Developed by: DC Studios (Game Boy Advance) and an unknown studio (Game Boy Color) Development started: August 2000 Planned platforms: Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Color
Over the years, the Army Men franchise produced many titles, but one that remained largely unnoticed was a portable adaptation of Sarge’s Heroes for the Game Boy Advance, handled by DC Studios. This handheld project was meant to translate the experience of the N64, PlayStation, Dreamcast, and PC versions to Nintendo’s new portable system. Alongside it, another version for the Game Boy Color was reportedly in production by a different, currently unidentified developer.
Production was led by Karla Healy and Mark Greenshields, with Ian James serving as the main programmer. Menu and FMV sequences were handled by a contributor known simply as Gerry. Interestingly, Ian James would later work on Army Men: Advance, released the following year.
Visual design was managed by Kristi-Louise Herd, while Alan Macfarlane created early mockups and concept pieces. At that stage, no one had been assigned to sound design or music.
Development officially began in August 2000, with plans for release in January 2001. The project took its main inspiration from the PlayStation version, though DC Studios modified gameplay and interface elements to suit the portable hardware. The expected cartridge capacity was 32 megabits, with FMV scenes adapted from the PSX edition.
Due to the GBA’s lack of true 3D capabilities, the game was designed around a pseudo-3D isometric perspective, giving players a tilted 2.5D view of the battlefield. Players would be able to move behind objects, hide behind buildings or trees, and even enter certain structures and vehicles. But in some ways this would have been reminiscent of PC games: Army Men (1998), Army Men 2, Toys in Space, etc.
Planned levels included Kitchen, Bathroom, Garden, Fort Plastro, Sandbox, and Living Room, with additional stages such as the Garage and Bedroom under consideration.
The design also proposed environmental interaction, such as blowing up parts of the scenery to reveal hidden items or weapons. Destroyable barriers would expose new paths within each level. A map overlay could be activated at any time, and players were to choose between Sarge or Vicky as playable characters at the start of the game.
Unfortunately, the project ended after reaching its first milestone, which included a functional menu system, an early version of the main sprite, and a small portion of the barracks map. The exact reason for its cancellation remains unclear.
Thankfully, several early builds and design documents have survived, thanks to Mark Greenshields, who allowed these materials to be archived and shared. They provide a glimpse into an ambitious attempt to bring Sarge’s Heroes to handheld form, bridging console-scale gameplay with the limitations of the Game Boy Advance.
In the early 2000s, the toy company Playing Mantis released a short-lived action figure line called Army Men – Real Combat, directly based on the 3DO’s Army Men Videogames franchise. The figures were around 6 inches tall and designed with a military theme, clearly inspired by the Army Men characters of Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes, but produced as articulated collectible toys.
Overview
Playing Mantis produced a licensed action-figure line based on The 3DO Company’s Army Men video games (notably the Sarge’s Heroes era). Contemporary materials explicitly state that Playing Mantis and 3DO teamed up to release six figures from the games.
Release window
Packaging and checklists place the line around 2000–2001. Listings show 2000 manufacture dates, while hobby write-ups and checklists tag the series as 2001.
Lineup (6 figures).
Sergeant Hawk (Team Leader)
Vikki Grimm (Lovely Soldier)
Colonel Grimm (Commander-in-Chief of the Greens)
General Plastro (Tyrannical Tan Leader)
Riff (Bazooka Specialist)
Hoover (Mine Sweeper)
Scale & features. Figures are roughly 6–7 inches tall with around 10 points of articulation, packed with weapons/accessories. Packaging commonly included a dog-tag style display base and a trading card, and used the franchise tagline “Real Combat, Plastic Men.” Some packaging/ads also used “Hyper Action!” branding.
Branding. Item specifics and packaging references connect the toys directly to the Sarge’s Heroes sub-brand and 3DO license.
Availability today
The run was short; figures surface mainly on the secondary market and collector blogs/checklists. Collectors remember this line as an unusual and somewhat obscure branch of military-themed toys from the early 2000s.
