* DevelopmentHell: The game was supposedly in development since the early-to-mid 2000s, the preview video was posted in August 2008, and the game itself didn't see any kind of full release until 2016--and even ''then'', that was apparently only the puzzle game version.
* TroubledProduction: The game and its lofty ambitions never got off the ground, in large part due to having a truckload of development setbacks and controversies surrounding its creator, Robert Pelloni.
** The game first made a blip after its trailer went viral in 2008, with Pelloni claiming at the time that he had already spent 5 years in development. However, he was extremely determined to have it published by Creator/{{Nintendo}} on the Platform/NintendoDS, but Nintendo denied him an official development kit for the console due to him being an untested solo developer with a lack of professionalism. Pelloni reportedly attempted several attempts to pitch the game ''in person'' to Nintendo representatives and sent hundreds of emails demanding he dev kit, all of which went unheeded.
** In December 2008, Pelloni enacted his most infamous stunt by supposedly locking himself in a room for 100 days in protest, livestreaming himself and demanding that Nintendo give him the development kit, threatening various Nintendo personalities all the way. The protest attracted viral attention, but Nintendo wasn't moved, and Pelloni would end the protest around 30 days in after he seemingly pretended to be dead, resulting in police being sent to break into his apartment and check on him, where he confirmed he was still alive and was faking the livestream for attention, as what he described to be "ViralMarketing". Not long afterwards, Nintendo reiterated their stance that Pelloni's unprofessionalism made him ill-suited to having an official dev kit, which made him even more openly hostile to the company, both [[TakeThat through the game]] (which at this point had become more like an autobiography about the protagonist attempting to take down "[[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Gantendo]]"), as well as real life (having reportedly vandalized the Nintendo World Store in New York City).
** In March 2009, a playable demo of the game was released (available as a Platform/GameBoyAdvance ROM, which could be played through flash cartridges or emulation), but no further news came until 2011, where Pelloni suddenly announced that he was going to launch a new, $20 handheld console called the [=nD=] as a competitor to the Nintendo DS, and ''bob's game'' would be its debut title. [[DevelopmentHell Nothing further of this ever manifest]], and by 2013, all official mentions of it were scrubbed away.
** Between late 2013 and 2014, Pelloni launched two separate UsefulNotes/{{Kickstarter}} campaigns for two different games titled ''bob's game'', the first of which ([[InNameOnly a puzzle game with no relation to any previous content]]) failing to reach its $6,667 goal[[note]]Though it was later released on the Platform/{{Ouya}}[[/note]], while the second one (the actual action-RPG from before) successfully reached its [=$10k=] goal mere hours before its deadline. During the second campaign, Pelloni published [[https://web.archive.org/web/20141211080200/http://bobsgame.com/ an extensive blog post]] explaining his personal situation and why ''bob's game'' was taking so long, revealing that he'd been dealing with issues surrounding drug addiction, porn addiction, mental health issues, and trouble with finances and housing, with him simply wanting to finish the game out of a van.
** In January 2015, Forbes reported that Pelloni had given up on the game development and planned on issuing refunds, though such refunds never materialized. In January 20''16'', Pelloni made a statement claiming to still be working on the game and had been pitching it to investors and publishers to no success, citing extensive re-writes to the game's code and continual housing problems as additional reasons for the delay. Ever since 2021, Pelloni's website domain has been converted (or possibly hijacked) into a blog posting bizarre rambles on Christianity, sexuality DDR, and a menagerie of other topics, suggesting that he's completely moved away from development, [[{{Vaporware}} meaning the game will never be completed]].
* {{Vaporware}}: With a combination of no updates on the game happening after the puzzle game portion's release in 2016, the Nintendo DS having suspended new game releases in 2014 (2 years prior), and the closure of the Nintendo 3DS [=eShop=] in 2023 effectively halting all game releases for the entire DS line of consoles, it's safe to say that the "RPG for Nintendo DS" part of Bob's Game is this.
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