Game: Glover (N64, Win/1998; PS1/1999)
Mascot for: Interactive Studios
Glover is--you guessed it--a sentient glove who is tasked with collecting crystals in order to save the Crystal Kingdom and defeat an evil glove known as "Cross-stitch." The game is quite unique as far as platformers of its day go. Glover has a ball that he can interact with, and he can do a lot of things with this ball--he can roll, bounce, throw, slap, dribble, walk on top of the ball, and use the ball as a trampoline. Without the ball, Glover can do both regular and double jumps, cartwheel, fist slam, locate the ball and garibs (magic cards), and grab the ball. The N64 and PC versions of the game were met with positive reviews with critics praising the gameplay and sound. However, the PS1 version of the game was highly criticized (for once the N64 version of a game is better than its PS1 counterpart).
What happened: Glover was so successful that a sequel was immediately planned. Work began on the sequel, which would have been released in mid-1999 for N64, PS1, and Dreamcast. Unfortunately, it was canceled. In 2015, one of the former programmers from Interactive Studios shed some light on why it was canceled. It's actually pretty stupid. Apparently an employee at Hasbro Interactive (the publisher) ordered twice as many cartridges from Nintendo, but retailers didn't want to order twice as many games. Hasbro realized that it would be hid pretty hard financially, so they canceled the game. And at the same time, they killed Glover. Here's hoping that the poor guy gets resurrected for a new game or even just a port to a modern console. My gloveless fingers are crossed.
Twice as many cartridges as the first game? I wasn't sure what we were doubling.
It was just over-ambition. Oops
Atari lost money on Pac-Man despite it being such a blockbuster in part because they ordered too many cartridges. A lot of them went into the New Mexico landfill along with E.T. I read somewhere that Atari ordered more Pac-Man cartridges than there were 2600s in American homes, anticipating an explosion in 2600 sales that never materialized.
So, you mean to tell me Nintendo and Sony might genuinely not anticipate the hotness of their new consoles or just not want to risk a similar situation? Hmm ...
Yeah, that's what I figured it was, but I guess I was too tired while I read this to be sure.
I got a game idea. Mittener who has to fight the evil Weave. Not being able to pick up anything, you throw snowballs instead at flying needles that attempt to unravel you.
LOL another brilliant idea, sir! (how about a sentient smartphone that fights off viruses?)
Very cyberpunk. I like it.
Glover came out when I was in college and writing for The Dallas Morning News. Strangely enough, I never got to review it, which is weird because I had a pretty good relationship with Hasbro Interactive back then. I never bought it myself, because I was a poor college student. So I missed out on it.
I missed it too, although I remember seeing it in Nintendo Power and thinking it looked really weird. For me, the N64 era was when my brothers and I would often go to Blockbuster to rent games (the best!) but we never tried Glover. I would love to get it now, though, because it sounds pretty good.