Virtua Hamster

Virtua Hamster

System(s): Sega 32X, Sega Saturn
Publisher: Sega of America
Developer: David A. Palmer Productions^[1]
Supporting companies: Sega of America (concept)
Planned release date(s): Autumn 1995^[2]
Genre: Action
Status of prototype(s): Dumped (32X)
ESRB

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Virtua Hamster, also known as Virtual Hamster, is an unreleased Sega 32X game. The game was to star a variety of selectable rodents attached to rocket packs who could travel through a series of connected tubes, fighting each other and avoiding various obstacles.

Blurb

“	Chip's the world's fastest skate-boarding hamster. And along with the plans to his tiny jet pack, he's been stolen by a greedy inventor bent on selling super secret hamster spies to the military. Imprisoned in the inventor's sprawling test lab, Chips' got to find all the parts of the pack's plans and break out of a long and winding tunnel test track. Problem is, there's only one way out of Chip's cage, and everybody's against him... including rocket riding rodents and a very hungry mechanical snake. High speed chases with awesome graphics.	„
— Unknown Sega of America catalog

Gameplay

Virtua Hamster features only one playable character – the hamster Chip – and there is only one empty level (though there are numerous non-moving 3D models of other characters and items dotted around the map). resets the game, and / can be used to move the camera forwards and backwards through the tube.

History

Development

Virtua Hamster was conceived in 1994 by Sega of America designer and producer Eric Quakenbush. Inspired by childhood pets and Habitrail tube toys, he created a detailed design document featuring Chip, a jet-pack wearing hamster test pilot, plus rival rodents and enemies including a mechanical snake and a cat.^[3]

Sega of America greenlit the concept as a 32X game, assigning development to David A. Palmer Productions, a English game studio sometimes credited as Peakstar Software.^[4] Palmer acted as project director, while the coding was led by programmer Nick Kimberley. The projects artist's consisted of Ben Palmer (who also acted as associate producer) and Roddy McMillan handled 3D modeling and computer graphics. Additionally, freelance illustrator Matt Crane was tasked with creating character concept art, and the game's music and sound was created by Paul Tankard.^[4]

By early 1995, much of the game engine was functional on 32X hardware, with polygonal tube mazes, character models, and basic controls in place. Quakenbush recalled that unlike many other 32X projects, the design had not yet required compromises, and his full set of ideas was being implemented.^[4]

Prerelease

At E3 1995, Sega demonstrated Virtua Hamster via promotional footage encoded in Cinepak video. The game was promoted in a U.S. Sega product catalog for Autumn 1995.^[2] Internally, however, Sega of Japan objected to the "Virtua" branding, preferring not to associate it with AM2’s Virtua Fighter and Virtua Racing. A a result (and as indicated by a later box mockup),^[5] the game received the alternative title Virtual Hamster.

Although originally developed as a 32X title, Quakenbush and Palmer intended to expand the game on Sega Saturn after finishing the 32X release.^[4] Despite the original 32X version being only "a few months from completion", plans to shift to the Saturn were scrapped and the game's release was eventually cancelled. As part of a legal settlement, Sega transferred the unfinished game’s code and intellectual property to David A. Palmer Productions.^[3]^[4]