Remember those great Concept Art pieces? Well, we started making them a reality (sort of).
There are some ideas in Concept Art pieces that never became reality (or, in fact, most of them never did). So here we’ll show you the process of how we make them a reality, one way or another.
Concept ArtCGI recreationConcept ArtCGI recreationConcept ArtA more developed drawing, half CGI
The Truth Behind the Famous “In-Game Screenshots” of the First Army Men Games
There are phrases that have become part of gaming folklore. One of the most common (and persistent) is:
“It was from a beta version…” —said with the tone of someone convinced they’ve uncovered a hidden development secret.
But when it comes to Army Men, many of those promotional screenshots were not beta versions of anything. In fact… they weren’t even screenshots.
Slightly modified screenshot of PS1 Army Men: World War used in ads all over the internet at the time
What Looked Like In-Game… Wasn’t
Back in the golden age of 3DO, when Army Men was just beginning to take shape as a franchise, the creative team had a challenge: They needed a visual way to pitch the idea before the game was even fully designed.
Veteran developer Michael Mendheim, who played a crucial role in conceptualizing the Army Men universe, would put together digitally composed images to present the tone and feel of the project.
These images were a mix of:
Independently rendered 3D models.
Partial engine screenshots, when available.
Added effects like smoke, fire, and lighting.
And of course, a healthy dose of Photoshop.
They were never meant to be real gameplay footage: they were visual mockups, created to evoke the style, mood, and action the final product was aiming for.
Slightly modified screenshot of N64 Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes used in ads all over the internet at the time
Although with minor modifications to the images, these are surely from the Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes engine for the Nintendo 64, but before going through the final version for the N64, it was actually a beta version of the levels and functions, not very different from the final version.
When Marketing Takes Creative Liberties
What’s interesting is that, even though the developers understood these images were purely conceptual, 3DO’s marketing team used them in advertisements as if they were actual in-game screenshots.
These images showed up in:
Magazines
Game boxes
Promotional flyers
Manuals
And even official press kits
The result? Players thought that’s how the game would look. And while that wasn’t exactly true… it worked. The hype exploded. The visual concept of Army Men (green plastic soldiers fighting battles in real-world environments) instantly captured players’ imaginations, long before the games were even finished, even a few years before 1998 Army Men.
Unmodified screenshotScreenshot with extra objectsAdding compression noise……to blend the new objects convincinglyThe added objects highlightedOther uses for fake screenshots (video thumbnail)
The Speculation That Never Died
Even today, many fans still insist that those images came from early builds or beta versions of the games.
You’ll still hear comments like:
“This must be from a lost prototype…”
Or comments like:
“They had to downgrade the graphics later due to hardware limitations.”
And while it’s true that Army Men underwent plenty of visual changes during development (and yes, they had to scale things down to run on systems like the PlayStation 1 and Nintendo 64) those promo shots were not captured from actual working versions of the game.
People who worked with Photoshop or 3D Studio Max back then can clearly recognize the techniques used in these composites. If anything, they were stunning examples of concept art disguised as gameplay.
In a way, we wish they were real beta shots… it would’ve added an extra layer of mystique to the franchise’s development history. But no, it was just clever marketing. Fake… but effective.
Modified screenshots of the “supposed” Army Men 3D beta version for PS1, used in promotional content all over the internet at the time
Deception or Strategy?
Today, in the era of frame-by-frame breakdowns and mandatory “not actual gameplay” disclaimers, this kind of tactic would get you dragged online in seconds. But in the ‘90s, with a franchise as visually unique as Army Men, it was a legitimate (and successful) marketing tool.
Some might call it deceptive. Others see it as an effective way of presenting an evolving creative vision.
Either way, those images weren’t beta builds, they weren’t unreleased versions, and they weren’t screenshots from a hidden dev console.
They were Photoshop. Plain and simple. And in context… they were brilliant.
What Does This Say About the Toyverse?
Like many good stories in the Toyverse, this one also carries a lesson. Just as molded toys become soldiers with names, stories, and purpose, a fake image can become the spark that brings an entire world to life.
