What Could Have Been / The Binding of Isaac

• In this Northernlion run, which is co-commentated by Edmund, he states that "There would be some new rare items that cost 20 coins" in the (Then upcoming) DLC (Wrath of the Lamb). Come the expansion (And beyond that into Rebirth and its own expansions), and the most costly item in the shop is still 15 coins. It took until Repentance that shop prices could go higher, but that was mainly in the form of Member Card shops and using Restock outside of Greed Mode.
• Edmund also mentioned that there would be a "new Lemon Mishap-like item, but better", though since no name was given, it's unknown if the item did make it in (Such as Holy Water) or not.
  • Given that Edmund is a Teasing Creator, however, the above may have never been considered in the first place, and was said only as a tease.
  • Although it may not be exactly what Edmund implied, Repentance eventually added Free Lemonade, which is indeed a stronger Lemon Mishap with double the charge time.
• While Edmund claimed that the incomplete Skinless Hush spritesheet in the game files were a Red Herring for dataminers, Tyrone instead confirms that it was intended for a second form of Hush that was eventually scrapped, releasing Concept Art of it on Twitter. Edmund later said himself that Skinless Hush was not a red herring.
• There is an unused spritesheet for Ultra Greed labeled "Delirium forms", although rather than being a Delirium version it's actually Ultra Greed with a beard styled after Tyrone's (similar to Ultra Pride being based on Edmund and Florian).
• An entire character, a being made of salt named Edith, was scrapped from Antibirth and did not return proper in Repentance.^note She still exists, but only as a rare Easter Egg for the reverse Chariot card. Her gimmick was that she couldn't move in the standard way, but rather had to stomp across the room in a similar fashion to the Epic Fetus item. This mechanic would later be reused, with heavy modification, for Tainted Forgotten, whose soul form even wears Edith's cloak for good measure.
• One of the very few elements of the released Antibirth that was not added to Repentance was Immortal Hearts, which functioned similarly to Soul Hearts with the ability to "regenerate" if half of one is depleted by the time a room is cleared.
• The Forgotten was originally meant to be the protagonist of a direct sequel to Rebirth.
• There are a number of Antibirth items that didn't make their way into Repentance:
  • Book of Despair, an active item that halved tear delay for the current room, surpassing the tear cap. It was likely cut for being just a bit too underwhelming.
  • Bowl of Tears, an active item that charged up when Isaac fired, similar to Isaac's Tears, and sprayed a Monstro's Lung-type blast. Possibly cut for being a little too strong.
  • Voodoo Pin, an active item that was functionally identical to Dull Razor, but wasn't returned with a new effect like 120 Volt was.
  • Donkey Jawbone, which made Isaac do a spin attack after taking damage. It was brought back in spirit as the mechanic for Tainted Samson and the Berserk! item though, which gives an identical jawbone as a weapon during the berserk attack. This was Samson's original Witness/Mother unlock, and was replaced by the Repentance-original Bloody Gust.
  • Menorah, a familiar that would gain a lit candle each time you took damage. Each lit candle would multiply your tears fired, but going past seven reset the menorah. Like Bowl of Tears, it was probably too abusable.
  • Stone Bombs, which caused bombs to release a 4-way rock wave that dealt a lot of damage but could also hit Isaac. They were probably cut since rock waves are no longer treated as explosions, although the effect returned in spirit with Brimstone Bombs that release a 4-way Brimstone laser.
  • Knife Piece 3, which was found in the Mausoleum. The knife was simplified to two pieces, rendering a third unnecessary.
  • On the double-unused side, an unused trinket called Salt Shaker could be found in the Antibirth files, but didn't make its way to Repentance. However, another unused trinket called Apple of Sodom actually did get implemented.
• In addition to items, several enemies from Antibirth were left out of Repentance, however some of them can still appear in the DELETE THIS challenge:
  • Dumpling and its variants, all floating heads who moved around by farting. However, their legacy is carried on via the Lil' Dumpy familiar.
  • Fissure^note not to be confused with the enemy of the same name from Downpour, a Trite variant who erupted blood projectiles in addition to its usual hops.
  • Blind Bat, a white One Tooth who slept on the ceiling, before waking up and descending to chase Isaac.
  • Echo Bat, a leaner white bat whose projectiles temporarily reversed Isaac's controls instead of damaging him.
  • Strifer, a humanoid who could only move in two directions and fired blood shots if Isaac lined up with it, somewhat similarly to Wall Creep.
  • Swapper, a Baby variant who fired a laser at Isaac and sometimes swapped positions with him.
  • Necromancer and Exorcist, both humanoids who would summon Bonies and ghosts, respectively. Exorcist technically still exists in Repentance, but only as a cameo for the Heretic fight, and is immediately transformed into a Fanatic.
  • Screamer, a slim humanoid who screamed if Isaac got too close, stunning him briefly, before it charged towards him.
  • Nightwatch, a ghost with a lantern that Isaac had to maneuver around, otherwise it would scream and summon a wave of enemies.
