| 1 | !![[center:[- WhatCouldHaveBeen [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/VideoGames Video Games index]]\ |
| 2 | '''A-F''' | [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/VideoGamesGToM G-M]] | [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/VideoGamesNToS N-S]] | [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/VideoGamesTToZ T-Z]] | [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/VideoGameSystemsAndPeripherals Systems and Peripherals]] -]]] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | * The early character concepts for many members of the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' cast were very, very different: |
| 5 | ** Phoenix had bright green hair and Franziska's sense of fashion. |
| 6 | ** Edgeworth looked like a young Manfred von Karma ''and'' had a pointy BeardOfEvil. |
| 7 | ** Mia was a big, hulking ''man'', whose design was retooled for the Judge. |
| 8 | ** Maya had blue hair and a more urban fashion sense. |
| 9 | ** Gumshoe would have been an aloof female detective named Kaori Ayashi. |
| 10 | ** Kristoph's early designs included a kimono getup that made him look he'd fit right in with the [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Gotei 13]]. |
| 11 | ** Additionally, ''Ace Attorney [[GaidenGame Investigations]]'' was originally conceived as starring Ema Skye rather than [[EnsembleDarkhorse Edgeworth]]. |
| 12 | ** ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' was originally intended to have a vastly different plot, more deeply rooted with Apollo's past and [[PutOnABus no appearances of Phoenix-Arc characters whatsoever, including Phoenix himself]]. However, [[ExecutiveMeddling a mandate from Capcom]] required Phoenix to remain a main character which lead to the game's overarching story involving Phoenix [[spoiler: getting disbarred and him attempting to rework the law system]] causing less focus to be given to Apollo. |
| 13 | ** One of the early ideas for ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice'' involved Phoenix partaking in underground criminal trials for the mafia where Phoenix would have to defend people accused of breaking the criminal underworld's own code of law. |
| 14 | ** Phoenix in the first game had a sprite showing him with hearts in his eyes, making it likely that he was smitten by April May. The sprite is still in the game, but is unused. |
| 15 | * The collector's edition of ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresIII'' came with a hardcover artbook. The [[http://farm1.static.flickr.com/33/55677518_25f950ab1a.jpg last page]] of the book shows Roman numerals extending from I to V, with I through III underneath images from the boxart of the respectively-numbered games in the series. The IV is underneath a picture of a [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Vietnam-era]] American soldier, and the V is underneath some variety of SpaceMarine. Whether IV and V were concept boxart for future games or just wishful thinking remains to be seen. |
| 16 | * ''VideoGame/AceCombat'': |
| 17 | ** The Platform/PlayStation game ''VideoGame/AirCombat'' was meant to be a home port of the original arcade game of the same name, before being reworked into its own game with the arcade original's core mechanics. |
| 18 | ** A particularly painful example for the series, ''VideoGame/AceCombat3Electrosphere'' was planned to have a fully translated and ''localized'' release for regions outside of Japan. However, due to a combination of budgetry constraints and the game selling worse than expected, the ''[[DummiedOut entire original storyline was cut]]'', and the game released internationally in a state more closely resembling ''VideoGame/AceCombat2'' and ''Air Combat'', with minimal story elements and one ending. |
| 19 | ** For ''VideoGame/AceCombat7SkiesUnknown'' specifically, the original plot behind Harling's murder involved Erusea hiring a mercenary to do the deed and set Trigger up for the fall. The same mercenary would later [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone develop a guilty conscience]] after Trigger saves him and a group of refugees and would spill the beans to Avril and Cosette, citing the irony of being saved by the same pilot he framed. The entire arc was DummiedOut in favor of making the actual culprit be Erusea's drones to help support the RobotWar arc instead, but the character himself ([[spoiler:Georg]]) is still in the game in a very minor role, and several of his original lines remain in the game as well; specifically, the lines where he declares Harling's death a result of friendly fire and accuses Trigger. |
| 20 | * Originally, ''VideoGame/{{Anachronox}}'' was going to be an utterly huge, vast RPG spanning numerous worlds and dimensions, featuring epic Japanese RPG-style combat with Western storytelling and characterisation. The concept was so vast that it was decided to split the game into two installments, with the first ending on a gargantuan cliffhanger of epic proportions. Unfortunately, despite rating high on the scale of awesome, the game did not pre-order very well and the development team, having already suffered from the disastrous launches of ''Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3'' and ''VideoGame/{{Daikatana}}'', was canned mere weeks before the game's release date. This angered the devs so much that one went on record '''encouraging''' people to pirate the game, while others ended up developing some unofficial patches (such as adding a taxi service to the titular planet, saving on travel time). |
| 21 | * In ''VideoGame/AmericanMcGeesAlice'', early screenshots show the Cheshire cat fighting alongside Alice. |
| 22 | ** The sequel, ''VideoGame/AliceMadnessReturns'', had a lot of content planned that was cut, either due to time or technical difficulty, all of which is revealed within ''The Art Of Alice: Madness Returns''. For example, there was going to be a world revolving around the works of Creator/MCEscher, where the stage bent and shifted and Alice would walk on the walls. Another world was set on the moon. |
| 23 | ** The first game's soundtrack was actually the second soundtrack composed for it. The first one was done by future band-mate and longtime friend of Chris Verena (the composer of the soundtrack) [[Music/MarilynManson Marilyn Manson]]. Manson was also considered to play the Mad Hatter, the Hatter's design was inspired by him, and the massive use of alchemical symbolism in the game was a result of Manson's influence. In 2000, the symbol of Mercury was being used as a major part of Manson's iconography, which was incorporated into the Hatter. |
| 24 | * ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': |
| 25 | ** This game was supposed to be based on the ''Website/SCPFoundation'' before becoming its own work out of IP concerns (as revealed by [[https://www.gematsu.com/2020/06/anno-mutationem-30-minutes-of-gameplay Gematsu]]). Trailers with the original SCP brand can be [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X20MeoJFTwY viewed]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj9eHE69eP0 here]]. |
| 26 | ** The game's [[ConceptArtGallery digital artbook]] showcases various details that were changed before the final release; character designs that went unused, areas that had vastly different looks, and AnimalMecha encountered as bosses. |
| 27 | ** [[https://twitter.com/AnnoMuta/status/1260963876394242050 Earlier designs]] for Ayane had her with longer hair similar to Ann's. In the final product, her hair is shortened. |
| 28 | ** Dialogue from the 2020 demo mentioned Ann was formerly a BigSisterBully to Ryan. This facet was removed in the main release. |
| 29 | ** Sigrid was originally dressed in white and had a RobotBuddy called Eddy. |
| 30 | ** There was originally going to be [[https://twitter.com/AnnoMuta/status/1721839218178376060 unique battle animations]] for certain fights before they were cut out. |
| 31 | ** The Mysterious Console DLC had an entirely [[https://twitter.com/AnnoMuta/status/1608020079358402562 different]] layout menu including the usage of three unknown items that go unused in the main release. |
| 32 | * ''VideoGame/AnotherCenturysEpisode R'' was originally planned to include ''Anime/{{Macross 7}}'', but the producers couldn't figure out how to make it work (since the protagonist is a pacifist who "fights" by using music to inspire his allies and drive off their EmotionEater enemies). Eventually they scrapped that and decided to include ''Anime/MacrossFrontier'' instead, which meant the game had to be delayed for a year. Likewise, ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'''s cast was going to consist of Kamille Bidan's Zeta Gundam, Quattro Bajeena's Hyaku-Shiki, and Four Murasame's Psyco Gundam, but they couldn't figure out how to make the latter into a decent playable unit, so Four was cut and replaced with Amuro Ray in his Dijeh. |
| 33 | * A beta version of ''VideoGame/ArdyLightfoot'' has Catry, the vulpine boss of the fourth level, sporting a ninja costume ([[FanService and a slightly more pronounced bustline]]). On the flip side, her final fate in the bowels of the next level's giant worm is as a [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath half-digested corpse]] (as opposed to a skeleton in the final Japanese version and just lying prone on the ground in the U.S. version). |
| 34 | * ''VideoGame/ArmyOfTwo'' was initially much more ambitious, featuring more complex co-op maneuvers such as throwing ammo to your partner and flipping objects for cover, and an emotive AI partner who'd do things like pissing and listening to music in real time. However, constant delays and difficulties during development lead to EA Montréal severely scaling down these features. While the final game is not an ObviousBeta, it does show signs of a jumpy development with its short length and rushed ending. |
| 35 | * ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'' introduces a worthy future love interest for Ezio; a thief named Rosa that he rescues during his Venezia campaign, and would later go on to teach Ezio how to long jump up walls. Throughout the game, you witness plenty of ShipTease between the two, and Rosa quickly becomes an EnsembleDarkhorse amongst the fanbase as the girl who Ezio should most likely end up with. Only…she disappears off the face of the Earth in future installments of the ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' series and fans find themselves disappointed that Rosa never appears again. Tragically, the reason is because her voice actress, Lita Tresierra, [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim died in an accident]]. Creator/{{Ubisoft}} chose to retire the character rather than find a new voice actress for her. In the end, Rosa ends up simply becoming an early fling for Ezio, and nowadays, it makes you wonder what could have happened between Ezio and Rosa had Tresierra not lost her life. |
| 36 | * ''VideoGame/AsurasWrath'' already has a few examples of this. |
| 37 | ** In one interview, it was stated that there originally wasn't going to be a Dodge button at all (Something that just about all action games use) because the developers felt that it wouldn't make sense, as Asura is hell bent on revenge, so trying to dodge everything wouldn't help him much. A Dodge button was put in in newer builds for the sake of gameplay, however. |
| 38 | ** It's shown in earlier trailers that the game was more than likely going to be much BloodierAndGorier than the final product to compliment how the story is similar to ''VideoGame/GodOfWar''. However, this was when Creator/KeijiInafune was executive producer for the game before he left Capcom, and he had also tried to westernize the game this way. When a game is based on Asian Mythology to begin with. The trailers also showed the game as a ''VideoGame/GodHand''-esque beat 'em up with some PressXToNotDie segments for power-ups and special moves, being able to pick up things like giant stone pillars for weapons, and actual blood spurts. |
| 39 | ** Asura and Yasha's designs underwent some significant changes according to the PreorderBonus artbook. In fact, one of Asura's older designs was actually used in the final product - ''as Augus!'' |
| 40 | ** The main development team for this game is the same team that did the boss fights for ''VideoGame/NarutoShippudenUltimateNinjaStorm2'', thus why many of the boss fights in this game and the overall system of progress for each level seems so similar to the same game, and is also the reason why ''VideoGame/NarutoShippudenUltimateNinjaStormGenerations'' doesn't have the big boss fights that the previous installment had. |
| 41 | * ''VideoGame/AtomicHeart'': Granny Zina played several different roles in the game throughout its development, from an antagonist to a merchant-type character who used her flying hut as a travelling shop. She was ultimately relegated to a minor supporting role, with NORA becoming the game's shop instead. |
| 42 | * ''VideoGame/AxiomVerge'' was originally going to have a small oceanic area, alluded to in one of the notes. However, "it was a lot of assets for something that didn't add very much" so it never saw the light of day. |
| 43 | * Marky Dubois from ''VideoGame/BackyardSports'' was originally going to be named Marky Ramone, a fan of his [[Music/TheRamones namesake band]]. Then they changed him into the farmboy he is today. |
| 44 | * The prototype of the NES ''VideoGame/{{Batman|Sunsoft}}'' game had a number of cutscene changes that changed the entire story of the game. Where the main game was pretty much a rehash of the [[Film/Batman1989 1989 movie]] itself, the prototype told a different story. Its ending was also different, where the finished product ended the same way the movie did, the prototype just ended with Batman smashing the Joker's face in. There was also a prototype for ''Batman: Return of the Joker'' for the SNES (the final game was released for the NES, Game Boy and Sega Genesis), but the prototype used was so badly done, it's easy to see why it was abandoned. |
| 45 | * ''VideoGame/BaldursGate''. |
| 46 | ** Imoen [[http://www.ign.com/articles/2008/12/23/baldurs-gate-memories?page=2 did not exist]] in the original concept Baldur's Gate. Her character was a late addition to fill a non-psychotic-thief gap in the early levels. There was no recording budget left, so her lines were assemblied together from voice-over left from a scrapped demo. That's why she has no standalone confrontations / interactions with other party members. A trace is in the game files, showing that actually two characters representing Imoen are used before and after leaving Candlekeep. Imoen(1) was a filler whose only purpose was to inform the main character to look for Gorion, her skills being random and her class being a mage. Imoen(2) is used after the main character leaves Candlekeep, as a fully joinable thief companion built from scratch. She was added because testers complained that there were only evil or crazy thieves during early chapters. Developers thought that good alignement parties would have faced difficulties. The original idea for the first hour companion was instead of a guard named Pique. After Imoen was added in, Pique was thrown out, but some of his lost dialogues were found and reconnected by [[https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/909943/#Comment_909943 mods]]. |
| 47 | ** Similarly, ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'' didn't initially plan to continue her role in the saga. Very early concepts actually considered to have her recruitable for the whole time, but after adding Irenicus and the plot of her link to Bhaalspawns, she was staged to be kidnapped and imprisoned after chapter 1. However, plans assumed she would die in the process, with the main character coming in time only to be imprisoned again and watch Irenicus kill Imoen to trigger Charname's rage and essence of murder. Yoshimo was added as an early companion to cover her absent thieving skills, while Nalia was designed as a role clone for her new class (female mage/thief as is Imoen in Shadows of Amn). Developers changed idea noticing that Imoen had become very popular among the fanbase and a scripted death would have been received badly by the community. Testers [[https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/878439/#Comment_878439 complained]] about playing half the game to free her only to have their efforts result in a failure. This was again implemented in the final stages of development, and a trace of this late minute change is in that she has almost no banters in the final chapters. Yoshimo instead has a few unused ones, reverted when roles changed. |
