Out of the Vortex

Unreleased beat 'em up game based on the 1993 comic series of the same name. The game was never announced, referenced, or hinted at in any magazine or tradeshow event and remains a mystery. This build in particular is most likely a prototype meant for pitching the game to potential publishers.

The exact identity of the original developers is a mystery. The ROM header suggests that the developer is "Pipozor", however, this company or developer has no prior record of ever existing. It's most likely a nickname for a developer who worked on the game instead, or an earlier name for a preexisting developer.

Data analysis on the compression algorithm used in the prototype suggests a match to the same compression algorithm used in the Mega Drive game Cheese Cat-Astrophe Starring Speedy Gonzales, a game released in 1995 by Cryo Interactive Entertainment, a video game company based in Paris, France that consisted of ex Infogrames developers (Philippe Ulrich, Rémi Herbulot and Jean-Martial Lefranc). Combined with this knowledge, "Pipozor" turns out to possibly be lead programmer for Cryo Interactive Entertainment David Saulnier, who used to operate a personal website named "pipozor.com" that is no longer in operation.

Two prototypes exists. The more complete one contains music and sound effects. However, the audio will sometimes hang randomly throughout gameplay. The audio driver is tied to the CPU performance, so the tempo can slow down or speed up depending on the CPU's stress. It also includes a title screen with an options menu. Cutscenes and dialog are present throughout gameplay. Has additional playable stages compared to older version. The credits sequence is also available. Level select is present but needs to be activated using a hack. The game can crash at random moments.