The Godfather (lost unreleased SEGA Master System movie tie-in game based on film; 1992-1993)

Cover art for the game.

Status: Lost

The Godfather was to be a tie-in game to the classic Coppola film series for the SEGA Master System to be released somewhere between December of 1992 and 1993 by European game publisher U.S. Gold. The game was announced in UK's SEGA Power issue 32's page 7 (alongside another unreleased Master System game; Die hard 2), and was shown off more elaborately in Germany's "Video Games" issue 2/93 on page 106, showing screenshots and even a review. An episode of the Dutch TV show Power Play showed footage of the game, showing off basic gameplay as well as clips from the original movie spliced in for humorous effect. Despite being shown in various magazines at the time, the game was cancelled for unknown reasons. It is theorized that this game would have been a conversion of other Godfather games published by the same company.

Gameplay

The game appears as a fairly generic side-scrolling platformer very similar to Dick Tracy, also released for the Master System. The player takes control of Don Corleone as they gun down enemies on the streets and in apartment buildings. There also appears to be a shooting gallery stage with a first-person perspective where the player must continue gunning down enemies at a tavern.

Status

While the game has not resurfaced online, several screenshots have been taken from various magazines, and even a proposed cover art for the game has been proposed. On January 9th, 2023, Twitter user and co-founder of the SEGA Master System enthusiast board SMSpower "@ocornut" (AKA: Bock) initiated a search for the game. A floppy disk containing the game's background graphic assets were found by user "@MrTalida". Former tester at US Gold Jaz Rignall apparently recalls seeing the game and that it had "nothing to do with The Godfather at all". However, a prototype cartridge has still not been resurfaced.

Gallery

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  Screenshot of the platforming stages.

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  Screenshot of the shooting-gallery stages.

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  Another screenshot of the platforming stages.

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  Advertisement taken from a US Gold Catalogue.

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  The game being advertised amongst other US Gold-published games.

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  The floppy disk containing background graphic assets.

Videos

Gameplay footage taken from Power Play.

Sources

• Source for the images shown and general info Retrieved 3 Jan '23
• SEGA Power advertisement page mentioning Godfather. Retrieved 3 Jan '23
• Video Games article on Godfather. Retrieved 3 Jan '23
• Post containing the find of the floppy disk Retrieved 12 Jan '23

External Links

• The post by Bock that initiated the search.
• Jaz Rignall's comment about the game.
• Recent article covering the game in more detail, along with mention of other unreleased games.
• Original SMSpower! thread.