30 Unreleased SEGA Genesis Games - These Could have been Classics

Here's a look at a lot of Sega Genesis games that were never officially released. They remained as prototypes, which is unfortunate as so many are great games.
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[@JohnRiggs]

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[@orderofmagnitude-TPATP]

Fun car rally is clearly the sequal to "combat cars" - it looks identical...in fact "fun car rally" sounds like a place holder name... so i reckon this was combat cars released and i had it. Fun little budget game!

[@wadewilson5712]

"d&d eternal sun" was released , you mite have had a early build and "zombie high" was a zombies ate my neighbors spin off.

[@MrMarkzilla]

Dungeons & Dragons Warriors of the Eternal Sun was released in 1992 because I have the boxed with manual game in my collection. It's a big game to wade through and takes some getting in to.

[@edwardmclaughlin719]

Mandella effect. Never existed. That is why you can't find it now.

[@thatradiogeek]

I was gonna say the same thing. I have the game on my shelf. Makes me wonder where this dude gets his info.

[@LeonSKennedy7777]

@@thatradiogeekcheck the shelf again. Due to the Nelson Mandella Effect, it no longer exists.

[@edwardmclaughlin719]

Well played @@LeonSKennedy7777

[@jmatt781]

That's my favorite RPG on the system. I had so much fun playing through and beating D&D: Warriors Of The Eternal Sun. More people need to discover this game!

[@kylekostamo1880]

D&D warriors of the eternal sun was not unreleased, i used to own a cartridge copy of the game for my Genesis back in the day. It still is one of my favorite Sega Genesis games to this day. It was pretty tough depending on the character class combination you decided to go with, and then re-rolling the dice to try and get the stats you needed for the type of characters in your party(warrior, priest, mage, thief, elf, halfling, dwarf) could take forever, but could make your playthrough much easier instead of relying on the crappy base stats the game chooses for you. Anyways the game was definitely released for the Sega Genesis cuz I owned a copy of it.

[@thecunninlynguist]

that akira game looked like it would've been awesome.

[@krono5el]

Akira on genesis would have rocked my tiny world as a kid, we would have been in pure heaven.

[@R3troZone]

Congo was popular because it was the mid 90s and we were still in love with Michael Crichton novels made into movies. Sadly, while Congo and Sphere were good, they weren't Jurassic Park good.

[@nickwest932]

Sphere and Congo are hidden gems these days.

[@TheRealCaptainFreedom]

Congo wasn’t actually popular but they hyped the hell out of it. I remember a Taco Bell tie-in and even a line of action figures from Kenner.

[@JohnRiggs]

Didn't take long to come to my attention a few of these WERE released in the US. Not sure why they were in my 'prototypes' folder (unlike games in my beta or early versions folder) but here we are. Thanks anyone who corrects me!

[@Real_The_Goof]

Yeah.. i promise when i do that it's not to be a dick.. i'm seriously just trying to be helpful...

[@JohnRiggs]

@@Real_The_Goof Never! I need to be called out if I say something inacurate. I always appreciate it.

[@louisdellalucca8969]

Itchy and scratchy was on SNES. It wasn’t great, but it was a thing 😂

[@jeremiahthomas8140]

Beastball came out on the Jaguar as Brutal Sports Football.

[@Rocketknightgeek]

originally an Amiga game, also got a sorta sequel called "Wild Cup Soccer."

[@fredhill5379]

I remember the advertisement for mutant league basketball, but it never came out. Sad because mutant league hockey was awesome.

[@DancesRainyStreets]

Curse was released... in Japan. Some people seem to like the game.

[@Rocker-kr9nu]

Yes, i have the game. It´s a good shooter.

[@DancesRainyStreets]

@@Rocker-kr9nu I've never tried the game myself. I'll keep it in mind.

[@rameybutler-hm7nx]

Curse is a japan only game plays a lot better than that

[@System_Saturn]

You are indeed correct about a Congo Game getting released. It came out of the Saturn.

[@Vegeton]

There was also one on PC, Congo The Movie: Descent Into Zinj.

