Bionic Commando dev Grin worked on Strider reboot, Streets of Rage remake
CGI teaser trailer, screenshots, artwork unearthed.
The developer behind Bionic Commando, Wanted and Terminator: Salvation worked on a Strider reboot and a Streets of Rage remake before it closed down.
Spanish website AnaitGames, which is run by our friends at Eurogamer.es, was told of the cancelled projects by sources at Grin Barcelona, the satellite studio of Swedish developer Grin, which closed its doors in 2009.
Artwork, screenshots and videos of a raft of cancelled Grin games have been released. Perhaps most eye-catching is a CGI teaser trailer of the Strider reboot.
Grin Barcelona helped with Strider, developing assets for the first prototype of the game. The art team made the teaser video, below, with the help of animation studio 23Lunes. Strider was to be a reboot similar to PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 Bionic Commando reboot Grin made for Capcom for release in 2009.
The "Snow Teaser", below, is for a "video game project" with "no name".
Also revealed are concept art, in-game assets and 3D models from the Strider reboot.
The Strider reboot was apparently cancelled by Capcom a few weeks after the May 2009 release of Bionic Commando. Grin Barcelona, however, soldiered on, trying to build a prototype based on its work without the Strider license. It pitched the project to Ubisoft, but that deal fell through.
After that setback, Grin Barcelona set upon a remake of Streets of Rage, to be published by Sega. It was intended to be similar to Grin's own Bionic Commando Rearmed, and released as a download-only title. Work on this game didn't last long, however. Only a handful of screenshots and art, below, were unearthed, but apparently a build of the game exists somewhere.
Other titles supposedly in development at Grin before it collapsed: a new Silent Hill for Konami; a Wanted sequel called Cult; and a Final Fantasy spin-off called Fortress for Square Enix. Images for these games are below.
According to the report Crysis developer Crytek offered to step in and buy Grin, but walked away from the deal after discovering the high asking price. In August 2009 Grin filed for bankruptcy.
Some of Grin's former staff went on to found new studios, and some of these have already released their first games. Grin founders Bo and Ulf Andersson, for example, founded studio Overkill Software. Its first game was downloadable game Payday: The Heist. Some of the developers who worked on Bionic Commando: Rearmed formed Might and Delight, the developer behind upcoming downloadable title Pid.
In May last year Bo and Ulf Andersson claimed Grin closed because of a "betrayal" by Square Enix.
Grin had been working on Final Fantasy: Fortress but apparently received no money from Square Enix because agreed milestones weren't met, brothers Andersson told Swedish site Aftonbladet.
Bo and Ulf Andersson announced that Grin had closed in August 2009. They cited an "unbearable cashflow situation" caused by "too many" publishers delaying their payments.
The Anderssons mentioned an "unreleased masterpiece" that they "weren't allowed" to finish. Was this Fortress? Or was it the Strider reboot.
GRIN has been responsible for Ballistics, Bandits, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter I & II (multiplayer), Bionic Commando Rearmed, Wanted: Weapons of Fate, Terminator: Salvation and Bionic Commando.