Mario Takes America

Mario Takes America is a cancelled game developed for the Philips CD-i.

History
A Toronto-based developer called Cigam approached Philips about making an edutainment game starring Mario. Impressed by their pitch, Philips immediately granted Cigam funds so they could begin to work on the project.

Footage was filmed, with some of the shots using an helicopter. The game was announced in an issue of the UK CD-i magazine, and early footage was shown at the New York CDi 3 conference and the 1994 Winter CES.

Philips ended up being unimpressed by the progress of the project and cut funding. Without any funds, Cigam cancelled the game and went bankrupt in 1994.

Features
According to the UK CD-i magazine announcement, the game would have taken place on Earth (in a manner not unlike Super Mario's Wacky Worlds, another cancelled CD-i project) and more specifically, the United States. The plot of the game would have Mario arriving at New York and travelling across America in order to reach Hollywood to star in his own feature film.

The magazine advertised the fact that Mario would use many vehicles (mentioning truck, train, car, aeroplane, helicopter, and a motorbike as being usable) during his adventure. However, how (and if) the vehicles would have factored in gameplay is unknown.

Film footage was recorded for the game, which indicates that live-action full-motion video would have been used in some capacity. This is further reinforced by a statement in the announcement, which says that the film footage "brings a new degree of realism to the game".