View source for Surf and Destroy (partially found build of cancelled PC game; 1996)

{{InfoboxLost
|title=<center>The cover of the box</center>
|image=surfanddestroybox.png
|imagecaption=Title screen
|status=<span style="color:orange;">'''Partially Found'''</span>
}}
'''Surf and Destroy''' was a videogame being produced in a collaboration effort between Grolier Interactive, Toonsmiths, and MediaX.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/nextgen-issue-022/page/n125 NEXT Generation Issue 22]</ref> The game was DirectX based, utlizing realtime 3D. While it was heavily advertised in magazines of the period (though always using the exact same advertisement) the game would never be released in full. It would, however, be released as a demo packaged with the demo to a game that would be released, ''Banzai Bug.''

===Plot & Gameplay===
It's unknown what happens in the beginning. You likely have to get a computer disc first and escape through a sewer. Once you get out of the sewer, you give a young computer hacker the disc. With it he discovers who's behind a virus that's been destroying the internet, the evil Rood O'Dor, an old bunkmate of his at computer camp. To do so, he uses the "Transvector" that he's built with his assistant DeeDee to enter the internet. However, due to raising the voltage too high, you and him are sent into the internet and mutated, not being able to be sent back out into the real world like normal. Because of this, you have to figure out a way to get out yourself while destroying Rood's virus.<ref>[https://youtu.be/Ss7183bEEjw Cutscenes from Surf and Destroy]</ref>

In this first-person game, you have to jump from various platforms while shooting Rood's beasts with a strange cube-shooting gun of sorts. While doing this, you also have to collect objects to advance to the next levels.

==Development==
'''Surf and Destroy,''' previously known as '''Toobers: Surf and Destroy'''<ref>[https://archive.org/details/PCZONE038/page/n15/ PC Zone Issue 38]</ref> was a unique creation by Larry Kay, previously a writer for Freddi Fish. Larry, with his own company Toonsmiths, worked with MediaX<ref>[https://archive.org/details/interactivewrite0000wimb/page/206 Interactive Writer's Handbook]</ref> to develop Surf and Destroy and be published by Grolier Interactive. A partial list of Surf and Destroy's team is Matt MacLaurin, Gaben Chancellor,<ref>[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1047732074817273957/1126710448524365925/image.png The credit screen on the demo]</ref> and Eric Ellis<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20210601232509/https://twitter.com/textfiles/status/1270160489440575488 Tweet by Eric Ellis (Archived)]</ref>. The game was slated for a release on October of 1996, however advertisements appear the game even after that release date, with no game being on the shelves. Soon, Surf and Destroy would be cancelled by MediaX due to declining business. A few years later MediaX would be bought and other projects such as [https://lostmediawiki.com/Big_Brother_(lost_build_of_cancelled_PC_game_based_on_%22Nineteen_Eighty-Four%22_novel;_1998) ''Big Brother''] would be cancelled. According to creator Larry Kay, while Surf and Destroy did reach the beta stage, the game itself was never completed.

==Availability==
A demo of the game that includes two levels, "Funhouse" and "Junkyard" was made available briefly with the demo of ''Banzai Bug.''<ref>[https://www.ebay.com/itm/353674400819 An eBay listing for the demo]</ref> While this demo disc is increasingly rare, a dump of it was made on the Internet Archive in 2017 by curator Jason Scott.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/Banzai_Bug_The_Flight_Sim_with_an_Attitude_Demo_Grolier_Interactive A dump of the demo disc]</ref> As of now, the demo is the only known existing piece of Surf and Destroy. When compared to screenshots of the game from MediaX's old website, it's shown that other levels were definitely created, however it's unknown if any later builds still exist. Both Larry Kay and Gaben Chancellor neither have anything from Surf and Destroy's development. Chancellor mentioned the possibility of them being in MediaX's original archives, however due to the company being bought decades ago, it's unlikely any of that was kept.

===Gallery===
<gallery mode=packed heights=230px>
surfanddestroy1.jpg|Screenshot from an unknown cutscene
surfanddestroy2.JPG|An unknown level
surfanddestroy3.JPG|Another unknown level
surfanddestroy4.JPG|Another unknown level
surfanddestroyad.jpg|A magazine ad for the game
</gallery>
{{Video|perrow  =1
  |service1     =youtube
  |id1          =Ss7183bEEjw
  |description1 =The two currently surviving cutscenes
}}

==External Links==
*[https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Kgh14WeiCwaNFLOsHIQP7rsjttwApOZ6?usp=sharing The files for Surf and Destroy extracted from the demo disc.]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Lost video games]]
[[Category:Partially lost media]]