History WhatCouldHaveBeen / VideoGamesNToS

* ''Odyssey'' was a title being developed by Creator/BlizzardEntertainment, beginning in 2017, being informally announced in 2022 as an "Unannounced Survival Game", before being officially cancelled in 2024 following restructuring and layoffs from Creator/ActivisionBlizzard being acquired by Creator/{{Microsoft}}. The game was set to be first new Blizzard IP since 2016's ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'', and gameplay was to feature large maps of up to 100 players at once, but it ended up experiencing production issues due to significant shifts in game engines. Nevertheless, it had reportedly been in a playable state by the time of its announcement, had received positive feedback from playtesters, and was set for a 2026 release (though some devs reported feeling this was overly optimistic), but the project was ultimately binned.

* ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryV'' was planned to use a [[UsefulNotes/GraphicsRendering voxel]]-based graphics engine. Due to severe performance issues the engine was changed to a conventional 3D engine using prerendered backgrounds. Multiplayer was also planned for the game, then planned as a downloadable add-on. A PlayableEpilogue expansion would have focused on the Hero's choice of marriage as King of Silmaria and the character Punny Bones, with additional quests and a new storyline.

** Initially, Sega seemed to be pushing Spider-Man as one of their big mainstays for their consoles, what with the popularity of the arcade game and ''VideoGame/SpiderManVsTheKingpin''. There were initially plans for a second game, but that got derailed with the explosive popularity of ''WesternAnimation/XMen''.

** There were ideas for a sequel to ''[[VideoGame/UltimateSpiderMan2005 Ultimate Spider-Man]]''. Not much is known, but the map of New York would have been expanded to include Brooklyn and Coney Island, take place in the winter and have the Green Goblin as a major player in the game (though it is unknown if he would have been a second playable character like Venom was or not). However, the game wasn't much of a success and the game was shelved with Brian Michael Bendis porting the story idea for the game to the comic as the storyline "Death of a Goblin".

* The classic arcade game ''VideoGame/SpyHunter'' was originally intended to have the James Bond theme as its theme music, but when the rights for it couldn't be obtained, the Peter Gunn theme was used instead.

* ''VideoGame/NoOneLivesForever'' and its sequel could have been re-released on online services like Platform/{{Steam}} and Website/GOGDotCom, but Night Dive Studios was denied the license to re-release the games, due to the complicated legal arrangement regarding who actually owns the rights to the series (Activision, Fox and Warner Bros. all have potential claim to them; none of them are interested in confirming since the records of who owns it predate any of their digital archives, but they were still perfectly willing to sue if Night Dive did anything with the series).

** The announcement trailer also showed a different design for Syndicate enemies with being shirtless and wearing only red tinted goggles instead of a full face mask.

* Thanks to the TroubledProduction of ''VideoGame/{{Palworld}}, a ''lot'' of things shown in the trailers failed to make it to the Early Access release.

** The HeadsUpDisplay for [[https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//38761022/1c429ff1ba9749efde00b4d2f653a6e6304478af.png your tool menu, HP, stamina, resources, and time in Moonbury]], along with the UI for [[https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//38761022/5d0c5e019547816bc3d8172339b12251c6c71da0.png diagnosing patients]] and [[https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//38761022/b01395698cf297fe8a6c7ce6529a477b9ad1aa12.gif brewing potions]] looked rougher and less organized in the pre-alpha screenshots than in the final product.

** Initially, Sega seemed to be pushing Spider-Man as one of their big mainstays for their consoles, what with the popularity of the arcade game and ''VideoGame/SpiderManVsTheKingpin''. There were initially plans for a second game, but that got derailed with the explosive popularity of ''WesternAnimation/{{X-Men}}''.

* ''Spyborgs'' is perhaps one of the most drastic cases of a game being overhauled during development. First announced at Capcom's 2008 Captivate event, it was [[http://kotaku.com/5012553/capcom-announces-spyborgs-for-wii meant]] to be a humourous action-adventure game whose action would be framed by silly ''VideoGame/WarioWare''-esque commercials running through the levels. However, a tepid reception led to the developers scrapping their original idea and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xZq3rxtuGM overhauling]] the game in a gritty, generic hack & slash which only shared the design of the main characters.

* ''Strange Flesh'':

** [[https://blog.greatestbear.com/post/131751737033/evolution-of-the-hud was originally envisioned]] to be much more story and text driven, and to have Joe's face visibly change as you progressed on throughout the levels. Those aspects were eventually scrapped to make development and gameplay far more streamlined.