| 48 | ** One early draft had Imoen [[http://www.gamejag.net/Attic/Archives/Quiz42/Attic.cgi@read=375 turning into the Ravager while in Suldanesselar]], with the protagonist forced to kill her. This was dropped because it would have toggled centrality of the story from the main character. Furthermore, Haer Dalis, was supposed to comment with awe at the transformation, and oppose the player because he saw the Slayer as a pure personification of chaos. Since this was tied to his romance, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/baldursgate/comments/jmw2z0/comment/gaz1gqy/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 the latter was entirely removed]]. |
| 49 | * ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'' had many sidequests of the PC's companions that were cut either for time, constraints, bugs or other reasons. Here's a very brief list: |
| 50 | ** [[BarbarianHero Minsc]]: His pet hamster Boo gets kidnapped and Minsc's fighting abilities are affected by this. You have to find Boo or you can [[WhatTheHellHero lie to him and get him another hamster]]. |
| 51 | ** [[DarkActionGirl Viconia]]: She's been infected by lycanthropy and will turn into a werewolf unless you find a cure. Also, once you reach the Underdark, she betrays you to the Drow, but later reconsiders. |
| 52 | ** [[NaiveNewcomer Aerie]]: She finds a magic scroll that will turn her into a bird. She considers using it rather than live forever without her wings. You can convince her otherwise or she'll leave forever. |
| 53 | ** [[QuirkyBard Haer'Dalis]]: He and the party gets repeatedly summoned by a unknown mage to fight monsters. Eventually, Haer'Dalis gets pissed and wants to find the summoner. |
| 54 | ** There were pie-in-the-sky ideas to have Yoshimo (who, in the final game, [[spoiler:betrays you in Spellhold to Irenicus, or otherwise disappears from the game entirely if you don't bring him to Brynnlaw]]) return in some fashion in ''Throne of Bhaal''. Lead designer David Gaider spoke in interviews about having him get [[spoiler:resurrected]] via the Pocket Plane, and have to deal with the fact that he [[spoiler:betrayed the party against his will]]. There's even some dialogue at the beginning of ''Bhaal'' that hints you can do this (along with a global override variable hardcoded into the game that allows you to keep him through the entirety of ''Amn'' and ''Bhaal'', albeit as a ghost in the latter), but nothing really came of it. |
| 55 | ** There were plans to make the BigBad trigger [[spoiler:Imoen's transformation into the humongous Ravager and unleash her on Suldanesselar]]. This would have caused Haer'Dalis to confront the party as he saw her as the epitome of chaos and didn't want you to stop her. Only players romancing him could have solved the confrontation, otherwise he would have attacked the party. The idea was scrapped along with Haer'Dalis romance, since there wasn't time to write another decisive climax for the relationship. |
| 56 | ** ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIIThroneOfBhaal'' was originally supposed to act as the third full game in the series, but was later turned into an ExpansionPack. It is unknown whether the game would have sold better if it was a full game or not, but various interviews by the game's designers have indicated that there were a number of elements that were never implemented in the game, including bounty hunters following and attacking the player's party throughout the storyline, Melissan possibly turning the player's party members against them, Saemon disguising the party as monks to get into Balthazar's chambers, and more. David Gaider's ''Ascension'' mod was an attempt to put some of the unused elements back into the game, including extended epilogues that make clear that the protagonist and their love interest would have SpinoffBabies. |
| 57 | * Following ''Throne of Bhaal'', the real third full game ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'' was an ambitious, massive project with a long development cycle and as a result not everything planned could be implemented in time or some things had to be DummiedOut for various reasons. After the release of Patch 6 Creator/LarianStudios announced there would be no more major additions to the game due to creative burnout and the potential of ExecutiveMeddling from Creator/{{Hasbro}}, meaning the following will likely never come to fruition: |
| 58 | ** There was an entire PlayerCharacter option that was removed from the final product; Helia, a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot halfling werewolf Bard]]. If not picked as the player she could then be rescued from the goblin camp, but instead players received TheSixthRanger Halsin and a wealth of equipment tailored for bards that goes unused in the vast majority of playthroughs. Halsin himself was supposed to receive a subplot regarding his druid circle, but this was cut and since he has no more role in the story by the time he joins the party he ends up OutOfFocus. |
| 59 | ** In Early Access it was possible to make a PlayerCharacter who was a Cleric for [[GodOfEvil one of the Dead Three]], but because of the [[HijackedByGanon massive ramifications this would have on the story]] it was cut for time constraints. Additionally, like previous D&D editions it would have been possible for Paladins to align themselves with a deity but in the game proper they have to have at least one level in Cleric to do so and unlock the [Paladin of X] dialogue options. |
| 60 | ** TokenEvilTeammate Minthara had most of her romance cut for time constraints, including a subplot where a male PlayerCharacter could impregnate her. |
| 61 | ** LegendaryInTheSequel Minsc was originally planned to be met in Act 1, but instead is an EleventhHourRanger and suffers LateCharacterSyndrome as a result. |
| 62 | ** Elven LovableRogue Astarion was originally imagined as a tiefling, but since BarbarianHero Karlach already filled that niche the idea was abandoned. |
| 63 | ** The Nightsong was originally imagined to be a cleric for Shar's ReligionOfEvil like Shadowheart. |
| 64 | ** Multiple spells were DummiedOut due to either being redundant (such as Identify, when the menu already tells you everything you need to know about an object) or too complex (Magic Jar, which would allow for DemonicPossession of any character who fails the saving throw). |
| 65 | * The story of the making of ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' is littered with tons of this trope. Originally the game ("Project Dream", before [[VideoGame/NightsIntoDreams being renamed for legal reasons]]) starred a human boy named Edison, who fought with a wooden sword against a group of pirates led by Captain Blackeye; it was planned for the SNES, but was moved to the N64 as the SNES was in its last days, and when Creator/{{Rare}} felt Edison was too generic a character he was changed several times, first into a rabbit, then a dog, and finally Banjo the bear. The story for the game originally was about a giant who kidnapped Banjo's girlfriend Piccolo at a concert the two were watching; the plot to the game originally also had a part where Banjo and Kazooie first met, and would have had Humba Wumba (who was introduced in ''Banjo-Tooie'') filling the role of Mumbo Jumbo. There were also sixteen worlds planned, with several ending up put off or redone for other games due to time constraints; those that didn't make the cut including Fungus Forest (which would later appear in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' as "Fungi Forest"), Mount Fire Eyes, Witchy World, and Glitter Gulch Mine. Also, after defeating Gruntilda in the ending, the last spell she threw at Banjo and Kazooie was originally planned to hit them and [[ForcedTransformation turn the two into frogs]], leaving you to play as Tooty to turn them back to normal by collecting enough Mumbo Tokens, which is why there are more Mumbo Tokens in the game than you need. |
| 66 | ** Stop 'N' Swop is the most famous example out of ''Banjo-Kazooie'', despite the fact that for ''years'', nobody knew anything about it other than the fact that it was canned. It's an interesting example even once the truth came out, because it was scrapped not because of the limitations of the engine or time constraints - instead, Stop 'N' Swop was killed because of the hardware. The original plan involved exploiting an eccentricity of the N64's memory, where information was held in it for up to four minutes after a cartridge was removed. Accounts of how exactly it would work vary, but the general idea was to literally swap out a ''Banjo-Tooie'' cartridge for a ''Banjo-Kazooie'' one when prompted. Unfortunately, the year after ''Banjo-Kazooie'' was released, Nintendo put out a new model of N64 that cleared its RAM too fast for cartridges to be swapped. Rare briefly considered making ''Tooie'' into a follow-through cartridge like ''Sonic & Knuckles'', but ultimately decided to just drop the idea entirely. Beyond Stop 'N' Swop, ''Tooie'' also had Bottles' Revenge. What exactly would cause it is unknown, but it would have involved the ghost of Bottles becoming evil and possessing random enemies, which a player on the second controller would be able to take control of to attack Banjo (interestingly somewhat similar to the "counter operative" mode of Rare's slightly earlier ''VideoGame/PerfectDark''), with control of Banjo swapping between player 1 and player 2 every time a possessed enemy managed to defeat Banjo. The mode seems to be fully functional, but was cut because of lack of time to properly debug it, so can only be played by hacking the N64 original (it was removed entirely from the XBLA port). |
| 67 | ** ''VideoGame/BanjoPilot'' on the Platform/GameBoyAdvance was originally conceived as ''Diddy Kong Pilot'', a flying race game featuring Diddy Kong and a spiritual successor to ''VideoGame/DiddyKongRacing'' featuring pseudo-3D graphics. When Rare was bought out by Microsoft, the project was canned due to their loss of rights to the Donkey Kong characters and was re-tooled as ''Banjo-Pilot''. |
| 68 | * ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'' has a few examples of this: |
| 69 | ** The unlockable art gallery has several conceptual versions of Bayonetta, as well as a design proposal where Bayonetta's costume would subtly change depending on which weapon she had equipped, instead implemented as perfumes you could equip that would do the subtle changes for a few weapons. |
| 70 | ** Rodin was also originally called Mephisto at one point. |
| 71 | ** There was to be a teenage version of Bayonetta in addition to [[spoiler:her child self]]. This idea did not progress very far. |
| 72 | ** The Shuraba weapon had an animation in which, once the weapon was fully charged, it would reveal the pulsating heart inside. The animation was completed, but the devs forgot to add it in. It can be found within the game's files, however. |
| 73 | * ''VideoGame/{{Beatmania}}'': |
| 74 | ** ''beatmania IIDX 18 Resort Anthem'' had a copyright screen for North and South America in the data. This may have been a hint towards a localization, but NoExportForYou prevailed for it and the series as a whole for ''nine more years'' after that, with ''IIDX '''27''''' being the first to ever see the light of day outside East Asia. |
| 75 | ** ''beatmania IIDX 20 tricoro'' had nearly full data for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfpFVTm5r0o masquerade]] from ''VideoGame/PopnMusic'', but the song never made it into the game or any subsequent beatmania games. This probably has to do Naoki Maeda and Junko Karashima, the two who worked on the song, leaving Konami in 2013. |
| 76 | ** ''beatmania IIDX 21 SPADA'' had a lot go unused with its unlock system. Qprogue, the main unlock event, was slated to have four phases; the third never happened and the fourth became Qprogue DX, a revamp of the existing event that added a handful of new songs. There was also a second event that got scrapped entirely, although some residual data remains in the game's files. Additionally, there was supposed to be an eighth [[Superboss Spada Leggendaria]] song called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3krtqNjegU Broken Sword]], which appeared on the subsequent game. |
| 77 | ** ''beatmania IIDX 22 PENDUAL'' had two phases, Present and Future, that switched every few days. Developer commentary on the songs implies that there was to be more emphasis on having songs be phase exclusive, when in the end there were only two exclusive songs per phase. |
| 78 | * Michel Ancel has stated before that the game that eventually ended up being released as ''VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil'' is, in fact, ''Beyond Good and Evil 2'' due to the sheer volume of things that were cut and/or changed. Protagonist Jade was originally named Sally, and was much younger-looking--her name changed due to "Sally" sounding too old lady-ish, and her looks changed because she ''did'' look too young for a serious woman in her early 20's. The game was supposed to span multiple planets in an intergalactic chase, and the duel partner mechanic (used only at the very end of the game) was supposed to see a lot more use. The sequel, trapped in DevelopmentHell, already seems to be seeing this--after two incredibly realistic-looking trailers, interviews with Ancel suggest it's going back to something closer to its original look, and will be done by a small team as opposed to the big-budget production the first two trailers suggested. |
| 79 | ** A released [[http://freetexthost.com/iwzhwkkkps original game story draft]] revealed a ''boatload'' of missing or altered content. The Governor of Hillys' role was originally a military man named Colonel Garis. The animal-picture-taking sidequest was originally much shorter, and only important for one part of the game. Rufus and Seven (a pair of racers found in the Akuda Bar) had plot significance. The [=DomZ=] were a ''sympathetic'' alien race, with the truly evil ones being called the Nazh. Most notably, ''Jade had a '''third''' gameplay partner,'' whose name was Toy'l, and who enabled her to use a psychic shield attack. There were also a number of things that got cut outright, such as Jade having to attend a fancy party to meet Col. Garis, Double H having in-game backstory, an airborne dungeon, and citizens ''attacking'' Jade for being a traitor. |
| 80 | * ''VideoGame/{{Bionicle}}'': There were plans to release the game onto Platform/PlayStation, and the game would have had levels featuring the six Toa in both their original Mata and updated Nuva forms, adding up to a total of 13 levels. A lot of these had to be scrapped due to the rushed development, even though the canceled levels were still heavily advertised in promotions. The released game only has 8 levels, and Tahu's the only one playable in both of his forms. |
| 81 | * The original ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}'' underwent many, many changes from the time it was pitched to the final product. The original pitch still had the {{Zeerust}} idea; they wanted it to take place on land, in a series of interconnected controlled environment chambers created by 1940's Germany. The laboratories would be full of mysteriously dead human bodies, being overrun by strange, insectoid life forms called Gatherers, who collected genetic material and body parts, the Protectors for the Gatherers, and predatory Aggressors. These eventually developed into, respectively, the Little Sisters, Big Daddies and Splicers when the developers decided they wanted a more "human" angle. The concept art book for ''[=BioShock=]'' shows off some of these life-forms; particularly striking is one insectoid being half-fused into a human body using its arms and legs to walk and fire a pistol. Among other things promised was the ability to alter the controlled environment, such as raising the temperature in an area and giving yourself a plasmid that protected you from heat exhaustion. One of the insectoids nearly made it to the sequel - the concept art shows Splicers turning into things that made [[Franchise/ResidentEvil G-Virus mutants]] look cute. |
| 82 | ** The original game had Jack mutate more and more with plasmid use, and would make players decide if they wanted to become a hideous freak like the splicers to survive, or refuse. |
| 83 | ** Irrational released their original pitch for ''[=BioShock=]'', which turns out to have been a ''completely'' different game. In the original pitch, you play as Carlos Cuello, a “deprogrammer” assigned to infiltrate a mysterious cult based on a remote island and “rescue” a wealthy heiress being held there. The game would also include a much more in-depth weapon creation system, based on the superpower creation system in ''VideoGame/FreedomForce''. Some of the weapons you could make included a triple-barreled automatic shotgun, a silenced railgun, magnetic grenades, a sniper rifle that shoots acid-coated bullets, and a ''chain lightning taser pistol''. |
| 84 | ** Even the first ''[=BioShock=]'' gameplay demo had a bunch of features that were drastically altered in the final game: ADAM was supposed to be the only currency in the game and could be looted off cash registers, there was a plasmid that allowed you to sprint in BulletTime, what would eventually become the Fort Frolic level would have you at one point luring Sander Cohen out of hiding by playing the records of his hated rival Anna Culpepper and the weapon mods looked cobbled together out of duct tape and household items, to emphasize how Rapture was originally a weapons-free society (apropos of the last point, Levine claimed the weapons looked "dorky", hence his decision to make the weapons "still look modded but by someone who knows what they're doing"). |
| 85 | ** ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' went through several ''huge'' shifts in storyline and themes during development. Originally, the Big Sister was intended as a single BigBad or TheDragon, a former Little Sister incapable of adapting to life on the surface who had returned to Rapture to try and rebuild the city of her childhood. She kidnapped girls to do so, and Tennenbaum returned to try and clean up the mess. This entire plot was more or less scrapped in exchange for a PerspectiveFlip with a religious collectivist villain in contrast to the first game's atheist Objectivist BigBad. |
| 86 | ** ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'' made a habit of cutting levels during development. In fact, nearly nothing seen in any of the early gameplay trailers made it into the games. Many of the floating islands seen in the background of the final game are actually cut levels that have been repurposed as scenery. |
| 87 | *** Before creating Columbia, the developers considered reusing the setting of Rapture or setting the game in the Renaissance period. |
| 88 | *** Conceptually Columbia was going to be a much darker place and would have been decorated anachronistically in art nouveau, but this looked "too much like [[RecycledInSpace Rapture in the clouds]]". The main enemies would have been vigor junkies as opposed to splicers, but this idea was again dropped. The whole game was going to look much like the level in Comstock house, fitting the mold of Rapture very well indeed. |
| 89 | *** Songbird was going to be a reoccurring mini boss who hounded the player at every turn - which, in itself, was an unused concept from ''[=BioShock=] 2'', where a solitary Big Sister served as a reoccurring boss. |
| 90 | *** Elizabeth was going to be much more powerful - calling in thunder strikes to stun enemies and other debuff attacks to help [=DeWitt=] slay his targets. In addition, opening tears would harm her more and more, and the player had to account this into his actions. Like the Harvest/Saving of Little Sisters, it would affect the ending and gameplay, and also was in itself a modification of an unused ''[=BioShock=]'' concept, where Jack had to decide if he would splice himself to the point of inhumanity, or keep himself human, at the cost of safety. |
| 91 | *** The Vigors were originally going to work much differently: instead of drawing from a pool of Salts, they would work much like the guns, having limited "ammo" which would force the player into constantly changing his strategy. Instead of Gear, there were originally "Nostrums", passive bonus granting Vigors much like the Tonics from the original ''[=BioShock=]'' with "unstable" (grants a random bonus out of three) and "stable" (grants a specific bonus but are rarer/more expensive). |
| 92 | *** Comstock originally looked more like a stern politician instead of the white bearded prophet he eventually became. Similarly, Elizabeth started out much older and conservatively dressed (complete with prim-and-proper hair bun). She was also originally explicitly mute. |
| 93 | *** ''[=BioShock Vita=]'', a cancelled game on the Platform/PlayStationVita, was going to be a turn based strategy game similar to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'', set in pre-fall Rapture. |
| 94 | * ''VideoGame/{{Blinx}}'': The series' main character was meant to be Microsoft's answer to Sonic and Mario. The underperforming sequel and the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series being a smash hit [[AbandonedMascot caused Microsoft to cease the series and abandon the trademark years later]]. |
| 95 | * ''VideoGame/{{Blood}}'': |
| 96 | ** The first game's very early concepts were a fantasy game in the style of ''VideoGame/{{Gauntlet}}''. This was scrapped because another developer under the publisher's banner was working on ''VideoGame/PowerSlave'', which was extremely similar in concept. Afterwards, Monolith would switch to a different concept originally titled "Horror 3D", which was close to the game we got, but with a much darker and more serious tone, involving a protagonist named Michael who was, at various points in development, attempting to escape a secret laboratory and/or avenge the deaths of his family to demons. He would be retooled into Caleb because the team felt Michael was "boring and tired". |
| 97 | ** Features cut from the original game include a "Bloodlust" meter, which would allow the player to transform into a powerful beast upon dealing or receiving enough damage and cut through swarthes of enemies, and the ability to play as the other three of the "Chosen" shown in the intro. The Beast transformation would be cut because the team felt that limiting the weapons the player could use in that form made it more tedious than fun, and time constraints would mean only Caleb was playable; it's rumored the Beast modes of the other three Chosen were reworked as the three bosses that kill them in the intro, and Caleb's Beast form was (presumably) reworked to be the final boss of the ''Plasma Pak'' expansion. |
| 98 | ** ''Blood II'' had to have several features cut back or removed entirely due to the accelerated development, particularly the presence of the other Chosen, who, while actually playable in the campaign this time, don't get to see any cutscenes. Even years after the game came out, the official website went off of an earlier version of the story, where the other three Chosen were resurrected at the start of the game and that all four of them would be present throughout the entire game, including a co-op feature where up to four players could play as any one of the four. The manual also makes several claims that are untrue of the finished game, such as that the MAC-10's secondary fire is a three-round burst rather than the slower and more accurate full-auto it is, that the M16 can be used GunsAkimbo (an ability only restored with the ''Extra Crispy'' mod), and that the knives would get more powerful as you killed things with them. |
| 99 | * The ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' series: |
| 100 | ** ''VideoGame/Borderlands1'' was originally going to be a straight-laced first person shooter with a fleshed out story and realistic-looking graphics. Roland's original concept art shows him as a white, middle aged soldier with greying hair. This concept would eventually be used to create Dr. Zed. Early on in the game's production. It was also going to have randomly generated vehicles that could be collected like guns, as well as a way to hijack a vehicle from a bandit. The dungeons would also have random elements as well (a cave where a blank wall was previously, for example). However, most of this got scrapped when they decided to change the whole game's art style. Aside from changing from realistic to cel-shaded graphics, the developers realized that there are already way too many ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty's'' and ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved's'' out there, so they chopped up and recreated the story to add in the elements of humor that the series has become known for. |
| 101 | ** ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'': As part of a late-game sidequest, the player would have had to [[spoiler:inform Tiny Tina of Roland's death, which would emotionally devastate her]]. This is likely because, unlike the other [=NPCs=] involved with the quest, [[spoiler:Tina lives out in the Tundra rather than at Sanctuary, meaning that players would have to trudge through an area filled with low-level enemies simply for a bit of dialog]]. and this decision influenced ''Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragonkeep'', the 4th major DLC for the game. If they'd gone with the original plan, how would this have turned out? |
| 102 | * ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'' has a whole wing in its DevelopersRoom museum dedicated to ideas that got left by the wayside: |
| 103 | ** There was going to be a lengthy sequence set in the real world, as well as a chapter taking place in Instagram. Apparently, these were both cut due to pacing issues. |
| 104 | ** [[Creator/TheCynicalBrit TotalBiscuit]] was originally among the cameo fighters at [=YouTube’s=] arena, but his battle was removed following his passing in May 2018. |
| 105 | ** An elaborate easter egg called “Easy Mode” was planned but ultimately scrapped in favor of releasing the game sooner. It would have pretended to be a lower difficulty option, before unraveling into a dark, {{Creepypasta}}-esque version of the game. Apparently, several things would have played out differently in a post-Easy Mode playthrough. Of this huge secret, only a few unused sprites and a DummiedOut cutscene remain intact. |
| 106 | ** There’s an unused item in the files called Expansion Gel, which would’ve given Catie temporary giant boobs in exchange for a stat boost. Apparently, this didn’t really fit with the game’s intended tone, so both the gel and its related sidequest were left inaccessible (although both are still fully functional if hacked back in). |
| 107 | * ''VideoGame/BrawlRoyale'': Lance, a minor character exclusive to the game's two-player mode, originally started as a [[ArtEvolution visual remake]] of Lancelot, a character from an animation called ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gqjMoX6smY One More Final Battle]]''. Matt Roszak, the creator of both ''One More Final Battle'' and ''Brawl Royale'', would end up making a brand new character out of the intended redesign, after deeming it to look completely different from Lancelot. Lance would later go on to become a recurring character in the ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy'' series, after his debut in ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy2''. |
| 108 | * ''VideoGame/BrutalLegend'' was rushed, leaving the campaign only half as long as it was meant to be. Supposedly there was even a fourth faction, but that never saw the light of day. |
| 109 | ** The part where you escape Lionwhyte's palace was going to be set to ''[[Music/IronMaiden Run to the Hills]]'', but since the developers couldn't get the licenses for that song, they had to settle on ''[[Music/{{Dragonforce}} Through the Fire and the Flames]]''. |
| 110 | ** According to an interview, the campaign was just supposed to be a tutorial for the multiplayer. |
| 111 | * The original 1987 ''Videogame/{{Street Fighter|I}}'' was the only 2D ''Street Fighter'' game not represented in ''Videogame/CapcomFightingEvolution'', but originally, that was not going to be the case. Sagat (who would've lacked his chest scar), Eagle (who would've used his ''[[VideoGame/CapcomVsSNK2MarkOfTheMillennium Capcom vs. SNK 2]]'' sprite) and Retsu (in what would have been his first appearance since 1987) were all planned for the game, but had to be omitted because of time constraints. |
| 112 | * ''VideoGame/CaptainToadTreasureTracker'' was originally conceived as a ''Legend of Zelda'' spinoff. When Miyamoto pushed the idea to Nintendo, they did not think Link was a good fit for the style of game, and they instead decided on Captain Toad, a character who had first appeared in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''. They gave Captain Toad a few levels with that style of gameplay in ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld'' and after the success of that game, they pushed Miyamoto to make a full spinoff game featuring only Captain Toad levels. |
| 113 | * ''VideoGame/CaveStory'' was originally a very different game, and some weird fragments of this ended up in the finished game. |
| 114 | ** Pixel originally planned for all the guns to have limited ammo until the endgame, making conservation of ammo a major part of the strategy. Then he playtested the infinite-ammo portions, decided they were simply more fun, and implemented that for the whole game. |
| 115 | ** Balrog was originally named Puu, and in addition to being a RecurringBoss, he was also initially the FinalBoss. He wasn't a unique creature, but a larger version of [[TheGoomba a common level enemy]]. (Apparently Puu Black, a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere in the final game, is a leftover from this period.) |
| 116 | ** The character Curly Brace was nowhere to be seen--instead, Curly Brace was the name of the player character. This led to a bit of ascended {{fanon}}: In the finished game, it's mentioned that the protagonist has something written on his hat, but we never find out what. Artwork from the beta game showed that his name--Curly Brace--was written on his hat, so fanon insisted that, in spite of the name change, his hat still said "Curly Brace" in the finished game. When asked about this, Pixel's response was along the lines of "sure, let's go with that." |
| 117 | * In ''VideoGame/ChicoryAColorfulTale'', one of the [[OfficialFanSubmittedContent backer NPCs]] was from the creator of ''Webcomic/{{Floraverse}}''. As shown in [[https://twitter.com/glitchedpuppet/status/1403870443895877633 this Twitter post]], the NPC was originally based on a character from their comic (a cat named "Papaya"), but had to be renamed/redesigned (to [[https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2527938963 a lemur named "Pomelo"]]) due to "harassment reasons". |
| 118 | * The ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' artbook ''The Missing Piece'' has pages upon pages of dropped character designs, most of which much more eclectic or fantastic than the ones that made it to the final game (including some alternative designs for those that did.) Most frustrating of all: [[WordOfGod explicit mention]] of how Guile (Alf in the Japanese version) really ''was'' supposed to be [[VideoGame/ChronoTrigger Magus/Magil]], but his backstory was cut out in favor of the 40+ characters and therefore he was reduced to a random traveling sorcerer… giving rise to a million and one EpilepticTrees as to his identity. |
