Recently I picked up a big lot of PS1 Games and inside was what I thought was nothing more than a bootleg game. I had never hard of the Break Neck and after a little bit of research it looks like this might have been in development for a release in North America but it just never happened. 

The game was released in Europe as Blood Lines, can't get it to run via emulation or a modded PS2 system but was able to access some of the files including images, and a few text files. I'm not too knowledagable on any of this stuff so looking for someone to help me shed a bit more info on this. 

Some info on the game:

https://www.unseen64.net/2008/04/...

Here is some of the data I was able to get from the .CFG file:

// MAN.CFG // // This is the config file for The Manhattan Project, PSX version. // With this, a great deal in the game is run-time adjustable. // Game: LANGUAGE E // English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese DATAPATH data // Game data path // Characters: // Currently, only characters 0 and 4 can be loaded. CHAR 0 SCT SCT // Alex MacGregor LAUNCH CHAR 1 AZT AZT // Toolum POGO CHAR 2 GTH GTH // Dragon Zafir PUSHPULL CHAR 3 PLY PLY // Kalahiki QUAKE CHAR 4 ARE ARE // Liberty Walker CRAZYSHOOT CHAR 5 JPN JPN // Reiko Natsuki SUPERJUMP CHAR 6 ZUL ZUL // Jabari SUPERFLY CHAR 7 CAM CAM // Angor (Bane) CLIMB CHAR 8 JPN JPN // J.O.E. FIREBALL(CONFUSE) CHAR 9 JPN JPN // Iago Radriguez GRAPPLE CHAR 10 MND MND // Daria SWAP //NUMPLAYERS 2 // Mode of game: 1, 2, or 4 player

FRAMECLAMP 8 FRAMECLAMP 1 // Set flags for global memory accessing: SuperVerify + TraceMalloc // I really don't know how useful this memory stuff is for Win95. MEMLISTALLOC 200 // Allow for xxx memory management blocks //MAXTEMPDATASIZE 412 // Save xxxK out of Zpool for high mem temp parse data // Size of largest .PAR/P3X file, round up, add 2 MAXTEMPDATASIZE 300


 

If you look at the contents in the disc, is there a system.cnf file? If so, if you open that up with a hex editor or even notepad, what is the 'file' listed? For example: SLUS-009.51 or something. And if so, what is the file modification date of that file?

Alternatively, is there simply a psx.exe file in the main?

All files are dated 2/14/1998

There is a psx.exe file but I get a not compatible error with my current pc, might try my laptop later.

No .cnf file only .cgf and .cpe

curious, let us know what you find out!

Huh. Definitely a bootleg of sorts, rather interesting one. The CFG file states it's for " The Manhattan Project" which the only games I can think of with that title is Duke Nukem and Civilization II for PS1.

Also, going back to the bootleg aspect, it's not the correct typography/layout that's on standard PS1 disc or cover. Over-lapping layers, no UPC, no real blurb on the back, fuzzy print job... while pretty good for the most part, but it's not real.

Looking at the logo from the back, that came from a game called "Master of Monsters: Disciples of Gaia", which is a strategy-based game, much like Civ II-- which makes me think there's some sort of correlation between that and the CFG file.

Other words, the bootleggers probably just Strategy game fans and just 1:1 copied Civ II's disc files and called it a day, not knowing that that's not how you copy a PS1 game.

Hard disagree on it being a bootleg, pretty sure it's just a homemade sample from the devs. You'd see stuff like this get made and sent to the media or to potential publishers all the time, it's like putting a fancy cover letter on your resume.

I have to disagree on it being a dev thing, mainly due to the lack of proper typography, registration, trademarks, etc. It's made too haphazardly, normally people don't waste time these things and would rather just release a very basic disc (sharpie text). "Samples" or "proofs" usually don't look like this either.

Just looked into some of the textwork on the back, and that points to "Master of Monsters: Disciples of Gaia" in which the logo on the back was also gypped from.

Yea I had already noticed that the back insert was pretty using Master of Monsters a little bit after I was doing some research, so that did throw me off a bit. I am adding photos of the disc data as we speak.

Added like 10 new photos with disc info.

I looked up the Blood Lines characters, and some of them match up with the MAN.CFG names (not all), but not so much for the file names.

Blood Lines characters are: Alex, Maya, Khafka, Lupo, Walker, Reiko, Bomani, Jon, Angor, Daria, and J.O.E. Some names may be changed due to localization or just changed during development. So you were correct to assume that this may be more than just a bootleg. I mean, it might very well be, but that doesn't make the contents less important.  

Hmm... Maybe we can get the Blood Lines files to compare. Unmatching filenames could be typical to standard development.

So with the help of a NA user, I was able to get the game running. It's playable with a few characters being selectable.

It doesn't have an intro video and features a different menu and character selection screen from the EU version of Blood Lines.

Since Radical Entertainment is/was based in Canada thry may have started development for an NTSC release and it eventually became a PAL only title.

Still have some more work to do