Those visuals (however artificial) were the first real representations of the Army Men franchise. Before missions, before bugs, before battlefield chaos… there was a carefully crafted picture. And it worked.
Heavily fake screenshots of Portal Runner (PS2) where they used heavy 3D CGI models to make concept screenshots that 3DO used in promotional content on magazines and all over the internet at the time
Bonus: Where to See These Images Today?
Many of these fake-but-iconic visuals still survive today in:
Archived game magazines (GamePro, EGM, etc.)
Scanned promotional material
Original manuals
The official 3DO websites via the Wayback Machine
Heavily fake screenshots of the “supposed” Army Men Sarge’s Heroes 2 for PS2, used in promotional content on magazines and all over the internet at the time
In the game’s different media promotional contents, these screenshots were used to show off the game in its Playstation 2 version. In reality, they are composites using partial images of the game’s actual stages generated in a different engine or stage editing program, along with CGI models of the protagonists and a lot of added effects, something impossible to do for the Playstation 2. These were most likely images made as concept art of how the game should have looked for its development.
And of course, at ArmyMen.com.ar, where fans are still collecting and preserving all official documentation and rare media.
True BETA with minor modifications
The last 3DO game wasn’t exempt from 3DO tactics. Although these are real in-game images from the game engine (Zero Engine), they have minor additions, such as some soldiers, tanks, and explosions. And these, as they didn’t report, are images from the actual beta, up to the point where 3DO worked on it, before Global Star Software took over and finished the game.
Epilogue: Not Real Gameplay, But Still Part of the Game
And óo players ever got to take control of Sarge.Because sometimes, a fake image contains a very real truth: The spirit of a franchise that helped shape an entire generation’s imagination.
This are some of our own “fake” promotional images. We usually use them for our video thumbnails… but from now on we’ll be using them to promote older 3DO games a little… excessively.
Army Men is from a time before the Internet, a time of print ads, guide books, and physical games with instruction manuals (yes, believe it or not, they came with instructions!). The Internet was relatively new and not the main target market for consumers. So there was also TV advertising… imagine watching your favorite show or MTV and suddenly an Army Men game commercial comes on!
Manuals:
The manuals that came with all the games, CDs, DVDs, cartridges. Each and every one with their game instruction manuals.
Download Army Men: Soldiers of Misfortune Wii Manual PDF
Download Army Men: Soldiers of Misfortune Nintendo DS Manual PDF
Magazines: Reviews, editor guides, ads!
Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes (N64) section from the Nintendo Power magazine, issue #125 (October 1999)
One of the iconic video game magazines of the time, focused on Nintendo only and of course, mainly Nintendo 64, the console of the moment. Nintendo Power was a magazine dedicated to video game news and strategies, launched by Nintendo of America in July/August 1988. Initially, it served as Nintendo’s official print magazine for North America. The publication started as a monthly release by Nintendo of America and later became independent. In December 2007, Future US, a subsidiary of the British publisher Future plc, took over its publication.
In this case, a section with a guide to the first missions of Sarge’s Heroes for Nintendo 64, with some extras, such as tips for multiplayer mode.
The magazine had a remarkable 24-year run, making it one of the longest-running video game magazines in the United States and Canada. However, on August 21, 2012, Nintendo announced that it would not renew its licensing agreement with Future Publishing, leading to the magazine’s closure in December 2012. The final issue, volume 285, was published on December 11, 2012.
In addition, a podcast version of Nintendo Power was launched on December 20, 2017, hosted by former Editor-in-Chief Chris Slate. The podcast continued until 2023 and is currently on hiatus as of 2024.
Army Men (PC) section from the Next Generation magazine, November 23, 1996 issue
Next Generation was a video game magazine published by Imagine Media from 1995 to 2002. It focused on the gaming industry, offering in-depth articles, interviews with developers, and reviews of upcoming games and hardware. The magazine was known for its professional tone and emphasis on the business and technical aspects of gaming, rather than just game reviews and cheats. It provided readers with insights into the future of gaming technology and trends.