[@Kanovich_]

In Argentina (South America), since we thrive on video game piracy, many cartridges that were prototypes arrived as regular and common games. Therefore, many games on the list are well-known to us!

[@marcosnoero9318]

Tal cuál. Al de Fido Dido lo re jugué

[@RicardoGaspariniLage]

A lot of this games DID came out. In US. OFFICIALY. Back in the day. Like any other game. Some are just released in Japan.

[@edwardmclaughlin719]

proof, I knew it

[@Teknoman]

Which ones released in the US officially?

[@SonofSethoitae]

​@@TeknomanWarriors of the Eternal Sun is the only one I've noticed so far that did actually release.

[@jeremiahthomas8140]

Warriors of the Eternal Sun came out.

[@JohnRiggs]

Did it? weird, it was in the prototypes folder.

[@empoftheearth]

I had it and thought it was decent

[@Top-Hat-Killer]

@@JohnRiggs I've owned it since the 90's.

[@jeremiahthomas8140]

@@JohnRiggs It was probably a prototype of the released game.

[@DesertRainReads]

I really hope someone works on finishing the Genny version of Lufia & the Fortress of Doom. Would love to see it in action.

[@UltimateGamerCC]

idk why, it would be the same as the SNES Version no doubt.

[@NoLifeLeft13]

I think Congo got overhyped by being based on another book by the author Jurassic Park while the Jurassic Park mania was still pretty fresh.

[@JP47471]

The graphics on the Akira game are crazy good!

[@orderofmagnitude-TPATP]

Fun car rally is clearly the sequal to "combat cars" - it looks identical...in fact "fun car rally" sounds like a place holder name... so i reckon this was combat cars released and i had it. Fun little budget game!

[@proximacentauri8256]

During development "Combat Cars" was known as "Fun Car Rally". So yeah its the same game and it got a release just like "Curse" and "Warriors of the Eternal Sun".

[@orderofmagnitude-TPATP]

@@proximacentauri8256 ahh I see

[@daerth4423]

I've played most of these via emulation for many years and had no idea they were never officially released.

[@businesscat380]

A few of those games were Amiga games originally if you did want to play the full versions (Beast ball, Bills Tomato Game, Danny Sullivan Indy Heat) There was a lot of cross-pollenation between Amiga and Genesis since they shared the 68000 CPU, porting was significantly easier

[@UltimateGamerCC]

ahhh i see, nice tidbit.

[@SteveBrandon]

Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat was an arcade game from Leland Corporation (later bought up by Midway) before it was on Amiga although it's certainly plausible that the Genesis version could've been based on the Amiga port.

[@kevintrjohnson]

I concur.

[@alanfike]

In case you aren't aware, over on the Super Nintendo.. Steven Seagal Is the Final Option. (It's a game where you can literally have Steven Seagal take a long walk off a short pier.)

[@MarkPiccolo]

Even some of the homebrews on the sega genesis are classics or soon to classics when more get released to both on digital releases to download ❤

[@diandrarizvi]

Some of these are the game of my childhood 😁 I have mega drive, but not a lot of games... And then few years later, came the emulators 😅

[@blueeyeddevil9441]

Jesse Ventura's mission is to bypass being snitched out by The Hulkster and get to the final boss where he defeats him and gets health insurance for all the boys.

[@justintubbs8872]

I have some of those games on 200 in 1 cart that sells on Amazon good deal

[@Mahdy89]

I would love to see a series of videos on the worst/weirdest games of each of your favorite consoles. Your commentary always cracks me up.

[@paulwilliams9381]

BIGGG!!! RIIIIGGGGGGGGGSSSSSS!!!!

[@HECTORMONTALVO-le9cn]

I could swear that I saw a couple of those RPGs at Kay Bee!🤔 Good showing discussion and cool video John!👉🙂👈

[@dtester]

I think because Dungeons & Dragons Warriors of the Eternal Sun did actually come out! Maybe Lufia would also trigger memories as it was a SNES game.

[@metal--babble346]

Beast Ball was also called Brutal Sports Football. The Atari Jaguar version was a very entertaining game.

[@LeonSKennedy7777]

Congo looks great! Would be so cool if a printer could make a Genesis cart and sell a batch of them in official-looking packaging, as if it did release.

