Illbleed & Blue Stinger Premium Cut (lost builds of cancelled original Xbox enhanced ports of Dreamcast games; 2004)

Poster for both series.

Status: Lost

Blue Stinger and Illbleed were both 3D action survival horror games developed by Crazy Games (formerly Climax Graphics) and released on the Sega Dreamcast, the former in 1999 and the latter in 2001. Blue Stinger was published by Sega in Japan and published by Activision outside of Japan. Illbleed was self-published by Crazy Games in Japan and published by AIA in the United States.

Blue Stinger stars 28-year-old Eliot G. Ballade who finds himself stranded on a monster infested island called Dinosaur Island. There he makes allies with Dogs Bower and Janine King who are also fighting to survive. They also meet a mysterious creature named Nephilim who appears to be guiding them. They all band together to explore the island, defeat monsters, and solve the mysteries surrounding the sudden outbreak.

Illbleed stars 18-year-old student Eriko Christy who is given a ticket to the horror themed amusement park known as Illbleed. Reluctant to go, Eriko stays behind while her three friends head to the park. After a few days pass and her friends are nowhere to be seen, Eriko goes to Illbleed to look for them. The park is comprised of several attractions, each with their own story and theme. Attendees must actually play a role in the attractions' stories, avoiding various scares, traps, and enemies placed throughout. These pose real danger, and Eriko must use her senses to survive through them in search of her friends.

History

In 2015, John Andersen wrote an article on Game Developer sharing his experiences meeting and becoming friends with Shinya Nishigaki, the producer of both games. Andersen stated "there was hopeful news that both Blue Stinger and Illbleed would be ported to the original Xbox" by Coolnet Entertainment (also known as CoolCool) who had a partnership with Sega to release games from their previous generation console to the Xbox. They were responsible for the Rent-A-Hero No.1 port on the system in 2003, which in itself had a planned English localization that was later cancelled. They had told Andersen that the Illbleed port was 90% completed.

After Nishigaki's unfortunate death in February of 2004, Andersen tried his hardest to help get the ports released, preserving Nishigaki's legacy in the process. However, due to the stagnating sales of the original Xbox in Japan and preparations for the soon-to-be-released Xbox 360, both ports were quietly cancelled.

Availability

As of July 2024, no screenshots or footage has surfaced online. The only remnants of the Xbox releases is the initial Sega press release announcing the ports and Andersen's accounts. It was confirmed that Blue Stinger Premium Cut was to include new characters and additions to its story. The whereabouts of neither Coolnet Entertainment's staff or the planned ports is currently known.