* ''Super Sprint'' initially supported up to four players, but the fourth car was made into a permanent AI drone so races could be guaranteed to end without instituting an explicit time limit.

* ''VideoGame/NiGHTSJourneyOfDreams'' was originally going to be called ''Air [=NiGHTS=]'', and was going to use a motion controller for the Saturn. Then the project was moved to the Dreamcast, but never got past the prototype stage. Then it was going to be for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 and UsefulNotes/Xbox360, until [[ExecutiveMeddling it was switched to]] the Wii, ''without'' any extension on development time or budget.

* ''VideoGame/NoOneLivesForever'' and its sequel could have been re-released on online services like UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} and Website/GOGDotCom, but Night Dive Studios was denied the license to re-release the games, due to the complicated legal arrangement regarding who actually owns the rights to the series (Activision, Fox and Warner Bros. all have potential claim to them; none of them are interested in confirming since the records of who owns it predate any of their digital archives, but they were still perfectly willing to sue if Night Dive did anything with the series).

*** The first incarnation, ''[=ObsCure=]: Dark Aura'', was to have been a budget title released for the UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable and UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, taking place right after the end of the second game with Shannon as the main character. It was scrapped, with elements from it being used for...

** ''Perfect Dark Zero'' was originally conceived of as a proper sequel, and shifted platforms several times - it was originally intended for the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube, before shifting onto the Xbox following Rare's buyout by Microsoft, and ending as a launch title for the Xbox 360. There's not as many hints about changed or dropped features, but the Jungle: Storm level, through its name and several pieces of dialogue, makes multiple references to heavy rainfall that is simply not present in the level.

** The game began as a Wii game, but development was moved to the UsefulNotes/WiiU once that console was nearing release.

** ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia1'', in Jordan Mechner's first concept, was to have been an entirely puzzle-oriented game like ''VideoGame/LodeRunner'', with a LevelEditor, but Brøderbund demanded that the game have combat. It seemed at one point that there would not be enough memory on the UsefulNotes/AppleII for more than one set of large, fully animated character sprites; the shadow Prince was therefore planned to be the main antagonist rather than a secondary character, and his strength in the FinalBoss battle would be determined by the player's performance against him in previous levels.

* ''VideoGame/PrincessMaker 2'' was set to be released in the United States, but a series of mishaps including the bankruptcy of the localization's publisher caused the translated game to be shelved indefinitely. A mostly-translated prototype of the game showed up on the internet years later, and an UpdatedRerelease of the game was finally given a worldwide release over UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} in September 2016.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmQvUtx9jXc&app=desktop A prototype]] of ''Puyo Puyo Fever''[[note]]assumed to be the same prototype Sega showcased at Tokyo Game Show 2003 through a tournament held to promote the game's release due to the footage matching up with this prototype[[/note]] from September 9, 2003 contained many interesting differences, the biggest of which being early versions of the game's music, as well as the fact that it ran on a [[{{UsefulNotes/Dreamcast}} NAOMI]] cartridge as opposed to the final's GD-ROM.

* For ''[[CompilationRerelease Rare Replay]]'', Creator/{{Rare}} had at some point at least considered ''every'' game they ever made for the compilation - even ''Videogame/GoldenEye1997'', a game infamous for licensing issues preventing a rerelease for 18 years and counting as of ''Rare Replay''[='=]s release. They cut the list down to the final 30 based on various factors such as whether the characters and environments were their own creation, ruling out licensed games like the aforementioned ''[=GoldenEye=]'' and the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' series in favor of {{Spiritual Successor}}s with their own characters, like ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'' and ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie''. They also wanted to include ''Kinect Sports'' and ''Kinect Sports: Season 2'', but were forced to leave them out due to technical differences between the UsefulNotes/Xbox360 and UsefulNotes/XboxOne versions of the Kinect.

** ''VideoGame/Rayman2TheGreatEscape'' was going to be a 2D platformer for the [=PS1=] and Saturn, but when Ubisoft saw that 3D platformers like ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' and ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' were wowing everyone at E3, they reworked it into a 3D platformer, and it remains to this very day one of the greatest 3D platformers ever created. While it came out on the [=PS1=] as intended, this was only after also releasing on the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64, PC, and the Saturn's successor, the Dreamcast. Certain versions of the game have the first level of the original 2D game as an EasterEgg after completing the main game. The kicker? [[DevelopmentGag It only exists in the [=PS1=] version]].

