Favourite lost/cancelled games or vapourware

[Mahan_Native]

Silent Hill 5
Earthbound 64
Rayman 4
Mega Man Legends 3
Kurayami

Suda 51 at first planned to make a game called Kurayami, a psychological horror game inspired by the castle of Franz Kafka; the concepts were really great but..... Suda went to worst possible publisher at the time : EA

EA rejected his ideas like four times and Suda wrote five different scenario through out the development. eventually, the fifth version which is now known as Shadows of the Damned was accepted, a action horror game with a new director and almost all of the Kafka influences were gone.

 

[NeonKnights]

Ura Zelda, SM64 2, and Earthbound 64.

 

[AlanStream24]

Deep Down, is supposed to be a PS4 exclusive, the last we heard about this game was in 2020 when the producer was asked what happened to the title, responding with "[has] not been completely given up on" but after that nothing else was saying, after seeing other games like dragon's dogma it's very clear that deep down was cancelled quietly

 

[nyka]

honestly the last time I got excited for something by level-5 it was this:

RIP

 

[ozzagrl]

Project Rap Rabbit would've been so nice to have...

I MEAN LOOK HOW CUTE HE IS :D

 

[JPchicre]

I hate to say it, but I find YouTubers coverage of Internet/Niche-Hobbies drama very entertaining to watch, so i would go with any famous game kickstarter scam. One famous is the MMO Dreamworld. That Josh Strife Hayes covered.

Post automatically merged: Today at 6:59 AM

Besides that Chrono Cross possible sequel Chrono Break. Anything Chrono Trigger related really. There was also a Fan Remake that was DMCA'ed by Square Enix. At time it made me foam in my mouth. But looking back, it probably would have been very limited in quality being a small group remake of a JRPG. Would still be interesting to

 

[PSVitaForever]

Official translation of the first one (got cancelled by Atlus at some point) and missed release on Vita of the second.
Luckily both of them got fan translation so it's been ok :) Also, yes, I know Type-0 got official release for ps4 and other consoles, but I don't own those consoles so I would have missed it.

Grand Knights History (English Patched) PSP ISO – RGT Repository

Grand Knights History (English Patched) PSP ISO Game ID: ULJS-00394. Languages: English Patched. For Sony PlayStation Portable.

retrogametalk.com

Final Fantasy Type-0 (English Patched v2) PSP ISO – RGT Repository

Final Fantasy Type-0 (English Patched v2) PSP ISO Game ID: NPJH-50443. Languages: English Patched. For Sony PlayStation Portable.

retrogametalk.com

 

[ThunderBoy]

Unreal Tournament 4

 

[Lena CE]

Unreal Tournament 4

Pain... So much pain...

 

[thetwaz]

Star Trek: Secret Of Vulcan Fury

Remember seeing a trailer for it on my copy of Atomic Bomberman. Apparently it kind of turned into a financial sink hole and wasn't feasible. Very much "too far ahead of it's time"

I remember seeing the screen caps for this in PC zone. Wonder if anyone saved any of the cinematics?

Post automatically merged: Today at 9:38 AM

Star Wars 1313 would've been a treat to have. A (comparatively) grittier Star Wars Bounty Hunter game in the ps3 / 360 era? Ohh I think that game would've been real cool! I was upset when it was cancelled.

I missed this - it looked awesome! Very much in that Dark Forces kind of mould in terms of feel I suppose. I feel like the Mandalorian might have paved more of a way for that sort of game.

 

[Tounushi]

Does anyone remember Citizen? An isometric game where you control the main character by adjusting his moods in order to fulfill objectives on individual days. Only had a demo on a magazine disk.

 

[Onionstarz]

Guild Wars Utopia

 

[thetwaz]

StarCraft Ghosts

I still dream of a this game, specially since I read a lot of its wonder as a multiplayer game with classes (I got my stuff from magazines, so I dont know if this is accurate)

EDIT:

it was real... oh boy it could have been so great

There was a bit of a trend in early-mid 00s of doing action games in Strategy game settings, thinking of X-Com Interceptor, Commandos Strike Force etc.