Army Men games on the GamePro Magazine Issue 151 (April 2001)
GamePro was a well-known video game magazine that ran from 1989 to 2011. It provided gamers with reviews, previews, tips, and strategies across various gaming platforms. The magazine was recognized for its vibrant layout and engaging content, including a unique rating system and helpful “ProTips” for improving gameplay. GamePro was a key source of gaming news and information during its publication years.
In this case a sneak peek of the Army Men Playstation 2 launches: Sarge’s Heroes 2, Air Attack 2, Green Rogue & Portal Runner. And for the Playstation 1, Army Men: World War: Final Front.
“Well, Portal Runner is no longer considered canon, with this situation that you say (PR is canon), we should add Superman and Batman to the game because it adds new things to the game.” – A particular Army Men die-hard fan
Everything this guy said have no sense. Who said Portal Runner is not considered canon?, and what does Batman have to do with it? I get it, it’s a metaphor. It doesn’t make sense anyway.
“head canon” it’s a personal thing, not the real thing.
It’s VERY strange that some fans have that “I like this so it’s canon. But I don’t like this so it’s not canon” with things that don’t really bother them, but it seems to hurt their sensitivities. You may not like Portal Runner, that’s legal. But it is exaggerated that if it offends you to such a degree that you hate it.
I really don’t understand it. I mean, it’s not that I like Portal Runner, but it doesn’t bother me either. It’s like Teletubbies annoy me just for existing lol
“I’m not a fan, but I know it brought interesting things to the Army Men canon. Because it is a game from the Army Men franchise. That is unavoidable.” – Thanos
What rules said that Portal Runner isn’t canon?. Be careful with imagining something so strongly that you believe it to be true. Because there is no such rules. There are only presumptions by some fans who believe that some things are not canon, others are from another continuity, etc etc etc. But no one said anything about Portal Runner lol.
Another debate in the Army Men community is about Army Men: Sarge’s War: the Heroes, Vikki Grimm and Colonel Grimm who died in the Peace Treaty terrorist attack were all clones… because many refuse to accept that that happened. And while the ending shows us those tubes with names, the reality is that it remains somewhat ambiguous… unless you listen to the father of the Army Men canon, Michael Mendheim: he himself said in an interview that he wanted to kill them, as a metaphor for the bad time they were going through during the development of Sarge’s War, the bankruptcy of 3DO, between layoffs, cancellations and warnings of a bleak future for the company and its employees. On the other hand, it is understandable that the childhood of many has been marked by this… but that is the truth. ALTHOUGH, it does not mean that it has to be the end… since despite their intentions, they left us some elements to reverse that bitter ending (the tubes with names).
Holders of the truth
The only ones who knew the truth about these “canon” & “inconsistencies” things no longer exist, the 3DO team from that time, behind the Army Men games. And I’m not even really sure about that, since I don’t think they were that involved with it to the point of being obsessive about it.
By the way, before someone does it: It is not valid if a former 3DO employee say something today and for that reason it will be considered the truth, because years passed and those who decided that, were an entire group with bosses who had the last word. Anyway in these years since that, we have never seen anyone on the internet talking about it. So, point for this theory!
But then… how?
The only way I think we can bring some light to this “canon” matter is to gather the entire old group, together, and ask them. But anyway, a LOT of time passed and more than sure they no longer even remember, because of this, or because it was simply a job and they were never that interested in it.
Or on the other hand they can be gathered by someone and made them to say whatever he wants them to say, which is why I think it is no longer possible to get REAL answers today.
What should perhaps be accepted is the suggestion or ideas of an old member of the team. That couldn’t be ignored!
But with all my years in video game development I can tell you one REAL thing that few or no one can tell you here…
Because of how storytelling works, most of the biggest inconsistencies were actually left, on purpose, with AMBIGUITY. That is, without really defining it. And that’s totally on purpose. When you don’t know how to solve something or fix something that is difficult to fix, but that should be a necessary change, you leave it poorly defined, open to interpretation, ambiguous. That can be understood in various ways or admit different interpretations and, consequently, give rise to doubts, uncertainty or confusion. But also a certain level of satisfaction on each side of the debate.
