21st April 2006, 12:31 PM
from IGN 2003
Missing in Action -- The Lost Games of GameCube: Dead Phoenix
Official Statement:
Capcom never officially confirmed that the title is cancelled. The official line is that the company had decided to focus its attention on other projects. Does this mean that the title is in limbo or that the Phoenix has died altogether? IGNcube turned to Capcom for answers. A Capcom North America spokesperson commented, "Currently, Dead Phoenix is still to be determined." This means that the project is officially in a state of purgatory, neither actively worked on nor actually canned. Officially, it's unknown whether this title will ever be finished.
Continued Investigation:
While our official statement wasn't all that helpful, it does support the hypothesis that Dead Phoenix is still in production. It wouldn't really hurt Capcom to announce that it's officially cancelled, which means Capcom must still have plans for the title. But, it most likely won't be the same Dead Phoenix unveiled over a year ago. The current rumor circulating the internet is that Dead Phoenix is slowly being molded into a new Kid Icarus.
For those unfamiliar with the NES, in Kid Icarus you played as an angelic boy fighting against hordes of mythical monsters so that you could finally confront Medusa. Dead Phoenix certainly could be turned into a 3D rendition of this classic title. With Capcom's continued support of the GameCube (Resident Evil 4) and Nintendo's current trend of licensing franchises to third parties, this could very well be a new Kid Icarus.
While it doesn't point to the Kid Icarus angle, some more evidence that Dead Phoenix is still in the works comes directly from the game's producer. The following is an excerpt from IGN's interview with Atsushi Inaba at the Tokyo Game Show 2003:
"What's the status of Dead Phoenix?
Inaba-san: [stalls] Project Dead Phoenix? Hmm.
[covers mouth and begins to mutter]
Actually, the project I was talking about is not Dead Phoenix, and when you asked me what happened with Dead Phoenix my mouth closed shut, and I couldn't speak anymore! [covers mouth and laughs] "
Inaba-san's abrupt dismissal of the topic hints that the fate of Dead Phoenix was not death, at least last October. From Inaba's tone, it sounded like there is a surprise in the works.
Case Status:
Dead Phoenix still exists... in one form or another. IGNcube is under the belief that it is quietly being worked on in Japan. Hopefully, we'll be hearing more on the title soon, whether it's resurrected as Dead Phoenix or the next Kid Icarus has yet to be determined.
Missing in Action -- The Lost Games of GameCube: Dead Phoenix
Official Statement:
Capcom never officially confirmed that the title is cancelled. The official line is that the company had decided to focus its attention on other projects. Does this mean that the title is in limbo or that the Phoenix has died altogether? IGNcube turned to Capcom for answers. A Capcom North America spokesperson commented, "Currently, Dead Phoenix is still to be determined." This means that the project is officially in a state of purgatory, neither actively worked on nor actually canned. Officially, it's unknown whether this title will ever be finished.
Continued Investigation:
While our official statement wasn't all that helpful, it does support the hypothesis that Dead Phoenix is still in production. It wouldn't really hurt Capcom to announce that it's officially cancelled, which means Capcom must still have plans for the title. But, it most likely won't be the same Dead Phoenix unveiled over a year ago. The current rumor circulating the internet is that Dead Phoenix is slowly being molded into a new Kid Icarus.
For those unfamiliar with the NES, in Kid Icarus you played as an angelic boy fighting against hordes of mythical monsters so that you could finally confront Medusa. Dead Phoenix certainly could be turned into a 3D rendition of this classic title. With Capcom's continued support of the GameCube (Resident Evil 4) and Nintendo's current trend of licensing franchises to third parties, this could very well be a new Kid Icarus.
While it doesn't point to the Kid Icarus angle, some more evidence that Dead Phoenix is still in the works comes directly from the game's producer. The following is an excerpt from IGN's interview with Atsushi Inaba at the Tokyo Game Show 2003:
"What's the status of Dead Phoenix?
Inaba-san: [stalls] Project Dead Phoenix? Hmm.
[covers mouth and begins to mutter]
Actually, the project I was talking about is not Dead Phoenix, and when you asked me what happened with Dead Phoenix my mouth closed shut, and I couldn't speak anymore! [covers mouth and laughs] "
Inaba-san's abrupt dismissal of the topic hints that the fate of Dead Phoenix was not death, at least last October. From Inaba's tone, it sounded like there is a surprise in the works.
Case Status:
Dead Phoenix still exists... in one form or another. IGNcube is under the belief that it is quietly being worked on in Japan. Hopefully, we'll be hearing more on the title soon, whether it's resurrected as Dead Phoenix or the next Kid Icarus has yet to be determined.