[@jaobidan2358]

Man, talk about nostalgia...I remember being a young kid watching the 1988 Streamline dub of Akira and recognizing that the voice of Kanada was the same voice as the guy who also voiced Leonardo from the TMNT cartoon.

[@Roger-fs5yo]

I live in Kentucky and they probably put Bowling Green on there cause that's where the Chevy Corvette is made🤔

[@MisterWillX]

Nice video. Nuclear Rush was probably for the Stuntmaster VR headset.

[@patrickdoyle2124]

Very cool video! I believe Itchy and Scratchy came out on SNES. I vaguely remember playing it as a kid.

[@chrisburton4581]

I could have swear I played Fido Dido

[@danestegman155]

Good video! I thought Congo came out on the Sega Genesis too! I do have a copy of Stone Protectors by Piko! Fun game!

[@XJapanGonnaGiveItToYa-cd4xj]

Every time I see that Akira game I am blown away

[@BuzzsawGaming]

Love my Genesis! 🎉

[@Sardime]

Hello, I recently saw your legend of doom/ legend of Zelda nes vr video and was wondering if you remember how to switch to use bombs? I was inspired to try it out from your video but am stuck in level 2 due to the bomb issue I’m playing on quest 2 btw

[@SPac316]

I remember reading about the Jesse Ventura game and how it could have been the first time a Fire Pro game came out west had it followed through. It was actually the Mega Drive off-shoot called "Thunder Pro Wrestling Retsuden".

[@gc3k]

The music on the Akira prototype is amazing

[@corykristy2594]

I wish someone would grap these up and Finnish them and release them!

[@Pixelmusement]

I've done a video on Dominus as it had a full release for DOS computers. It's a really unusual sort of strategy game with a massive number of systems in place like commanding generals to deploy armies, mutating units together to make brand new kinds of units, interrogating captured enemy soldiers, casting a ridiculous number of spells, or even going into the field of battle and fighting as your own overpowered avatar in action sequences. If you're OK with it I can post a link to my video. :B

[@Shorai_3]

I had Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat on the NES years ago and had a lot of fun with it. So, it would have been nice to have the Genesis version.

[@drchillish]

Beastball looks exactly like brutal sports football for the jaguar

[@jonyak1221]

I could have swore a fido Dido game came out back in the day for snes.

[@epicpotatofiend]

If there's one place I never thought I'd see come up in a wild YT video EVER in my entire life, it's Burley, ID. I have family over in Oakley, and my mom was born in Burley, because Oakley had no hospital at the time. (Also, shoutouts from Boise)

[@BaronLector]

I have a Raspberry Pi-based console in the breakroom at work. I forget where I heard about it, but when I learned of a Jesse Ventura wrestling game, I promptly installed it onto the console and beat it during my lunch break.

[@The_Badseed]

Warriors of the eternal sun did come out in 92. I love these kinds of games, but boy was it a stinker. I'll have to check out your book about cereal, you got me thinking of my two favorites from back in the day : Donkey Kong cereal and Mr. T cereal. Anything with Mr. T always kicked ass

[@jmatt781]

Warriors of the Eternal Sun is great, if you're a D&D fan and understand the creatures and the rule sets. I absolutely loved playing through and beating that game!

[@UltimateGamerCC]

yeah, 3rd and 5th edition rule sets are the best imo, hence why i like the older D&D titles.@@jmatt781

[@The_Badseed]

I grew up playing tabletop d&d, but still I did not like this. I thought Order of the Griffon on the TG16 was implemented much better.

[@The_Badseed]

I grew up playing tabletop d&d, but still I did not like this. I thought Order of the Griffon on the TG16 was implemented much better.

[@TheGebs24]

I would have LOVED this Akira game. Absolutely mint episode John 🎉

[@darktetsuya]

on flashpoint's '2 players one well' mode, I know TENGEN Tetris on NES had that as a mode already! man they really tried to make Tetris a thing on the Genesis, huh? also I still think the AKIRA game would've been cool.

[@NashEsq]

Bowling Green, Kentucky is the hometown of legendary director John Carpenter.

