Footage of a cancelled Green Lantern SNES game has finally appeared

Green Lantern
(Image credit: DC Comics)

New footage has surfaced of a Green Lantern game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System that unfortunately never saw the light of day.

In the video below for DidYouKnowGaming?, Liam Robertson presents the new footage of the cancelled Green Lantern game for the SNES. Robertson's excellent video breaks down the game's turbulent development in full, and how it was forced to shift around in response to DC Comics, before being ultimately cancelled.

The video explains how the Green Lantern game originally had Hal Jordan as the playable protagonist, but was forced to change him to the villain Parallax in response to a storyline in DC Comics. This version of the game, at developer Ocean Software, was rocked by personnel turnover, leading to it being dropped.

Then however, it was picked up on by a lone developer at Ocean Software, who worked on the project out of hours as a personal endeavour. It was here that the Green Lantern game was transformed from a puzzle-platformer to a side-scrolling shoot-'em-up in the vein of Contra, which is the version you see in the footage from Robertson above.

Ultimately though, the Green Lantern game for the SNES was abandoned due to the arrival of the PlayStation, which signalled a shift from 2D to 3D games. It's a fantastic video from DidYouKnowGaming?, one that really highlights how turbulent video game development could be back in the 1990's.

These days, there's sill no sight of Green Lantern on the gaming landscape. The hero does have a TV series in development at HBO Max though, and Green Lantern is still going strong after many years in the world of DC Comics.

For our take on the some of the best heroes to have ever taken on the title of the Green Lantern, check out our best Green Lanterns page for a list of the top 10 characters.

Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.