Lost Sega Genesis RTS ‘Dark Empires’ Unearthed Online
▼ Summary
– Hidden Palace has released a prototype of the unreleased Sega game Dark Empires in collaboration with researcher Alexander Rojas.
– Dark Empires was an early 1990s real-time strategy game from Sega Technical Institute featuring dragon battles across different time periods.
– The project was cancelled in late 1991, with speculation that it was too niche for the studio’s direction under Mark Cerny.
– Elements from Dark Empires were later recycled by artist Craig Stitt into other projects, including the initial pitch for Spyro the Dragon.
– Additional materials from Dark Empires and other unrealized Sega projects are available in the Craig Stitt Art & Design Papers collection.
A long-lost prototype for Dark Empires, a dragon-themed real-time strategy game developed for the Sega Genesis, has been recovered and made available online. The video game preservation group Hidden Palace, working alongside researcher Alexander Rojas, has released this unfinished title from the archives of Sega Technical Institute. This discovery offers a fascinating glimpse into one of the studio’s earliest and most ambitious projects that never reached store shelves.
Development on Dark Empires commenced in 1990, not long after Mark Cerny established Sega Technical Institute in North America. The game was the brainchild of Sega designer Bill Dunn, an enthusiast of tabletop gaming. He was joined by a team that included future Insomniac Games artist Craig Stitt and programmers Scott Chandler and Ken Rose. The project drew significant inspiration from Technosoft’s cult classic console RTS, Herzog Zwei. The gameplay was designed to revolve around strategic battles between two rival dragon factions set across various historical eras. Despite reaching a playable state, Sega cancelled the game in late 1991.
The precise reasons for its cancellation were never formally disclosed. Craig Stitt later speculated that the concept was likely “too much of a niche game” to align with Mark Cerny’s broader vision for the studio’s output. The game was simply not the right fit for the commercial direction the company was taking at the time.
Beyond its connection to Herzog Zwei, a compelling aspect of Dark Empires is its creative legacy. Craig Stitt repurposed several ideas from the cancelled project in his later work. The core premise of a dragon journeying through different time periods bears a striking resemblance to an early pitch he developed at Insomniac Games. That initial concept, originally titled “Lifespan,” eventually evolved into the beloved platformer Spyro the Dragon. The original idea involved guiding a dragon through historical settings like the Civil War with the objective of accumulating a vast treasure hoard.
In an August interview with Alexander Rojas, Stitt acknowledged this potential link. He stated that while it “wasn’t a conscious thing,” he firmly believes “there very much is a connection there somewhere.” The creative threads from his work on Dark Empires appear to have woven their way into one of gaming’s most iconic characters.
For a comprehensive account of the game’s history, Hidden Palace provides a detailed write-up. The playable prototype itself is also available for download from their site. In related news, the Video Game History Foundation has recently published the ‘Craig Stitt Art & Design Papers’ collection. This archive includes additional materials from Dark Empires, as well as assets from other unrealized Sega Technical Institute projects such as Segapede and SpellCaster.
(Source: Time Extension)