** ''VideoGame/RaymanOrigins'' was going to be an episodic title for Xbox Live Arcade, UsefulNotes/PlayStationNetwork, and PC, about the origins of Rayman, and each episode was going to be about him growing up and maturing. The episodic idea was canned because Michael Ancel thought episodic format would ruin the exploration nature of the franchise, and it was reworked into a retail title. The final game was released as a sequel game involving Rayman and the gang tackling the Livid Dead army instead of the prequel it was marketed as. The game was also going to have lots of dialogue too (some of the dialogue from the beta version is present in the ESRB's parental guide for the game, and the script was in the demo's files), however final product ended up having very little dialogue, and is unclear as to whether it takes place before ''Rayman 1'', or after ''Rayman 3'', though Ancel has at least clarified that ''Origins'' occurs after ''Rayman 2''.

** The first ''VideoGame/SaintsRow1'' started life in 2003 as a [=PS2=] game that would have been named "Bling Bling", the name being quickly changed for not being any good. ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'' makes reference to it in a radio ad for a jewelry store called "Bling Bling", which [[TotallyRadical tries to sell jewelry to gangster-types]] and even claims that "market research said our name was cool!", which, of course, wasn't the case. After a concept it would be released as was settled on, the Saints were originally going to wear green, but they were changed to purple after ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' came out and also had its protagonist gang, Grove Street, wearing green; ironically ([[TakeThat or not]]), the Saints changed their color to that of Grove Street's enemies. It was also planned for several different consoles; in addition to starting life on the [=PS2=], there were plans for a UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube port, which fell through after the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} was released, and after it actually released on the UsefulNotes/Xbox360, ports to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 and PC were cancelled to put more development focus on making the sequel, which launched on all three platforms.

** There were plans to release ''VideoGame/SakuraWars4FallInLoveMaidens'' on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 when the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast was ending production, but Red Entertainment and Overworks refused. Oji Hiroi, in particular, felt that they didn't want to have ''Is Paris Burning?'' as the final game in the series to be released for the Dreamcast. Also, Ogami traveled to Taiwan and New York to head the newly-formed Flower Division teams, but those ideas were scrapped. The New York concepts were later used in the next installment, ''VideoGame/SakuraWarsSoLongMyLove''.

* ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'' was originally intended to be for the UsefulNotes/{{Super Nintendo|EntertainmentSystem}} CD add-on, which would've allowed the game to be much larger and to feature CD-quality music tracks. Notice how many of the plot threads concerning the Empire seem incomplete and rushed, and how the game's sound and music glitches at times when there's a lot going on (the result of the UsefulNotes/SuperNintendo's eight music channels being too few for the game's complex music).

*** The game would have originally been released for the UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem, then the original UsefulNotes/PlayStation (the final version is a Game Boy Color game). Towards the end of the game, Shantae would have received a blue version of her ordinary clothes, which were later made available to certain ''[[VideoGame/ShantaeHalfGenieHero Half-Genie Hero]]'' donors and owners of the game's Ultimate Edition as a DevelopmentGag.

** A sequel to the first game was briefly in development for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance under the titles ''Shantae Advance'' and ''Shantae 2: Risky Revolution'', many of the elements of which were recycled into ''VideoGame/ShantaeRiskysRevenge''. Unlike the fairly short ''Risky's Revenge'' and ''[[VideoGame/ShantaeAndThePiratesCurse Pirate's Curse]]'', this game would've been bigger than the original with over 20 hours of gameplay and a 4-player battle mode. Some other differences from the final game included the character artwork still using the first game's art style, Shantae being able to dive underwater without the mermaid transformation, being able to have a giant Wrench carry you between islands, which eventually made its way into ''[[VideoGame/ShantaeHalfGenieHero Half-Genie Hero]]'', and gameplay centered around being able to shift the background to progress, which likely became the basis for the layered outdoor levels in ''Risky's Revenge''.

*** The credits of the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3, UsefulNotes/Xbox360 and PC versions of the game are accompanied with concept art, one of these pieces is the concept of a Symbiote Moon Knight, who is never infected in the game.

* The grand ambitions of ''VideoGame/{{Swordquest}}'' and its [[FictionalMysteryRealPrize real world quest for treasure]] were kneecapped halfway through by UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983. Before the contest for ''Waterworld'' was held, Atari was sold off following its financial issues, and the whole project was canceled along with the final game, ''Airworld''. As such, the remaining three prizes were never awarded, and were likely returned to the Franklin Mint and destroyed. A {{retraux}} version of ''Airworld'' based on designer Tod Frye's concepts would eventually be made in 2022, as part of ''[[CompilationRerelease Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration]]''.

