1988-1993 NEC
Platform: PC Engine
Aka: Wardner no Mori and Wardona Forest
Toaplan’s Wardner is a side scrolling platformer, similar in some ways to Ghosts n Goblins, and was ported to a number of platforms over the years. One version that never saw release was on the PC Engine (A NES edition also never made it, which you can read more about over at Unseen64).
Development was announced back in 1988, originally as a hucard release, and but would never see release. Later the game was moved to CD-ROM format, but was cancelled after too many delays, even though it is suggested that the game was fully complete. Oddly, it seems the cancellation was as late as 1993, some 4-5 years since its announcement.
Within the announcement, the names Tamakichi Sakura (possible artist for the game?) and Toshio Tabeta (possible producer?) were mentioned – so it is hoped they might be able to shed more light on why there were so many delays, and if crucially anything may still exist today.
When you look at the various previews from magazines such as PC Engine Fan and Gekkan PC Engine, then you can see that it was clearly very close to completion, which makes this more of a tragic shame that it never quite made it out.