Blizzard considered making a game called Diablo Junior, ShackNews reports. Not to be confused with the Whopper Junior. Or Carl's Jr.
According to David Craddock, an author who is writing a book about Diablo creator Blizzard North, the team considered bringing Diablo to the Game Boy after the release of Diablo II.
"Following Diablo II's release, Blizzard North split into two teams ... kind of," Craddock told ShackNews. "One team immediately started in on D2's expansion set, Lord of Destruction. The other team went into spitball mode, kicking around ideas for a new IP. But several other developers ventured into groups of two or three and put together proposals for smaller projects. One of those was given the working title Diablo Junior, a game tentatively planned for the Game Boy Color and/or the Game Boy Advance, depending on market share and other business-y factors.
"Diablo Junior was intended as a single-player-only prequel to the original game. Taking a page from Pokémon's book, the team wanted to release three cartridges, each packing a different hero in the warrior-rogue-sorcerer vein as well as items that players would have to trade for in order to collect. Heroes started in a unique town before heading into dungeons and wilderness zones. Diablo Junior was ultimately put out to pasture (absent of cow levels, I'm sure) because of the steep production costs associated with developing handheld games."
That sounds pretty damn cool, actually. Maybe the ex-Blizzard North folks at Runic Studios will consider bringing Torchlight to Game Boy Color.
Author: Blizzard wanted a Diablo for handhelds [ShackNews]