Sound Fantasy

Infobox VG| title = Sound Fantasy


developer = Nintendo
publisher = Nintendo
modes = Single player
designer = Toshio Iwai
engine =
released = Cancelled
genre = Music Game
platforms = Super NES/Super Famicom
media = Cartridge

"Sound Fantasy" is an unreleased video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and its Japanese counterpart, the Super Famicom. Interactive media artist Toshio Iwai designed the game in the early 1990s using concepts from the installation art piece "Music Insects", which he created during his time as an Artist in Residence at the San Francisco Exploratorium. [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.05/ff_iwai_pr.html Wired 5.05: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Geek (May 1997)] Retrieved July 29,2006] However, the finished product was never brought to market by Nintendo for unknown reasons.

Its eccentric concepts and untested game mechanics may have been the main factor in its cancellation; music games, especially on home consoles, were not popular in the early 1990s, and it wouldn't be until much later in the decade that they gained mainstream attention.

"Sound Fantasy" was to come packed-in with the SNES Mouse and mouse pad, and it would arrive in a larger game box to hold its contents similar to Super Nintendo games like "Mario Paint" and "EarthBound". It is speculated that Nintendo chose to use "Mario Paint" to launch its mouse peripheral in 1992 instead, as that game was endorsed by Mario, one of gaming's most recognizable mascots.

, and many of "Sound Fantasy"'s unreleased gameplay elements can be found there.

In April 2005, to celebrate the Japanese launch of Toshio Iwai's latest work, "Electroplankton" for the Nintendo DS, Nintendo opened an exhibit at Tokyo's Harajuku Station to focus on the new game and on Iwai himself. Nintendo made available for perusal the box art and manual for "Sound Fantasy", but the "lost game" was not made playable there. Those who appreciate Iwai's work, however, hope that someday the completed game will be made available for download via Nintendo's Wii Virtual Console service.

ee also

* Toshio Iwai, "Sound Fantasy"'s creator
* "SimTunes", the PC game that "Sound Fantasy" was converted into
* "Electroplankton", Iwai's most recent creation, for the Nintendo DS
* Cancelled Video Games

References

External links

* [http://www.snescentral.com/article.php?id=0114 "Sound Fantasy" information at SNES Central]
* [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/g/SoundFantasy-703357/about.php "Sound Fantasy" game page at Rotten Tomatoes]
* [http://ds.ign.com/articles/602/602698p1.html IGN's coverage of the "Electroplankton" launch event]