Then again, everything was prepared to start the development of The Big Kahuna, which would feature 2D graphic in a unique style inspired by the old beloved series Police Squad!, with a bizarre artsy conception of impossible angles and weird geometry –maybe similar to those from games like Toonstruck or Day of the Tentacle. Leslie Nielsen, then, would do the voice-over of the main character, and, from what we’ve been told, it was to be filled with those slapstick and visual gags that made David Zucker's films so unique. With these premises, no doubt The Big Kahuna was going to be a darn funny experience!

Thus, the people at Perfect, Gregg Barnett leading the design, were ready to create a techdemo to show to the different Publishers who might be interested in financing the game.

“The game design –Angela continues– was completed on paper, which because we used Gregg Barnett, took a LONG time but was very thorough. I think it was actually his best work ever. He had a real feel for the character and genre”.

Yet so, the development of The Big Kahuna was discontinued. What were the causes is what we will discuss next.

The cancelation

Both Space Babes and Naked Gun had similar reasons to be discontinued: a series of economical disagreements and constant struggles between Perfect Entertainment and their hitherto financial patron company; the English multinational Psygnosis Limited.

Psygnosis and Perfect had, since a long time back, a friendly agreement which would set the latter company to develop a certain number of unnamed games as well as the translations of some other third-party products (such as Lemmings, Manx TT, House of the Dead), and they would offer, in exchange, the financial support for them to go on with their projects and managing their publishing. However, things did not work out as expected, and the good relationship between the two companies was broken.

“They stopped paying us –Angela recalls–. After about 5 months they owed us 860K and were about to owe us almost a million pounds. We could not give them any more work until they paid us for the old stuff. We wanted to sign Naked Gun and Space Babes with other companies but [Psygnosis] threatened to sue us if we gave the games to other companies. If you don't get paid for a normal job that's bad enough but if you feel like you sold your baby and didn't even get paid for it, it's doubley soul destroying”.

Relationship between Psygnosis and Perfect Entertainment got worse and worse, until it reached libel and a series of threats was made, then everything resulted in a legal struggle that lasted for more than 2 years. During this time, the Naked Gun license expired and the project had to be abandoned.

“After we finally got paid by Psygnosis and paid off all the legal fees, debts and people, I found it mentally impossible to trust any publisher again. After a few years I decided to get out of games and sold the company to the staff, headed up by Leon Walters. Space Babes and the band were shelved and the company concentrated on car games”.

However, some time later, Perfect Entertainment would find economical support in GT Interactive and Atari to face the development of Discworld Noir, but the two projects that we are talking about, those were not ever considered again to be retaken. “ So that is why two perfectly good games were shelved”. Something that we, after taking a look at the wonderful career of the british company, are forced to believe.

Shortly before the international release of Discworld Noir, Perfect Entertainment ceased its activity and closed its doors forever.

More info and images in the rapsheets of Space Babes and Naked Gun: The Big Kahuna.

Many thanks to Chris Bateman, and Angela Sutherland for their support and help.

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