Well, the Flash actually had a game already. But that was in the early 90s, on the Sega Master System.
Anyway, that one was a long time ago, during videogame's early 8-bits days.
I always felt that he was the kind of character that could actually get a pretty decent game if the speed-gimmick was well thought.
Wouldn't it be perfect to represent such an abstract notion as the "Speed Force" ?
Even more so than an actual live movie/tv show/cartoon? Imagine speeding through a city, zipping around immobile villains, having a duel with other speedsters and playing around with time!
Well, that's probably what also though the guys at Bottlerocket Entertainment, the studio behind the modern Splatterhouse. They started working on The Flash....but sadly the game never saw the light of the day... Hte company shut down not long after that.
Today I'd like to take this occasion to show everything I was able to find about this game that never got released!
In the mid-2000s, the Flash almost got his very own Arkham Asylum-like game on Xbox 360, PS3 (and probably PC?).
A genuine Flash videogame was in-development, not a cartoon/movie tie-in rushed product. But Warner Bros studios did commission an actual comic book-to-video game adaptation based around the Scarlet Speedster.
It wasn't that long in development before problems with BottleRocket's publishers at that time arose.
Warner didn't had a gaming publishing company like these days.
And when BottleRocket themselves got some troubles...this game got canned logically.
It was first aimed for a 2007-8 release date, then later..later...until the delays and the production challenges got the better of it.
Anyway, thanks to some ex-BottleRocket guys portfolio and press release, I was able to get some pics of the materials produced so far.
Let's start with character designs!
I guess for a Flash game, you'd like to know which characters were supposed to appear and how everybody would look like, right?
Well, they were supposed to sport brand new redesigns (like Arkham Asylum did with Bat-characters).
Here's the lineup of the characters that were supposed to star in this game:
As you can see, it was going to show most of the Flash-centric character, be it on the heroes or the Rogues sides.
Different looks yet all pretty familar for fans.
Let's have a look at the Flash, shall we?
As you see (and guess), the Flash was gonna have a pretty Wally West inspired costume.
At various production stages, it was originally supposed to be Wally (the 3rd Flash, Kid Flash grown up)..then with DC's bringing Barry Allen (the "original" Silver Age Flash) they thought about making it Barry sporting a Wally costume.
Anyway, we can only suppose what things might have been.
I like the look, kinda similar to what DC Comics actually did with Wally since Barry's return. The boots are pretty cool, would have made for quite a visual look while he's running as a blur around the city for sure!
As you can see from the character line-up above, the game was going to feature lots of the Flash family. From Jesse Quick to Jay Garriy (the original Flash!).
It was also to feature probably time travel to some extend (and seeing characters grow up into other roles?).
Impulse/Bart Allen was to be part of this experience, and so was his evil doppelganger!
And when Barry was considered for main Flash, what about Wally?
Wally was considered for Kid Flash again, with an all-new look.
Below, another idea for a costume:
Not a big fan of this one I'll admit. Kinda too much "Jess Quick"-like.
But heroes are only as good as their villains!
That's why Batman or Spider-man are still so popular after all this time, and what made them iconic in the first place.
What about the Rogues, the villains the player would face in this game?
Here's some concept arts and even early models for some of them:
Obviously, Captain Cold had to be in there.
And below, Grodd, classic Flash stuff, the Weather Wizard in concepts, 3D modeling stage and finished model and more!
For the city, it seems it was gonna be the good ol' Central City, as most of the times it is with the Flash. (when it isn't its sister-city Keystone).
Some early placings where done. What we call "next gen" effects weren't applied yet. But it was already looking nice so far. Recognizable, bright, colorful, modern.
And here's a map of the city (most of it? all of it?)
Alright, now that we've seen most of the components of the game, let check the game itself!
The in-game artwork was all done by Roger Robinson, who also was on character concepts duty.
The menu was to use bright colorful dynamic art as you can see:
This pic above was also going to be the game's main menu.
And here's more menu screens:
I'd say it again, but things were looking promising!
Love the direction, even moreso than the grim and gritty (awesome) Batman: Arkham Asylum game.
Why did DC pull off the plug? Why, oh, why!
And here's the in-game HUD:
Everything might not have been definitive, but it looked good so far.
I already can hear you...Yeah, so what? What about the actual game itself?? In motion!
Well, we can't imagine how the final product might have been...apart from this tech demo which actually gives us an idea:
And it looked good enough!
We can only guess, but I'd imagine this to be better than some actually released games such as most Superman games, Aquaman on the Xbox and maybe even those repetitive Spider-man movies games.
Exploring a city (more than just a city?) on foot with the Fastest Man Alive... Maybe some day..
This post was written from tidbits found here and there. And material here is © Warner Bros/DC Entertainment. Courtesy from Roger Robinson deviantart page and Baz Pringle portfolio
