SpellCraft
Image: Ascii Corporation/Ybarra Productions

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System had a whole host of incredible RPG titles, but for every game that made it onto store shelves, there were potentially hundreds that never saw the light of the day for whatever reason.

ASCII Corporation and Ybarra Productions' SpellCraft is one such title. This was an RPG for the SNES, which was based on 1992's SpellCraft: Aspects of Valor for MS-DOS, about a young man being whisked away to the fantasy land of Valoria. It was announced at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in 1992 and was scheduled for a Fall 1993 release date, according to Nintendo Power Volume 48. However, the release date rolled around and the game was still nowhere to be seen.

A prototype build of the game (01.10a) made its way online in the early 90s (thanks to the BBS Warez group “Magical”) and has been bouncing around the internet ever since, but over the weekend, Forest of Illusion and an individual named Cloud worked together to preserve a more finished version (01.03F), as documented on the YouTube channel Hard4Games.

This version of the game features a longer intro with a portrait of the player character 'Robert' and includes some additional backstory. This is alongside some sound effect differences, various changes to the graphics and palettes, and a bunch of dialogue tweaks. For a more extensive breakdown, we recommend checking out Hard4Games' excellent video embedded below.

Did you play the original SpellCraft for MS-DOS? Let us know in the comments!

[source forestillusion.com, via youtu.be]