Bad Export for You: The Australian version, due to the removal of Shaundi's loyalty mission. It's also impossible to play the censored Australian version in co-op with any other version.
Banned in China: Australia initially banned the game for the Anal Probe weapon (which was considered to be "sexual violence") and Shaundi's loyalty mission "Psychosomatic" (for depicting both Shaundi and The Boss getting high on Loa Dust). The game was eventually released with both the weapon and the mission removed, albeit with the inability to play co-op with anyone outside of Australia. Volition responded to this discrepancy by making the American/European versions of the game region-free for the Xbox 360.
A whole lot of content from Saints Row: The Third is present in the game files, such as gang members, weapons, and vehicles. It even includes complete model of Dane can be found in Saints Row IV, indicating that he was at one point part of the story. Several modsinprogress are aiming to reintroduce them to the game.
Dummied Out content isn't limited to leftovers from the previous game: some content was clearly meant for IV before it became a proper sequel. The internal names of a number of audio logs correspond to The Third-only characters like Viola or Oleg despite being repurposed for IV characters, and homie-to-homie conversations are set up for characters who never appear as homies in the normal game, like Philippe Loren.
The "Commander in Chief Edition", available to everyone who pre-orders the game, gives you an Uncle Sam outfit, a Screaming Eagle jet, and the 'Merica weapon in-game.
The "Super Dangerous Wub Wub Edition" includes the bonus items, and also includes a replica dubstep gun, dubstep doomsday button, and a Johnny Gat memorial statue.
The "Emperor Zinyak's Game of the Generation Edition" comes with all that, and a light-up rotating display case for the game and a velvet pouch.
The "Super Dangerous Wad Wad Edition", which there is only one copy of and costs one million dollars, comes with the Commander in Chief edition, the dubstep gun, spy training, a trip to outer space, a Lamborghini, a one year membership to the E25 Super Car Club, plastic surgery, a shopping spree, a weeks trip to the Jefferson Hotel in Washington, a hostage rescue experience, a Toyota Prius with insurance, and a week's vacation to Burj Al Arab. It's also a designers' hoax, but who cares?
The "Ultra Super Ultimate Deluxe Edition", exclusive to Japan, includes all of the DLC released internationally.
Lying Creator: In the interviews, the developers said that the Penetrator (a dildo-shaped bat) and zombies will not be returning from Saints Row: The Third. However, the Penetrator makes a return as a secret weapon and zombies make an appearance in Matt Miller's loyalty mission "Nytefall".
Old/Fun Shaundi is played by Jennifer Jules Hart rather than Eliza Dushku.
Similarly, some of the Boss voices are swapped out and replaced, with the female Hispanic, female Russian and Zombie voice replaced by French, Southern and Nolan North. Regarding the female Hispanic voice, it was discontinued as a result of her VA, Rebecca Sanabria, retiring from voice acting after Saints Row: The Third to pursue photography.
Cyrus Temple is an interesting example. He's played by Richard Epcar in the prologue, but in "The Girl Who Hates the 50s", Kinzie's loyalty mission, audio logs and Homie Conversations involving him, he's played by his original actor, Tim Thomerson.
Instead of Jacques Hennequet, JB Blanc plays Phillipe Loren in his boss fight in Johnny's loyalty mission and the Dummied Out Homie conversations.
Similarly, William Sharp is voiced by a different voice actor in his Dummied Out audio logs instead of David Carradine due to his death four years prior.
Tanya Winters goes from Mila Kunis to Ursula Taherian.
The Other Marty: Terry Crews replacing Michael Clarke Duncan as Ben King. Duncan had started his initial recordings for the game prior to his death, with Crews stepping in to replace him afterwards. Both actors are credited for the role, but Duncan's work is only heard during the game's end credits.
Pre-Order Bonus: Depending on where you pre-order your game, you can get outfits based on various presidents, superhero costumes, or USA-themed items. PC owners who pre-ordered the game on Steam gained access to three Team Fortress 2 weapons: the Soldier's Rocket Launcher, the Pyro's Flamethrower, and the Rainblower.
Throw It In!: The developers openly admit that most of the ridiculous elements in the game came about simply because someone suggested something and everyone else just shrugged and said "Why not?".
Torch the Franchise and Run: The game was clearly made with finality in mind due to THQ's financial troubles and eventual bankruptcy as Earth is destroyed and the Saints left with the choice of using time travel to prevent Earth's destruction or going forward as intergalactic conquerors.
Troubled Production: Enter the Dominatrix was originally announced as an April Fool's gag, only to be later confirmed as actually happening as a standalone DLC expansion to Saints Row: The Third, before being cancelled & expanded into Saints Row IV, with the aspects of ETD that were left on the cutting room floor after it became SRIV being released as a DLC that is explicitly described as a set of deleted scenes.
Two Voices, One Character: Cyrus Temple was voiced by Richard Epcar in "Zero Saints Thirty" even though Tim Thomerson voices him in the rest of the game.
Lin, Donnie, William Sharp, Dane Vogel, Viola, Loren, and Zimos were originally going to be homies in game and had cut audio logs and Homie Conversations. Zimos' clothes are available for purchase in stores, and his personal symbol shows up in the Saints' mothership. Zimos indeed returns in Enter the Dominatrix as does Donnie.
The "aliens trap the Saints in a virtual Steelport" aspect was originally going to be a stand-alone expansion for The Third, called Enter the Dominatrix. It was later decided to cancel the expansion and just merge that and the concept for IV together. Who knows what could have happened if the "virtual Steelport" and "the Boss as the President" plots stayed separate. Later on, Enter The Dominatrix was made a DLC pack for IV, and several previous characters do indeed return, answering both of the above points.
The original concept for this game was titled Saints Row: Part Four. It would have taken place in a new city, where an evil clone of Johnny Gat managed to bring back Cleopatra, Genghis Khan and Joseph Stalin, the three of whom would have served as the game's gang leaders. New proposed mechanics included in-depth weapon customisation, parkour and a cover system. Ultimately this was scrapped because THQ, undergoing financial troubles that would eventually lead to its bankruptcy, wanted a follow-up that was cheaper to make, being part of the reason that the Enter the Dominatrix concept was adapted into Saints Row IV.
The Blood 106.66, the metal station of Saints Row: The Third, was originally supposed to return in IV. The logo was not only found in the files, but was updated to include Zinyak's face (suggesting that he was going to be the DJ). It was cut, presumably due to the lack of budget to license the songs, and Zinyak instead hosted Klassic 102.4.
Model filenames and Dummied Out voice files and subtitles show that the Zero Saints Thirty prologue originally involved the Saints taking out Osama bin Laden, with the terrorists specified as al-Qaeda in the filenames. Taste reasons and possible datedness (as Osama had already been killed months before The Third let alone IV even came out) likely lead to it being changed to Cyrus instead.
In 2012, Volition was working on a new DLC for Saints Row: The Third, titled Enter the Dominatrix, as well as the next mainline entry, Saints Row: Part Four, which was to be set in a whole new city. However, its parent company THQ experienced financial troubles and told Volition to abandon Part Four and to turn EtD into the next main installment, released in 2014 as Saints Row IV. The game proved even more controversial than The Third, mainly because it recycled the latter's world map almost without alterations (for the first time in the series) and took a sharp turn away from urban crime sandboxing into quasi-Super Hero territory.
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