| 119 | ** As for ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', there were plans to [[spoiler:[[http://www.vgfacts.com/trivia/5320/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter have Crono stay dead at the end of the game]]; the player would replace him with his past self (and then have to send him back to his inevitable death) instead of [[TrickedOutTime saving him by switching him with a clone before he dies]]]]. |
| 120 | * ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' was still under active development when its shutdown was announced and the entire development team fired, with the highly anticipated Issue 24 update in beta-testing and only a few weeks away from release (which was itself just a preamble to a story that had been building since the game opened, the "Coming Storm", which was to start in Issue 25). Data-mining the beta client revealed six half-completed powersets that were being worked on, and even revealed an entirely new (albeit unfinished) zone, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HRaYQruSSw Kallisti Wharf,]] intended for release with Issue 25. Even a long-awaited moon base map was scheduled to be added in Issue 28. Perhaps the saddest part of all was that the update in beta-testing when the game was closed was called [[http://www.cityofheroes.ca/news/game_updates/issue_24_overview.html "Resurgence"]]. |
| 121 | * ''VideoGame/CliveBarkersUndying'': A lot of things were dropped during development. |
| 122 | ** The game was supposed to have a multiplayer mode. |
| 123 | ** Eight different spells were cut out. The game was even supposed to have three selection wheels: one for weapons, another for offensive spells, and another for defensive spells. |
| 124 | *** Mindshatter: disorients (it's the spell used by the Sil Lith in Oneiros). |
| 125 | *** Powerword: scribes a rune on the air and damages anyone on sight (used by the Veragos in Oneiros). |
| 126 | *** Ward: organic mines (used by Bethany). |
| 127 | *** Firefly: makes enemies glow, allows spells to seek enemies. |
| 128 | *** Shala's Vortex: originally supposed to protect from magical damage, before it was merged with the shield spell (which was initially supposed to protect only from physical damage). |
| 129 | *** Phoenix: initially a spell, not a weapon (used by Keisinger). Dynamite was supposed to be the missing weapon. |
| 130 | *** Phase: invisibility (used by the Drinen in Eternal Autumn). |
| 131 | *** Incantation of Silence: mutes sound. |
| 132 | ** At early stages of the development, the game was supposed to be called "Strange Aeons" (a Creator/HPLovecraft reference) or "Siog" (a Celtic word for "Spirit World"). |
| 133 | ** A cut level would have featured an Irish village overrun by Trsanti. |
| 134 | ** The gameplay would have been much less linear, and have more freeroam. |
| 135 | ** A dropped Scrye event was supposed to show Bethany coming back [[spoiler:after being killed by Keisinger]] and banishing Keisinger to Oneiros. |
| 136 | ** Some items were also dropped. The wizard eye, for example, was like a surveillance camera that could put anywhere, but was dropped along with the multiplayer mode (being pretty much useless in single player). One can still be found in the DebugRoom, though. |
| 137 | * ''VideoGame/CoffeeTalk'': |
| 138 | ** According to the concept art of ''Episode 2: Hibiscus and Butterfly'', there was originally going to be a new human character named Rhea, who was an "aesthetic wellness and health" social media influencer. [[DecompositeCharacter She was then split into two different characters with each of those aspects]], Lucas the cheerful influencer satyr and Riona the quiet banshee with a dream. |
| 139 | ** Episode 2 was conceived as a full-fledged sequel after the writers realized that the planned DLC for the first game was becoming too big. There was also going to be a dwarf character in the DLC before the latter was repurposed. |
| 140 | * The original concept for ''VideoGame/ComixZone'', ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El55LRmqSOE Joe Pencil trapped in the Comix Zone]]'', is completely different from the final product apart from having the same basic concept. |
| 141 | * ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'': |
| 142 | ** The first game was originally conceived as a medieval fantasy RTS. However, Operation Desert Storm was all over the news at the time, so Westwood eventually settled for a more contemporary modern-day setting (with a sci-fi element). |
| 143 | ** ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRenegade'': |
| 144 | *** The game would have originally starred Logan Sheppard, the son of the Brigadier General you receive your orders from in the original game, with more missions geared towards stealth. In the released game, he just runs the replacement player character Nick Parker through the obstacle course. And, in another case of this, said obstacle course was supposed to have Nick constantly making fun of Logan for the above family link; in the actual game, Nick doesn't say a word to him. |
| 145 | *** There's an almost saddening amount of lines recorded that are never actually heard in the game, as evidenced by an ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament2004'' voicepack created out of their sound files. |
| 146 | ---->'''Patch:''' I have to know, do you write those down ahead of time, or is this all improv?\ |
| 147 | '''Deadeye:''' If they'd issue me enough equipment, I wouldn't have to scavenge! |
| 148 | *** The models for most of the weapons were apparently changed very late in development, as about half of the pre-rendered cutscenes feature completely different versions of them - among others, the pistol resembles an [=MP7=], Nod soldiers carry M16s with grenade launchers as they did in the original game, and the sniper rifle is even more boxy and has a larger scope and a longer barrel. The grenade launcher's model was even originally supposed to be the shotgun's, before a more generic pump-action design was created for the latter weapon. |
| 149 | *** Gideon Raveshaw and Mendoza had different models and appearances; Raveshaw actually had Mendoza's final model (explaining why Mendoza's outfit so highly resembles that of Seth from the original game) while Mendoza had a completely different design that never made it into production. This would have made Raveshaw a hell of a lot more badass (at least prior to his Tiberium infusion) since he would look like a grizzled veteran instead of a tiny Napoleon-esque general. |
| 150 | * ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'': |
| 151 | ** The original ''VideoGame/{{Crash Bandicoot|1996}}'' was going to have an intro and ending animated in the style of a 90s Saturday morning cartoon which ultimately didn't make it into the game. Both cutscenes surfaced online nearly 19 years after the game's release and can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d5651XSuh0 here]]. The intro also notably includes Tiny Tiger and the Komodo Bros. among Cortex's henchmen, meaning that they might have originally been intended to appear in the first game but were ultimately pushed back to their appearance in ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack''. |
| 152 | ** Ripper Roo was originally going to speak intelligibly in ''VideoGame/CrashTeamRacing'', but the developers thought it would fit his personality better to simply be TheUnintelligible. The unused audio can still be found on the game disc. |
| 153 | ** ''VideoGame/CrashNitroKart'' was planned to have updated versions of ''VideoGame/CrashTeamRacing'' tracks. In a fit of {{irony}}, ''VideoGame/CrashTeamRacingNitroFueled'' includes updated versions of tracks from ''Nitro Kart''. |
| 154 | ** Collecting yellow gems in ''VideoGame/CrashTwinsanity'' unlocks 'unseen extras' which apparently feature ideas and concepts that never made it into the final product. The trope is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by Cortex once: |
| 155 | --->"We were going to visit two dimensions, but… we ran out of time." |
| 156 | ** The following things were thrown around at various points in ''Twinsanity'''s development: |
| 157 | *** The other two islands from the first ''VideoGame/{{Crash Bandicoot|1996}}'' game where you would explore the temples and race on a track run by the Komodo Bros. |
| 158 | *** Crash originally had a dashing flame punch attack that could be used after spinning, and it would have been able to open metal crates and crush doors and whatnot - but, the move was deemed "too powerful" for the game - quite literally, since it was stated that the punch could mess up the game physics. |
| 159 | *** Another Doc Amok level set on the sea floor of a dry ocean that would have also possibly led you to N. Gin's sunken battleship. |
| 160 | *** Coco Bandicoot as a playable character, where her levels would consist of her running around in a Matrix/Tron parody in order to hack open the way for herself and her allies. |
| 161 | *** An encounter with an Evil Coco, {{stripperiffic}} outfit and all, and Good Cortex in the tenth dimension. |
| 162 | *** A fight with a blue monkey wearing a bowler hat would occur when you entered Crash's garden. The fight would consist of the monkey leaping on you and wrestling you to the ground, during which a gameplay mechanic similar to Rollerbrawl would take place where you had to pin the monkey to the ground long enough for you to escape. |
| 163 | *** You would enter Cortex and Coco's minds using the Psychetron. In the former, you would explore Cortex's mind as Crash fighting manifested freakish copies of Cortex while the music of the stage consisted of Cortex singing a song about himself and his history with Crash. In the latter, you would play as Cortex while fighting pastel horrors. |
| 164 | *** The game was going to have a [=GameCube=] port. Supposedly, it was canceled due to poor sales of previous ''Crash'' games on the system, despite ''VideoGame/CrashTagTeamRacing'' later being available on it. |
| 165 | ** ''VideoGame/CrashBandicootTheWrathOfCortex'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZmM72ktjNA according to Traveler's Tales director Jon Burton]], would have been called ''Crash Bandicoot Worlds'' and would have featured numerous open areas in addition to traditional ''Crash'' levels. The story would have revolved around Crash liberating planets being experimented on by Dr. Cortex. Scrapped character ideas include: |
| 166 | *** A new villain named Ellie Mental who would have worked alongside Cortex and was eventually rewritten into the final game's Elemental Masks. |
| 167 | *** A mysterious masked love interest for Crash. |
| 168 | *** Coco's evil twin, once again. |
| 169 | *** Neo Cortex's daughter Reo, who could have been accidentally [[DownerEnding killed by Cortex during the final boss fight]] unless the player was fast enough to save her. |
| 170 | ** ''Crush Bandicoot'' was a pitch for an open-world game starring an EvilKnockoff of Crash. |
| 171 | ** A Nintendo DS port of ''VideoGame/CrashTagTeamRacing'' was planned, but was ultimately axed when it was decided that it wouldn't sell well on the system against ''VideoGame/MarioKartDS''. |
| 172 | ** ''Cortex Chaos'', or ''The All-New Cortex Show'', was a pitch for a spin-off starring Cortex. One version was a ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}''-esque game where he would command mini-Cortexes to do tasks, another was a ''Franchise/MegaMan'' or ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank''-esque game where Cortex would use various weapons to [[EvilVersusEvil battle other villains]]. |
| 173 | ** ''Crash Landed'', a ContinuityReboot developed for the [=PlayStation=] 3 and Xbox 360 with a Wii port planned for later, was in development by Radical Entertainment until the studio was shut down following Creator/{{Activision}}'s acquisition of Creator/{{Sierra}} and its subsidiaries, not helped by Radical actually having very little of the game done by the time it was supposed to release. The game also would've had a racing spin-off simply titled ''[[RecycledTitle Crash Team Racing]]'' that would've centered around assembling a kart from a combination of tires, engines, and bumpers that would've determined its performance; this might have been recycled into the kart customization in ''VideoGame/CrashTeamRacingNitroFueled'', though it's purely cosmetic in that game. |
| 174 | * ''VideoGame/CubeWorld'' had features shown in the alpha and on the developer's website that never made it to the final version of the game: |
| 175 | ** There would be large cities that the player could explore and each one would have several districts. |
| 176 | ** Maps were randomly generated via seeds and the map screen itself would only show you what you explored, opening up as you traveled. |
| 177 | ** Skills could be unlocked as well as players leveling up through EXP. |
| 178 | ** Dungeons would have their own map with the terrain visible compared to the current dungeon map that is just a featureless transparent white that is seen through the surrounding terrain. |
| 179 | ** The player, their friends, and pets would have their HP and MP be displayed on screen at all times. |
| 180 | ** There were going to be a variety of quests for the player to tackle such as hunting for items. Quests would also be marked in different colors to represent their difficulty. |
| 181 | * ''VideoGame/{{Darklands}}'', a fantasy RPG set in medieval Germany with AllMythsAreTrue, was large (for 1992) and ambitious, but went over budget and broke several deadlines. A lot had to be left out. |
| 182 | ** Game files contain over a megabyte of texts, [[https://tcrf.net/Darklands of which about 1/4th is not used]]. |
| 183 | ** The manual claimed that the designers were planning a number of sequels to expand the game throughout medieval Europe beyond Germany. This also is seen in-game in some of the saint descriptions -- e.g. praying to St. Patrick would have increased your reputation in Ireland. Or to St. Nicolas in Russia. Unused texts list over a dozen destinations for roads and boats: Burgundy, France, Belgium, England, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Teutonic Order, Poland, Hungary, Switzerland. |
| 184 | ** Over 80% of unused game texts were intended for a fairly complex rebellion plot, which was never finished. The party would side with the city lord or rebels (and could even switch sides at some points) and coerce the guilds, banks and church to join your cause -- either by clever propaganda campaign or by working directly with their leaders. This would involve talking to them, bribing them with money or holy relics, blackmailing with secrets like low birth/a lover/murdering the predecessor/witchcraft, or just deposing the leaders by revealing said secrets. Rebel propagandists would get attacked on the streets, there would be raids to intimidate rebel leaders and uncooperative guilds, there could be an attempt to arrest the rebel leader. The storyline would culminate in rebels taking over the city fortress or getting arrested. Or the rebels could see the futility of their efforts and stop. Or a divine intervention could resolve the conflict peacefully -- with the rebel mob happily dispersing or the lord happily surrendering. Or the party could step aside and watch the events unfold, with fame and fortune passing them by. |
| 185 | ** There were going to be tensions and wars between some city-states, temporarily restricting travels and increasing guard alertness. The party could be stuck in a siedged city. Or could run into an army in the wilderness. |
| 186 | ** The situation in Bohemia would gradually change with the emperor retaking cities under his control. |
| 187 | ** There also was a minor sidequest to escort an imperial courier you met on the road. |
| 188 | ** Judging from the game files, at some point there was no wilderness map. The player leaving a city would choose a direction from a text menu and follow the road to the next city or RandomEncounter. |
| 189 | ** A few items, such as torches and lanterns, serve no apparent purpose in-game. Most likely, the mechanics involving their use were not implemented due to time constraints, or they were intended to be added in future expansions. |
| 190 | ** There are game texts for such city buildings as barracks (allowing to train the party and hire a soldier), imperial mint, hospice, poorhouse, whorehouse... |
