update: humansoft are the developer!

In terms of the name, and how it takes place inside of Garfields house, it could have been worse. They could have called it "Garfield: Homestuck".

You’re absolutely right about physical props being more meaningful. Slowly lining up the four games you did have really, really made it clear how lost this media is.

Hard to believe one random fan on the internet like Quinton has become one of the foremost Garfield historians. I absolutely, unironically love it.

Funny thing, I worked on this game back in the days as a 3D artist/animator. It would have been a cool game (2D platformer with 3D graphics, kind of like new smb with mario64 graphics), but the distributor shut it down. Back then there were 2 companies called Humansoft in Hungary, so for legal reasons the developer in question was called HS Games officially.

It honestly wouldn't surprise me if that last option was the one. The publisher probably wanted something out for the new console and out before Christmas but, underestimated how long it would take for a developer to actually learn the hardware and tools to make a game for the DS. At the time you could potentially pump out a GBA game in a few months if you have a team who knew their way around it but, the DS was an entirely different beast and no small scale studio wanted to sign on to a project that functionality was impossible and the developer wasn't willing to work with an adjustable deadline so it didn't happen.

The description of "Bound For Home" is so weird, I feel like it contains clues about what the gameplay would have been like. Something about stopping a gang of cats disguised as Garfield from eating food? I keep imagining possibilities, like a tower defense thing where cats are walking towards a fridge, or a Where's Waldo thing where you have to spot the real Garfield.

What intrigued me the most here is that the game has a PEGI 3+ rating on the Amazon boxart which, if genuine, would imply that they at least reviewed it in some form.

I'm not really sure they could advertise a game as being "Licensed by Nintendo" with the Nintendo seal and everything if the game wasn't in some state of existence, right?

So your telling me, I have a “rare” box set, with a rare flyer, featuring a game so rare it doesn’t even exist? All because my dad liked Garfield and gave me his old DVDs.

I dropped everything to hear Quinton rant about Garfield. It’s mesmerizing to see his say “It’s Garfield time.” and proceeds to Garf for the runtime of the video!

Am I the only one who finds it weird that they focus on there not being any multiplayer functions?

I don't think there's anything in the plot synopsis that suggests that the game was going to be set at Jon's house, and in fact would argue it suggests the opposite! Think about it: how would Wild Cat be able to get away with dressing up and posing as Garfield if Garfield was home already? To me, that alone suggests that the clan would've tried to get rid of Garfield in some way, so the game would consist of Garfield trying to get back and stop Wild Cat before Jon goes broke, probably going through a mix of original and recognizable locations in the process - in other words, he'd be 'bound for home'.

"Yellow cat" but he's orange

The pamphlets and the amazon listings pictures of the cover are different. on the earlier one it says "rating pending" while on the amazon one it says 3+. When a game has to go through rating with the ESRB, it has to be either in mid-late development or completed as to give the ESRB a full vision and to give it a proper rating depending on the type of game and it's contents. This means the game was worked on to the point where it got an actual rating from the ESRB and possibly a rom or physical dev cartridge for this game for the ESRB would had to been made, this means the game is in a semi or fully playable state. The same happened with Mean Girls DS and how that just vanished but also got a rating and that was found to be in a semi-playable state. So this game exists somewhere but we just don't know who worked on it or what happened to it.

The Pegi rating and Nintendo License seal means there was enough of this game developed. If you could track down someone from that era who worked for either company, they might actually know a thing or two about this.

Given that there were release dates and a promotional flyer with a plot synopsis, one of the approval entities probably has a file that says "it's bad even for shovelware, we can't release this."

I would watch 10 hours of nonstop Quinton Re2s and Quinton Reviews Garfield related content. I am not exaggerating. Great video.

My guess is probably it being advertised either before a developer was found, or sometime before development began/very early in development. Considering shovelware games can typically take a few weeks to MAYBE a couple of months to develop, a Summer to Holiday 2005 window is a long time to develop something that is likely to either be an asset flip or a simple action/platformer title. It's possible that this was pitched and greenlit, but the developers were either never found or could never agree on a contract. Alternatively, the rights holders could have just pulled the plug early in development for whatever reason. I just find it hard to believe that any extensive work was done when there was about 4-6 months until the game was to be officially released.

There's no way they hadn't started development at ALL. To say "this holiday season" is damn confident by that point if they hadn't even started making the game. It had box art, multiple release dates, official promotion in an important box set, Game Factory on its side, etc.

One interesting thing is that they were confident on the release date however didn't even have the cover art finished as on the "3D" image of the box art the spine is completely blank.

Garfield has a special place in my heart, while the obsession did not last, Garfeild comics are what finally got me able to read properly. Your videos reignited my garf appreciation, and I thank you for it.

What is interesting is the cover shot is most likely later render then the one in the box set. Do to it having a PEGI 3+ rating which if that is right it was done enough to go to a rating board at that time.

