Asrokhel Posted October 13, 2012 Share Posted October 13, 2012 Plus how Pokemon influenced Blizzard. Blizzard's Diablo franchise is often viewed as a quintessential PC franchise, one that seems destined to head to consoles. But what if we told you the series nearly came to a portable over a decade ago? That almost happened. In fact, Diablo was actively in development for one of Nintendo's Game Boy platforms. According to author David Craddock, via Shack News, who is assembling a book chronicling the history of Blizzard, the publisher was developing a prequel to the original Diablo game for a Nintendo handheld. Titled "Diablo Junior," the game "was intended as a single-player-only prequel to the original game. Taking a page from Pok?mon's book, the team wanted to release three cartridges, each packing a different hero in the warrior-rogue-sorcerer vein as well as items that players would have to trade for in order to collect. Heroes started in a unique town before heading into dungeons and wilderness zones." Development was ultimately abandoned due to steep production costs, before Blizzard even determined what system to develop for (it was debating between Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance). But that doesn't mean a working prototype didn't exist, and footage of that early Game Boy build has apparently made its way to YouTube. http://ca.ign.com/articles/2012/10/12/how-diablo-almost-came-to-the-game-boy Osiris 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osiris Posted October 13, 2012 Share Posted October 13, 2012 I would not have guessed they were interested in that market, looking at the vid certainly looks like it could have been a functional little addition to the franchise. Cool bit of gaming history and another what could have been, thanks for posting Asro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomoko Posted October 13, 2012 Share Posted October 13, 2012 That's pretty cool. Believe it or not Blizzard made a number of console games for the Genesis and SNES before Diablo and Warcraft came along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moloko Posted October 13, 2012 Share Posted October 13, 2012 would of been great to have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yusuf M. Veteran Posted October 13, 2012 Veteran Share Posted October 13, 2012 That's interesting. I've always seen Blizzard as a PC developer. I never thought they'd go back to consoles after The Lost Vikings 2 (released in 1997). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n_K Posted October 13, 2012 Share Posted October 13, 2012 A comment from the someone around the time the realeaser of the ROM uploaded it; 'These "commercial blog" sites like Joytech, Engadget etc. all do that... they seem to have his slightly sneery writing style that conveys the expression of not really having much of a clue about what they're posting about, yet still commenting on it.' Original source: http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?14032-Diablo-Gameboy-Unreleased-Tech-Demo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts