The world's premier resource for SEGA's arcade and console hardware legacy!
One of the more famous Genesis titles that was completed but never given a commercial release, It Came from the Desert has been freely available in ROM form for years. Cinemaware’s lost Genesis game may not be ground-shaking, but it’s worth checking out to see what could have been another addition to the console’s robust library.
While It Came from the Desert has been available as freeware and in reproduction form for a while now, it’s finally getting the licensed treatment denied to it back in 1990. Developer Cinemaware is partnering with Pier Solar creators Watermelon to give the game the full physical release treatment for Christmas 2014. Another lost Genesis title finally comes home!
It seems odd that a company would develop a title almost to completion, only to shelve it at the eleventh hour. Yet such behavior is common in the game industry for a multitude of reasons, and many games are never released though being virtually completed. It Came from the Desert is an example of corporate decisions leaving development out in the cold. Sega-16 contributor Brandon Cobb recently spoke to Matt Harmon, the man behind the game, about its creation and subsequent termination.