Tiny Toon Adventures: Defenders of the Looniverse
Encyclopedia
Tiny Toon Adventures: Defenders of the Universe is the name of an unreleased Tiny Toon Adventures
video game initially scheduled for release in 2001. Development is believed to have ceased in 2002, and the game is assumed to have been canceled, although its publisher denied this for years. Developed by a Japan
ese video game studio, Treasure, it was originally slated for the PlayStation 2
.
and the gang attend school. However, a strange robot, disguised as Bugs Bunny
, appears in their class rather than their teacher.
When his disguise is blown, the group chase after the fleeing robot. After stopping the robot from getting away, he makes an attempt to kill everyone, but ultimately fails, leaving a hole in the ground. There, zig and zag appear out of the hole, startling the group. The strange creatures explains their situation and the group agrees to help them.
However, Shirley appears telling the group a great danger will fall upon the earth if they help them. Despite her warning, the group decides to help the creatures out. They all enter the hole into the ground, leading them into yet another new adventure...
replacing the late Don Messick
as the voice of Hamton).
An article on IGN, written back in 2004, had suggested that the game had always been intended for release. It said that at the end of the article that the game was "still officially slated to come out sometime (not necessarily in 2004)". However, years later, nothing new has been mentioned about the game. With the releases of the next generation consoles, Xbox 360
, PlayStation 3
and Wii
, the game's release is very unlikely. The main page at IGN now has canceled for the US release date.
Exact reasons for the game's cancellation remain unknown, but are generally believed to be unrelated to the state of the product itself. Publisher Conspiracy Entertainment was in dire financial shape at the time and several other projects of theirs quietly disappeared during this same time. They cited unspecified "business complications" for the extended hold up. Their previous partnership with Treasure, Tiny Toons: Scary Dreams
was manufactured in 2002, but its existence could not be confirmed until it appeared on eBay
in 2005. Defenders of the Universe was evaluated by the ESRB
, which some take as evidence that the game was in a near-final state.
Tiny Toon Adventures
Steven Spielberg Presents Tiny Toon Adventures, usually referred to as Tiny Toon Adventures or simply Tiny Toons, is an American animated television series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. It began production as a result of Warner Bros....
video game initially scheduled for release in 2001. Development is believed to have ceased in 2002, and the game is assumed to have been canceled, although its publisher denied this for years. Developed by a Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese video game studio, Treasure, it was originally slated for the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
.
Plot
On a planet made almost entirely out of gold located in the Jewel system, live the Bullions. They have lived there peacefully for many years, until their home was attacked by the Drizzletroopers. Two of them manage to escape, Zig and Zag, to the planet earth. The Leader of the Drizzletroopers learns of this and has someone go after the two. As morning comes by, Buster BunnyBabs and Buster Bunny
Babs and Buster Bunny are cartoon characters from the Warner Bros. animated television series Tiny Toon Adventures. They are the stars of the show— they both appear in the Tiny Toons logo, and the show usually begins and ends with their gags. Buster is voiced by Charlie Adler for most of the...
and the gang attend school. However, a strange robot, disguised as Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
, appears in their class rather than their teacher.
When his disguise is blown, the group chase after the fleeing robot. After stopping the robot from getting away, he makes an attempt to kill everyone, but ultimately fails, leaving a hole in the ground. There, zig and zag appear out of the hole, startling the group. The strange creatures explains their situation and the group agrees to help them.
However, Shirley appears telling the group a great danger will fall upon the earth if they help them. Despite her warning, the group decides to help the creatures out. They all enter the hole into the ground, leading them into yet another new adventure...
Cast
Nearly all of the surviving members of the original main cast of Tiny Toon Adventures reunited to provide the characters for the game (with Billy WestBilly West
William Richard "Billy" West is an American voice actor. Born in Detroit but raised in the Roslindale neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Billy launched his career in the early 1980s performing daily comedic routines on Boston's WBCN. He left the radio station to work on the short-lived revival...
replacing the late Don Messick
Don Messick
Donald Earl "Don" Messick was an American voice actor best known for his work for Hanna-Barbera. Perhaps his most well-known voice creations include Scooby-Doo, Papa Smurf, and Dr. Benton Quest....
as the voice of Hamton).
- John KassirJohn KassirJohn Kassir is an American actor, voice artist, and comedian who is best known as the voice of the Crypt Keeper in HBO's, Tales from the Crypt franchise...
