Thread by @gravislizard

One of the folks on my patron discord was looking for someone to rip some Betacam tapes, and I have a deck just gathering dust, so they sent them over. Neither of us had any idea what was on them.

VIDEOGAME SPRITE CAPTURE!

There are periodic title cards, so I know it's from 1991. If anyone recognizes the characters, lmk.

you are Deef Champston. click the CAN to WALK to it. click PICK UP. now click the CAN

click SIT to sit down

your bro is offering you the boof. click TAKE, then click the boof

me on each successive 7/11 security camera as i head towards the prepackaged tortilla chips / hot cheese counter

SHIT I THINK I FOUND A PILLBUG. HELL YEAH. YEAH HE'S RIGHT HERE CHECK THIS OUT

oh shit just got real

here's what's completely wigging me out: The first tape here contains a full hour of what I *think* is one actress (I haven't watched the whole thing closely so I'm not sure) performing the same set of moves and poses, over and over, in different outfits.

Whatever game this was, it was definitely using 8-direction sprites at a low isometric angle - an adventure game or baldurs gate style RPG is what comes to mind.

But that's REALLY weird. What adventure game lets you change your outfits, or sit on things? And what RPG gives you 5 different outfits, total, instead of paperdoll-style armor combos?

They stop tape in between each set of poses, but sometimes they leave it rolling while someone steps in to adjust their pose. Also, there's audio throughout the video and you can hear the director talking, so maybe someone mentions the name of the game at some point.

@frankcifaldi might be interested in some of this

I will be uploading the complete footage after ripping it, ofc.

The tape boxes say
NETWORK "CYBER PARK"

And they list names:
EDDIE V.
BRAD
GINI
SUSAN
LYNN

I'm not posting frames of the third actor because he's in underwear and has an *extremely* prominent package

You can catch it on the AD (youtube side channel) later

i am having an incredible month for Found Footage now that I think about it, because this was like two weeks ago?

okay good news he got dressed and now i'm far more comfortable around him. also this style slaps. windows 95 desktop pants and robin hood boots. draw your sona in this

the blue painted treadmill absolutely sends me, btw

thinking about stuff

THE FUCK IS THIS LOOK

THE HAT. WAS THIS AN EARLY JOJOS GAME

this guy has an absolute LOOK

wait are there LAVENDER CUFFS on those white pants??

there's some goddamn paisley happening down there

tug tug

also i can't tell if it's just the lighting or if the director is wearing these

I JUST SHOUTED

THE FUCKING FEDORA

this particular section is fascinating because the actress (tbh kinda unclear on gender but given the era/context i think I can infer) is walking with an extremely jaunty, drunken gait.

she was in her underwear for a bit but now it's THIS? WHAT IS THIS GAME? WHAT COULD THIS HAVE BEEN? THIS DOES NOT COMPUTE, NOT REMOTELY

AND THAT'S IT. THAT'S THE TAPE.

I have to rerip the first one, then get these processed and uploaded. My mind is fully boggled though.

This game is COMPLETELY unplaceable. Some of the outfits look almost cyberpunk, some look like mortal kombat, some look like ordinary 20th century shit, some look like jojos. I am utterly incapable of imagining a game that all this footage would have gone into.

My thinking is split between:
- cancelled PC adventure game
- cancelled CD-I game
- cancelled "cyber" online social space

the latter is really my most solid guess tbh. There are no attack animations, which COULD mean it's for an adventure game, OR it could mean it's for Normie Furcadia.

okay i'm rewatching the first tape because the first capture got corrupted, and this is ALSO a god damn LOOK.

A LOGO?

So, I have reasons to think this *ISN'T* what it is which I'll expand on once I receive some out-of-band info, but, one possibility is that this is part of a very long story of development hell.

The tapes are labeled "Cyber Park." There are news articles about that being a sort of Playstation Home online social environment that ImagiNation Network (previous The Sierra Network) was planning to make, that eventually got cancelled.

From the sounds of it, it was probably 3D - but that was in 96. It's possible it had been in development at INN since 92, if this mobygames timeline is to be believed: mobygames.com/developer/shee…

So, one possible story is that in 91 this extremely ambitious project for an online community was spun up, money dumped into it for all this filming, and then it ended up being way more involved than anyone expected, and every couple years it got rebooted as technology improved

Indeed, here's an article stating that Cyber Park was eventually cancelled after multiple delays. It's possible it spent nearly a decade in development hell. thedoteaters.com/?bitstory=comp…

Is this "Duke Nukem Forever, But It's Playstation Home"? Perhaps We'll Ever Know

I *love* when people send me unknown commercial videotapes. It's Just Good Shit.