| 191 | * In the unlockable bonus content for ''The Exiled Prince'', the second installment of the ''VideoGame/DarkParables'', there are two movies depicting alternate possible opening sequences for the game. One of them has Ireland as the setting, with the Prime Minister's daughter as the person who must be rescued. (In the final game, it's the daughter of the Chancellor of Germany, and the story takes place in the Black Forest.) |
| 192 | * ''VideoGame/DarkSector'' was initially announced in 2001 as a massively multiplayer SpiritualSuccessor to ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament''. No words were spoken on this game until in 2004, when the game turned into [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpr1DCQNyg4 a stealth-oriented action series in space]]. Then in 2006 it was overhauled into biologically themed ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar's'' [[FollowTheLeader sister game]] with a glaive that isn't actually a glaive that finally hit the consoles in 2008. The stealth-action space game later evolved into ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}''. |
| 193 | * In ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'', there was originally going to be a sidequest expanding throughout the entire game involving Oscar of Astora, the guy who gives you the Estus Flask at the very beginning of the game, according to some dummied out dialogue. The quest apparently involved him helping you fight past the enemy NPC's inside of Darkroot Garden, and ended with a duel in the [[spoiler:[[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Kiln of the First Flame]]]], the dialog suggesting that [[spoiler:he sides with whichever primordial serpent that you didn't side with]]. Considering that he also shares the same armor with the promotional artwork of the [[PlayerCharacter Chosen Undead]], he was probably originally meant to be the PC's [[EvilCounterpart evil counterpart]]. |
| 194 | ** Crossbreed Priscilla was originally supposed to be an important character to the story, similar to The Maiden in Black of ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' but she was cut to just being a minor character. |
| 195 | ** In the original script for the game, Andre the Blacksmith was supposed to be Gwyn's Firstborn, that is why Andre is so absurdly tough if you try to fight him. |
| 196 | * ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'': |
| 197 | ** ''The Night Warriors'' was originally conceived as a licensed fighting game featuring the [[Franchise/UniversalHorror Universal Monsters]]. This original concept can still be seen in the finalized game, as a great number of the characters are transparent {{Expies}} of Universal horror icons (Demitri is Film/{{Dracula|1931}}, Rikuo is the Film/CreatureFromTheBlackLagoon, Jon Talbain is Film/{{The Wolf Man|1941}}, ect). |
| 198 | ** During the initial design stage, Morrigan was supposed to be a cute and clumsy vampire girl while Felicia was supposed to be a hot, aggressive, and seductive catwoman. A few character redesigns later, Morrigan was turned into the hot succubus that everyone knows and loves, so Felicia was severely toned down to fill the "cute" character spot. Traces of this can still be seen in the first game, with Morrigan sporting a much less slutty artwork without her habitual seductive lips, while Felicia had much more visible lips instead of her habitual fanged halfmoon smile, and her aspect in general was much more mature and way less of her ditzy bubblehead self in later games. This can also be seen in their stage backgrounds: Morrigan's is a pastel-colored castle with fireworks going off in the background (rather unfitting of the Strongest Demon in the Underworld, but it might work for a little girl...), while Felicia's basically implied that she was a Vegas showgirl. |
| 199 | ** Lilith is roughly what Morrigan was originally meant to be. Also, she was going to be her half-angel sister. Lilith's design also was rumored to perhaps at one point be male or a hermaphrodite before she became said half-angel sister. During her incarnation as an angel, she looked exactly like Morrigan except possibly more "pure", and she was the older sister of the two who was mercilessly teased by Morrigan. Her design as an angel was retooled into the different succubus we know and love, because at the time there were too many angelic characters in other fighting games (such as Angel in ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}} 2'' and Uranus in ''VideoGame/BattleArenaToshinden 2''). |
| 200 | ** Although it is common knowledge that Creator/ArcSystemWorks was formed of ex-''Darkstalkers'' staffers who jumped ship from Capcom after the release of ''Vampire Savior'', it is less known that many of ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'''s characters are ripped directly from aborted ideas for Darkstalker characters: Concept arts for Victor show a character highly reminiscent of Potemkin, and early plot treatments for Lord Raptor (in which he was a dead soldier with Arm Blades, and later a Zombie Pirate with a giant hook in his chest that shot tentacles at opponents) created three characters: Chipp, May, and Zato-1. Pyron at one point was going to be an extraterrestrial MadScientist; the concept design is literally Faust with a giant plume of flame emanating from his head. |
| 201 | * The art book for ''VideoGame/DeadRising2'' and some early previews show that the game would've taken place in one large, Western-themed casino with a steamboat in the side [[http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll72/Dengarde/Dead%20Rising/DR2Artbooks/AB21.jpg (source)]](or perhaps that was one of the several casino/hotels, along with a different, Luxor-like Yucatan, seen in some pictures provided), that Fortune City would be an actual city with a large entertainment-like area similar to the final game's Fortune City and near a Phenotrans (then called Biotrans) facility [[http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll72/Dengarde/Dead%20Rising/DR2Artbooks/FE25.jpg (source)]] , overall more ambitious and large scale concepts for the area and casinos [[http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll72/Dengarde/Dead%20Rising/DR2Artbooks/FE22.jpg (source)]] [[http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll72/Dengarde/Dead%20Rising/DR2Artbooks/FE24.jpg (source)]] [[http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll72/Dengarde/Dead%20Rising/DR2Artbooks/FE26.jpg (source),]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and a different design for the entrance to the bar in the Yucatan.]] |
| 202 | * ''VideoGame/DeathStranding2OnTheBeach'': Creator/HideoKojima [[WordOfGod claims]] that after experiencing the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic and realizing how much HarsherInHindsight the premise of the original ''VideoGame/DeathStranding'' became because of it, he made the creative decision to chuck the completed script for the sequel out the window and start from scratch. |
| 203 | * [[https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe/devlog/22631/build-38-character-classes-ui-and-balancing Build 38]] of the TurnBasedStrategy game, ''Depth of Extinction'' planned to include playable classes from the Cultist, Feral Android, Android, Raider and Pirate factions. The current release (Build 55.3) only has playable classes from the Raider and Pirate factions. |
| 204 | * Originally, ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry1'' was a set of combat mechanics for ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', which were canned because they were too action-oriented. But then it spun off into its own series, and even ''that'' had its changes, such as Dante being armed with a submachine gun, not wearing a longcoat, fighting Griffon in place of Phantom for the first battle, and [[OneWingedAngel Devil Triggering]] into Alastor in the cutscene right before said battle. The Devil Trigger scene was moved to the end and used for the Sparda form instead. |
| 205 | * ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' has enough for [[http://diablo.wikia.com/wiki/Diablo_(Game)#Cut_Content an entire section of a page on the series wiki]]: |
| 206 | ** The [[https://web.archive.org/web/20090801095645/http://www.gamesurge.com/features/editorials/diablo_revealed/otherquests.shtml Map of the Stars]] and Rune of the Stars would let the player know when the stars and planets would come into alignment, when Diablo would be nigh invincible unless a special quest was completed in time, significantly changing how the game was played. Shown in a hidden movie on the ''Diablo'' CD. |
| 207 | ** At least seven [[https://web.archive.org/web/20090801123915/http://www.gamesurge.com/features/editorials/diablo_revealed/pages/monsters.html monsters]] cut from the game: Bone Demon, Devil Kin Brute, Incinerator, Invisible Lord, Lord Sayter, The Arch-Litch Malignus and the Unraveller. |
| 208 | ** A six page spell book was to include the [[https://web.archive.org/web/20090117162050/http://www.diablo-evolution.com/index.php4?pageid=spells spells]] Invisibility, Blood Boil, Blood Ritual, Doom Serpents, Etherealize, and Sentinel. |
| 209 | ** The preview included with ''VideoGame/WarCraft II'' suggests the hero was to discover who killed their family, have a skill tree system similar to ''Diablo II'', and have only [[https://web.archive.org/web/20090801123920/http://www.gamesurge.com/features/editorials/diablo_revealed/storyline.shtml one class]] branching off into three skill trees for Warrior, Mage or Rogue. |
| 210 | ** A cut quest involved talking to Tremain the Priest about retrieving the sword Shadowfang from the demon Fleshdoom to receive the Lightforge mace. A quest from Gillian the barmaid involved hunting down the fallen angel Izual to receive the Azurewrath sword. Another quest involved hunting down the demon queen Andariel, later used in ''Diablo II''. |
| 211 | ** The ''Diablo: Hellfire'' expansion was to have a more developed story and voice files for the Bard and Barbarian classes. |
| 212 | * ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'': Condor/Blizzard North's [[http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/05/28/the-diablo-iii-that-never-was/ 2005 version]] would have retained the ''Diablo II'' look and feel instead of the more criticized "World of Warcraft" graphics of the retail release. |
| 213 | ** The animation of the Siegebreaker Assault Beast eating the player was seen in the preview but not implemented in the final release. |
| 214 | ** The Forgotten Tombs dungeon, ladders and climbing, requiring a jumping or teleporting class ability to bypass terrain, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyQUPAFV5ng more]] features not included or severely watered down in the final release. |
| 215 | * ''VideoGame/DiceyDungeons'': |
| 216 | ** [[https://the-avocado.org/2020/12/28/interview-with-dicey-dungeons-terry-cavanagh/ According to Terry Cavanaugh]], an early version of the Witch involved using a MagicSquarePuzzle and filling the slots with dice that add up to the required numbers for damage, but was scrapped because it was "too mathsy". |
| 217 | ** [[https://distractionware.com/blog/2022/07/the-reunion-reunion/ The interview]] made shortly before ''Reunion'''s release reveals some scrapped/retooled concepts: |
| 218 | *** Some of the enemies were redesigned into the final ones seen in the game: the Blowfish, Master Theif [sic], Builder, and Acolyte were redesigned into Sneezy, the Paper Knight, Gardener, and Singer, respectively. |
| 219 | *** After [[spoiler:the Jester]]'s unlocked as a playable character, Baby Squid takes over in spinning the wheel for a few episodes. The other enemies were going to spin it, too, but only Baby Squid was kept due to lack of time to animate the others. |
| 220 | ** Some of the enemies had to be reworked for game balance before its full release, with most of them explained in this [[https://distractionware.com/blog/2019/03/design-diary-the-v0-16-enemy-audit/ Design Diary]]: |
| 221 | *** The Frog originally had [=10HP=] but was knocked down to 9. |
| 222 | *** The Wolf Puppy's Woof Woof Woof attack originally Shocked the target instead of giving the user Fury. Wolf Puppy Bite also only did 2 damage. |
| 223 | *** The Dryad originally had Magic Missile but was changed to Vine Whip, which did up to 5 damage and healed her with [=2HP=] on a 5. The new move would then become Venus Flytrap, which does up to 6 damage and heals her with [=3HP=] on a 6. |
| 224 | *** Some of the Alchemist's potions were buffed, and she originally used the Fire Potion first before the Poison Potion. |
| 225 | *** Copycat originally had a Yoink card to steal your equipment before they simply copied all of them. |
| 226 | *** The Mimic originally had one extra dice. |
| 227 | *** Stereohead's Sonic Wave originally could only do up to 3 damage before being increased to 4. |
| 228 | *** In v0.4, the Wizard used to have the Backfire spell, which would deal 5 damage to himself if he rolls a 3 (which was changed to 1 in the full game), and a Magic Shield that would give him Shield if he rolls a 5 (which was renamed Magic ''Barrier'' in the full game). They were exchanged for the Thunder Spell (damage and Shock if 4) and Teleport Spell (Dodge if 5), respectively. The Poison Spell was also changed from needing a 4 to a 3. |
| 229 | *** The Keymaster's Keyblade damage was increased from 2 to 3. |
| 230 | *** Fireman's dice were increased from 3 to 4. |
| 231 | *** Rose was originally a Level 3 enemy that could poison you before they were made into a Level 1 enemy that could arm themself with Thorns with each attack. |
| 232 | *** The Haunted Jar had Smog Cloud instead of Poison Cloud and originally had one extra dice. Smog Cloud was then reworked into Drake's attack that can poison and blind you in the full release. |
| 233 | *** Crystalina used to be able to generate a Blank Crystal from Crystalize, which did nothing. |
| 234 | *** Wicker Man used Healing Crystals instead of the Venus Flytrap, and also had one extra dice. |
| 235 | *** The Banshee's Lament was originally a 1x1 card but was changed to 1x2 to be consistent with the other "status effect on 6" cards (Whip for Burn, Hammer for Shock, Toxic Ooze for Poison, Shovel for Weaken, etc.) |
| 236 | *** It was possible for Paper Knight's Cardboard Sword to fall below 1 damage and do nothing, but it was bugged, so it was changed so that it can only do 1 damage at its 4th use. |
| 237 | *** In v0.3, the Rat King had Infestation, which was a countdown card that inflicted Curse on himself. His Rat attacks also required 1s and didn't reroll his dice after being used. Infestation would then be retooled so that it now needs evens to use but curses everyone, though its Weakened version makes it self-inflicted like the original. Additionally, the Rat King's Innate Ability used to be [[ActionInitiative going first in battle]] like Sticky Hands before being changed to poison resistance. |
| 238 | *** The bosses used to have generic descriptors before being given proper names: Madison was called "Girl Scout", Buster was called "Dragon", Audrey was called "Fomorian", Aoife was called "Champion", and Drake was called "Vampire". |
| 239 | ** This [[https://distractionware.com/blog/2019/02/design-diary-the-jester/ Design Diary]] reveals that [[spoiler:the Jester]] used to have a Stumble card that only did 1 damage to themself and an "Incoming!" card that added a Juggling Ball to the deck for the fight. The Contestant cards also used to be found in treasure chests before being given as level-up rewards. |
| 240 | * ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'' was once called ''No Truce With The Furies'' and would have had the whole of Revachol as an area to explore, including places we only hear about in the lore of the finished game like Jamrock and Couron. |
