History WhatCouldHaveBeen / MassEffect

* The Quarian Ark was supposed to be the game's big DLC, dealing with the reason the Quarian Ark was in danger at the end of the game. The game's reception and controversies caused the idea to be shifted to a book instead.

* There was a SpinOff game in development that would star a [[{{Franchise/StarWars}} Han Solo]]-inspired character, which was officially cancelled just hours before ''Legendary Edition'''s reveal trailer premiered on February 2, 2021. It was known as ''Mass Effect: Corsair'', being developed for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS by the team responsible for ''VideoGame/SonicChronicles: The Dark Brotherhood'', and was set in first-person and involved traveling the galaxy; both ''VideoGame/StarControl'' and ''VideoGame/WingCommanderPrivateer'' were cited as influences. Eventually, EA turned out to have no faith in the game (they projected it only selling 50,000 copies) and the team was tasked with making ''VideoGame/MassEffectInfiltrator'' instead.

* There are emails and descriptions left over in the game code referencing [[http://tcrf.net/Mass_Effect_2/Unused_Text unused missions]], including one where The Illusive Man asks Shepard to retrieve several probes left on a planet in the Caleston Rift, a sidequest in the Citadel where Shepard could help a woman named Nara track down a mysterious stranger she met, and an additional objective during Tali's mission on the Alarei where the player would control a quarian scientist who is fleeing to a lockdown room. Likewise, Captain Kirrahe was intended to send Shepard an email after the latter recruited Mordin, but this was also deleted.

** Continuing from that, the Cerberus Coup originally played out completely differently and at a completely different point in the plot. It would occur after Cerberus captures the Prothean AI on Thessia and discover they need the Citadel to harness the Crucible and thus control the Reapers. Instead of being alerted and fleeing, the council would have been in session on an emergency meeting to determine whether or not they should abandon Kahje to the Reapers. There would've been no appearance from Kai Leng while the Salarian councilor hid, and a final confrontation that would have included Udina trying to shoot Valern/Esheel and Thane taking a bullet for him/her, and Thane and/or Shepard killing Udina after he shoots another bullet that either grazes or severely injures the councilor. Likewise, in the post-mission scene at Huerta Memorial with Thane and Kolyat, Shepard could speak to the Council and rally their support in a much more apparent fashion. It would end with Shepard being awarded control over all of the other commanders in the Citadel Fleet. Kasumi would have also made a brief cameo in this mission if she survived the second game.

** "The Crazy Quarian King", a male or female quarian who is obsessed with getting revenge on the geth. The inspiration for this character was the crazy Irishman from ''Film/{{Braveheart}}.

* There was a SpinOff game in development that would star a [[{{Franchise/StarWars}} Han Solo]]-inspired character, which was officially cancelled just hours before ''Legendary Edition'''s reveal trailer premiered on February 2, 2021. It was nown as ''Mass Effect: Corsair'', being developed for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS by the team responsible for ''VideoGame/SonicChronicles: The Dark Brotherhood'', and was set in first-person and involved traveling the galaxy; both ''VideoGame/StarControl'' and ''VideoGame/WingCommanderPrivateer'' were cited as influences. Eventually, EA turned out to have no faith in the game (they projected it only selling 50,000 copies) and the team was tasked with making ''VideoGame/MassEffectInfiltrator'' instead.

* There was a SpinOff game in development that would star a [[{{Franchise/StarWars}} Han Solo]]-inspired character, which was officially cancelled just hours before ''Legendary Edition'''s reveal trailer premiered on February 2, 2021.

* The "Final Hours of Mass Effect 3" mobile app shows several deleted scenes, including a longer conversation with the defense committee, an alternate Earth escape sequence (where a shuttle full of Alliance marines take out the Husks attacking Shepard and Anderson, who are still surrounded, and rescue the downed shuttle crew) and an alternate Conduit run sequence where Liara and Garrus get blown off their feet as they attempt to run from Harbinger's beam (which had its concept restored in the Extended Cut). The alternate Earth escape sequence was later restored and included (in a buggy form) as an optional module in the ''Project Variety'' mod.

* The amount of content that was cut from or changed for the final mission, Priority: Earth, is ''staggering''. Some of the cut content was restored in the ''[[https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffect3/mods/669 Priority Earth Overhaul Mod]]:

** Continuing from that, the Cerberus Coup originally played out completely differently and at a completely different point in the plot. It would occur after Cerberus captures the Prothean AI on Thessia and discover they need the Citadel to harness the Crucible and thus control the Reapers. Instead of being alerted and fleeing, the council would have been in session on an emergency meeting to determine whether or not they should abandon the hanar homeworld to the Reapers. There would have been no appearance from Kai Leng while the salarian councilor hid, and a final confrontation that would have included Udina trying to shoot the Salarian councillor and Thane taking a bullet for her, and Thane and/or Shepard killing Udina after he shoots another bullet that either grazes or severely injures the councilor. Likewise, in the post-mission scene at Huerta Memorial with Thane and Kolyat, Shepard could speak to the Council and rally their support in a much more apparent fashion. It would end with Shepard being awarded control over all of the other commanders in the Citadel Fleet. Kasumi would have also made a brief cameo in this mission if she survived the second game.

** A set of missions where a terrorist attack at the Citadel results in dozens of casualties, and Commander Bailey puts every Hanar into an internment camp for security measures. Shepard then discovers that the Reapers have set up a base in the Hanar systems, and must stop it. This had a follow-up mission where you would travel with Kasumi (if she survived the previous game) to the planet, and unless the player saved the Graybox in ''2'', [[spoiler:she would die during the mission]]. This was streamlined for the final game.

** Steve Cortez - who was then called Greg - was at one point intended to be the Normandy's XO rather than a shuttle pilot. The script also contains a slightly different version of his final conversation with his husband that makes it clear that the latter was going to die during the reaper invasion at the beginning of the game. The scene where he kisses Shepard for the first time was originally planned for Afterlife on Omega, and the "eyecandy" he talks about in the game originally referred to the dancers there.