The lost Superman 64 for PlayStation »Vortex has appeared on the Internet
Superman 64 for Nintendo 64 (wasn’t it great when the name of the game directly revealed the target platform?) Is one of the infamous attempts at a good game with a man of steel. He is often at the forefront of the worst games of all time. The original from the Titus Interactive studio was released in 1999 and, as its name suggests, it aimed at a single console. But it didn’t have to be that way.
A copy of Richard Evan Mandel was auctioned off on eBay in 2013.
After the failure of the N64 version, the title was also to target the original PlayStation. BlueSky Software was tasked with completely redesigning the game. Sony has approved the release, but in the meantime the rights from Warner Bros. have expired. Titus couldn’t get a new one, and the game was canceled in 2000, even though a lot of work was done.
But now the unfinished version has surfaced. A version dated June 22, 2000 appeared on the Internet. It was shared by Richard Evan Mandel. The copy was reportedly obtained at auction on the eBay portal in 2013. Game historian Frank Cifaldi pointed out that a demo of Superman has been available for a long time, but this should be a much more complete version. Unusually, the copy first appeared on the DeviantArt portal. A link to download the ISO game has been published here. At this point, however, the original post no longer works.
Yeah dude, alternate universe Superman 64 (the unreleased PlayStation game planned to come out around the same time) just dropped. First time I’ve ever seen a video game prototype get released on Deviant Art. https://t.co/a4xesFsGXE pic.twitter.com/tyU7gsPvPt
– Frank Cifaldi in the Alien Asylum (@frankcifaldi) November 30, 2020
Many players wonder why anyone would want to play an unfinished version of such a notoriously bad game, but it’s definitely a very interesting piece of lost and rediscovered history. Superman for PlayStation is said to be a similarly frustrating experience as the original game. Richard Evan Mandel claims that he only realized in time what his treasure was. Along with him, he allegedly acquired a work-in-progress version of Resident Evil 1.5, as another older version of the second is called.
If you are interested in the topic, read our older comment Successful game with Superman is not a myth.
Superman 64 at a glance
Superman: The New Superman Adventures is better known as Superman 64 and was released on the Nintendo 64 in 1999. It is an action adventure from the Titus Interactive studio based on an animated television series. The development of the game began in 1997 and was marked by many disputes with the rights owner. Although the players were looking forward to the title, immediately after the release it faced overwhelming criticism for poor control, technical errors, uninteresting gameplay, poor visibility and overall weak graphics.
