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It's been a month since the last batch of releases, and I've come back with another little pearl this time - the recent streak of luck following NBA JAM, Street Hero and Korean rarities continues!

I've managed to acquire a prototype cart of Unreleased Game Gear game Crazy Faces. The game has been discussed before but no prototype had surfaced - until now! Crazy Faces was developed by The Kremlin in 1993 (same developers as SMS/GG versions of Desert Strike and Prince of Persia among others). It is an original variation on sliding puzzle games where you have to push around blocks to assemble a picture. The pictures here are based on Domark properties - and Sonic!

The prototype we managed to get hold of doesn't come with music but otherwise looks pretty solid and fun. It is unsure whether the game development ever reached completion or why it was canned.

Enjoy another treasure from SMS Power!

This message will auto destruct itself someday.

crazy_faces-proto-gg.zip (63.66 KB)

I think I know why this game is unreleased. It is very similar in gameplay to a Nin-do Gamboy game from 1993 called "Splitz". They are both clones of an earlier 8-bit computer game called "Split Personalities". Either "The Kremlin" chose to ripoff "Splitz", or two companies chose to ripoff "Split Personalities" at once. Either way, it appears that threat of a lawsuit cancelled the game.

Thanks, great release!

Good work, Bock.

Diet Go Go Fan wrote

I think I know why this game is unreleased. It is very similar in gameplay to a Nin-do Gamboy game from 1993 called "Splitz". They are both clones of an earlier 8-bit computer game called "Split Personalities". Either "The Kremlin" chose to ripoff "Splitz", or two companies chose to ripoff "Split Personalities" at once. Either way, it appears that threat of a lawsuit cancelled the game.

...or maybe no publisher was dumb enough to expect people to pay full retail price for a sliding puzzle on the Game Gear?

Wackypedia tells me that "Split Personalities" was made by Domark, so it was their own IP. (The Kremlin were an in-house dev team at Domark.)

Also I slightly disagree on TheRedEye's remark, handheld always had room for "small" puzzle games, if you consider e.g.: the Poker Face Paul's series we are in a similar league, Domark could have released that. Not saying it would have been a hit but 1993 was a decent year for the Game Gear.

But if you really wanted to play a portable sliding puzzle game, you could probably find one for a dollar or whatever pharmacies/grocery stores charge for their random crappy toys. :P

(whereas with poker, it is perhaps less convenient to carry around a stack of cards to play at any time.)

This game is a lot better than the traditional sliding puzzles. It has more depth, and is much less frustrating for me. A similar game "Splitz" was released, so I don't know why this one wasn't. The quality is sure there.

Just discovered lead programmer Michael A. Carr's website. He mentions about Crazy Faces that "This was a short project I did just before I started work on Desert Strike. It is a conversion and update of the old Commodore 64 title, Split Personalities. Unfortunately things didn’t quite work out and the game which was almost complete was dropped."

I wonder what it was that "didn't quite work out".

http://www.thegameengineer.com/blog/game-portfolio/crazy-faces/

Also note the "Marko's Magic Football" and "Desert Strike" pages in the right menu there, that Carr worked on. Someone with editing access to the SMS Power! game database should add that "Marko's Magic Football" was developed by The Kremlin. (I've just added that information to the RetroCopy game database here http://www.retrocopy.com/sega-game-gear/markos-magic-football.aspx )

He seems only to mention the Mega Drive version of Marko's Magic Football.

Oops, didn't notice it said Mega Drive for that one...

Hey is this game out?

Yes it's been released.

Author	Message
Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8239 Location: Paris, France	Crazy Faces for Game Gear Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 12:03 am
	It's been a month since the last batch of releases, and I've come back with another little pearl this time - the recent streak of luck following NBA JAM, Street Hero and Korean rarities continues! I've managed to acquire a prototype cart of Unreleased Game Gear game Crazy Faces. The game has been discussed before but no prototype had surfaced - until now! Crazy Faces was developed by The Kremlin in 1993 (same developers as SMS/GG versions of Desert Strike and Prince of Persia among others). It is an original variation on sliding puzzle games where you have to push around blocks to assemble a picture. The pictures here are based on Domark properties - and Sonic! The prototype we managed to get hold of doesn't come with music but otherwise looks pretty solid and fun. It is unsure whether the game development ever reached completion or why it was canned. Enjoy another treasure from SMS Power!

