10 Unreleased Video Game Consoles You Never Knew Existed

Another console that was past the prototype stage and ready for manufacture before it was cancelled, was the 32-bit Panasonic M2, the follow up console to the 3DO.

The original 3DO Interactive Multiplayer had been developed by the former designers of the Commodore Amiga and Atari Lynx for the newly formed 3DO company, set-up by former boss of Electronic Arts Trip Hawkins. Despite gaining an early advantage with its release date, the console failed miserably in the face of its rivals, which included the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation.

The main problem with the original 3DO was that the hardware was licensed out to a number of different companies including Goldstar, Sanyo and Panasonic, causing it to be very expensive. This was because each manufacturer wanted to make a profit on the hardware as they made nothing from licensing software.

To avoid this happening again with the M2, Panasonic’s parent company Matsushita purchased the exclusive rights to the new hardware from 3DO.

After being demonstrated at various shows through 1996, Matsushita cancelled the console in 1997 - just before it was due to be released - as they were scared they would be unable to compete with Sony and Nintendo.

Numerous pre-production M2 machines still slipped out into circulation, along with the only complete game, ISMA Racing. The hardware didn’t go to waste though, and ended up being used in a number of other different interactive systems including several Konami arcade games.