I’ll give you an example…Sarge VS Sarge Hawk. It was NEVER defined, and that’s on purpose. Surely, according to what I personally assume given my knowledge, for the developers Sarge Hawk was supposed to be the same protagonist of the previous games. The clearest clue is the similarity between Sarge’s original voice and Hawk’s voice, as well as their personalities. And of course, that Sarge disappeared from continuity with Hawk appearance lol.
Here is the solution: SOFT REBOOT
You have a classic property (Army Men), one that’s made money hand over fist for you for years, perhaps decades, but now, it’s getting a little long in the tooth. Maybe it’s dated, maybe recent installments have tarnished their name, maybe it’s just bogged down in “Continuity Lockout”. Perhaps you’ve just finished the story you wanted to tell, or you’re still telling that story and don’t want to ruin it yet. Or maybe you’ve finally been given the budget to make the entry in the franchise you’d wanted to make years ago but couldn’t afford.
That’s what happens with good ol’ franchises. But in this case I know for a source that was the dev’s bosses who want a different approach, a more “mainstream” product, or just what they need to upgrade their approach.
Resetting the thing to bring in new fans sounds like a good idea, but maybe the core storyline is still interesting if you can get rid of the bad superficial elements that accumulated around it over the years, or peel back the exaggeration of its problems over time; maybe you’re about to release it into a wider market where they never got the previous entry while pleasing existing fans; maybe you want to make a straight sequel but have to take a new direction because of drastic creative team changes; or maybe you’re simply afraid of the backlash to a Continuity Reboot.
In the case of the Army Men franchise, I think YES OR YES they needed a change. What else could they do after AM1, 2, TIS, WW and AT that was new using exactly the same elements without going away from that? It would have worked with the die-hard fans and bigots, but not with the general public from whom they need the money.
Yes, Army Men 1 was a success… but when could they replicate that success with exactly the same thing? It was a one-time win.
What to do? Well, perhaps a “softer” approach will serve. Instead of starting over, dip into the Troper Well and pull out a way of explaining you’re not really tossing away the classic stories the fans love. There are many ways to accomplish this:
It could take place after a lengthy Time Skip, allowing you to make a Same Plot Sequel with a new generation of characters and a few old favorites popping in for a Continuity Cameo.
It could be an Alternate Timeline that diverges from the “main” timeline thanks to time travel shenanigans, so you can do a fresh, modern take on iconic scenarios while the main timeline exists in parallel.
It could start with a Retool where the setting and scenario are significantly changed and the cumbersome or outdated aspects are dropped.
It could be a prequel with younger actors where all the things the old audience knows are hinted at, without being burdened by excessive continuity that will drive off new audiences.
It could be a side story taking place in the same universe that coincidentally features characters or situations the old audience is familiar with.
It could treat the original with Broad Strokes, so that the things the old audience liked happened for sure, but the things they didn’t like didn’t happen.
Essentially, a Soft Reboot. It has many elements of a reboot, and feels a lot like one, without actually getting rid of the old continuity.
Contrast the “hard” Continuity Reboot, in which the old story and continuing plotlines are explicitly kept, but minimally/mostly copied and started over from Day 1. Also not to be confused with a Soft Reset or Canon Discontinuity.
In the case of Army Men and what came after with the big changes made with Sarge’s Heroes, Air Attack, etc. was a kind of Soft Reboot, where they introduced everything new with a great future ahead, a lot of room to expand a develop (or at least that’s what they thought), without removing many of the elements that fans were familiar with, such as the plastic soldier original design.
Something very symbolic to represent this change and say goodbye to the old continuity, and that NO ONE has talked about, is the first scene of the Sarge Heroes campaign, this one…
Saying goodbye to the old Army Men, welcome to the new one!