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8239 Location: Paris, France	Temporary Transitional Attachment Fairy Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 12:14 am
	This message will auto destruct itself someday. crazy_faces-proto-gg.zip (63.66 KB)

Diet Go Go Fan Joined: 01 Oct 2011 Posts: 7	Reason for being unreleased Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 6:29 pm
Diet Go Go Fan Joined: 01 Oct 2011 Posts: 7	I think I know why this game is unreleased. It is very similar in gameplay to a Nin-do Gamboy game from 1993 called "Splitz". They are both clones of an earlier 8-bit computer game called "Split Personalities". Either "The Kremlin" chose to ripoff "Splitz", or two companies chose to ripoff "Split Personalities" at once. Either way, it appears that threat of a lawsuit cancelled the game.

S.F Joined: 08 Apr 2005 Posts: 386 Location: Netherlands	Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 9:14 pm
S.F Joined: 08 Apr 2005 Posts: 386 Location: Netherlands	Thanks, great release!

NonShinyGoose Joined: 19 Mar 2010 Posts: 272 Location: UK	Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 10:08 am
	Good work, Bock.

TheRedEye Joined: 20 Sep 2000 Posts: 149	Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 6:52 pm
TheRedEye Joined: 20 Sep 2000 Posts: 149	Diet Go Go Fan wrote I think I know why this game is unreleased. It is very similar in gameplay to a Nin-do Gamboy game from 1993 called "Splitz". They are both clones of an earlier 8-bit computer game called "Split Personalities". Either "The Kremlin" chose to ripoff "Splitz", or two companies chose to ripoff "Split Personalities" at once. Either way, it appears that threat of a lawsuit cancelled the game. ...or maybe no publisher was dumb enough to expect people to pay full retail price for a sliding puzzle on the Game Gear?

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 13379 Location: London	Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 7:40 pm
	Wackypedia tells me that "Split Personalities" was made by Domark, so it was their own IP. (The Kremlin were an in-house dev team at Domark.)

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8239 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 8:17 pm
	Also I slightly disagree on TheRedEye's remark, handheld always had room for "small" puzzle games, if you consider e.g.: the Poker Face Paul's series we are in a similar league, Domark could have released that. Not saying it would have been a hit but 1993 was a decent year for the Game Gear.

KingMike Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Posts: 353	Posted: Wed May 02, 2012 2:09 am
KingMike Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Posts: 353	But if you really wanted to play a portable sliding puzzle game, you could probably find one for a dollar or whatever pharmacies/grocery stores charge for their random crappy toys. :P (whereas with poker, it is perhaps less convenient to carry around a stack of cards to play at any time.)

Diet Go Go Fan Joined: 01 Oct 2011 Posts: 7	Posted: Wed May 02, 2012 3:10 am
Diet Go Go Fan Joined: 01 Oct 2011 Posts: 7	This game is a lot better than the traditional sliding puzzles. It has more depth, and is much less frustrating for me. A similar game "Splitz" was released, so I don't know why this one wasn't. The quality is sure there.

tommy1983 Joined: 18 Dec 2009 Posts: 114 Location: Norway	Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 3:47 pm
	Just discovered lead programmer Michael A. Carr's website. He mentions about Crazy Faces that "This was a short project I did just before I started work on Desert Strike. It is a conversion and update of the old Commodore 64 title, Split Personalities. Unfortunately things didn’t quite work out and the game which was almost complete was dropped." I wonder what it was that "didn't quite work out". http://www.thegameengineer.com/blog/game-portfolio/crazy-faces/ Also note the "Marko's Magic Football" and "Desert Strike" pages in the right menu there, that Carr worked on. Someone with editing access to the SMS Power! game database should add that "Marko's Magic Football" was developed by The Kremlin. (I've just added that information to the RetroCopy game database here http://www.retrocopy.com/sega-game-gear/markos-magic-football.aspx )

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 13379 Location: London	Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 9:19 pm
	He seems only to mention the Mega Drive version of Marko's Magic Football.

tommy1983 Joined: 18 Dec 2009 Posts: 114 Location: Norway	Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 9:23 pm
	Oops, didn't notice it said Mega Drive for that one...

JulianBaker789 Joined: 16 Jan 2015 Posts: 3 Location: New York	Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 6:47 am
	Hey is this game out?

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8239 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 12:32 pm
	Yes it's been released.

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