game abroad anyway with Elcron Industries, leading to a lawsuit where Nintendo won.
Company: Ape
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Ape Inc. was founded as an outlet for new talent in gaming, born out of Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi's concerns that the video game industry was at risk of stagnating in its current form. This belief additionally influenced Yamauchi's decision to pitch the idea for the company to celebrity copywriter Shigesato Itoi, who he was fond of. Itoi previously became acquainted with Nintendo when he was tapped to help out with marketing the Famicom Disk System visual novel Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School, and used the founding of Ape Inc. as an opportunity to start work on Mother.
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Several of DreamWorks Interactive's earliest games opened with dark slapstick situations occuring to the Boy on the Moon in the opening logo, such as being massacred by dinosaurs from The Lost World: Jurassic Park; being restrained and thrown off of the moon by the toy soldiers from Small Soldiers; being attacked by dragons in T'ai Fu: Wrath of the Tiger; and using a malfunctioning parachute in Medal of Honor games. This did not cause any drama from any branch of DreamWorks, even in spite of the DreamWorks logo being based on a real world child, and the animation branch of DreamWorks even provided assets to use in the animations.
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month December 11, 2023
Star Fox Adventures
subdirectory_arrow_right Dinosaur Planet (Game)
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Attachment One of Star Fox Adventures' most infamous scenes is within the final Krazoa Shrine at Krazoa Palace where Fox McCloud is about to engage in combat with General Scales, seemingly the game's antagonist and final boss, only to be suddenly interrupted by Andross' spirit, who forces Scales to give the last Krazoa spirit to Fox, abruptly ending the fight. Per admitted by developers of Star Fox Adventures during a February 2008 edition of Rare's Scribes, Scales was meant to have a proper boss confrontation, but this was scrapped entirely due to the impending Microsoft buyout that was announced in September 2002, forcing the team to focus on only the Andross boss fight.

However, looking further into Dinosaur Planet and Star Fox Adventures' development cycle, one can see a more complex story going on in regards to the notion of General Scales having a boss fight. The Dinosaur Planet condensed story promises a true final confrontation between Krystal and General Scales within the Desert Force Point Temple, as she places her final SpellStone. After Scales' defeat, the King EarthWalker would barge in and tell Krystal to take his belt (that was provided by Drakor), but then it would turn into stone, resulting in the player into having to swap over to Sabre's story, who takes it to the mutant Shabunga in Willow Grove to help reactivate it, which allows him to enter Dragon Rock unharmed.

However, the leaked December 2000 build of Dinosaur Planet features no such boss fight for Krystal's final visit to the Desert Force Point, instead having a cutscene where Krystal, Scales and Kyte are teleported outside of the temple after the former places the final SpellStone. Krystal plummets into a nearby pond safely, but Scales falls onto a rock and breaks his back, completely incapacitating him. Instead of the King EarthWalker, it's the BoneHead SpellStone guardian who first appeared in CloudRunner Fortress that instructs Krystal to take the Kamerian belt to Sabre so he can have Shabunga revitalize it, as Scales whispers that he'll have his revenge as he passes out.

When Dinosaur Planet was being transitioned into Star Fox Adventures over on GameCube, unused voice clips and also hints found within the 2002 E3 kiosk indicate that Rare planned on revisiting Scales having a boss fight by essentially doing a rematch against his flying galleon like in the game's prologue, though instead of playing as Krystal flying on the CloudRunner, it'd likely would have been Fox in his Arwing. The voice lines reveal that Falco Lombardi would actually appear earlier than in the final game and assist Fox in taking out Scales and his galleon. After Scales' defeat, Fox would land in Krazoa Palace and partake in the Test of Sacrifice, which is where the General Scales "boss fight" occurs in the final game.

Curiously, the 2002 E3 kiosk shows that the dev team had later hoped to include a 1-on-1 fight on-foot against Scales. The fight is very incomplete and Scales is strangely smaller in size than usual, but he will actually attack the player in this version instead of simply walking towards Fox and assuming a fighting stance. He has a number of unique attack animations which aren't used in the final game, though these attacks don't connect with the player. He can be attacked without immediately activating his defeat cutscene here, and will block most of the player's attacks and recoil when an attack is successfully landed on him. His health doesn't seem to decrease, so there doesn't appear to be a way to end the fight.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month December 9, 2023
Dinosaur Planet condensed story:
https://rarethief.com/dinosaur-planet/

Dinosaur Planet: Desert Force Point Temple Final Visit:
https://youtu.be/P2Ayhp06k7Y?t=407

General Scales 1-on-1 fight in SFA E3 Kiosk with unused animations:
https://youtu.be/x-Kh5OiO0jE?t=14
https://youtu.be/RQirn2H0qYU?t=42

The Cutting Room Floor article:
https://tcrf.net/Proto:Star_Fox_Adventures/E3_2002_Demo#Sub-Pages

Unused SFA voice clips:
https://youtu.be/lMe05NE8Ock?t=85

Star Fox Adventures General Scales "boss fight":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEQ4Wd1CCvE&t=1s

February 13th 2008 Rare Scribes:
https://www.raregamer.co.uk/scribes-february-13th-2008/
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