A Black Falcon
Member
The guy who runs Sega-16, Melf, has done a huge number of interviews with people (mostly Western, not Japanese, for access/language reasons) who worked on Genesis, Sega CD, and 32X games, of course. They don't usually get mentioned here when new ones are put up, but I'd hope anyone interested in the system would be reading Sega-16 anyway... but anyway, this one isn't just another interview.
Instead, Sega-16's article details the plan and history of a cancelled 32X game, "Ratchet & Bolt". Designed by Michael Latham, the guy who also had designed the successful Genesis fighting game Eternal Champions, it was planned to be a platformer with driving-action sections, it seems. The game was going to be one of the "second wave" 32X games, probably aimed for release in late '95 or more likely sometime in '96, but Sega cancelled most of the "second wave" and killed the system early (seriously, once again, one of the only things Sega did that was stupider than releasing the 32X in the first place was cancelling it so early! Once it's out there, you have to support it.), so the game was canned, unfortunately. The article follows the game from its beginning until cancellation, with plenty of info, and concept art, provided by Latham.
The article: http://www.sega-16.com/2013/10/unfinished-business-ratchet-bolt/
Little was known about this game before this article was published:
(And no, the article makes clear that there is no connection at all between Ratchet & Bolt and Ratchet & Clank.)
Here are excerpts from the section on how the game was supposed to play, according to its completed design document which Latham shared with Sega-16:
Read the article for more details about the game -- it's a good article, read it! It's really too bad that this got cancelled, the way Sega basically wiped out its American branch in the mid to late '90s was a pretty sad waste of talent and possibilities. After building up all of that after their success on the Genesis, Sega failed to capitalize on any of it... ah well. And of course had Sega supported the 32X for a few years (like, at least until late '96, with a real release schedule and no "we're killing the Genesis, Sega CD, 32X, etc. now in favor of only the Saturn" out of Sega of Japan in like August or September of '95), Sega probably would have been in better shape in the US overall, too -- their abandonment of one platform after another far too early ultimately became a major problem.
Instead, Sega-16's article details the plan and history of a cancelled 32X game, "Ratchet & Bolt". Designed by Michael Latham, the guy who also had designed the successful Genesis fighting game Eternal Champions, it was planned to be a platformer with driving-action sections, it seems. The game was going to be one of the "second wave" 32X games, probably aimed for release in late '95 or more likely sometime in '96, but Sega cancelled most of the "second wave" and killed the system early (seriously, once again, one of the only things Sega did that was stupider than releasing the 32X in the first place was cancelling it so early! Once it's out there, you have to support it.), so the game was canned, unfortunately. The article follows the game from its beginning until cancellation, with plenty of info, and concept art, provided by Latham.
This is possible actual boxart, though given how early the game is in development when it was cancelled, there's no way to know if it was real (and even if it was, it was just an advertising mockup.)
The article: http://www.sega-16.com/2013/10/unfinished-business-ratchet-bolt/
Little was known about this game before this article was published:
(And no, the article makes clear that there is no connection at all between Ratchet & Bolt and Ratchet & Clank.)
Character art concepts
Here are excerpts from the section on how the game was supposed to play, according to its completed design document which Latham shared with Sega-16:
...
Boss battle concept art
Read the article for more details about the game -- it's a good article, read it! It's really too bad that this got cancelled, the way Sega basically wiped out its American branch in the mid to late '90s was a pretty sad waste of talent and possibilities. After building up all of that after their success on the Genesis, Sega failed to capitalize on any of it... ah well. And of course had Sega supported the 32X for a few years (like, at least until late '96, with a real release schedule and no "we're killing the Genesis, Sega CD, 32X, etc. now in favor of only the Saturn" out of Sega of Japan in like August or September of '95), Sega probably would have been in better shape in the US overall, too -- their abandonment of one platform after another far too early ultimately became a major problem.
Was thinking it was some super secret prototype that Insomniac worked on lol, wouldn't make sense since at the time they were doing Spyro and had an exclusive deal, unless they would've started Ratchet even before Spyro, not the first time something thought of first would come out much later than another.
