Beavis and Butt-head made quite a cultural splash back in the '90s, starring in a hit MTV show and a movie, as well as tie-in video games for Sega Genesis, SNES, Game Gear and Game Boy.
A few years after these titles arrived, there were plans for a PS1 entry by the name of Beavis and Butt-Head Do Hollywood – but, after a preview in the magazine EGM in 1999, the game appeared to disappear completely.
Now, thanks to the efforts of the lovely folks over at Hidden Palace, we now have access to four different prototypes of the game, which was developed by New Level Software.
Mike Judge – the creator of the characters – apparently provided initial approval for "storyboards and concepts" but had little input beyond that, although Hidden Palace has spoken to a source who says the development team was invited to MTV’s New York offices to pitch ideas to the show’s writing staff.
The reaction wasn't exactly encouraging:
“They did not seem like a very happy bunch. They met with us during their lunch break and didn’t have a lot to say. They seemed happy just to be getting a free lunch.”
Speaking to developers involved with the unreleased game, Hidden Palace has also ascertained that Beavis and Butt-Head Do Hollywood's production stalled when New Level threw its collective weight behind pitching for the Spider-Man license, which had, at that point, just been picked up by Activision.
Unfortunately, the studio's pitch was unsuccessful, and it closed its doors in 1998. Beavis and Butt-Head Do Hollywood was around 40% complete at the time.