| 241 | ** Kim seemed to be a different character in early drafts, who was both more aggressive and more confrontational with the player. An early blog post from Robert Kurvitz mentions a storyline where you could persuade Kim to drink on the job, which would get easier if you had spent the day 'saying things that made him want to hit the bottle', something that is impossible to imagine the Kim of the eventual game doing or being swayed by. Some DummiedOut scenes of the meaner Kim did still exist in the initially released game - in particular, an alternate version of the scene where the player steals speed from Cuno's father, where Kim would have taken it from you and poured it out on the floor before announcing that [[DestroyTheEvidence the RCM has found no evidence of narcotics]] (something wildly out of character for the ByTheBookCop). Kim's voice actor was also [[TheOtherMarty recast]] as part of these changes, going from a gravelly, cynical voice to a softly-spoken, compassionate voice provided by Jullian Champinois. |
| 242 | ** Early versions of the game were focused more on Harry as a [[SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll drunk, horny, abusive cop convinced he is a disco superstar]]. This is certainly a way the player can choose to have Harry behave in the eventual game, but along with many more archetypes, and his overall personality is softened somewhat into an eccentric, [[TheDitz ditzy]] BrokenAce holding back his own depression rather than a HeroicComedicSociopath. |
| 243 | *** The sociopathic version of Harry also carried a [[{{BFG}} huge, overpowered rifle]] and would fetishistically harass unarmed perps with it, delighting in the fear in their eyes and the potential for PoliceBrutality. The version of Harry in the eventual game uses a big and flashy HandCannon, but even his gun-loving Hand-Eye Coordination skill will encourage him not to carry it and to use it judiciously. In the eventual game he's more likely to turn the gun on [[AteHisGun himself]] than on others. |
| 244 | *** A major recurring tagline in the early versions was the phrase 'a disgrace to the uniform', something that is said in the eventual script once as a DevelopmentGag. |
| 245 | ** Another early version was that the cop was preparing the city for an apocalyptic event known as "the Tequila Sunset". In the finished game, you can still choose to go around telling people TheEndIsNigh, but the Tequila Sunset doesn't appear to be the end the cop's apocalyptic ramblings are aimed towards. Tequila Sunset ends up appearing as a minor thread, as an alias of the protagonist (referred to by Inland Empire as 'your true name').[[spoiler:'Tequila Sunset' is also a Revachol slang term for drinking yourself to death.]] |
| 246 | * ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'': The game was intended to have underwater levels, but they were cut out for being too slow and hard to control in. Also, the bonus pictures reveal, among other things, [[spoiler:a giant eel battle on one of the lighthouses only seen in the background in the actual game, a return of Tree Top Town, and LOTS of different designs for 9-1]]. |
| 247 | * ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'': |
| 248 | ** During development of the first game, Diddy Kong was originally Rare's updated version of Donkey Kong Jr. However the people at Nintendo felt he looked too different from the character so they were told to have the character be someone entirely new. |
| 249 | ** A developer of the original game revealed that it was going to feature more animal helpers, including Hooter the Owl and Miney the Mole. It was going to have a magician Kremling named Kloak (the name being recycled for a ghost Kremling enemy in ''Donkey Kong Country 2''), a robot Kremling named Krocbot, and a Statue Kremling named Krumble. The animals were originally going to be found in cages and the player would have to collect keys to open the cage. Additionally there was one scrapped factory level which was full of bouncing springs, another allusion to the original ''Donkey Kong'' (specifically, the 75m stage). |
| 250 | * At one point, the Game Boy Advance port of ''Donkey Kong Country 3'' would have had a downscaled version of the original game's soundtrack, like the two ports before it. Eventually, time and/or cartridge space limitations forced the developers to turn to David Wise, who collaborated with Eveline Fischer for the original game, for a completely new soundtrack. As the new soundtrack is somewhat incomplete in some places (Cranky Kong is the only friendly character with his own theme music, there is no death theme, the file select uses the dock stage music instead of having its own, the final boss fight uses the generic boss battle music, etc.), this was evidently a late change. |
| 251 | * ''Franchise/{{Doom}}'': |
| 252 | ** The [[http://5years.doomworld.com/doombible original concept]] was very different. Gameplay would be more story and puzzle based, more like a first person AdventureGame. Screenshots and scripts still exist of these early versions (including such inventory items as “Commander's Hand” and “Ham Sandwich”). Early alpha versions, released on the Internet, show remnants from the original, slower and less action-packed design, with an assault rifle and bayonet, office chairs, the automap build-in to the HUD rather than being a separate overlay, and space marines playing cards in a lounge area. Some have argued when ID Software rebooted the storyline of the original game in ''VideoGame/{{Doom 3}}'', they were in fact just presenting a game that was closer to this original conception. |
| 253 | ** The story was to start with four space marine {{player character}}s with differently colored outfits, playing cards in an office environment, interrupted by an attack in the base. One character, Buddy Dacote, would die at the end of the first episode (hence the name "Dacote", being an [[FunWithAcronyms acronym for "dies at conclusion of this episode]]"); this ended up in the final version, with the first episode "Knee-Deep in the Dead" ending with the player being ambushed and killed, waking up in Hell for the second episode. |
| 254 | ** [=E2M7=] of the finished game was intended as the first level, designed as a hub which the player would travel between the first few areas of the game through. When Tom Hall left over creative differences, the map was polished up and stuck in as the penultimate level of episode 2, where [[TheArtifact it doesn't fit all too well]] with its sprawling design and several dead-end rooms that resemble previous maps. |
| 255 | ** The Imp and Demon were going to be called Demon Trooper and Demon Sergeant, making them essentially more demonic equivalents of the zombieman and zombie sergeant. The Unmaker, a weapon made of demon bones, was planned to be included, and showed up later in ''VideoGame/Doom64''. There were ideas for interactive computer consoles and rail transport, showing up in ''VideoGame/Doom3''. |
| 256 | ** The first and third episodes were originally supposed to take place on "Tei Tenga", a tidally locked planet/moon (the design docs are inconsistent on this), with the bases the player explored focused on mining a substance called "Fire Dust" rather than researching teleportation. Additionally, there were a pair of "anomalies" at each of Tei Tenga's poles, which were to be where said Fire Dust was first found and excavated from. In the end, all that remains of this are the names - a few monitors in the first episode refer to "UAC BASE TEI TENGA", and the end of the first episode and beginning of the second, the link between Phobos in normal reality and Deimos in Hell, are called respectively "Phobos Anomaly" and "Deimos Anomaly". |
| 257 | ** After John Carmack designed the engine, ID Software wanted to use it to adapt the movie ''Franchise/{{Alien}}''. They decided against this rather quickly, fearing ExecutiveMeddling in their creative process - interestingly enough, the very first total-conversion GameMod to be released for Doom was ''Aliens TC''. They also considered using it to make a sequel for VideoGame/CommanderKeen; at best, the only hints towards this in the finished game are the fact that the second secret level of ''VideoGame/DoomII'' ends with the player having to kill four hanging Keens to open up the switch to end the level. |
| 258 | ** The Spider Mastermind was planned to have a secondary attack beyond its mounted chaingun, going as far as making sprites showing it waving its stubby arms around to use some form of magic against the player. These sprites went [[DummiedOut unused]] because the team was unable to decide on what, exactly, that magic attack was supposed to actually do. |
| 259 | ** The fan-made [[GameMod megawad]] ''Perdition's Gate'' was pitched to id Software as a third part of ''VideoGame/FinalDoom'', intended to be packaged alongside ''TNT: Evilution'' and ''The Plutonia Experiment''. Staff at id were open to the idea, but it was ultimately turned down, as the deadline for submissions to ''Final Doom'' had already passed, so it was sold standalone. |
| 260 | * ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon'': |
| 261 | ** The original game was conceived as a sequel to the original ''[[VideoGame/KunioKun Nekketsu Koha Kunio-kun]]'' (aka ''Renegade''). It was retooled as a stand-alone game when the developers felt that they didn't want to work on a separate version of the same game for the overseas market like they did with ''Renegade''. |
| 262 | ** The arcade version of ''Double Dragon II: The Revenge'' was originally planned as an upgrade kit for the original game that would've changed the graphics for the enemy characters and backgrounds. However, the developers wanted to add even more new features such as new moves, boss characters and more music, which wouldn't had been possible to add had the game been released as an upgrade kit, which required the game to be remade on a different hardware. This is why ''Double Dragon II'' reuses assets from the first game, since it was supposed to be an upgraded version to begin with. |
| 263 | ** ''Super Double Dragon'' was planned to have more of a plot. The BigBad Duke would've been revealed to be Billy and Jimmy's [[RivalTurnedEvil childhood friend]], and the TrueFinalBoss would've been a fight with Duke's shadow. |
| 264 | * ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'': |
| 265 | ** The game was originally intended that you were able to recruit Jowan the Blood Mage after finishing the Redcliffe chain of quests by invoking the Right of Conscription upon him, though time constraints led to this being scrapped. His fate in the game is either execution, being sent back to the Circle and into the hands of the Templars, or you let him escape early on. |
| 266 | ** Plans to amend a few cases of GameplayAndStorySegregation were scrapped: [[PhlebotinumDependence Lyrium addiction]] (prominent among Templar and mage characters) was supposed to be implemented as a gameplay mechanic, manifesting itself in diminishing returns of Lyrium Potions; the [[TheCorruption Darkspawn taint]] (said to affect all living beings who contact the Darkspawn, including your party who fight them all the time) would have forced you to make your entire party Gray Wardens by the endgame. The Joining was only implemented in ''[[VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening Awakening]]'' and even there, it was optional. |
| 267 | ** The game was also going to include Human Commoner and Human Barbarian origins, in addition the Human Noble that made it into the final game. The Commoner origin was written out but cut due to being too boring (you basically had to repel an army of Darkspawn encroaching on your family farm), while the Barbarian origin was abandoned because it required a whole new set of level assets for the Avvar (local "barbarian" tribe) culture, which couldn't be produced on time. Avvar culture would not be featured in a game until ''Inquisition''. |
| 268 | * In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'': |
| 269 | ** The qunari mage Ketojan was originally planned as a party member. |
| 270 | ** The game wasn't originally intended as a sequel to ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' -- instead, it was conceived as ''Dragon Age: Exodus'', a SpinOff game with a much smaller scope. However, after ''Origins'' became a massive success, publisher Creator/ElectronicArts demanded from Creator/BioWare a fully-fledged sequel within less than 16 months, forcing them to repurpose ''Exodus'', with [[ContestedSequel polarizing results]]. Downplayed with ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', which was conceived as a mainline entry from the get-go but had to retroactively absorb much of the plot from the ''[=DA2=]'' expansion ''Exalted March'', which was planned but scrapped after its main game underperformed in sales. |
| 271 | * ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'': |
| 272 | ** The Gray Warden who assists the Inquisition during the "Here Lies The Abyss" questline was originally planned to be none other than the PlayerCharacter from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins''. Unfortunately it was decided that unlike [[VideoGame/DragonAgeII Hawke]], the Warden-Commander was too much of a FeaturelessProtagonist to be implemented in a satisfactory manner, so they were replaced with Stroud, a minor character from the second game (or Alistair/Loghain with the right OldSaveBonus). |
| 273 | ** The ''Champions of the Just'' quest was originally going to be a lot more involved, with dire consequences should The Inquisitor fall for the LotusEaterMachine. When the idea was discussed the reaction was a healthy dose of {{Squick}} and the whole expansion of the idea was scrapped. |
| 274 | ** The Iron Bull's romance was originally intended to be restricted to certain races because of animation issues (with the in-story justification that the Bull won't sleep with anyone he fears that he'll "break"), but the animators were able to solve the problem in time for the Bull to be available to Inquisitors of all races. |
| 275 | ** Early in development, [[LimitBreak Focus Abilities]] were at the bottom of the standard skill trees rather than early in the specializations. Three were either removed or repurposed into a normal ability. |
| 276 | ** Originally, the player would have been able to walk around the Conclave and talk to attendees pre-Breach. The devs concluded that it really dragged down the pacing, however, and went for a more explosive opening. |
| 277 | ** Datamining the PC files revealed Cullen was intended as a bisexual romance, having male Inquisitor voice files for Cullen's romance and Dorian and Cassandra (both male exclusive romances) having reactions to the Inquisitor flirting with them in addition to Cullen. |
| 278 | *** Similarly there are data mined audio files that indicate that Solas was also intended as a bisexual romance. |
| 279 | ** At [[http://mattrhodesart.tumblr.com/post/105363559951/da-i-divine-heretic-another-one-of-those one]] point in development, it was discussed what would happen if the Inquisitor got enough influence to name him/herself Divine. On its own it was considered a bit far-fetched, but it got even more insane when talks of letting a ''male Qunari''[[note]]In the Southern Chantry, only women are allowed to be appointed Divine. And Qunari are more or less the sworn nemeses of Thedas and the Tevinter Imperium.[[/note]] Inquisitor declare himself Divine, at which point, the team backed away from the idea when they considered how badly such an action would be a "game and lore breaking act of heresy." |
| 280 | ** Concept art exists of a bearded and disheveled Anders, who would presumably have been encountered if spared in ''Dragon Age II''. |
| 281 | ** Solas, who is bald, was initially designed with [[https://41.media.tumblr.com/a3430baa18893c4f36a283151ab2468e/tumblr_ninbu6IyCW1u8sd84o1_1280.jpg hair]]. |
| 282 | ** The three Dales regions (the Exalted Plains, the Emerald Graves, and Emprise du Lion), were originally going to be [[http://www.dragonage.com/en_US/news/exploring-the-dales a single massive region.]] |
| 283 | ** The demo shown at PAX Prime in September 2013 was [[http://kotaku.com/dragon-age-inquisition-used-to-be-a-way-different-game-1684304172 markedly different]] from the final released version, and it appears a lot of the mechanics and levels had to be cut in the intervening 14 months. |
