With thanks to Ross Sillifant, it has been highlighted from a MEGA Power interview with Steve Turner that a PC Engine edition of Paradroid was once in production, as well as a unknown console edition of Total Recall.
Paradroid 90 was being produced right up until Hewson sadly collapsed, and then Total Recall would get the same issues when Mirrorsoft/ImageWorks went under in a bad sequence of events for Graftgold. Eventually, it was their conversion of Bitmap Bros’ Gods to the Sega Mega Drive which would result in their breakthrough onto console platforms in the early 1990s.
Andrew Hewson couldn’t recall anything about the PC Engine edition of the game when questioned, though developer Gary J Foreman reported that it was almost finished. He suggests that it was actually cancelled due to complications with Japanese publishers. So the Hewson collapse may have just been co-incidental.
Steve Turner commented in July 2022 that when Hewson had gone bust, Hudsonsoft had no idea that it was Graftgold doing the development work. Graftgold offered to finish the game, but Hudsonsoft would only consider if they could prove that Hewson had claim to the title and would need a document signed. After a few months of nothing being signed, it was too late and the game cancelled.
It seems that Paradroid 90 was pretty close to completion at the time, and Total Recall was at least half way through. The question is whether anything has survived of either development?
Thanks: Ross Sillifant for heads up + scans and Steve Turner for the information on what happened.
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The comication with Hudsonsoft was that they had contracted Hewsons for the Paradroid 90 PC Engine version and did not know anything about Graftgold developing it. When Hewson went bust we contacted Hudsonsoft who were surprised and immediately asked for there dev kit back. We offered to finish the game and they said they would only consider that if we could prove the Hewson had claim to the title and would need a doc signed by Hewsons successors to that effect. Hewson would not sign the doc for months. Eventually the new md of 21st signed, by then it was too late.
Thanks for confirming more details about the game Steve and what happened. I’ll get the page updated shortly. Do you recall much about working on a Total Recall licenced game for the PC Engine as well?