Game prototypes have long been a source of fascination with collectors. It’s not unusual for members of the media to play cancelled games, as not every title makes it to retail release, but the media is often given direct access to those games. Collectors have to search out rescued discs (it’s not unusual for hardcore collectors to dumpster dive whenever publishers move offices) and trade games with others in what is often something of a gray area of the law. Not to mention the fact that unreleased games usually don’t play on retail systems.

Today Volition decided to open up that world of game prototypes to everyone, with the surprise release of the prototype version of Saints Row: Undercover for the PlayStation Portable in conjunction with Unseen64.

A PSP version of Saints Row was first rumored back in July 2009, with an estimated release date of March 2010, but the game itself never game to fruition. It was quietly cancelled and never heard earlier this month when Volition published a video about Saints Row: Undercover, along with links to the official design document and a walkthrough, on its Youtube channel.

Earlier today Volition live streamed the prototype game on its Twitch channel, showing off the game and talking about what was planned, had it made it all the way to release. That alone was plenty exciting for collectors, but the big news came at the end of the stream when Volition announced that it was publishing an ISO of the prototype game and making it available to all completely free of charge.

Since this is a very early prototype, you can’t just copy the ISO onto a memory card and start playing. Since most people probably don’t have PSP devkits around the house, you will either need a modded PSP running custom firmware or a PSP emulator such as PPSSPP to play the game.

Keep in mind that the prototype is a very early alpha of an unfinished game. There will be bugs. It’s not going to perform like a released title. It might crash. This isn’t a “free game” so much as it is a peek behind the curtain of game development and a look at something that would have otherwise been lost to time.

Download the Saints Row: Undercover ISO over at Unseen64.