Virtua Hamster

Sega 32X · 2009 · US

SEGA SEGA Racing

Publisher: SEGA · Developer: SEGA · Genre: Racing

Virtua Hamster is a 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. It was built solely with the 32X in mind, however after the console failed development moved to the Sega Saturn for a short while before being axed completely. It is also reported that Sega of Japan were not keen on use of the "Virtua" in the game's name, possibly so that the game was not associated with Sega AM2's Virtua Fighter and Virtua Racing. An alternate box mock-up uses the title Virtual Hamster instead. In August 2009, Ryo Suzuki of SEGASaturno.com dumped an early prototype version of this game. In it, the only selectable character is 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). A resets the game, and B/C can be used to move the camera forwards and backwards through the tube. There are also two Sega screens.