We’re probably stretching things I know – but its been reported that there was a version of Gemini Wing in existance that had two players in total.
Zzap 64 reported it a month before the game’s review and release, where it was dropped back to 1 player only.
It was probably just due to too much sprite flicker, but it would be very interesting to find that version. Maybe there were other features dropped as well?
Sadly we may never find out, as we believe that the author – Carl Wade, passed away a while ago. It could be something that turns up someday by bizare circumstances, but unlikely!
Contributions: Ross Sillifant
Would the main artist be catalyst coders Chris Edwards by any chance?
Seen him credited in early issue of Gamestm’s Retro section for Gemini Wings Spectrum/C64.
Have you tried contacting him?
I haven’t yet spoke to Chris, but I believe he was!
Just forwarded you over the ACE review of the C64 version (slagged it to hell) along with some comments made on it.Thought it’d be ideal to update this entry.
Cheers again, added! I actually liked the C64 conversion!
Very true Frank and i expect they feel the likes of Unseen64/GTW/Lost Levels…etc etc ‘handle’ the missing content/unreleased titles aspect of a company (if they want to discuss the stuff that never made it in the 1st place)….
But i have found it odd in the past to read a company write-up, that references the fact they are sat on numerous unreleased titles, several times throughout the article, yet never manages to reveal to the reader just what 1 or more of these titles are.
Lot of build up, whichs leads to nothing.
I was, months ago, in email contact with a few Ex-Imagitec staff, had put a few Q’s relating to their unreleased titles to them, never had any replies back, despite assurances, then simply found the info i wanted either online from them in previous interviews they’d done or other sources who’d worked on the same games, so never felt it was any great loss.
Were their other coders/artists on the C64 version you could try asking?
For sure – we could ask the main artist on the game, but i’d be surprised if they had earlier builds of the game. Very possible though!
Even if they don’t have any earlier builds, i think it’d be nice to get a spot of ‘closure’ with regards to exactly why the 2-Player aspect was dropped.
Looking forward to any extra info you can grab for us Frank.
:-)
That’s very sad news to hear Carl has passed away (RIP).
I’d wager your probably spot-on thinking the 2P mode probably was dropped for some technical reason or other (sprite flicker, slowdown, maybe game breaking bug at some point/s that couldn’t be fixed before a deadline).Looks like sadly we will never know :-(.
It’s odd, that whilst likes of Imagitec have had dedicated articles written on them, we still have so many unanswered Q’s relating to their games.
I’d love to know why the 2P Mode of this was dropped, exactly how far along MCD, Falcon and Jaguar CD versions of Space Junk actually got, rather than vague references.
And also a bit more follow-up work from Andrew seed talking about Freelancer Jag CD Screens coming from the far more advanced PC version.I’d love to hear just how much, if anything, was done on Jaguar CD version and then the annouced PS1 version.
But the Lost Game aspects never seem to warrant more than a reference in articles these days in mainstream mags.Shame really :-(
I suppose that there is so much that can be covered on a company, that small details like this can easily get missed out. Especially when you only have a few pages to work with. I expect most companies could have a book written on them to be honest! :)