This is LITERALLY the developers sending you the message of the change, to you and for them, like a “farewell” tribute. You go from the Sarge continuity to the new. It shows you the classic soldier, as always was, who suddenly leaves the scene, drastically, to make way for Plastro’s new design with everything that is coming behind with him, and the next scene shows you the new protagonist, Sarge Hawk.
To finish with my words…
They NEVER clarified anything because from the beginning they didn’t want to. They wanted it to be open to interpretation so that everyone would be satisfied with their interpretations of the events. Those who want to believe that Sarge Hawk and all that continuity is something different have nothing to contradict them. And those who want to believe that it is a sequel and that Sarge is now somehow Sarge Hawk, have nothing to contradict them either (au contraire). In short, everyone is happy. And Portal Runner is canon.
We learned from Michael Mendheim’s Twitter account that there are a series of files on paper and, possibly, on some digital medium, of Army Men, as can be read in one of the photos. We’ll keep you posted if any of that ever comes to light.
Army Men: Sarge’s War: The eulogy for an entire series
It’s a complicated subject, the Army Men series. The 3DO Company released somewhere in the realm of 25 games between 1998 and 2002. When you consider some of the ports were made from the ground up and entirely distinctive to the platform they were released on, the actual number of unique games is probably around 35 or more. I’m sure you can already see the problem.
Army Men Sarge’s War Vikki Dead
“The problem was with all the early success of these Army Men games, the executives at 3DO thought they could ship an Army Men game (or bundle) every quarter and be successful,” Michael Mendheim, creative director of Battletanx and the Sarge’s Heroes subseries, told me. It’s obvious. The output was stunning, putting even history’s most prolific market spammers, like Guitar Hero, to shame. What started as a promising series with a few hits on its hands quickly declined into one that was treated with scorn and derision by players and the press.
The result is that the Army Men games are poorly remembered. I’ve previously compared the series to a shotgun blast: a sudden and abrupt spread, sometimes causing a lot of agony. Few mourned the loss of the franchise, but I still visit to place flowers on its grave.
Army Men Sarge’s War Col Grimm dead
The 3DO Company was founded by Trip Hawkins, who previously founded Electronic Arts years earlier. Hawkins dreamt of a console that would become the universal medium for games. Licensing fees would be almost non-existent, so developers and publishers would jump aboard with little risk, abandoning frontrunners Nintendo and Sega. Hawkins left EA to pursue this dream, but by 1996, the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer flopped under the weight of FMV game ports, and the company had to pivot to purely making software. Hawkins even took on a creative role to help out his teams.
Army Men started out quietly enough in 1998. The first game on PC, merely titled Army Men, was a reasonable success. Early the next year, Army Men II came out alongside a PlayStation remake of the first game called Army Men 3D. Again, these were pretty successful. By the end of 1999, however, a second PC title, Army Men: Toys in Space, the 3D action title Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes, and the top-down helicopter game Army Men: Air Attack were all released. Five titles in its second year, and the snowball had only just begun rolling.
Army Men Sarge’s War Riff dead
That’s where Michael Mendheim comes in. In 1998, he was creative director on Battletanx, which was a hit for 3DO. He was then given creative license on his own Army Men title and envisioned a character-driven game with more of a story, and that became Sarge’s Heroes.
Once again, Sarge’s Heroes was a hit. If I can wade into the story for a moment, it’s where I was introduced to the series, and it’s one that still holds a place in my heart. It had its rough spots, but a lot of its design, especially when it came to its levels, was fantastic. I remember following it through Nintendo Power up to its release and playing the hell out of it.
While I’ve trudged through a great deal of the Army Men series since then and could give you the full and detailed history, that’s quite a detour. We’re going to hurry the story along here.
Army Men Sarge’s War Scorch dead
The important fact is that not only did the quality of Army Men titles start to plummet almost immediately, but the public’s appetite for the games declined just as fast. I’d say that the four PlayStation Army Men: World War games are pretty consistent fun, but by the release of the last two titles, the press was practically ignoring them.
