Japanese Famicom archivist Orochi has just posted footage of the lost sequel to Japan-only Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti on YouTube.
Splatter World was developed for the Famicom and was slated for release in Japan in 1993, but it never made it to market. The footage uploaded by Orochi comes from a VHS tape which was apparently sent to retailers at the close of 1992 to promote the game in-store.
The game's existence had only been hinted at previously in a Namco Museum of Art video about Splatterhouse in 2021.
Reporting on the find, West Mansion, a Splatterhouse fansite, had the following to say:
Splatter World looked to be pretty far along in development. As the videotape was sent to retailers in December of 1992 and the game was slated to be released in March of 1993, I'd say it was probably close to 100% complete at this time. They may have been in the final stages of polishing and gearing up for release when the plug was pulled. Of course, we don't know why the plug was pulled, but Orochi speculates that the user base shift to the Super Famicom, coupled with the possibility that Namco did not receive enough orders to justify the release (and also noting that Namco pulled out of the Famicom market entirely less than a year later, in December 1993), were what caused Splatter World's cancellation.
The most interesting thing about the game is that it appears to be a pretty robust-looking RPG, as you can see from the footage above.
Given the nature of this footage, there will naturally be speculation now that this game exists in some shape or form in Namco's archives. Hopefully, it will one day be made available to the public if that is indeed the case.