M&M's Adventure (lost build of unreleased PlayStation 2 port of "M&M's" video game; 2008)

PlayStation 2 cover of M&M's Adventure.

Status: Lost

M&M's Adventure is a video game for Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2. Although the former versions are well documented and still in circulation, the PlayStation 2 version of the game is considered lost, since no known copies were sold and no footage of the game is known to exist.

The game was set to be released in 2008, exclusively in America.

The Game

Even if information is scarce, it is likely that the PlayStation 2 port of the game would share similarities with the other versions, namely with the Nintendo Wii gameplay and story line, given they're both home video game consoles with similar technical capabilities when compared to the Nintendo DS.

Nikitova described M&M's Adventure as a 3D platform game set in the M&M's Factory over seasonal levels, playable by three M&M's characters (Red, Yellow and Miss Green) that would collect candy. The game would be aimed at an younger audience. M&M's Adventure was referred to by Nikitova as "Project 5".

It is possible that images of the PS2 were featured on the developer's website, but they were not archived.

Development

The game was developed for the NTSC U/C region. No PAL versions of the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii versions are known to exist as well. As such, the PS2 game was only listed in stores in North America and Mexico, as well as PlayAsia, who sells games from other regions.

As seen in the official cover, the game would be published by "Zoo". However, despite what is listed on multiple sources, this "Zoo" refers to "Zoo Entertainment, Inc.", a publisher from Ohio who was later renamed "indiePub", and not "Zoo Digital Publishing" (also known as "Zuchi"), an affiliated video game publisher from the United Kingdom.

"Zoo Digital Publishing" (the British company) published the M&M's video game "Break'em" for GBA and Nintendo DS, and no references to M&M's Adventure can be found on the website's archive. Given that this publisher was located in Sheffield, England, a PAL region, it would also be odd for them to publish a game to be released only for NTSC systems.

Zoo Entertainment, Inc. (the American company, also known by Zoo Games Inc), on the other hand, was the publisher of the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii versions of the game, as seen on their website at the time. Zoo Games also published other M&M's games, like "M&M’S Beach Party" for the Wii. Despite this, no information about the PlayStation 2 version was found on the publishers website.

Some sources, like the PlayStation official website, listed the publisher of the game under the designation "DSI Publisher": this American publisher was acquired in 2007 and would later become Zoo Games Inc.

Although M&M's Adventure for PlayStation 2 was listed on websites like IGN and Metacritic, no reviews or details about this version were provided.

It is known that the game was developed by Nikitova, a company from Illinois with an Ukrainian studio based in Kiev. Their official website directly addresses the PlayStation 2 version of the game and confirms that it would be released in the US market.

The game was rated "E for Everyone" by ESRB. Two PlayStation 2 covers are known to exist. One of them, likely a placeholder to be used by shops, showed a pending age rating.

The game's product code is 802068101879 and SLUS-21875.

Release

M&M's Adventure was originally set to be released in 2008, along with the other versions of the game. The Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS releases were promoted on the publisher's official website, respectively on November 12rh 2008, and November 21st, 2008. No information about the PlayStation 2 was found on that official source.

A release of the PlayStation 2 game would be mentioned by other outlets. In 2008, GameSpot reported the game as to be released on December 3rd on all its three platforms. However, on December 11th. 2008, IGN reported that only the Nintendo DS and the Wii versions were in fact released on December 3rd. That same article mentions that the game would be released on PlayStation in "early 2009", as said by Nikitova, the game's developer. No further news about the game was reported by both IGN and Nikitova.

On February 10th, 2009, the official PlayStation Twitter account published a tweet saying that M&M's Adventure had been released that same day. The official PlayStation website listed the game as "out now", without any specific date.

In August 2008, Amazon reported that the PlayStation 2 game would release on November 18 2008, costing 12.99$. In December 2008, M&M's Adventure for the PlayStation 2 was still up for pre-orders, listing as to be released on December 23rd, 2008. The second to last archived version, dating back to 07 February 2009, lists the game as to be released on March 17th, 2009. Three days later, on 10 February, the game was pushed to March 31st, 2009.

Due to a lack of archives, it is unknown when the game was listed on PlayAsia, Walmart and Amazon Mexico and if it was ever for sale or pre-order on those platforms. Walmart, for instance, listed a January 2011 release date, several years after the 2008 or 2009 date found on other sources. The game was priced at 9.99$ in 2023. PlayAsia lists a April 14th, 2009 release date, as well as other databases such as Listal.

Availability

It is unknown if the discs of the game were produced. It is extremely unlikely that copies of the game were sent to stores and sold to customers.

It is unknown why the PS2 version was canceled.

Gallery

Images

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  An image used by Nikitova for their game M&M's Adventure, listed on their website as "Game 5".