Old rumors
Seeing social media light up with praise for The Last Guardian this week reminded me of a curious episode that took place ca. 08 on a Team Ico dedicated forum, where I and many others engaged in healthy speculation about project 'Trico', years before the PS Lifestyle leak.
One anonymous poster claimed to have had access to early footage from the new game, alleging that it was to be a reworking of an earlier Ueda project for the PS1. He posted screenshots from this CGI sequence. Many were intrigued. Some even thought it could be the genuine article.
Once seeded, the doubt did not last long. I could easily identify that these were captured from the 1996 PS1 game Kaijū Senji, by Produce!. The horned hairdo aside (the exquisite cover art is by Jun Okutani), the game had no verifiable connection to Ueda or any known team member.
Produce! was the studio behind some cult RPGs such as The 7th Ark, Mystical Quest, Brain Lord and Farland Story. As for the game, itself, it is a rather trite turn-based strategy game set in a fantasy world, musically accompanied by a somewhat incongruous techno soundtrack.
The game also features a song theme interpreted by voice actress and pop singer Hiroko Kasahara, who has been involved in dozen video game projects over the years, including Burning Rangers, Shadow Hearts and Ever 17 - The Out of Infinity.