Long before Disney owned Marvel and Lucasfilm, the first Tron movie represented one of the studio’s most successful attempts to branch out into sci-fi and action-adventure. Tron wasn’t a huge blockbuster, but it picked up a massive cult following and paved the way for CGI special effects in film. When Disney finally got around to making Tron: Legacy in 2010, the studio went with Propaganda Games for the tie-in video game, Tron: Evolution. But there was another Tron game in development that could have been even more faithful to the original film.
The YouTube channel Did You Know Gaming? has released an episode of Unseen 64 dedicated to the lost Tron video game developed by Day 1 Studios, a company that was best known for Fracture before it rebranded itself as Wargaming Chicago-Baltimore. One of the early choices that Day 1 made was to base the look of the game strictly on the first movie itself, with a few modern touches. By coincidence, the visual design of Day 1’s Tron pitch was actually very similar to the costumes used in the Tron 2 test footage that debuted at Comic-Con in 2008, though one of the key differences was Day 1’s willingness to include more white colors in their costume designs.
One of the most intriguing parts of this Tron pitch was that the players would have had the ability to use the light cycles at any time, as well as a way to use the identity discs in combat in a way that more greatly resembled the first film’s dueling system. As for the story, the video notes that it would have been very similar to the brilliant animated TV series, Tron: Uprising; which followed a rebel in the grid in the years between the first Tron movie and its sequel. There was even a new Tron vehicle created for this pitch, but the developers ultimately decided that the light cycle was simply more fun to play.
Propaganda Games ultimately won the bid to create Tron: Evolution, and that led to the end of Day 1’s Tron pitch. But it sounds like it could have been a terrific gaming experience for Tron fans. There actually is a recent Tron game called Tron: RUN/r, but we’d love to see a future game in the franchise take its inspiration from Day 1’s efforts.
What did you think about this video? And what do you want from future Tron games? Let us know in the comment section below!
Image: Disney
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