In my previous blog, I’ve shown you all the beta footage of The House of the Dead III for the arcades and Xbox which featured Lisa and G fullfilling other character roles in the game before they were developed and different level layouts. And now, I want to let you all know a trivial fun fact. Did you guys know that The House of the Dead III was originally made as a cell-shaded game? Yes, it is indeed true. While developing the game for arcades and Xbox back in 2003, Sega intended to make the next installment of the series into a arcade shooter with cell-shaded graphics simliar to Sega’s other franchise, Jet Set Radio, but shelved the graphics due to its cartoony feel which strained from The House of the Dead series. Click below for screenshots of the cell-shaded and original beta.
Source: Unseen64 http://www.unseen64.net/2008/04/16/house-of-the-dead-3-cell-shading-proto/