10 Amazing Video Games You'll Never Get To Play

2. Streets Of Rage

Streets Of Rage Remake
Ruffian Games/Sega

What it was meant to be: A remake, through and through, of Sega's classic 90s beat 'em up that would see Axel Stone, Blaze Fielding and Adam Hunter reunited to take their streets back from a vicious crime syndicate and their big boss man, Mr. X.

Ruffian Games (of Crackdown fame) was to helm the project, which had been repurposed from its 2D side-scrolling roots into a full-blown 3D world with expanded combat and an ever-so-pretty skin. Ruffian's project never made it past the prototype stage, though early gameplay concept footage has since surfaced, proving that the studio certainly had the art design and tone on point.

Why you'll never play it: Best guess? Probably because Sega, apparently, isn't too keen on remakes of its classic IPs. That, or it's just extremely picky about who its works with.

Ruffian Games' Gary Liddon told GameSpot after the cancellation that the footage made public was of an extremely early pre-alpha build, but wouldn't be drawn on why it was canned. Blimey.

If the remake's "pre-pre-pre-pre pre-alpha" (as Liddon put it)'s quality was this high so early on during development, maybe Sega just didn't like the prospect of making money.

 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Joe is a freelance games journalist who, while not spending every waking minute selling himself to websites around the world, spends his free time writing. Most of it makes no sense, but when it does, he treats each article as if it were his Magnum Opus - with varying results.