[@thetechn1que518]

And he’s a NBA fan and an avid gamer, too.

[@zakkziegler111]

Dude, I cannot tell you how many hours I put into Might and Magic 2 on the Genesis. I would've killed to have the 3rd installment to play back in the day. Absolutely loved those games and even now I feel like they still hold up. At least if you have a certain old school sensibility.

[@robintst]

Beastball is straight up Brutal Sports Football from the Amiga 1200, I loved that game back in the day. And that Barbie game did have it's released cancelled but I definitely remember it being put on SEGA Channel as an "exclusive." Because my friend and I would sit there and try everything when I was a subscriber to it, there was no reason not to try the stinkers even just for a laugh, and even today I can't forget that freakish clown face on the map screen in that game.

[@MotherKojiro]

We may not have gotten a basketball game that lets you go to Centralia, but we'll always have Silent Hill.

[@supergarbagedaypodcast]

Great work as usual!

[@imadeitupinmyheadakaimiuim3617]

Get this, My local night club was more sweaty than 10 rounds of Mortal kombat on SNES 🤣😀😃

[@jaethemanchild]

Time Trax, the old TV show, was going to be converted to the Genesis from the SNES too. They released the ROM a little while ago. It’s perfectly playable, and is arguably better than the SNES one due to the music.

[@VEGANVANIA]

Quote, "Did I say friends? I meant friend." 哈哈哈哈😂 _Keeping it ALL THE WAY real._

[@rickyreeves7703]

Hey John, I actually bought the Jesse Ventura Wrestling Game off of Etsy around 3 years ago. I know it is one of burnt ROM place into a game cart. It was still fun to play.

[@c64konami96]

That 2 player Tetris looks fun.

[@takalakjones3248]

Indy Heat is a fun game. You can get a rom on a physical cart. Highly recommended

[@mjdf122]

John Riggs back again thanks

[@ItsThatRetro]

Itchy and Scratchy game DID come out in the UK on the Megadrive but never got ported stateside

[@GenerationPixel]

So many games that couldn't just make it over the line. It's a wee bit sad. Akira would have been stellar 😎👍

[@jmatt781]

Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors Of The Eternal Sun is by far my favorite RPG on the Sega Genesis. If youre a D&D fan, and know the rules, its an insanely fun playthrough, especially the fps dungeon levels!

[@majestyzx9081]

Hard agree. Unfortunately the worst part of the game is the overworld music track that you'll be listening to for 80% of your playthrough. It's nothing short of amazing though considering the complexity of CRPGs at the time and successfully bringing that experience mostly intact to a home console.

[@jmatt781]

@@majestyzx9081 Yeah, I used to play my own music while grinding up levels, which you really need to do a LOT in that game, but I had so much fun doing it.

[@UltimateGamerCC]

one of my faves for sure, as a kid i didnt have a clue how to play but as an adult i can do good, definitely need a guide if i want to complete it though.

[@SonofSethoitae]

It seems a lot like Shadowrun to me, in that the up-front front difficulty curve is ludicrously high. Once you figure out how to play the game on its terms it opens up nicely.

[@UltimateGamerCC]

yeah i'd say there's truth in that comparison, Shadowrun does play a bit like WotES@@SonofSethoitae

[@archdawg5688]

Some of these games could have been HUGE! In the Shaq Slam game, im very curious what cities you play in Michigan...

[@zusk8556]

I wish they'd released that Ninja Gaiden beat em up, or some modern dev could finish it. I don't think it would have fared well back in the day being compared to the NES games, but those weren't anywhere close to arcade-accurate. Even in this rough demo form, it's still pretty fun to play.

[@popculturehero]

I'll have to check out beyond Zero Tolerance love the original. Really interesting list. Hope you can make it Southeast game exchange this year. My favorite convention.

[@fatfurie]

7:50 woah old memory unlocked lol..also who ever did marketing for congo bravo because i remember it being a big deal and i was 8 or 9 lol

[@midnitepagan9118]

Fun car rally was Combat Cars i Owned it in Australia back in the day.

[@BCIronThunder]

I still have my copy of D&D Warriors of the Eternal Sun. Was released in 92

[@markus1a1]

I saw Curse in the magazines and roms - so I believe it was released.

[@joelsmith552]

Warriors of the Eternal Sun was released! I bought it in 92 and played the heck out of it

[@Bensjammin69]

Fun Car Rally became Combat Cars. As soon as I saw it I knew it would have had something to do with it and it appears to be an early prototype for it

[@VEGANVANIA]

Minor (but interesting) technical correction: teleplay functionality was built in to the model 1 Genesis _at launch,_ and just a few games made use of it in Japan ("Tel Tel Baseball"... guess what "Tel" abbreviates?). Honestly, I think Sega should have never spent their resources on that strategy at all... but getting rid of this functionality was one of the (cost saving) reasons for the model 2.

[@AntLeonardi01]

Nobody tried to finish the Akira game? That’s shocking

[@Iron-Van]

In regards to Congo, I think it was because of the hype around Michal Crichton. Jurassic Park 1 and had come out already and they where big box office draws. Crichton wrote both Jurassic Park books.

[@jamesmoss3424]

I wish that The Akira video game was released in the first place. 😀👍

[@ataririder1980]

Beast Ball was on the Atari Jaguar, they called it something different.

[@eyesofnight]

Correct. It was called brutal sports football

[@CobraBlade]

They even had screenshots of the Akira game in mags. So disappointed we never got it.

[@OdysseusOmega]

Lufia and the Fortress of Doom was an all time favorite SNES game.

[@majestyzx9081]

Like many other people have stated, Warriors of the Eternal Sun had a North American release. I love it, i think it's extremely ambitious for a console CRPG for the time and incorporates a lot of CRPG features that i wouldn't have expected to work on a console release at the time. On the downside though, that overworld music is a three second loop that makes my ears bleed after enough time.

[@bryansprong9212]

The itchy and scratch game came out on SNES and game gear

[@holddamayo7474]

Congo bombed HARD! It was billed as the next Jurassic Park but sure didn’t live up to that.

[@JohnRiggs]

actually, yeah, I wanna say I remember them hyping this up to Jurassic Park levels. haha

[@cam9144]

D&D Warriors of the Eternal Sun is one of my SEGA favorites. Play it pretty often

[@raymondlacasse2407]

I still have all the only maps saved in a zipdrive😂

[@SuperHamsterGaming]

I believe the Tengen version of Tetris on NES had 2 player on the same field.

[@jamesreed620]

I remember seeing fido dido. I had no idea he had a name

[@evanpeartree]

Hi John, I am feeling pretty good

[@HarriHaffi]

Cool games! Is the Genesis mainly know for Shmups?

[@bdillmore40]

The Akira, and Ninja Gaiden games would've been awesome for sure!!!!

[@TaskForceLeakers141-fd3rk]

Beast Ball = Brutal Sports Football on the Amiga, pc and jag. Bills Tomato Amiga game.

[@darrenmckeown990]

Yeah Curse definitely came out, I remember renting this from Blockbuster as a kid

[@SonofSethoitae]

Your Blockbuster might have had an import or bootleg, the US release was cancelled

[@aaronchapman6994]

Im pretty sure that congo did so well in the cinema was due to it being written michael Crichton AKA mr jurassic park

[@danielespeziari5545]

That rally game looks a lot like Combat Cars. Maybe it's an early version of that game? Indy Heat came out on the NES. Fun game, but pretty easy

[@marshalberger4250]

Any suggestions on cheapest way to play D&D warriors of eternal sun? Is it available on any multi carts? It looks like a game I might want to play but not enough to pay over $20. Lol

[@Sneakers8b]

Holy crap that tree in tomato game, is absolutely horrifying.

[@TheRealCaptainFreedom]

The Itchy and Scratchy Game was canceled on Genesis but it did come out on SNES.

[@Dorelaxen]

Heeeeeyyyy....

[@thedrunkmonkshow]

With Curse I'm not sure if you meant unreleased as in for the US or Europe but the game did come out on Japanese Megadrive in 1989. I kinda like the game but it got mixed reviews and massively overshadowed by Thunder Force 2 which came out in the summer earlier that same year.