Rockstar reportedly worked on versions of The Warriors for GBA, Bully for DS

Based on a new report from Time Extension, Rockstar Games was at one point working on versions of The Warriors for GBA and Bully for DS.

The Warriors, which did see a portable release on PSP, was apparently first considered for GBA. Time Extension spoke to a former Rockstar Games employee who said the GBA port was being handled by Rockstar Leeds. The Warriors for GBA would have used the same engine that powered Max Payne on the handheld. Despite essentially being complete, that version was cancelled since Rockstar wasn’t “really seeing good returns on Nintendo” and the company “didn’t like promoting M-rated games” back in the day.

Time Extension’s source said:

“We were going for four-player co-op using the link cable and stuff. We finished the game. It was actually f**king fun to play. But there it sits never to be released because that’s when the PSP was gaining momentum and we weren’t really seeing good returns on Nintendo. Nintendo at the time didn’t like promoting M-rated games. We were comfortable in Sony land, so we went with The Warriors direct port on PSP.”

As mentioned above, Bully for DS was allegdley under consideration as well. While not as far along as The Warriors on GBA, Rockstar Leeds did do some work on that version, which would have been top-down similar to Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

The source mentioned:

“We had Bully on the DS. Right after Chinatown Wars, we did Bully. The same thing. Top down and everything. But it didn’t make it too far.”

While Bully skipped the handheld, it did end up on Wii. That console got the Scholarship Edition, which added new content, multiplayer minigames, and more.