Shinesparkers have received links to concept artwork which claim to be from two cancelled titles based on the characters Boo and Sheik from the Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda universes respectively. The links we received point to an online portfolio by Sammy Hall, a former Retro Studios pre-production artist who worked on Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Donkey Kong Country Returns. The artwork claims to be pre-production art from a “Cancelled Zelda project” from 2005 to 2008 and a “Cancelled Boo project” from 2006 to 2007. It has long been rumoured that Retro Studios were developing a title based on the character of Sheik, and given that Hall was working for Retro Studios around this time, this discovery may add a little weight to these rumours.
Art from the “cancelled Zelda project” depicts a fun pre-production origin story of the Master Sword, set within the bad ending of Ocarina of Time, that never made it beyond pre-production. The title, described as an “action/JRPG”, would have explored the journey of the last Sheik while Dark Gerudo are giving their 100-year birth to Ganon. Art from the “cancelled Boo project” doesn’t offer very many details, but Hall has titled one of his sketches as “tiny stuff for tiny handheld resolutions” which could suggest that this was originally a Nintendo DS title. The Boo art also includes sketches titled “possession powers” and “Broomies”, alongside a sketch of a potential world map. Some of this artwork was published just two days ago, with others uploaded over the past two years.
Hall made a comment on one of his entries suggesting that he is pulling out of video games due to his issues with the games industry, as quoted below:
Have always worked full-time salary at developer studios. Sometimes random freelance for fun projects outside of games. But I’m completely pulling out of that game career until there can be some real solutions to the exploitation, criminality, and abuse that I see my peers put through… Things have been messy for WAY WAY too many decades.
Update: The artwork from the following links have now been removed from Sammy’s online portfolio.
The artwork was originally found at the following links:
Source: ArtStation