In the world of retro video games it is not uncommon for information about games that never saw physical release to come to light. Back in 2003 a video game company named 7th Sense Studios planned to bring both of Lee Falk’s heroes to the digital screen. Although unreleased, we can now learn a little about what could have been.
After much research CC.com’s resident reto game enthusiast has been able to track down a little information about these unreleased, but by no means uninteresting, titles. It seems that the development studio, 7th Sense, went bust before the games could be released. Entitled The Phantom: Ghost Who Walks and Mandrake: The Shadow of the Vehme, it seems that working copies of the game were developed but as far as can be established no ROM (the file that holds the game data) has ever been found for either game.
Still, what information we do have is enticing and as older game ROMs are always being discovered, it’s possible that perhaps one day we may be able to play these last digital adventures of the Phantom and Mandrake.
Game Screenshots
I actually remember e-mailing the developer back in the day, and like you say, they went bankrupt before they could release the games. Typical of the luck of Phantom fans!
While having the Phantom running around with machine guns is unusual, it looks like it would have been a really cool game. I’d love to be able to try playing it online one day, you never know what will happen.
I tried to contact 7th Sense myself but it seems the e-mail I had is no longer being used. Shame, as I’d love to find out more about these games