The '90s Lobo fighting game got censored because of... Tupac?

In the mid-'90s, coming up with a game concept was sometimes as simple as signing a comic license and picking a genre. That's how Ocean Software ended up making a fighting game based on DC Comics' Lobo in the wake of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat's success — and it's also what got the game in trouble.

In this case, the target was Killer Instinct. Rare's fighter hit arcades in late 1994, and, along with Donkey Kong Country, showed what studios could do with early CG graphics. Ocean didn't have much experience with fighting games or a reputation for high-end visuals, but it had a long history with licensed games and decided to give it a shot, developing versions for Genesis and Super Nintendo.

Despite some help from external studios, the project didn't turn out well. By mid-1996, with the game mostly done, Ocean sent it out to reviewers and got the kind of feedback executives fear. "This badly executed game doesn't deserve a place on the shelf with other comic-book games," wrote Scarry Larry in GamePro's June 1996 issue. "Rent it, play it, return it. This one's a LoBlow."

Ocean took Larry's advice and canceled the game just before it was supposed to hit stores. But we never got much of an explanation for what happened. Was it simply dropped because of the review scores? As it turns out, Lobo graphics manager Adrian Ludley tells Design Room, there was a bit more going on behind the scenes.