Have you ever talked about the "Garfield: His 9 Lives" TV movie? Sometimes I think it was a fever dream. I used to get it from the video section at my local library when I was a kid and then one day it wasn't there anymore, and I never saw it again.

its so funny that you mentioned garfield as himself bc last night i was listening to the soundtrack for here comes garfield!! its very nostalgic for me (both the soundtrack and the specials), lou rawls has such a nice voice.

At 10:27 koen says "nou, het lijkt me niks..." This gets translated into "well, I don't think so..." The better translation would be "Well, that doesn't look interesting..." As the original comment roughly translates to "well, it's seems like nothing to me" and nothing is used, in this context, as something without worth.

I think the answer is likely that you're right about it being almost completed by some little development company, and them going out of business abruptly. Just don't know who that company is.

Garfields nightmare was the first DS game i got as a kid haha. I hated it because i was terrible at platformers of any kind. Nice to see that little bit of nostalgia in this vid though lol

maybe they bounced it around to a bunch of developers but none of them stuck one of them stuck for long enough to put out the flyer but that was short lived and then it just fizzled out

It IS possible that Game Factory was going to both be the publisher and developer. Indie dev teams also being publishers, isn't unheard of, look at Team 17. Maybe this Garfield game was going to be Game Factory's first big attempt at creating their own game and not just publishing. But something led to them pulling the plug on the concept altogether.

I interpreted the plot as Wild Cat (the leader of the cat clan) has infiltrated Jon’s home and kicked Garfield out. Garfield has to stop Wild Cat’s plans but he probably had to make his way home first. Therefore, Garfield is bound for home.

I think this is the most invested I've ever been in official Garfield content

boys like quinton for icarly, men like quinton for garfield

This video is good enough to be on the main channel tbh. You’re doing a great job, but don’t feel pressured to up the production value on your second channel! (I’m personally very susceptible to burnout, so I’m always projecting onto people, don’t mind me)

garfield showing his watch on the box art just makes me think this game is about time travel or something

11:00 can’t believe Garfield was poised to cash in on the Warrior Cats iron when it was RED hot

If it was barely publicized and quietly canceled that quickly there's a good chance that there was barely any work done, or maybe development just failed to get off the ground at all and they ran out of time before it could be restarted, that was a pretty tight schedule.

Hey wait a second something sparked inside my brain! I could be wrong about this but I vaguely remember being in Best buy to buy a DS game for my DS. I remember browsing and seeing a Garfield game with THAT EXACT cover on it! Unfortunately that's all I could remember. Hope this helps with the investigation!

I love the iCarly saga, but it's great to see some good old-fashioned Quinton Reviews style content

"I own all of the Garfield video games" ohh okay shit just got real, we're dealing with a professional here.

Wow, it’s crazy to think that the same developer who made Fast Racing League, which I played the demo of on my family’s Wii as a kid, also made a Garfield game.

Maybe the prototype cart for Garfield: Bound for Home is kept in the same safe where Jim Davis keeps his script and voice actor recordings for the Garfield’s Judgement Day movie, never to see the light of day again.

"Bound for Home" is Homestuck in Danish

The reverence you have while opening the pamphlet 💙

I wonder if the people in charge of allowing the Garfield licensing got a final draft of the game after that flyer went out and were so unhappy with it that Nintendo scrapped it rather than spend time fixing it in order to get the approval and it got hush hush swept under the rug

As anyone who watches DYKG knows, it's not uncommon for games to be cancelled very late in development. It's possible they basically finished the game, and then decided it wasn't worth releasing

Another great day on GarfTube

As a danish game developer I'm surprised to hear that a danish company was publishing Garfield games.

pro-tip: set the playback speed to 1.25

I think it’s telling that they happened to release a GBA game later in 2006 with the first DS title being the movie tie-in in 2007. It implies that what happened is that they failed to realize the scope of developing for the DS with its unique hardware that they scrapped it too late for the marketing team and then only bothered when the GBA was out of fashion and there was a movie license to cash in on.

Its 4 am and i cant sleep due to anxiety but watching this is so relaxing... i feel so much better

I fully expect someone to plant a mock up DS game box with this artwork at a thrift store as a prank.

My guess on why it was called 'Bound For Home' is that the cat gang would've kicked Garfield out, so then Garfield would've had to make his way home. Also maybe the reason they specified no multiplayer was that someone besides Garfield was playable during certain sections. Maybe Odie, since he was on the box?

Wait, this is just Sonic Adventure 2

after this man said he had a COMPLETE garfield game collection, I didnt question anything else

I had the holiday DVD! I was never a huge Garfield fan, but I remember watching it whenever I was sick as a kid!

“Wild Cat, the leader of some cat clan,” I need an official Garfield x Warrior Cats crossover asap.

