Japanese Famicom archivist Orochi has just posted footage of the lost sequel to Japan-only Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti on YouTube.
Splatter World was developed for the Famicom and was slated for release in Japan in 1993, but it never made it to market. The footage uploaded by Orochi comes from a VHS tape which was apparently sent to retailers at the close of 1992 to promote the game in-store.
The game's existence had only been hinted at previously in a Namco Museum of Art video about Splatterhouse in 2021.
Reporting on the find, West Mansion, a Splatterhouse fansite, had the following to say:
Splatter World looked to be pretty far along in development. As the videotape was sent to retailers in December of 1992 and the game was slated to be released in March of 1993, I'd say it was probably close to 100% complete at this time. They may have been in the final stages of polishing and gearing up for release when the plug was pulled. Of course, we don't know why the plug was pulled, but Orochi speculates that the user base shift to the Super Famicom, coupled with the possibility that Namco did not receive enough orders to justify the release (and also noting that Namco pulled out of the Famicom market entirely less than a year later, in December 1993), were what caused Splatter World's cancellation.
The most interesting thing about the game is that it appears to be a pretty robust-looking RPG, as you can see from the footage above.
Given the nature of this footage, there will naturally be speculation now that this game exists in some shape or form in Namco's archives. Hopefully, it will one day be made available to the public if that is indeed the case.
[source splatterhouse.kontek.net]
Comments 11
Getting some Mother/Earthbound Zero vibes. Could've been very interesting
I wonder how much of an actual archive Namco has over there. Either way, preservation isn’t an agenda to these companies so the next link might be to find a former employee that could shed some light
Ah I would've been all over this! Looks like the perfect game to play around Halloween times.
@NinChocolate
It's possible the ps1 Namco Archive series is about the extent of their preservation.
It seems like an odd thing to adapt Splatterhouse into an RPG, and one with a cutesy look, though they already used that aesthetic for Wanpaku Graffiti. I guess this would have coincided with Splatterhouse 2, more or less. Doing an RPG of this reminds me of Namco including quirky RPG modes in World Court Tennis and Final Lap Twin. Ultimately, this does seem like a case of bad timing.
I hope this gets leaked. It looks genuinely great, and I'm not a big rpg person.
The Famicom was just too dead by 1993. Namco might have published the most games of any third-party (at least of favored companies, I hadn't the urge to look into how much slop Bandai, let alone Bandai plus its affliliates/alter egos, or Pony Canyon put out ).
But even Namco I believe saw to put out only one Famicom game in 1993, of course a Famista game (that's baseball for those who don't recognize it).
@sdelfin I'm fairly certain a baseball game is the only thing Namco saw to release on the Famicom in 1993, to put that in comparison.
Splatterhouse 2 was 1990, though 3 was 1993. However, I can't remember if Splatterhouse 3 got international release or just North America (as Rolling Thunder 3 did that same year).
Though I swear I've seen that exact battle UI in some licensed-based RPG probably by Bandai or one of its other brands (Shinsei, Angel, Yutaka).
@KingMike Splatterhouse 2 looks to be a 1992 release. It was close enough to the reported release target of this Famicom game that I figured they were tied together somewhat. What I was not aware of is how soon after that Splatterhouse 3 came out. Splatterhouse 2 looks to be an August 1992 release, and Splatterhouse 3 was March 1993. It looks like this Famicom RPG was set to come out alongside Splatterhouse 3 in March. But it looks like there was a big push starting with Part 2 to try to make Splatterhouse a bigger brand for Namco.
I desperately want to play this! Wanpaku Graffiti is one of my all time favorite Famicom games. Can't read the text, but if they kept the sense of humor, it would be amazing!
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