Soul Reaver 2 on DC ?

[Neohound]

A few years ago, on a Dreamcast based forum, I was chatting to this girl who was a real hardcore Dreamcast fan. We chatted about all things DC related, everything from Crazy Taxi to Chicken Run. But one part of the conversation sticks in my mind and that is her total and unswerving belief that there is a working version of Soul Reaver 2 on Dreamcast.

Could such a thing really exist ? It's twelve years since it's release on other systems - surely we would have got to know about it by now if it were real

Is it still possible for a working version to be lain dormant on a dev kit somewhere ? Or maybe a collector has such a thing tucked away, waiting for the bidding to begin.

Your thoughts, evidence or plain speculation would be welcome.

[pcwzrd13]

It looks like it was partially completed on the DC. Here is a link with some screenshots:

http://www.thelostworlds.net/SR2/Soul_R ... mcast.html

I couldn't find anything about an actual working copy or anything like that. You never know though, there may be one on some devkit somewhere.

[CD AGES]

Yeah, if there is any sort of a build for SR2 on DC, it would most likely be incomplete and unplayable.

[pcwzrd13]

I just found some info that's quite interesting. Apparently the demo at e3 2000 was running on the Dreamcast. It was was farther along in developement than the other versions at the time. Quote from he company developing the Dreamcast version below along with the source link.

After the success of the original Soul Reaver on the Dreamcast we were asked to continue working with the team to make the best out of the Dreamcast version of the sequel as well. Unfortunately this version was never actually finished to be released to the public.

After a great start, being the only version to demo Soul Reaver 2 at E3 2000, and after that continously being optimised and tuned to keep up with the original on the more powerful PS2 platform, the game unfortunately was canceled by Eidos after Sega's decision to drop support for their Dreamcast platform.

Despite much disappointment among fans of both the series and the Dreamcast this decision unfortunately was final. We had a great time working on this project, and it was a shame it had to end this way.

http://web.archive.org/web/201001270534 ... jects.html

[mazonemayu]

2bad they didn't finish it, looks great & I love the first one

[Neohound]

Thanks for those pics/links, pcwzrd. Those screenshots look good enough to eat, a tantalising glimpse at what might have been.

So there is a playable demo somewhere.........interesting. And Team Nixxes were working at finalising the game ? It does suggest that the game was further on than I had realised. Maybe that girl was more right than wrong !

I wonder if Nixxes or Eidos have any more info up their sleeves. Maybe an email or two needs writing lol I'd love to know exactly what stage of completion the game was at and if there is the slightest chance we'd be able to get our hands on it !

[Comrade Snarky]

Eidos published Thief, and there was that incredibly rough build of it found on a dev kit a while back. There's certainly some hope for it.

[Jenkins]

There is so many (even verified) unreleased stuff out there, like Worms Pinball, Take the Bullet, DeeDee Planet, ecco 2, Sierra Game Park(?), Heroes of MaM 3, Test Drive Cycles, Deer Avengers etc. So, why not? Maybe it's really a working copy/demo of Soul Reaver 2. SEGA-Saturno wrote something similar. Agartha could be found on a SCSI HDD too. It exists.

The "Thief" Dev.Box came from Marina Games. Not not exactly from Eidos. Maybe it stood a long time in a dark and long forgotten basement...

[pcwzrd13]

So there is a playable demo somewhere.........interesting.

Well, not necessarily. I believe what they are talking about above was a stage demo. One thing I can say for sure is that there is footage of it running on the Dreamcast out there somewhere. You just have to find someone who recorded the E3 2000 press conferences. I checked YouTube but no luck. It's probably on some VHS tape somewhere in a basement.

[cloofoofoo]

If you check ign soul reaver 2 in the dreamcast section they had an interview.They said while they were pushing the ps2 ,they were pushing the dreamcast very hard just to keep up withthe ps2.And that both versions have a raziel model made with 3000 triangles(thats really high polygon count for 2000/2001) and that the stages were 10 times more dense than the 1st part.I think the dreamcast shots available are somewhat outdated and the game most likely looked alot like the early ps2 version.

This trailer looks pretty early.The character model seems to be the same one seen in the dreamcast screen shots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U14Ka6VfoY

And this is the footage that was said to be running on the ps2 but ign claimed that since both version where identical, this is how the dreamcast version should have looked at that point:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bQ3ZYgV1qI