The Sonic Mania video-game is an awesome, retro love-letter to the beloved Sonic games of old and it turns out that the studio behind it planned to make a Darkwing Duck game of a similar style.
Headcannon recently unveiled their unfinished side-scroller based on the iconic animated series from the early 90s. A video has been published (which you can watch below) which shows off the game in-action. Unfortunately, the studio has already pitched the game to Capcom and were turned down - and that's baffling given the reception the gameplay has gotten.
Aaron Sparrow, who served as writer for Darkwing Duck, recently discussed the project on Twitter (@Aaron_Sparrow): “Last year, [Disney comics artist; James Silvani] & I were involved with brainstorming a Darkwing Duck Video Game with [Headcannon]. It would have had animated art by James, and v/o by as many of the original cast as possible. Sadly, Capcom passed on it, but you can see a bit here."
Sparrow went on:
It was conceived as a spiritual successor to the original NES game (unless Capcom wanted to go full DuckTales Remastered with it.) It was planned to take place between the show and The Duck Knight Returns, with Steelbeak, Taurus Bulba, and the Fearsome Five as the villains.
Each character would be pixelated from James’ art, and each level would be bridged by a chapter break, presented in motion comic form, with full voiceover and sound effects. And yes, you’d have gotten to fight Wolfduck.
[Headcannon] were great to work with; not only was I able to guide the story, but they even involved me in level design and gameplay mechanic discussions. It was truly one of the most incredibly collaborative experiences I’d ever been honored to be a part of.
It's a shame for such hardwork and ideas to go to waste, but perhaps Capcom will now reconsider given the response the game has gotten on social media.
What do you think of Headcannon's defunct Darkwing Duck game?