Publisher - Virgin
Developer - Virgin
Platform - N64
Release Date - On Hold
Type - Adventure

It could have been an original, well-designed platformer -- but unless someone at Virgin comes up with a gigantic shovel, Freak Boy will remain in game limbo forever. Sadly, the project has been put on "indefinite hold," which means it will probably never come out. Here, for all you nostalgic gamers, is the full preview:

Update 10-17-'97:
Sources from Virgin recently said that Freak Boy is headed toward a complete (and second, mind you) redesign, and may make a late 1998 ship date, if all goes well.

The game, which was introduced as early as May 1996, has suffered from more than its fair share of internal changes at Virgin, and has yet to find stable ground, firm ship dates, or any clear indication that'll it appear on shelves, with the exception of this last statement. Let's hope that Virgin is finally getting its act together, and that gamers can get their hands on the title that has inticed us sonce day one.

Update 01-25-'97: According to company sources, Virgin has completely scrapped its initial version of Freak Boy, once heralded by company execs as a title "with altogether unprecedented gameplay." Responses from the game’s first (and albeit very early showing) at E3 were negative, thus the game’s reworking from the ground up.

Regardless, if Virgin can deliver what it has promised, Freak Boy may be one of the more surprising games of 1998 (yeah, we just changed the number from 7 to 8). The concepts behind the central character’s abilities are highly creative and bring new possibilities to N64’s thin software line-up. With the power to absorb objects and manipulate them using morphing techniques, Freak Boy can saw through rooftops with his saw-hand (after picking up a saw), or metamorphize into an arsenal of guns with seamless fluidity. The character can mutate into as many as three different artifacts with his head, chest or feet at one time.

The simple science fiction-styled backstory has a superhero comicbook flavor and a clear sense of good and evil, with Freak Boy standing tall as cool hero. The basic plot is that on New Year’s Day, after the planets have aligned with the sun, an alien race (the ZoS) from a parallel dimension take over Freak Boy’s solar system, dousing the sun and taking all of his planet’s unlucky inhabitants as prisoners. Freak Boy manages to escape the forced exodus and must save his people from the evil race of ZoS. With five levels of difficulty, 25 explorable worlds, and more than 50 different enemies, the game seems to have the structure and basis for being a solid action title.

The bottom line? If Virgin can rework Freak Boy to its liking, this could be one of the more impressive titles to appear on Nintendo 64.