1994 Working Designs / SNK
Platform: PC Engine
In the early 1990s, World Heroes (a popular Neo Geo fighting game developed by ADK and SNK) was being ported to the PC Engine Super CD-ROM by Working Designs. Known for their quality localisations and close collaborations with Japanese developers, Working Designs were said to have had a good working relationship with SNK, which included this unreleased port.
According to direct conversations with one of the Shirley brothers at Working Designs (likely Don Shirley), the PC Engine version of World Heroes was reportedly fully complete. The port was being developed with direct involvement from the original Neo Geo development team, ensuring arcade-accurate gameplay and visuals within the limits of NEC’s hardware.
However, the game was ultimately cancelled before release. The reason given was a strategic one: Turbo Technologies Inc. (TTI) planned to launch the Arcade CD-ROM add-on and release World Heroes 2 that required the new Arcade Card for expanded memory. Working Designs and TTI were concerned that releasing the first World Heroes, which only required the Super CD-ROM format, might result in poor sales – as consumers would likely opt for the newer sequel instead.
So it seems that it was merely a business move, rather than concerns over quality of the game conversion itself. Anecdotal reports from the time indicate that the game looked and played beautifully, which makes it a huge shame that the game was shelved.
King of the Monsters 2 also followed a similar path. It reportedly required the extra memory of the Arcade Card to function properly without excessive loading times, and it too never saw release. Both games as a result remain elusive. Very little was published in the press – with only what seems to be just the logo from the arcade.
At this moment in time, no prototype or footage of the PC Engine version of World Heroes has surfaced, and it is unknown whether any builds still exist in archives. PC Engine fans still hold out hope that these lost conversions might one day come to light. If you know anything more about the development, please do get in touch.
With thanks to ParanoiaDragon for suggesting to cover the game and for details, archives.tg-16.com for one of the scans and also Archive.org for the other scan with game preview.
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