Ufouria: The Saga (found prototype build of cancelled American localization of NES action-adventure game; early 1990s)

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UfouriaUSPrototypeTitleScreen.png

Title screen of the prototype.

Status: Found

Date found: 23 Mar 2021

Found by: armadylo


Ufouria: The Saga, known in Japan as Hebereke is a 1991 video game developed and published by Sunsoft. The game stars a snowman named Bop-Louie (Hebe the penguin in the Japanese version), who has to find his friends after they suffered from amnesia.

There was an American version in the works but was later cancelled due to its quirky character design, though it would eventually be found by Armadylo on March 2021.

History

An advertisement for the game in the U.S..

Sometime around 1991, after the game was released in Japan, an advertisement was made and shown in the United States. Its American origins could be verified by the title screen in the advertisement, which read "LICENSED BY NINTENDO OF AMERICA, INC.". It would later be delayed, before getting cancelled sometime around 1993.[1] According to David Siller, the reason for the cancellation was because he felt the game's characters were too "strange or quirky" compared to cartoons by The Walt Disney Company and Warner Brothers, though he also stated that it might be a commercial success.[2]

Virtual Console re-release

In the year 2010, the game would finally see a release in America via the Wii's Virtual Console. However, the emulator runs at NTSC mode, and since no US prototype of the game was available at the time, the PAL version was chosen, thus speeding up the gameplay. In 2014, it would be re-released again on the Wii U's Virtual Console, albeit having the same issues as its Wii Virtual Console counterpart.

Discovery

On March 23rd, 2021, "armadylo" discovered two prototypes of the game, one of which was the then-lost US prototype.[3] Following this discovery, ROM images for it were released, now debunking its "lost" status.

Gallery

Trailer for the Wii U Virtual Console release.

External Links

References

  1. ↑ ROMhacking.net page on Ufouria: The Saga. Retrieved 09 Aug '21
  2. ↑ Strangman, Rob (2014). Memoirs of a Virtual Caveman. Lulu.com. p. 396. ISBN 9781312104839.
  3. ↑ armadylo1's Tweet on finding and releasing two early prototypes of the game. Retrieved 09 Aug '21
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