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Danger Express; a cancelled Atari arcade beat em up...and other game cancellations that were probably deserved

VGEsoterica

Member
Nothing is worse than a cancelled game. All that work and effort put into a game that just ends up on the cutting room floor...always a bummer! But sometimes you get the chance to actually PLAY a cancelled game and you realize..."hmm, maybe the cancellation really makes sense"

That is Danger Express from Atari. While its not a BAD game by any stretch of the imagination...its certainly not a GOOD game either. It's wholly early 90s hilarity with giant feathered hair, bosses that stroke giant pythons and classic Mortal Kombat style digitized sprites. It was playing for the "gritty" violence like NARC...and it's really a sight to behold. It has one of the most garish and "so ugly its charming" color palettes around and the final boss is nothing short of laugh out loud funny.

But should Atari have cancelled this? Probably! Writing was on the wall...at best it was an "ok" game...and arcade boards and cabinets aren't cheap!

But that got me thinking GAF...what game cancellations 100% make sense? For Every Mega Man Legends 3 (way to go Capcom...) we get a Danger Express

Atari was the king of this...cancelling meh games. Tenth Degree from them was also a "yeah that makes sense" cancellation

 

Fuz

Banned
That was the way it was done back in the day
Was that? I spent my childood in arcades and I never saw such a blatant reuse of assets - and I think it's the first time I immediately spot something from Pit Fighter (it was one of my favourite arcade games at the time) outside of Pit Fighter.

rick.jpg
 

VGEsoterica

Member
Was that? I spent my childood in arcades and I never saw such a blatant reuse of assets - and I think it's the first time I immediately spot something from Pit Fighter (it was one of my favourite arcade games at the time) outside of Pit Fighter.

rick.jpg
You have to remember this is a prototype. So asset reuse is common. Developers will use placeholder assets to get things running then change them out as new assets are ready
 
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