* ''VideoGame/RiseOfNations: VideoGame/RiseOfLegends'' was supposed to have four nations instead of three, and four campaigns, to fit. The mysterious “fourth nation” that was eventually scrapped went through several iterations too: first they were the Skald, based on Finnish, Slavic, and some northern Europeans mythology. And then they were the Kragar(?), apparently a race of bestial giants who tamed great beasts. And then they were the Khan, based on ancient Myth/AltaicMythology and history.

** ''Origins'' changed development teams entirely not long before it was released. The original version was a ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' clone that drew on a great deal more material from the movie. The first previews indicated the game was going to use the OverTheShoulder camera to deal with the smaller PSP screen.

* ''VideoGame/SleepingDogs'' started as a game called ''Black Lotus'', became part of the ''True Crime'' franchise as ''True Crime: Hong Kong'', then became a separate game as the rights were bought from Activision by Square Enix.

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan''

* ''{{VideoGame/Solatorobo}}'' went through a multitude of changes throughout the ten years it took developing the game. It was originally going to be a direct sequel to ''VideoGame/TailConcerto'', before becoming the PSA game ''Mamoru-Kun'', before finally starting development as ''Solatorobo'' starting in 2007. All of the different prototypes and plot elements can all be read and seen in a (fan-translated) trivia document as well as ''nine volumes worth of artbooks'' each split into three different sets ("Bluesky", "Daybreak", and "Starlet").

** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha 3'' originally intended to avert one of the greatest {{What Could Have Been}}s in Anime history: ''Manga/GiantRobo''. The proposed storyline would have had Big Fire attempting to usurp the godhead of Irui, claiming the power of Nashim Ganeden for himself. Unfortunately, Mitsuteru Yokoyama died while the game was in development, and his estate raised the licensing cost for all his works, meaning ''Giant Robo'' had to sit out of the GrandFinale of the Alpha timeline. Furthermore, sprites for ''Manga/GundamSentinel'' were found within the game data when hacked; fans suspect that the story was originally planned to be the conclusion of Universal Century Gundam in ''Alpha'', but was cut when ExecutiveMeddling forced Banpresto to include the up-and-coming fan favorite ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'' in ''Alpha 3'' instead. But digging inside ''Alpha 2'' revealed that sprites of the Strike Gundam and Aegis Gundam were hidden inside the game. It's unknown, though, if this meant that ''SEED'' would have just made cameos of some sort, like how Star Anime/GaoGaiGar was a cameo of sorts, or if they were going to outright use ''Gundam SEED'' to a degree, ''a la'' ''Gao Gai Gar''. On a lesser note, that digging also revealed that there was a second ''Manga/GetterRobo'' theme placed in, "Gattai! Getter Robo", which wasn't used in favor of ''again'' "Getter Robo!". A later-revealed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-Acb7nRGEA a video from]] Nico Nico was discovered that reveals the extent of ''Gundam Sentinel'''s influence in the game, as sprites for both Task Force Alpha heroes and the New Decides units were shown. One notable addition was Amuro's Zeta Plus A1. Also found on there was leftover data from Alpha 2 with the Nightingale, the Wing Gundam Ver. Ka., and units from ''Crossbone Gundam'' and ''Brain Powerd''.

* ''VideoGame/OriAndTheBlindForest'' began development as a fast-paced action platformer in the style of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'', titled ''Sein'' after its protagonist, whose name was eventually used for Ori's FairyCompanion. The ''Definitive Edition'''s bonus videos show many more gameplay concepts that didn't make the cut, including a [[TractorBeam Pull ability]] and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]''-style [[SongsInTheKeyOfLock musical locks]].

* ''VideoGame/PopfulMail'' was very nearly [[DolledUpInstallment dolled-up]] for international release as ''Sister VideoGame/{{Sonic|TheHedgehog}}'', before a letter-writing campaign by fans familiar with the original game asking them to just translate it directly.

