Uncovering Full Throttle's Sequel That Ruined LucasArts 

Great summary and breakdown. As one of the original developers of Full Throttle 2 (and a LucasArts employee from 1995-2005), I can say you're spot on in the first 3 minutes about the demise of PC games and adventure game genre in general. This, more than anything else, is why Full Throttle was cancelled. Also cancelled around that same time were a few other adventure games, including Sam & Max (which went on to spawn Telltale, but that's another story.) The graphical quality and gameplay wasn't polished yet, and it probably needed more time (a result of LucasArts being generally too stretched thin in 2001-2003 and prioritizing programming and art resources to Bounty Hunter and RTX:Red Rock.) However, a bit of an erroneous conclusion at the end that this graphical polish and lack of Tim Schafer's involvement was what led to its cancellation. (Tim was NEVER going to be involved, as he'd left to start Doublefine, so that wasn't even on the table. That's just incorrect.) The cancellation was more due to its needing more time overall (therefore more $) AND the death knell was a conclusion by our Marketing and c-Suite that *no* adventure game -however good- would sell enough. (Coming off the heels of two high quality point and clicks, Grim Fandango & Monkey Island.) Several other games were cancelled as LucasArts contracted and re-evaluated its market strategy, changed leadership to Jim Ward, and doubled down on focusing solely on big budget Star Wars titles. Interestingly, Tim's original notion for Full Throttle 1 came out of his frustration with wimpy overly-intellectual adventure game heroes. That's why FT1 has riding and more physical verbs. So the inclusion of brawling in FT2 was a natural extension of that. But we needed more time to master creating this (new to us) gameplay mechanic-- which we didn't get! C'est la vie. Thanks for this - could've been a great game!

Hey there! Its the guy who found the Full Throttle Hell on Wheels stuff! Nice coverage! Could you give me a mention?

I wish there was a true sequel to the game. In the style of the original, with the story of the sequel. Then again, I also wish someone would make the story of the first game into a Full Throttle movie.

It is cool to see some new footage from the game but I'm not dissapointed it didn't come out. It looked like it would have been terrible. It is a shame they thought that every game genre had to be 3D back then. I think it actually worked fairly decent with Grim Fandango and while I like Escape from Monkey Island it would have probably looked and played better with 2D graphics. Just have really good 2D graphics like for example the game Deponia. If a Full Throttle sequel is ever released I think the graphics should be about the same as they were in Full Throttle Remastered.

It didn't help Ben's va died during production

Thank god this was never released.

i hate when a "developer" shows up in the comments and they are younger then me. im 36 right now. making me 9 in 1995.. so you're telling me you are a developer when you was 9 or even 6? "get out of here" you would have to be at least late 40s 50s right now. not the first time i seen comments saying "i was a developer"

It's strange how close they were to what was going to be the next big thing. A driving/cycling action game with lots of combat and some kind of mystery plot isn't really all that far away from GTA and the GTA clones. Some of the bits in GTA San Andreas where you're stuck out in the country do feel kinda (I SAID KINDA) like Full Throttle. You're separated from your gang, you've got to do weird little fetch quests that don't make much sense; it's not a perfect comparison and I haven't played FT in 25 years probably, but I think Lucasarts were really close to what the future would be. They just missed it by a hair.

Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels was announced at E3 2003, almost 20 years ago! Were you there?! Did you play the game? Thank you to Evan Hanley, who found the new footage - check out his channel in the description for load of uncovered footage from a wide range of games!

Good thing this was scrapped...

Hm. That 3-ishD definitely hasn’t aged as well as the 2D, hand drawn games. It’s a shame to say this, but it’s probably better that it never came out. As fun as the concept sounds, the aesthetics just don’t gel, and the lack of the original gameplay mechanic would have definitely detracted from the overall experience. FT payback, however, looks like it would have been a lot more faithful to the overall feel of the original.

It would be nice if they took up the project again and had new misadventures for Ben Throttle and see if there was romance between Mo and Ben and so on, this was a fantastic game and despite getting stuck in some parts I always wondered why there were no sequels if the game was so good.

i still hold out hope now that someday we will finaly get a full throttle sequel

Thanks to the guys who worked on the game and graced us with their presence in the comment section. But yeah, good thing this was scrapped. You'd loose most of the original customers who liked FT1, and you wouldn't get many new ones. Ben looks like he had a botched facial surgery. Reminds me of Mickey Rourke. If you just put out another 2D adventure that continued the story, hoards of fans would've bought it. Always easier in hindsight...

Aw man, came here as soon as I learned Full Throttle 2 could have existed, from the new documentary about Psychonauts' development. I wish the two Full Throttle sequels had been finished, I loved Full Throttle!

Holy cow the 3D footage in that trailer is so hilariously bad, particularly for the characters and their faces😆😆😆

Toejam and Earl back in the groove is another example of how 2D games can work with 3D graphics hybrid. It even includes online cooperative gameplay.

FULL THROTTLE was one of my most favourite and beloved games of my childhood. Def was a point n click junkie lol ... I would've played EITHER sequel for sure and enjoyed them!

And yet we got Ride to Hell. Damn, those vehicles look awesome!

great work on the channel! looking forward to more!

Great video!

There is a rumor that I heard for many years that there is a tech demo somewhere online.

I Will love a sequel of FT... Even in a 2.5d comic style game Will ve good, but never in 3D

I must say, too, that this would've been a game that would've felt out of Lucasarts common qualities. Just imagine all the work and money involved into it and then it got cancelled. If you do games nowadays the quality assurance must take plance quite early to see if everything goes into a good direction.

Just release the story and put it in 2D with the ScummVM engine. 3D doesn't work for everything.

Games that were canceled before reaching a full developed state often look rough and the final product could have been much better. However if think they made the right choice canceling this. The charm of full throttle was the 2d animation and the expressions (even at times pixelated) brought it to life. At the time the 3d characters would look dead and bland. Something that wasn't a problem for grim fandango because well.. yeah they are intended to be that way. Great seeing this footage after so many years though

Another day? When?

Man I have to replay this game

Thanks ❤

Damn.

the voice of ben was mark hamill ,,, you know luke skywalker ? lol

I don't really like it when they try to replicate an animated/comic book style in 3D. Didn't like it with X-Com and I was happy when they toned down the exaggerated proportions in X-Com 2. I'm interested in hearing about Payback.