  • Corpse Eater, a Grub-like worm who could kill other enemies during its charge, temporarily buffing it. A variant of it which had a Bony riding it, named Carrion Rider, was also scrapped. Furthermore, Mother (formerly The Witness) no longer spawns Corpse Eaters, which is just one of many changes to her fight.
  • Barfy, a Fatty variant who occasionally vomited a stream of projectiles towards Isaac.
  • Vessel, a Fatty variant who burst into a swarm of Tiny Maggots upon dying.
  • Coil, an invulnerable Nerve Ending-esque monster who fired a continuous beam at any other enemy or Spike Ball in the room.
  • Stillborn, a Grimace variant who slowly floated towards Isaac while firing blood shots, then exploding when all other enemies were killed.
• Additionally, all of the Antibirth runes were cut.
  • Gebo used all machines and beggars in the room a couple times for free.
  • Kenaz poisoned all enemies in the room.
  • Fehu converted all items and pickups in the room into coins with value equal to their shop price. This effect did make it in as the reverse Hermit card, however.
  • Othala gave a permanent copy of a random passive item that you were holding.
• Curse of the Giant was a new curse added in Antibirth that combined multiple smaller rooms into larger ones, essentially filling the floor with 4x and 2x rooms. According to Kilburn, it wasn't implemented into Repentance due to the lack of a sanity check potentially creating unfair or unbeatable room layouts, although it does exist in the game files.
• One of the major draws of the Mausoleum in Antibirth was the reverse floor, an optional half of the Mausoleum with its own colour scheme that was accessible only by a certain teleporter or the Red Key. It could contain various special rooms, including a chance at a second item room or shop. It was also crucial to the Knife Piece 3 puzzle. As mentioned, the knife was simplified to two pieces, so this area was cut. You can at least still reap double floor rewards on the alt path in the Downpour's mirror world, although it's a lot riskier.
• The Witness' battle in Antibirth was very different compared to how it is in Repentance. Her arena was a 2x2 room, and the camera zoomed out in such a way that the player could see the entire room at all times. Many of her attacks were designed with this size in mind, filling out massive portions of the room while still leaving some space for Isaac to dodge. When she was moved to Repentance under the new name of Mother, her room was shrunk to a 1x2, and with it came an entirely different moveset to better accommodate the lack of space.
  • On a related note, the ending obtained by killing The Witness/Mother also changed between Antibirth and Repentance. Originally, it was implied that Isaac had killed his own mother with the knife in self-defense, only to wake up in the basement, suggesting it was All Just a Dream. Now, Isaac is shown in his room drawing "Mother", only for his real mother to discover it, and she doesn't react well.
• Out of all Antibirth bosses to return in Repentance, Rotgut received a major redesign. Originally, its first phase resembled a green parasite with Nested Mouths, while its third phase resembled a green, rotten variant of Mom's Heart. Now, it looks more akin to an undead Mr. Fred, with the organ inside of it closely resembling a ballsack. The maggot in the second phase, however, was kept intact between versions.
• Edmund had considered cutting The Rainmaker entirely from Repentance, without even trying a redesign like with Rotgut, as he believed the boss had difficulty fitting the game thematically.
• An unused floor named Mortis, presumably an alternative floor of Corpse, exists in the game files. Kilburn has confirmed in November of 2021 that it is planned to be added to the game eventually.
• There were three Dummied Out bosses for Repentance. Cadavra is a Corpse-themed Dual Boss that was teased on Twitter, although only exists as sprites. Raglich is a posthumous Ragman that would've probably been a Mausoleum boss, and is almost finished. The Clutch (strangely renamed "The Possessor" in the debug console) is a King Mook for the reviving skeletons found in the Ashpit, and seems to be entirely finished. It's not known why they were scrapped, although Ed confirmed that Raglich and Clutch would likely be added in a future update.
  • Clutch was officially added to Repentance in the 1.7.8 patch.
• There are two entities named "Dogma Angel Baby" and "Dogma Blackhole" that can be spawned via console command but aren't used in game. They're almost certainly scrapped Dogma attacks.
• At one point, Min-Min was a slender female ghost known as Maid in the Mist. She has a finished splash screen, but no other work done. It was probably redesigned for the thematic overlap with Rainmaker and The Siren.
• There were a few general concepts for Antibirth that never made it to Repentance or Antibirth itself:
  • Each alternate path chapter would have a stronger variation of a Harbinger themed around that chapter, all of them except Pestilence being fought in the same order. Downpour would have had a wet/"aquatic" Famine, Mines a burning War, Mausoleum a "cursed" Death with a purple flame, and Corpse a bloated Pestilence. There was also a golden Conquest. The general idea for a set of super-Harbingers was used in the form of the Ultra Harbingers seen in the Beast fight, sans Conquest and without the "theming" of the alternate floors.
  • An early sketch of the floor progression◊ includes plans of a post-Corpse floor known only as "The Forest." From the sketch it appears to be a standard forest, as well as a counterpart to Chest and Dark Room, but any other details about it are unknown. There was also a "Basement -1" that would have functioned similarly to a Victory Lap, accessed from the Chest, Dark Room, or the Forest, and leading back to the beginning of the run.
• A design proposed by the author of Sonichu, for Four Souls, was replaced before release.

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