It became something of a laughing stock. In 2001, Portal Runner was released to harsh reception. After a particularly scathing review in Gamepro Magazine, Trip Hawkins even went as far as writing to the Editor-in-Chief to defend the title in an almost comical fashion. He described the staff as “angry young men” and threatened to reduce their advertising. I can understand him wanting to defend his creation, but the letter wasn’t a good look.
Around 2002, the pace of releases from 3DO had slowed and the writing was on the wall. “We already had a round of layoffs; everyone was nervous about the company’s future,” said Mendheim. He had a team working on a game called Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. “It was an edgy, gritty, post-apocalyptic nightmare, based on the Book of Revelation.” Mendheim also believed this to be the best chance at saving 3DO, but it wasn’t to be. “I was called into a meeting and told that I could keep a small team working on Horsemen but everyone else, including myself, would need to make another Army Men game. That Army Men game would be Sarge’s War.”
Army Men Sarge’s War Thick dead
Sarge’s War would be the last 3DO developed Army Men game, put together in haste as the company took on water. “Honestly, it was like developing the game on the Titanic and it took 9 months for the ship to sink,” described Mendheim.
If you’ve played Sarge’s War, you may have been stricken with how tonally different it was from previous games. The series’ standard features were there, but a lot of the color was washed out of it. In its place was a grittier veneer, even over its more cartoonish elements. The entire supporting cast of the Sarge’s Heroes sub-series–all of them–were killed in an explosion, sending Sergeant Hawk into an avenging rage.
This was the sound of a series dying. There are plenty of franchises that have disappeared from the face of the planet, never to be heard from again. Jazz Jackrabbit, Top Gear, F-Zero; there are many easy examples of games that have just…gone away. Sarge’s War was a game on its deathbed, one last defiant scream before the embrace of oblivion. It was a deliberate move to put the final nail in the coffin and bring closure to the series.
Army Men Sarge’s War Hoover dead
I think Michael Mendheim put it best. “There are certain games that you just put your heart and soul into because you love the content, they are your babies. Sarge’s Heroes was one of those games for me. Every character in the game was developed with love and passion. Sarge’s Heroes was fun, positive, and hopeful. It was a game that made you laugh and feel some magic.”
“Sarge’s War was the opposite of that. It was grim and dark. The story in Sarge’s War was about loss. Losing everything that you love and care about. In the plotline, the entire cast and crew – Sarge’s Heroes died with 3DO. Everyone except for Sarge.”
“When I killed off Sarge’s Heroes, I also killed my desire to ever design another Army Men game. I designed the first and last game in the Sarge’s Heroes product line.”
By the end of development, 3DO had already breathed its last, and Sarge’s War wound up getting released by Global Star Software, a subsidiary of Take-Two and the new home of the Army Men license. Some sources credit Tactical Development for completing the game, but according to Mendheim, “Our orders were to finish the game and that is what we did…the game was delivered completed as the ship went down.”
Army Men Sarge’s War Shrap dead
In comparison to the Army Men games that came before it, Sarge’s War was less rickety. It’s obvious that some of 3DO’s best remaining talent had worked on it, though under less than ideal constraints. It doesn’t reach the height of the series, but knowing the story behind it underlines it with melancholy. It’s a surreal experience.
“There are no bad guys in this story; everyone did their absolute best to try and keep the company alive,” explains Mendheim. “No one sets out to make a bad game. No one worked harder than Trip Hawkins, who even put his own money on the line to try and save the company. Unfortunately, not every story has a happy ending.”
Global Star made a token effort at continuing the Army Men series. Their first attempt was Team 17’s Army Men: Major Malfunction in 2006, which I’ve previously covered, and it’s awful. Later they’d try another reboot with Army Men: Soldiers of Misfortune in 2008, which is similarly terrible. There was a mobile game for pre-smart phones, and then that’s it. Aside from a few re-releases, the series has been left to rest peacefully.
Army Men: Sarge’s War Hawk
Whether or not it deserved that fate is a matter of opinion. On one hand, it was unwise and intrusive to flood the market with those titles. Releasing games of questionable quality to bank on a brand should never be commended. But on the other hand, they weren’t without merit or appeal. The best games were just buried under the worst. It could have been straightened out. It didn’t have to end this way.
