Mean Girls (lost build of cancelled Nintendo DS game based on teen comedy film; 2009-2010)

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MeanGirlsDS.jpg

Cover for the game.

Status: Lost

Mean Girls DS is a video game made for the Nintendo DS, intended as a tie-in for the 2004 comedy film Mean Girls. The game was developed by 505 Games and was released in Europe on September 11, 2009. A United States release was scheduled for April 20, 2010, but was canceled at the last minute.[1] For unknown reasons, the game has not resurfaced digitally or physically since its release, and no copies have been accounted for.

History

Little is known about the gameplay, though the plot is presumably similar to the movie, in that the player acts as a new student at a high-school. Kotaku described the game as being "some kind of Puzzle Quest ripoff", which would make it similar to its PC counterpart, Mean Girls: High School Showdown.[2] However, according to the ESRB, it was an adventure game where the player interacts with characters through text-based conversations.[3] It is also possible the game differs from both of these descriptions, as neither of them seem to match up with the available screenshots.

The game was noteworthy for not including Lindsay Lohan in the cover, despite her major role in the film. Apparently, the official explanation for this was that it was due to a monetary dispute, though many speculate that the actual reason was the actress' poor reputation at the time.[4]

It appears that the game was a financial failure, and very few copies were printed; previously announced tie-in games such as the Pretty in Pink and Clueless games were either made PC-download-only or, in the case of the latter, cancelled entirely. Though the US release of Mean Girls DS was cancelled, it still has a UPC code, and the game has been sold online at least once before.[5]Here is the description of the game, from the Walmart website:[6]

  • Go up against plastics, jocks, art freaks and mathletes, as you work to play the cliques against each other and become the high school prom queen!
  • Unlock new mini games and environments


Despite recent search efforts, no ROM images have surfaced, and no copies have been found currently for sale. There are no known scans of the back cover, though a total of 5 screenshots were found on an obscure Italian site.[7]

Official Response from Development Team

On April 24th, 2017, LMW user Flutter contacted developer 505 Games, and revieved the following message:

Hi Flutter,

Thank you for contacting 505 Game Customer Support. We've been getting a consistent flow of tickets about this game, mostly from the Lost Media wiki. Everything that's listed there is all we know, and all that is publicly released. The game itself never made it to market, so there's no additional details that we have to offer, as this is a cancelled title from over 7 years ago. My apologies for the inconvenience.

- Kyle 505 Games Customer Support

This confirms that the game's release was cancelled.

Screenshots

References

  1. GameFAQs page for the game Retrieved 30 Sept '16.
  2. Kotaku article on the game Retrieved 30 Sept '16.
  3. The game's ESRB rating justification Retrieved 30 Sept '16.
  4. Wikipedia page for the game Retrieved 30 Sept '16.
  5. Page for the game on The Hunt Retrieved 30 Sept '16.
  6. Walmart page with description of the game Retrieved 1 March '17.
  7. Screenshots for the game, on Multiplayer.it Retrieved 30 Sept '16.