- Buster Bunny, Zag - Tress MacNeilleTress MacNeilleTress MacNeille is an American voice actress best known for providing various voices on the animated series The Simpsons, Futurama, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Disney's House of Mouse, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Rugrats, All Grown Up!, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, and Dave the...
- Babs Bunny, Zig - Joe AlaskeyJoe AlaskeyJoseph "Joe" Alaskey is an American actor, comedian, and voice artist, credited as one of the successors of Mel Blanc in impersonating the voices of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and other characters from Warner Bros. cartoons. He was born in Watervliet, New York.-Other work:Alaskey has also done voices...
- Plucky Duck - Billy WestBilly WestWilliam Richard "Billy" West is an American voice actor. Born in Detroit but raised in the Roslindale neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Billy launched his career in the early 1980s performing daily comedic routines on Boston's WBCN. He left the radio station to work on the short-lived revival...
- Hamton Pig, Maximus Flush - Danny CookseyDanny CookseyDanny Cooksey is an American singer, actor and voice actor. He has been in show business since he was very young and is best remembered for playing the roles of Sam McKinney on the last years of the TV show Diff'rent Strokes and Robert "Bobby" Budnick on the Nickelodeon program, Salute Your...
- Montana Max - Gail MatthiusGail MatthiusGail Matthius is an American actress and voice actress. She was a cast member of NBC's Saturday Night Live during its critical and ratings low point at the time , and co-anchored the Weekend Update segment with Charles Rocket in 1981.-Recurring characters:*Vicki, a Valley girl who,...
- Shirley the Loon - Kath SoucieKath SoucieKatherine Elaine Soucie is an American voice actress. She is sometimes credited as Kath Soucie, Katherine Soucie, Kath Souci, Kath E...
- Fifi La Fume - Cree SummerCree SummerCree Summer Francks , best known as Cree Summer, is a Canadian actress, musician and voice actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as college student Winifred "Freddie" Brooks on the NBC sitcom A Different World...
- Elmyra - Maurice LaMarcheMaurice LaMarcheMaurice LaMarche is an Emmy Award winning Canadian-American voice actor and former stand up comedian. He is best known for his voicework in Futurama as Kif Kroker, as Egon Spengler in The Real Ghostbusters, Verminous Skumm and Duke Nukem in Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Big Bob Pataki in Hey...
- Dizzy Devil - Frank WelkerFrank WelkerFranklin Wendell "Frank" Welker is an American actor who specializes in voice acting and has contributed character voices and other vocal effects to American television and motion pictures.-Acting career:...
- Gogo Dodo, Furrball
Development termination
The game's original official website, www.dotu.net, no longer exists. Tetsuhiko Kikuchi (aka Han), the director of the game, has hinted on his homepage (Japanese) that the game "will forever go unreleased."An article on IGN, written back in 2004, had suggested that the game had always been intended for release. It said that at the end of the article that the game was "still officially slated to come out sometime (not necessarily in 2004)". However, years later, nothing new has been mentioned about the game. With the releases of the next generation consoles, Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
, the game's release is very unlikely. The main page at IGN now has canceled for the US release date.
Exact reasons for the game's cancellation remain unknown, but are generally believed to be unrelated to the state of the product itself. Publisher Conspiracy Entertainment was in dire financial shape at the time and several other projects of theirs quietly disappeared during this same time. They cited unspecified "business complications" for the extended hold up. Their previous partnership with Treasure, Tiny Toons: Scary Dreams
Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Bad Dream
Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Bad Dream was the second Tiny Toon Adventures-related game released on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. It was released on July 5, 2002 in Europe and was developed by Treasure Co...
was manufactured in 2002, but its existence could not be confirmed until it appeared on eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
in 2005. Defenders of the Universe was evaluated by the ESRB
Entertainment Software Rating Board
The Entertainment Software Rating Board is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings, enforces industry-adopted advertising guidelines, and ensures responsible online privacy principles for computer and video games as well as entertainment software in Canada, Mexico and...
, which some take as evidence that the game was in a near-final state.
Prototype
On February 25, 2009, an image of a prototype of the game was released by a member of the internet forum, Lost Levels. The prototype confirmed many suspicions about the game, including its advanced state of completion, and the involvement of Rakugaki Showtime director Tetsuhiko Kikuchi. The title appears feature-complete, apart from a few errors in the in-game text.External links
- Official Developer's Website (requires Japanese support)
- The World of Tiny Toon Adventures Game Information Page