Video Game Meta

Geist Force

Geist Force

Console: Sega Dreamcast
TV Standard: Region Not Set
Developer(s): Sega
Publisher(s): Sega of America, Inc.
Release Date: 1999-10-09
Players: 1
Co-op: No
ESRB: T - Teen
Type: Shooter

Geist Force is an unreleased Sega Dreamcast game, one of the first games to be announced for the console (and the first Dreamcast game to be developed by Sega of America), and also one of the first to be cancelled.

Not much was known about the game for many years, other than it was a space-ship shooter similar to the likes of Star Fox 64 on the Nintendo 64. It was featured in several magazines and a couple of videos were released, but the game ultimately did not surface. The cinematics were created by Netter Digital who had previously worked on the 90s television series, Babylon 5. Sega also claimed it had "no load times".

The game was first shown at E3 1998, then again at Tokyo Game Show '98 Autumn where it was reportedly 80% complete. The two versions differed significantly, with speculation that the E3 version was entirely pre-rendred and used less than "30% of the Dreamcast's power". The project was originally due to be released as a launch title for the system in North America, but was cancelled sometime after mid-1999.

Reportedly Geist Force was cancelled after political in-fighting amongst the team and missed deadlines. According to lead programmer Nimai Malle, the artwork was 90% done and the programming between 65-70% complete. There was also a lack of confidence of the game succeeding in Japan.