Or, as Michael Mendheim put it: “I always look back at my time at 3DO and think what could have been if we had managed the brand better by releasing only one Army Men game a year and each year releasing a different type of Army Men game with cool innovations and game mechanics…maybe, just maybe Army Men and 3DO might still be alive.”
The first very revealing article was Team17’s recalling history of their first 100 games, when celebrating the release of game number one hundred, PLANET ALPHA. In this chapter, they’re heading to 2005 & 2006, a time of both 2D and 3D Worms games and their first foray into work-for-hire projects on both Lemmings and Army Men.
In an unexpected twist, Team17 was granted creative freedom while working on the Army Men franchise. This allowed them to introduce a new main character and even eliminate the recurring character, Sarge, in the opening sequence (Sarge or Sarge Hawk. In any case, it seems they never knew, they really confused the franchise canon). This bold move highlights the unique creative liberties Team17 enjoyed during the development process. You can read the complete article in: https://team17.com
1. Team17’s 100 Games – Part Nine: 2005-2006 (Published: Nov 7, 2018)
(…)
48/100 Army Men: Major Malfunction
Year: 2006 | Developer: Team17 | Publisher: Global Star | Format: PlayStation 2, Xbox
When Team17 was founded in 1990 it was entirely possible, thanks to open platforms like the Amiga, for a small group of programmers and artists to make and release their own game. But times changed. As next generation consoles took over, team sizes grew and budgets ballooned. Releasing a game was virtually impossible without publisher support and this meant you had a limited number of ways to get a game made. Either own a best-selling IP or develop for somebody else’s. In this climate, Team17 found itself pitching to publishers for “work-for-hire” projects. Sometimes this led to us working on a game like Lemmings, other times it led to Army Men: Major Malfunction… Perhaps the most surprising game in our entire history.
Recruited to Team17 after a 10-year stint at Rare, Gavin Hood found himself in command of the Army Men project and worked on the pitch. “I had literally only joined the company a few months before and was sitting opposite the head of design,” says Hood. “I remember most of the designers were working hard on a Worms title as it neared the end of production so I was asked to come up with something to pitch. I guess it went okay because we got the deal and I got the chance to lead it.”
Working on someone else’s franchise, you’d think that the publisher would have final say on any creative decisions but actually, as Hood explains, Team17 were given free rein on Army Men and even got away with a few unexpected choices. “We wanted to use a different main character to many of the other Army Men games and not only did we not meet resistance to this, but we even microwaved recurring main character Sarge in the opening sequence to set up the introduction of our own character. I’m actually proud that we were able to melt a series character in the opening of a game and everyone concerned be okay with that!”
Army Men Major Malfunction Huey Helicopter
Every game has its unique challenges and for Army Men it was designing a 3D world in the era before off-the-shelf game engines made the process more streamlined. “The programmers wrote a set of tools that, because of the limited time we had, were made to work on development kits using the Xbox Controller,” Hood explains. “We had to place enemies, assign A.I. to them and set their patrols all using an Xbox Pad, even the cutscenes were done in the same way. Using those tools was a nightmare but the advantage was we could throw a load of stuff into a level and just hit play. It was awful to use with a pad but the speed at which we could test ideas and get something into each of the environments is probably the only reason we hit deadlines.”
A WIP CG animation from the Escape From Precinct 17 mission
“It was an interesting game to work on,” concludes Hood. “I remember having grand ideas about what the game would end up being and although it might not have exactly reached those heights there are some things I think we got right. There are a lot of pop culture references in there that I still think we handled well .” Even the subtitle, “Major Malfunction”, was a reference to a line from Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket!
“Looking back, the game obviously wasn’t a masterpiece but everyone on the team got everything done in a very short development time with makeshift tools! It probably won’t go down as Team17’s finest hour or be the game I’m proudest of, but I did at least get to buy a lot toy soldiers and put them all over the office!”
(…)
The Army Men Videogames Website, home of the Army Men Toyverse
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