** ''VideoGame/QuakeII'' didn't go through any massive gameplay-style shifts mid-development like the first ''Quake'', but it did get shoehorned into being a ''Quake'' game. Originally, the massively-different story and aesthetics were supposed to go along with it being an entirely different game, sharing only its basic gameplay style of a ''Doom''-like run-and-gun shooter, and several possible names for the game were floated around, including "Strogg" (which ended up being the name of the enemy faction) and "Lock and Load"; however, every name they came up with was either unsatisfactory or unavailable due to existing trademarks, and so the game was [[DolledUpInstallment branded as]] a second ''Quake''. Ironically, it's since gone on to completely define the singleplayer part of the ''Quake'' franchise, getting [[VideoGame/QuakeIV another singleplayer followup]] and [[VideoGame/EnemyTerritoryQuakeWars a prequel]] in the ten years after its release, whereas talk of elder gods and alternate dimensions and whatnot from the first ''Quake'' has mostly been restricted to Ranger's backstory in the multiplayer games.

** There were ideas for a sequel to ''VideoGame/UltimateSpiderMan''. Not much is known, but the map of New York would have been expanded to include Brooklyn and Coney Island, take place in the winter and have the Green Goblin as a major player in the game (though it is unknown if he would have been a second playable character like Venom was or not). However, the game wasn't much of a success and the game was shelved with Brian Michael Bendis porting the story idea for the game to the comic as the storyline "Death of a Goblin".

** The game version of the first ''Film/SpiderMan1'' movie had a few things removed from it:

*** Creator/JoshKeaton was originally tapped to play Peter Parker/Spider-Man (years before he'd take up the iconic role in ''WesternAnimation/SpectacularSpiderMan'') while Creator/JohnDeLancie playing Norman Osborn/Green Goblin. However, this was derailed when Creator/TobeyMaguire and Creator/WillemDafoe reprised their roles. Not wanting to waste his talent, Josh was recast as Harry Osborn.

* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'':
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil1'' was going to have every item box be its own storage instead of being linked with each other, which meant players that placed specific items in one box would have to go back to that particular box to get the item back. Also, the original game was meant to have an auto-aim feature to make combat easier, but possibly due to lack of time to implement it the game released with manual-only aiming, though auto-aim was restored in the Director's Cut version. The [=GameCube REmake=] brings back the manual-only aim and unlinked item boxes as a part of Real Survival mode.
** Similar to the canned GBC port of the first game, ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' did have an incomplete port made on the Game Boy Advance, which was done as a concept demo by a third party who wanted approval by Capcom to fully develop the game. The demo looked nearly identical to the Playstation version in the graphics department with the only difference being the low framerate. Capcom didn't approve of the project, thus it was canned.
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis'' for the original [=PlayStation=] wasn't originally conceived as the third mainline ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' installment, but [[GaidenGame a side game]]. The third installment was originally supposed to be the one in the works for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2. However, development of the [=PS2=] game ran into issues due to the new hardware, which likely would've resulted in a longer wait between installments. As a result, Creator/{{Capcom}} made the side game into the official third installment. In turn, the [=PS2=] title became the fourth numbered installment: ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4''.
** The second and [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil4 fourth games]] went through a number of iterations (respectively known as ''Resident Evil 1.5'' and ''3.5'') before the developers settled on the final versions of each game.
** ''[=RE1.5=]'' was similar to the game that would eventually be released, with the main differences being with the characters. The female main character was Elza Walker, a college student and motorcycle enthusiast who is returning home to Raccoon City on vacation. She would be {{Retool}}ed into Claire Redfield in order to have a greater connection with the first game. Robert Kendo (known here as John) and Marvin Branagh were to play much larger roles in the game, acting as supporting characters for Elza and Leon respectively. Annette Birkin was to get infected with the G-virus and turn into a monster like her husband William, [[LadyInRed Ada]] was to be known as Linda, [[DirtyCop Chief Irons]] was to be a hero rather than a villain, the zombies were to be more varied and gruesome, and the Chimera and Eliminator [=B.O.W.s=] (which would appear in future games) were to serve as enemies. The police station itself was also going to more closely resemble a real-life office building, complete with a firing range, as opposed to the repurposed art museum it was in the finished product. A fanmade project to restore this incomplete version into a full-fledged game is currently under way, and a playable ISO of their work so far can be found online with a little snooping around.
** ''[=RE3.5=]'', meanwhile, is the name collectively given to [[http://tay.kinja.com/the-long-complicated-history-of-resident-evil-4-1784844288 several prototypes]], all of which were scrapped for various reasons:
*** The first iteration of ''[=RE3.5=]'' is the game that, with a glitch removed from the concurrently-developed ''Videogame/{{Onimusha}}'' [[AscendedGlitch serving as inspiration]], would [[DivorcedInstallment later become]] ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry1'', with far more action-packed gameplay and mechanics that were a far cry from what was expected of the series, and a story based on unraveling various mysteries behind new protagonist Tony Redgrave and his twin brother Vergil. Its development included several trips to Spain to study the local architecture as inspiration for the game's environments. This version was deemed too much of a departure from the SurvivalHorror genre and not cut out to be a ''Resident Evil'' title, but those trips to Spain would be put to use for the final version of the game.
*** There was also the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOzr9hvaerE "Fog Version,"]] whose premise involved Leon infiltrating Umbrella's European headquarters (a castle owned by Oswell Spencer, hence an alternative "Castle Version" name for this iteration), getting infected with the Progenitor Virus after surviving a fight between friendly USSTRATCOM units and a force lead by Albert Wesker, and fighting fog-like creatures. One of the levels was to take place on [[CoolAirship an airship]]. The plot point about Leon becoming infected was another thing that made it into the final game.
*** After that version was scrapped, Capcom made the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NLUzU8Z_NI&feature=related "Hooked Man Version,"]] which was set in a seemingly haunted mansion and had Leon fighting what appeared to be paranormal enemies, such as medieval suits of armor (which would make it into the final game), [[CreepyDoll living dolls]], and the eponymous, ghost-like "Hooked Man," a possessed-looking man who wielded a giant hook on a chain and would stalk Leon throughout the mansion. The game was reportedly so scary that, when the trailer debuted at E3, Shinji Mikami told the audience, "Don't pee your pants." However, the game would be scrapped for two reasons. First, there were [[http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-01-18-inside-the-resident-evil-4-that-never-was technical issues]] concerning how Leon's hallucinations were to be shown, necessitating the creation of two 3D models for every level, which was both beyond the limitations of the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube and would've massively increased the work load for the team. Second, it was deemed too outright supernatural for an ''RE'' game. A few technical details remained from this version, however, notably having a button for quickly switching to another weapon (grenades in this version, a [[QuickMelee knife]] in the final game) and the over-the-shoulder aiming with a LaserSight attached to Leon's weapons. Some assets from its development are also rumored to have been recycled for ''VideoGame/HauntingGround''.
*** The final version proposed returning to a more traditional ''RE'' survival horror style. Little is known about this version, beyond zombies serving as the main enemies once more and a plot involving Leon being infected with the Progenitor Virus like in the Fog/Castle Version. This game was discarded for being too formulaic, especially with the remake of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil1'' and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil0'' selling below Capcom's expectations, which led to the next iteration, which was ultimately released as ''[=RE4=]'', going in a more action-heavy direction with a new enemy design. ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilGunSurvivor Resident Evil: Dead Aim]]'' may have been based on this version of the game, explaining the [[{{Expy}} heavy similarity]] of its protagonists Bruce [=McGivern=] and Fong Ling to Leon and Ada.
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilOutbreak'' was initially conceived as one big three-disc game containing twenty scenarios to play through. What actually came to be, however, was ten scenarios split between two separate releases.
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' had several omissions evidenced by the concept art, which include Wesker [[spoiler:becoming human for the final boss battle and getting a better send off]], an Uroboros battle on top of a train, Jill [[spoiler:being your partner for half of the game]], a boss battle with a horde of Ndesus, and a Tyrant. ''A Tyrant''. Which kills Excella.

** In the Wii installment, Disco Kid's files are typed as “kidquick.” Kid Quick was a character in the original arcade version of ''Punch-Out!!''. Whether Disco Kid is the same character as Kid Quick or replaced him is unknown. However, they share the same stats and both have somewhat similar names.

** Croteam was also approached by Creator/IdSoftware to help develop what would become ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''[='=]s [[VideoGame/Doom2016 2016 reboot]], though very little came of this before they split ways and the whole project was rebooted under Creator/{{Bethesda}}. The Canned Cain multiplayer character and Khnum and Scrapjack enemies are remnants of that, [[{{Expy}} highly resembling]] the Doomguy, Baron of Hell and Mancubus because they were supposed to ''be'' the Doomguy, Baron of Hell and Mancubus.

** ''The Third'' was supposed to have a DLC titled ''Enter the Dominatrix'', involving an alien overlord named Zinyak kidnapping the Boss and placing them in a parody of Film/TheMatrix, "The Dominatrix", while he worked to take control of the planet. The expansion was later cancelled with the announcement that elements of it would be worked into ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV''.

** As part of the World Project, there were also plans for a {{Prequel}} game detailing the Kouma War, something that was touched upon in the games and given a WholeEpisodeFlashback in the [[Anime/SakuraWarsTV anime adaptation]]. Unfortunately, it was canceled.