| 284 | ** [[https://youtu.be/PZquoV9Wm4E?t=2m22s Unused dialogue]] seems to imply it was possible at one time to spar with Cassandra and that your companions would have their own horses to ride when you mounted up (instead of simply disappearing as they do now.) Even more unused dialogue implies it was possible to allow Cole to [[spoiler:kill the Templar that killed the real Cole]] |
| 285 | ** Iron Bull was a woman in the very early development stages. |
| 286 | ** Vivienne was originally a lot more cold-hearted and murderous. [[spoiler: Bastien's]] death was originally a result of her poisoning him. |
| 287 | *** Vivienne was also originally going to be an adviser. When she was changed to a companion, she was almost cut from the game entirely. |
| 288 | ** Hawke was originally going to be the Inquisitor, becoming the main character of two ''Dragon Age'' games not unlike how Commander Shepard was the protagonist of the original ''VideoGame/MassEffect'' trilogy. The negative fan reception to Hawke and ''Dragon Age II'' as a whole led to this plan being scrapped, and the Inquisitor was re-imagined as a new character entirely. |
| 289 | ** [[http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/dragonage/images/0/02/DA_Team_lithograph.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20151017171315 Group concept artwork]] of the companions and advisers shows Dorian using a Spirit Blade, suggesting that he was at one point intended to be the Knight Enchanter companion, but switched with Vivienne. |
| 290 | ** The developers seriously considered making Viddasala and her followers rogues so as [[spoiler:to not have to kill a Qun-loyal Iron Bull]], but decided against it because it "lacked teeth". |
| 291 | ** Krem's backstory [[http://letsplayvideogames.com/2017/04/how-trans-consultants-saved-dragon-age-inquisition/ was originally going to be much darker, but was changed after trans consultants let the writers know of the Unfortunate Implications]]. In addition, Krem was originally supposed to be voiced by Creator/GwendolineChristie. |
| 292 | * ''VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokai 3'' had intended to include another character: Bulma. A "Making Of" featurette showed Bulma's then-current English voice actress shouting out various lines in the studio and, through hacking, was able to place Bulma's skin onto Videl's character. However, it's unknown if Bulma was meant to be an alternate skin for Videl with new voices or an entirely new character. |
| 293 | * ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'': |
| 294 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestI'' would have featured multiple player characters to choose from, but the idea was scrapped due to hardware limitations. |
| 295 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestII'' [[http://shmuplations.com/dragonquestii/ originally had cutscenes]] which were cut because of memory limitations: |
| 296 | --->'''Yuji Horii:''' The memory limitations we had with DQII caused us no shortage of strife.\ |
| 297 | The first unfortunate victim were the large kamishibai-esque pictures we planned to use for cut scenes and such. We put them in at first, but as the graphics memory got larger and larger in the end we had to remove them and abandon the idea. I imagine few people have noticed this, but we stealthily printed one of those images in the story section of the DQII instruction manual. Of course on the famicom it would have actually been in color. |
| 298 | ** Coding in the Game Boy Color remake of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'' suggests that they were planning on remaking ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'' for the Game Boy Color before Enix chose to remake it for the Play Station. |
| 299 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI'': Terry was originally designed as the game's hero, with the intention of making him seem a bit shiftier than previous protagonists, but was ultimately replaced by the more conventional hero design used in the final game. |
| 300 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'': [[spoiler:Kiefer]] leaving the party was originally intended to happen later into the game, but was moved to earlier on in order to make it more of a crippling PlayerPunch. |
| 301 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'': When initially unveiled back in 2006, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw95eMdbgLw ''DQ IX'' had a very different approach]] in the form of being a genuine hack-and-slash co-op Action RPG, with players fulfilling different class roles via their own custom characters and dungeon-crawling or wandering the fields cutting down anything that got in their path. While it's unsure as to whether there were development issues or it was entirely due to the backlash from the Japanese fanbase, ultimately this entire concept was ditched partway through development and returned back to traditional ''Dragon Quest'' gameplay, despite retaining the co-op and customization aspects. |
| 302 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestXI'' was being considered as an open world title like ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild''. If one squints a bit, there are definite remnants of this idea in the final game. |
| 303 | * The original ''VideoGame/{{Duke Nukem|I}}'' was going to be called "Metal Force", and may or may not have had Duke as part of a team working to take down Dr. Proton. |
| 304 | * ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'': |
| 305 | ** The game was going to be a sidescroller called ''[[http://dukenukem.wikia.com/wiki/Duke_Nukem_Forever_(Side-Scroller) Duke 4Ever]]'', with Dr. Proton as the main antagonist. The plot would've involved Duke trying to stop Proton from cutting the state of California off from the rest of the country, battling Protonite cyborgs and other enemies on his way to a final clash with Proton himself. The graphics engine eventually got reused for ''Alien Rampage'', originally called ''Ravager'', and the ''Forever'' title was [[RecycledTitle recycled]]. |
| 306 | ** Dr. Proton was going to be the main baddie of the DNF seen in the E3 2001 trailer; that version of DNF would've had Proton trying to take over the world by using technology stolen from Area 51. Though that version of the game was scrapped, the story elements were reused in the ''DNF'' DLC "The Doctor Who Cloned Me", along with another aborted subplot about evil Duke clones. |
| 307 | ** Bombshell, Duke's female sidekick; in most iterations of the game before its 2011 release, she was set to be an integral part of the story. When Gearbox Software got their hands on DNF, Bombshell was off-limits (3D Realms still owned her at the time -- their intent was to put her in a spin-off game after DNF's release), necessitating the use of Captain Dylan as Duke's wingman. Turns out, however, ''VideoGame/{{Bombshell}}'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpG54vQNdQc got her own game after all.]] |
| 308 | ** ''Duke Nukem Forever'' could have been released on ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'''s Build engine, the original ''VideoGame/{{Quake|I}}'' engine, the ''VideoGame/QuakeII'' engine, or even the ''VideoGame/{{Doom 3}}'' engine. It was eventually released on a heavily-modified Unreal Engine 1. Due to features being added or removed, and differences between engines, these would have been very different games. |
| 309 | * ''VideoGame/DungeonKeeper'' was previewed as a dungeon design game in a generic fantasy setting, and was completely overhauled into its more humorous design. |
| 310 | * ''VideoGame/EldenRing'': |
| 311 | ** There was a cut questline involving entering the dreams of various creatures and collecting 'dream mist'. An npc called Rhico, a follower of St. Trina, would have assisted by making you 'dream brew' that could put people to sleep. |
| 312 | ** Millicent's Set was an obtainable armor set; in the game proper, she wears the Traveler's Set, much like Melina. |
| 313 | ** The Erdtree Codex is an unimplemented prayerbook that has an item image, but no description or contents. |
| 314 | ** The Entwining Umbilical Cord is a talisman that "changes the demeanor of the bearer's actions", but is not implemented. |
| 315 | ** Unimplemented consumables include Deathsbane Jerky (boosts resistance), Heavy Meteorite Fragment (thrown item that produces a shockwave), Fetid Flesh (attracts beasts), Pauper's Rune (use to gain 200 runes), Roped Freezing Pot (freezing pot that can be thrown behind you), Holy Water Grease (makes your weapons inflict Holy damage), and Drawstring Freezing Grease. |
| 316 | ** The Lake of Rot once had unique rotten Ancestor Follower enemies, which were later replaced with Kindred of Rot. |
| 317 | ** Merchant Kale originally had his own quest where he'd try to find out the fate of the Great Caravan that all Nomadic Merchants once belonged to.[[spoiler: He'd pass the DespairEventHorizon when it turned out they were buried alive for supposedly worshipping the Frenzied Flame and try to become the Lord of Chaos and burn the world, only to be rejected by the Three Fingers. He'd stop selling you items out of hatred for Tarnished, but if you were embraced by the Three Fingers, he'd beg you to burn the world as Lord of the Frenzied Flame in his place.]] |
| 318 | ** The Juvenile Scholars initially had lines during Renalla's boss fight, where they treated the whole thing as innocent playing, which was presumably cut to make the fight less aurally busy. |
| 319 | ** On a rather comical note, Fia's underwear was once a wearable item as the Deathbed Smalls. They were the second part of the Deathbed Set along with the still-obtainable Deathbed Dress (which is what Fia's wearing under her cloak). The item description also reveals that Fia's name was originally Phia. |
| 320 | ** Yura has some cut dialogue expanding on his hunt against Eleonora, namely that Varre was helping her to elude him, [[spoiler: and that Shabriri was trying to possess him before his death, and he hoped to finish his fight before he fully succumbed]]. |
| 321 | ** There's a cut quest revolving around a friendly Silver Tear called Asimi, who would ask the Tarnished to carry her, would talk to them on occasion, and eventually fight them under unclear circumstances. Presumably, this was reduced to the Mimic Tear boss fight. |
| 322 | ** Azur and Lusat have HP bars, can cast (minor) spells, and are set to drop their armor on death, despite being invulnerable and essentially part of the scenery in the finished game. Presumably, they were a fight at some point. |
| 323 | ** The Ruler's Set was originally worn by an NPC named Shanehaight (presumably a relative to Kenneth Haight), a racist noble who lived in Leyndell and gave you a quest to kill Omens, before losing hope and trying to escape the city when he learned that [[spoiler: King Morgott was an Omen]]. Presently, his clothes are found on a corpse just outside Leyndell, implying that the quest events just happened prior to the Tarnished showing up, but he was caught and killed before he could leave the capital. |
| 324 | ** Malenia and Miquella both have unimplemented lines that suggest more interactions with the Tarnished than just Malenia's boss fight and suggest that Miquella would aid Malenia in achieving her second phase. |
| 325 | ** Vyke would apparently have appeared at Stormveil Castle for some reason, though the only remaining reference is a cut line from Gostoc mentioning a "repulsive-looking knight" wearing "armor melting inwards, practically falling apart." |
| 326 | ** Bernahl's Finger Maiden, only mentioned in the description of his armor, has remnants of a questline, though it only remains in Japanese subtitles. [[spoiler: Bernahl's Maiden sacrificed herself in an attempt to burn the Erdtree, which caused Bernahl to turn against the Golden Order and become a Recusant. The quest would reveal that she survived and has [[BodyHorror repeatedly burned herself]] with different sources of fire to become "kindling" for the Giants' Flame.]] |
| 327 | * ''VideoGame/ElementalGimmickGear'' was originally in development for the Platform/SegaSaturn, but due to the decline of that system wound up on the Platform/SegaDreamcast. This explains why the cutscenes and 3D battles have higher resolution graphics than the basic gameplay mode. |
| 328 | * The main characters of ''VideoGame/EliteBeatAgents'' were originally going to be based off the Village People and were originally called the Disco Rangers. Derek also wasn't the same person until much later. There's also some WhatCouldHaveBeen in ''VideoGame/OsuTatakaeOuendan'', its Japanese predecessor. There was originally one level planned in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REq2Mf7xzXk this prototype]] where you have to save a puppy from an incoming train, but it was scrapped when they didn't think about how the scenario would end [[DownerEnding if you]] ''[[ShootTheDog failed]]''. The song was later recycled into Sachiko's level. |
| 329 | * ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy5'': |
| 330 | ** Poseidon was originally going to be the {{superboss}} counterpart to Vulcan, with the latter being designed first. In the proper game, it's the other way around. |
| 331 | ** A dye system was planned, where the hair colors of the four human party members could be changed. For [=NoLegs=], the dye would change all of his fur. |
| 332 | ** 7th Heaven originally had a more realistic-styled animation that was made from a Valentine's Day drawing by game artist Ronja before ''Epic Battle Fantasy 5''. After criticism that it did not fit with the game's art style, it was changed to a different animation that followed the cartoonier look of the game. The original could still be seen in the game's Grand Gallery. |
| 333 | * The setting for ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'' is an InUniverse example of might-have-beens. As for meta examples: |
| 334 | ** First, the strategy to defeat the Clock Tower using paint was different; rather than simply painting his face in, it would swing open after the arms brought you to its face, revealing a record player that was playing the tune "It's a Small World" over and over; smashing it would end the music and restore the Clock Tower's sanity. This would also explain the "Stop the Music" pin. |
| 335 | ** Second, the Mad Doctor was originally wearing his black cloak from the short of the same name during the opening cinematic. However, developers realized that fans would confuse him for the original Phantom Blot, and the cloak was discarded. |
| 336 | ** The biggest instance of all is the fact that originally, the KarmaMeter for the game would alter Mickey's appearance as you used Paint or Thinner more, or balanced both. This was changed as Scrapper Mickey (who looked more ratlike and with a nasty grin), who was the result of using Thinner a lot more, was too drastic-looking for fans of WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse. |
| 337 | ** A level based on Alice's Curious Labyrinth (from Disneyland Paris) was scrapped due to the Creator/TimBurton film, ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010'', coming out at the time. |
| 338 | ** Originally, the final boss of the game was The Storm Blot. This was basically Oswald as the Shadow Blot after Oswald sided with the Blot to get revenge on Mickey Mouse. This results in a rather [[DarkerAndEdgier twisted and crazier]] take on the Lucky Rabbit, especially when [[http://images.wikia.com/epicmickey/images/0/0a/Epic_mickey_storm_blot_by_hamilton74-d37hkgg.jpg pictures]] show that he seems to be using other Disney characters as sources of power, including the Genie, Dopey, Clarabelle Cow, and Horace Horsecollar. [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110527014705/epicmickey/images/thumb/2/2d/Epic_mickey_storm_blot_by_hamilton74-d3ewbnz.jpg/441px-Epic_mickey_storm_blot_by_hamilton74-d3ewbnz.jpg Another picture]] shows that the Storm Blot spawns Spatters, similar to the Shadow Blot. This suggests that during the game's development, the team decided to make Oswald more of a good guy than a villain, thus having the Shadow Blot take his place. |
