10 Video Games That Were Cancelled Despite Being Almost Finished

Starring the titular magician duo, Penn And Teller’s Smoke And Mirrors is a video game practical joke designed with the sole intention of hoodwinking friends.

Intended to release on the Sega CD in April 1995, Smoke And Mirrors consisted of six “scam” minigames which include a psychic gorilla supposedly guessing which card the victim pulls from a deck (the trick being the player secretly inputs a code to tell the game what the card is) alongside a rigged two-player shooter where one player always gets more points than the other.

However, the game is best known for the infamous Desert Bus. Designed as a response to the video game violence controversies at the time, this game saw the hapless victims driving a bus in a straight line for eight hours to get a single point.

Featured in various publications and reviewed by gaming outlets, Smoke And Mirrors was all set for release until publishers Absolute Entertainment went bankrupt. With no other publishers willing to pick up the reigns, the game went unreleased.

That was until 2005, however, when copies of the game found their way onto the internet, earning the title a cult following. Now everyone can experience Desert Bus’s hours' of fun.