Love when he says “it’s garfin time”

Quinton returns to the familiar, the comforting. Welcome home quin, welcome back to the gar field

..... I am legit jealous of your Garfield game collection. The only one I have is Caught in the Act for Sega Genesis. I'm really curious what all those ones in the big boxes are, particularly the one with all the Japanese text on it.

this is a main channel worthy topic

A name about being stuck at home huh...

Why does the Garfield DVD box set use two different types of dvd cases?

Thank you for including “enbies” in your intro. It’s such a small thing, but it made me so happy as a non-binary person!

I remember that game! Garfield is one of the first comics I would practice drawing and I have all of the books.Thank you for this !

the DS is an obsession of mine, so i'm super excited to see you cover this!

I love the giant essays, but I do miss your shorter videos. So I super love these new Re2s videos.

plot twist: *its waiting for the last person to find the flyer so it can finally release that holiday season*

i grew up with the Garfield as Himself DVD, and it was so surreal seeing the dance scene with Jon in "Gets a Life" become a meme nearly 20 years later.

yo! you got the sonic and garfield pack cover lets goo

Quinton I love your videos so much! Thank you for making them!

Me: *Watches for the Garfield content* Also me: OOOH HE’S GOT A HAMBURGLAR.

Regarding the complaint about the title, wouldn't it make sense that while the Wild Cat Gang is doing their thing, they've gotten Garfield stashed far away so that he can be impersonated, and Garfield has to escape and return as the game's main action. I mean, that does sound like a typical cartoon plotline, Garfield would, I don't know, be tricked in some way, maybe sent to Abu Dhabi like he'd try to do Nermal all those times, and he has to get back, he's *bound for home* to try to stop them. The home could be shown in cutscenes, or he has some sort of device that lets him see what they're doing from afar. Him looking at his watch on the package might mean that they've done something to keep him away until X time, which is the moment they know all the money would be spent and Garfield, learning the plan, realizes he has to get home before then to stop it. Maybe?

For the record, people still don't know the difference between a developer and a publisher.

Remember going to the paws website and how they had a feature where you’d have the daily strip show up in your desktop Remember playing the advent calendar every Christmas and that horror game where you’d find Lyman chained up in the basement?

really happy to see this video pop up. i love the nickelodean vids but ive also missed the stuff you were making beforehand. mostly just love some garfield history

Me: If anyone could discover more about Garfield: The Lost Levels outside of, like, Hidden Palace/The Cutting Room Floor/etc. it would totally be Quinton. Title: Lost DS Game Me: Nani?!?

This is just like all other lost media things. I'll tell you it's gonna turn out that it was never made and they jumped the gun on flyers. It wouldn't be the only time this has happened there are several magazines that advertised a nightmare on elm street game that never came out in the 90s. It won't have a good outcome and it will just be the most underwhelming thing

Can't wait for in a couple of years when someone finds an artist who has their concept art from this game in their portfolio

I saw this post on the lost game on Reddit, and I didn't know anything about it. Thanks Quinton.

wow that ending made me feel so good thank you, bee movie movie flashbacks wow just wow thank you

In Europe, that Garfield as Himself DVD was mostly same as on US, although for some reason Garfield gets a Life was replaced with Garfield goes to Hollywood instead.

I thought Garfield is orange 😂

i like this channel for smaller videos, it’s good hearing you talk about things between the titanic projects on a scale heretofore only crafted by the gods.

my immediate thought was this DS game was probably an early version of the Search for Pooky (depending on the age of the advert) or the 2006 release Garfield and His Nine Lives both for the gameboy.

I mean, who doesn't love revolving doors!

18:30 "Shovelware developers were killed by release of iPhone" are you kidding me bro... Are you really forgetting about 2007-2008 financial crisis? That shit killed all low profile developers worldwide.

I'm loving this quinton r2s renaissance

Ah. So if the title was done in a more thoughtful way, we would have a lost game called... Garfield Homestuck

This feels like a main channel video

Mondays, amirite?

I'd assume the cat gang somehow drops Garfield out in the middle or Europe some how and ha has to get home while they destroy the house

This game is probably the missing link on the connection between Garfield and Jesus of Nazareth originally proposed by Dr. Alex Dorpenberger

i missed you man, i hope your mental health is getting better

The tittle might of been intended yo be "Bound TO home", Bound; in the context of being restricted to the house

I feel like the most damning thing about that this game would never come out is that the back of the box was never seen But then again what do I know about early 2000s video game prereleases

He got the Sonic and Garfield case, sick

I remember me and my sister had the Garfield: Cat Tales box set. From what I remember we lost all of the discs, and as for what happened to the box, who knows.

If there’s cover art done it was well into production, that’s normally subcontract out by the publisher towards the end. The problem is there were likely only about 10 folk at a tiny - long since defunct - developer working on this. Plus the level of secrecy while working on the most trivial of games is ridiculous. Those people will now be in their 40’s, scattered around the world and trying to forget about their unpublished games. But they’ll be out there, just probably not fans of Garfield.

i remember watching the garfield movie with bill murray when i was younger and having nightmares about it