| 339 | * ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness: Sanity's Requiem'' was originally planned to be a Nintendo 64 game, but promoted to the [[Platform/NintendoGameCube GameCube]], which allowed it to go from pre-rendered backdrops to real-time ones while not sacrificing any detail. Also, a few characters who were planned to be playable were relegated to NPC roles in other characters' stories, notably the temple guard in Ellia's and the templar knight in the cutscene before Roberto's. After Silicon Knights' buyout by Microsoft, they were going to make a sequel to ''Eternal Darkness'' for the Xbox 360 sometime after the release of ''Too Human 2'', but the sequel was cancelled when SK went under due to a lawsuit with Creator/EpicGames and use of the Unreal Engine. A SpiritualSuccessor, Shadow of the Eternals, did not reach its crowdfunding goals, and may not be released. |
| 340 | * ''VideoGame/{{Evolve}}'' has quite a bit of the technical variety, most of which can be found [[https://talk.turtlerockstudios.com/t/the-development-of-evolve/23975 in a thread on the forums]]. There was going to be another monster early on called [[https://talk.turtlerockstudios.com/uploads/default/14203/a9cff1ad99fc7176.jpg The Host]], which could spawn various parasites for combat, but was scrapped because the devs felt the player shouldn't have to rely on the AI of their minions to win. There were also going to be maps the incorporated [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr9fPG9-CMM lava]], but those were cut because they couldn't find a way to utilize lava [[LethalLavaLand with any degree of balance]]. Besides that, there were [[https://cdn2.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/002/001/594/large/loren-broach-lorenbroach-proxies.jpg?1455784614 several]] [[https://talk.turtlerockstudios.com/uploads/default/14869/970d80428aec976e.jpg kinds]] [[https://talk.turtlerockstudios.com/uploads/default/14883/4f1d9ef7ceeded6d.jpg of]] [[https://talk.turtlerockstudios.com/uploads/default/14885/59386f8c2838fb73.jpg wildlife]] that never made it into the final game due to technical difficulties or because they seemed too similar to existing creatures. |
| 341 | * ''VideoGame/FallGuysUltimateKnockout'': |
| 342 | ** The game was originally pitched as ''Fool's Gauntlet'' and was planned to include 100 players per episode, but this was toned down to 60 after it was decided that having that many players made things ''too'' chaotic. |
| 343 | ** [[https://twitter.com/Ash_Kerins/status/1298308310790275073 Concept art exists]] for rounds taking place at night, but it appears this never got past the concept phase prior to release. However, this concept would later be revisited for Season 4, where the sci-fi/Vaporwave aesthetic means all the new levels take place exclusively at night. |
| 344 | ** Similarly, Door Dash was originally designed with a JungleJapes[=/=]{{Mayincatec}} look in mind, before it was changed to match the rest of the game's look. This concept would later be revisited for Season 5, with the final round Lost Temple using a similar design for its doors. |
| 345 | ** Wall Guys was originally intended to be a Season 1 round, before it was pushed back to Season 2. One of the early concepts for the round involves having players working together to stack blocks and create climbable structures, but the team decided that it would be asking too much of players, and the idea was scrapped in favor of climbable blocks of different heights. |
| 346 | ** The Season 2 hunt round Hoopsie Legends was originally named "Hoops Blockade", and it was first envisioned as a team round not unlike Hoopsie Daisy, before the devs decided to make it a free-for-all round instead. |
| 347 | ** The Season 3 team round Pegwin Pursuit was originally named "Chicken Chase" during development, and early versions of it requires players to grab onto [[https://fallguysultimateknockout.fandom.com/wiki/File:ChickenChaseConceptArt.webp walking eggs]] instead of Pegwins in the final release. [[https://youtu.be/7AZE4VOzRh0?t=656 The map layout of Chicken Chase]] largely remains the same as Pegwin Pursuit, although with Season 1's color palette instead of Season 3's. |
| 348 | ** [[https://fallguysultimateknockout.fandom.com/wiki/File:SlimescraperCA.png Concept art]] for Season 4's The Slimescraper reveals that originally, it had two paths that branch out from the starting line and converge just before the finish line. It is unknown why the layout was changed to the single-path version in the final release. |
| 349 | ** Power Trip from Season 4 was originally called "Territory Control", and before there were batteries, [[https://fallguysultimateknockout.fandom.com/wiki/File:Territory_Control_objects_2.png there were ideas for players to use art objects]] such as markers and paint (and a pogo stick!) to color tiles, similar to ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}''. |
| 350 | ** [[https://twitter.com/BenNizan/status/1418625133724438531 According to lead level designer Ben Nizan]], Season 5's Bubble Trouble was originally created as a round named "King of the Hill". Presumably, the round would've played out just like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_the_Hill_(game) the playground game of the same name]]. |
| 351 | ** [[https://fallguys.com/news/behind-the-beans-fall-guys-season-5-stompin-ground The behind-the-scenes blog]] detailing the process of making the Rhinos reveals that the earliest experiments to create a hostile AI opponent in the game involve recreating the giant chicken from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAiaXIxS_4c the E3 2019 trailer]] -- the one that [[NeverTrustATrailer never actually appeared in the final release]]. The Rhinos were also originally planned to be introduced in Season 4.5 as giant retro-futuristic robots, but because of the time needed to get the AI behaviour working just right, it was decided to have them be pushed back to Season 5 and reskinned as Rhinos. |
| 352 | * ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}'': |
| 353 | ** The entire series may have ran on the ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' system. Fortunately, that What Could Have Been can be experienced if you have a good GM who's willing to let you play Fallout with GURPS. |
| 354 | ** In Junktown of ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 1}}'', the player can make the good choice of siding with the mayor Killian Darkwater against the greedy casino-owner Gizmo. If the player sides with the former, the town becomes a bastion of law and order. If he sides with the latter, it becomes a WretchedHive. Originally, this was the other way around: The mayor runs the place into the ground with tyrannical laws and hanging half the population. The casino owner turns the place into a slightly seedy, but otherwise safe and pleasant place to live. [[ExecutiveMeddling The publishers objected to this and the endings got semi-switched.]] |
| 355 | ** Supposedly, the person first considered for the role of ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}''[='=]s [[PresidentEvil President John Henry Eden]] was none other than UsefulNotes/BillClinton. An early version of the character was also meant to be the consciousness of President Richardson from ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' uploaded into a computer. |
| 356 | ** ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' has a side quest in which you help (or betray) an android from the Commonwealth escaping from the evil group of scientists known as the Institute with the help of a group called the [[UndergroundRailroad Railroad]]. ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' takes place in the Commonwealth, features the Institute as major villains (unless you join them), has the Railroad as a major joinable faction, and prominently features synths in the plot. |
| 357 | ** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': |
| 358 | *** ''New Vegas'' originally allowed you to continue playing after the main quest, with some new sidequests and dialogue even being opened up. This was unfortunately ditched for the final product, as the wide variation in potential endings, coupled with the limited development time, made it an unrealistic proposition for Obsidian. |
| 359 | *** The game was developed by Creator/ObsidianEntertainment (primarily made up of former Black Isle staff), who incorporated elements of ''Van Buren's'' plot into the game's backstory and setting. The group called Caesar's Legion in particular is inspired by a similarly named group of slavers from ''Van Buren''. |
| 360 | ** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' had a myriad of content cut. Most of these were sidequests that Bethesda likely ran out of time or patience to develop. Judging by leftover assets, one mission was going to send the player to the bottom of the sea in a diving suit to fight a sea monster. Another major piece of cut content was the Combat Zone. It shares a similar story to the Windhelm Pit from ''Skyrim'': It was to be an arena where the player could bet on NPC fights or join the fights themselves. This was scrapped late in development and the Combat Zone was re-purposed into just another raider dungeon, but enough of the assets were leftover (including some scripts and all of the dialogue) to [[https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/21498 enable modders to restore it.]] |
| 361 | *** In the Far Harbor DLC, a sidequest has you on the hunt for the Red Death, a legendary sea monster responsible for the loss of many ships. In actuality, it turns out to be a [[DeathbringerTheAdorable tiny and utterly harmless mirelurk]], having caused shipwrecks only due to the bright red glow of its eyes distracting navigators. However, a cut creature in the game files is a massive Mirelurk Queen that dwarfs even the standard variety, which appears to have been planned to be the true Red Death. |
| 362 | * ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' began life as SpinOff game under the ''Franchise/{{Fabula Nova Crystallis|FinalFantasy}}'' banner, originally named ''Final Fantasy Versus XIII'' and sharing the mythos with ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII''. However, ''Versus XIII'' went through a lot of DevelopmentHell. The rebooting of the project and turning into a mainline installment was basically an attempt to salvage it. |
| 363 | * ''VideoGame/FinalFight'' |
| 364 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFightStreetwise'' was originally intended to have Sodom and Poison appear. They were abandoned later in development. |
| 365 | ** The original ''Final Fight'' was originally meant to be a sequel to [[VideoGame/StreetFighterI the first Street Fighter]] entitled ''Street Fighter '89'', but reactions from consumers when the game was demonstrated at a trade show led to the game to be a standalone game. Supposedly, the fact that the game had really nothing to do with Street Fighter was the reason behind the change; the intended shared universe remained, however, and from ''VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha'' on the series has featured Final Fight characters. |
| 366 | * ''VideoGame/TheFinals'' was meant to have driveable vehicles, according to the [[https://twitter.com/EmbarkStudios/status/1457998271641686023 first footage of the game]] revealed to the public. |
| 367 | * [[http://serenesforest.net/general/designer4_3.html Shouzou Kaga's original plans]] for ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar''. Among them were the possibility of all the female characters surviving or being revived by the power of Forseti, the game being split into three parts (part 3 would be the children reuniting with their parents), and Julius surviving and being returned to his original self by ThePowerOfLove. |
| 368 | * ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'': |
| 369 | ** [[Videogame/FiveNightsAtFreddys1 The first game]]: |
| 370 | *** Freddy Fazbear was originally going to be named "Freddybear", and the name of "Freddy" and the other animatronics (Bonnie, Chica and Foxy) were meant to be placeholders until Scott Cawthon could come up with proper names. Ultimately, they grew on him and [[PermanentPlaceholder became the final names]]. |
| 371 | *** The game was going to have a lives system in place, as shown in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS-VcKmK7Gc a gameplay video]], but was ultimately removed. |
| 372 | *** Freddy was originally never able to move around the pizzeria with the rest of the animatronics, and would only kill the player if they ran out of power. Late in development, though, Freddy was made just as dangerous as (if not moreso) the others. |
| 373 | *** The map design looked different, with the cameras being shown as cones depicting their field of vision as opposed to labeled squares. |
| 374 | *** Scott Cawthon claimed that more animatronics were planned, but were cut. Although he never mentioned if they were Balloon Boy, the Puppet, or something else, he did say they would be brought back in the sequel. |
| 375 | ** ''Videogame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2'': |
| 376 | *** The lives system cut from the first game would appear to have been brought back at first, as indicated by unused graphics, but was scrapped again. |
| 377 | *** Unused graphics for a toxicity meter are present, suggesting the player may have originally been unable to wear the Freddy head for long. |
| 378 | ** ''Videogame/FiveNightsAtFreddys3'': |
| 379 | *** Unused graphics show that sealing vents was originally done by a separate button, as opposed to double clicking a vent. |
| 380 | ** ''Videogame/FiveNightsAtFreddysWorld'': |
| 381 | *** The first trailer showcased a 3D overworld, which the final game lacked in favor of an 8-bit version. However, once the Steam release was pulled, the 3D overworld was reinstated for the [=GameJolt=] rerelease. |
| 382 | * ''VideoGame/{{Fracture}}'': The protagonist was going to be named Mason Briggs, then B.J. Dart, before settling on Jet Brody. |
| 383 | * ''VideoGame/FreedomForce'' originally was planned as a series where each game would be a different decade of comics history, leading up to the present. Instead they made a time-traveling second game with a few golden age heroes and one later-styled character with death powers, and then they hit it big with ''VideoGame/BioShock'', with no indication they'd ever go back to the IP before [[http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/18/5422846/bioshock-studio-irrational-games-closing closing down]]. |
| 384 | * ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'' |
| 385 | ** The game actually started life as a ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' fangame before changing into an original IP. In fact, Lilac started life as a Sonic-type hedgehog before evolving into the water dragon she ended up as. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=YyLmofvbhNA&NR=1 This video]] from SAGE 2012 shows the Sonic roots a lot more. |
| 386 | ** [[HeartwarmingOrphan Milla]] was originally going to be legitimately KilledOffForReal after her [[TragicMonster boss battle]] instead of just falling unconscious (though the other characters still think she's dead at first). This was changed when the developers essentially realized they didn't have the heart to [[KillTheCutie kill off such a loveable character]]. |
| 387 | * ''VideoGame/{{Freespace}}'' had a couple of cutscenes dropped from the final product, whose storyboards can still be found in the developers' notes, including a truly epic depiction of the Lucifer's attack on Tombaugh Station, which would have included Shivans leaping out of their ships (without spacesuits) to board it. One fan actually went ahead and animated another cutscene himself, that being the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9soWW_haNbM devastation of Vasuda Prime]]. Planet-size spaceships were also mentioned as being an idea for the unmade third game. |
| 388 | * ''VideoGame/{{FUSE}}'' was initially developed as a game with a different art style and tone, called ''Overstrike''. |
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