Before there was Metroid Prime, Retro Studios hadn't had a bona fide hit, and several of the studio's games were cancelled before seeing the light of day. One such title was this unnamed American football game, recently featured by prominent site Unseen64.
The animation shown below is undoubtedly impressive, particularly considering this game was intended for release on GameCube. Ultimately the project was cancelled in 2001 shortly after Nintendo granted Retro the licence for Metroid, and the rest is history.
[source unseen64.net]
Comments 25
Inb4 everyone tells me this is old. It's still interesting, though!
Such nostalgia. A game in the works back in the final days of Elway, when my Denver Broncos were not only winners, not only relevent... they were two-time World Champions. Feels like a lifetime has passed since!
@James. Loving your account pic
Pretty impressive at the time
Dang, those are some nice animations.
It's a shame they didn't end up doing the Mario Football game they were intend to make in the first place.
there was also ravenblade. they didn't have a solid foundation before they came to Nintendo which is why they work so well together.
Yes. Ravenblade. I wouldn't be surprised if that 'dropped' project gets another chance on the Wii U
Please, Retro, make Super Mario American Football! They already have a good concept that was originally developed years ago. Now's the time to make it shine! Maybe on Wii U?
Wow. Very impressive.
Damn cant even see those realistic animations on ps3 or 360...i mean mostly the gestures and how they move is extremely realistic i find
@betelgeuse I'm a lifetime Bronco fan as well, I'm dying to watch this new regime.
I'd be all about some mario football.
That looked pretty sweet. How about Retro? Super Mario Tacklers?
This kinda looks better than current Madden games.
Wow, the movements for those models are very impressive, especially considering it's Gamecube tech.
That looks beautiful. It really does.
Whooo go Chiefs.
freakin' Broncos fans...bleh...
It does look great but keep in mind the animations are not in the context of a game engine.
@9 How would it sell anywhere besides the United States? I doubt Nintendo would want to make a Mario game with such a narrow market?
@19 the NFL has been playing a few games in Europe recently to spread awareness, if Ninty and NFL partnered up and promoted the mario football game at the NFL game it could work
Didn't stop Mario Baseball being made (twice), and various basketball sub games in Wii and DS titles. American football is probably the biggest interest American sport in Europe, so I imagine the market would be there.
As for the video, indeed, very good animation and modelling there, which holds up incredibly well even today.
I sure wish someone would rethink football games from the ground up. I hate the Madden vision of the football game, but love football strategy, leaving my interest with no gaming home.
Hmm, interesting. I wonder what else they have, wait didn't Retro have some type of RPG they were working but Nintendo canned it.
A Mario football game would have been AWESOME. I'd have bought 12 new copies just because I could. Ok, not really, but I'd have almost thought about it.
Still, that game shown looks SO much better than ANY Madden or NCAA title last gen... and even most of the ones this gen. Retro is a genius at what it does.
@warioswoods: Have you tried Madden: Head Coach? That might be a little more of what you're looking for... it failed horribly in the sales front, because it wasn't the "next Madden" people were wanting/expecting... but I've heard it was actually pretty good for what it was.
I hope that one day Nintendo will let Retro do a original IP as I feel they are more than capable to spread their own wings on a project.
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