Post automatically merged: Today at 11:40 AM

Another one I remember being trailled a lot in PC Magazines was Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll by Sensible Software. It was meant to be a point and click adventure following a rock star doing all of the above, rendered in a kind of 'Ecstatica-esque' 3D style. Very much a kind of more explicit Leisure Suit Larry style game:

Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll [PC - Cancelled] - Unseen64

Preserving Details, Screenshots, Videos & more Lost Media for Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll [PC - Cancelled] Help us to remember cancelled video games!

www.unseen64.net

This Eurogamer article has a deep dive into all the issues from Jon Hare, who was a bit of a royalty figure in UK PC gaming, and covers poor recruitment, unrealistic scoping and puritanical publishers:

Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll

Once upon a time, before Atari ST, before Sony PlayStation, before Sonic the Hedgehog, even before the internet as we k…

www.eurogamer.net

 

[Lee__Kanker]

Unreal Tournament 4

I played the beta...WHYD THEY CANCEL IT



For me absolutely silent hill 5 (the real one), I always wanted a horror game set during the day and team silent said they were gonna make JUST THAT! It specifically cited texas chainsaw massacre, a movie I love, as inspiration. It was also gonna have run along the town of sh while it was Normal, and Then it shifted into the otherworld before your eyes, maybe it was gonna feature another protagonist who was called to the town like in 2

Goddamn it

Also Naoko Sato (sole maker of all the fmvs in 1, character designer and worked on the fmvs in 2) had his own potential scenario for Silent Hill 3, he said he wont tell what it was in case he ever wants to use it; I'm very curious about what it was..

Every interview about 5 always goes "We cant say much about it", so they're gonna carry that secret to their graves

Theres not even any concept art of it, people mistook some stuff masahiro ito shared about a cancelled sh project for 5, but he was actually not gonna be involved with it, just like he wasnt involved with 4

And so I'll never know while now the series becomes yet another bland modern remake factory, SIGH...

Oh well, I'm happy 1-4 happened at all


I'm also gonna mention Scalebound, I wonder how much of that game was reused for Bayonetta 3

Speaking of, the original concept for Bayonetta 3 where it's open world would've been much better than those boring puzzle sections

And speaking of Bayo, the Second game was gonna have a Light Scenario for Balder and a Dark one for Bayo, that wouldve also been cool


Also the cel shaded Final Fight for ps2

Also the original concept for Shadow of the Damned, before EA told the director to westernize it

 

[Mubashureta]

Sonic Mars for sega 32x was one of my big obsessions

 

[qw90700]

I played the beta...WHYD THEY CANCEL IT

They never wanted to develop it. UT series was always just a tech demo to advertize new Unreal Engine versions that they sell to make money. Only in that context they used the popularity of such "arena FPSs" to make money from UT too. When UT2004 was a big deal because it was really a good game they got serious in developing an UT but newer games weren't that good and it made the series lose popularity a lot. IMO UT3 was sucks AF hot horse and bullshit on hell fire lol. For the last Unreal game they just used it as a "community contributed game" that fans develop it, not Epic. After all the core Unreal they developed was enough for as "tech demo".

Around that time they also released early access for the Fortnite alpha/beta version (I don't remember which). You could only play as a woman, only one map, just simple attacks and ability to create a big wooden plank in various angles in thin air and that's it. But just because the woman character had a big ass + it had childish graphics new generation kiddos likes it got popular and here were are. Since Fortnite was da money making game it would be stupid to bother with UT at that point. They buried UT because they didn't need it to make money lol. Now their new tech demo and the game they wanna make money from is Fortnite. Until they screw up and Fortnite cannot bring bread to home they won't return to UT but if they do I will kindly ask them to make laws of physics fun as how it was in UT2004 (this is the whole reason why I still play the with flak cannon since its demo released lol):

#MakeUTGreatAgain!!! lolol

 

[Lee__Kanker]

They never wanted to develop it. UT series was always just a tech demo to advertize new Unreal Engine versions that they sell to make money. Only in that context they used the popularity of such "arena FPSs" to make money from UT too. When UT2004 was a big deal because it was really a good game they got serious in developing an UT but newer games weren't that good and it made the series lose popularity a lot. IMO UT3 was sucks AF hot horse and bullshit on hell fire lol. For the last Unreal game they just used it as a "community contributed game" that fans develop it, not Epic. After all the core Unreal they developed was enough for as "tech demo".

Around that time they also released early access for the Fortnite alpha/beta version (I don't remember which). You could only play as a woman, only one map, just simple attacks and ability to create a big wooden plank in various angles in thin air and that's it. But just because the woman character had a big ass + it had childish graphics new generation kiddos likes it got popular and here were are. Since Fortnite was da money making game it would be stupid to bother with UT at that point. They buried UT because they didn't need it to make money lol. Now their new tech demo and the game they wanna make money from is Fortnite. Until they screw up and Fortnite cannot bring bread to home they won't return to UT but if they do I will kindly ask them to make laws of physics fun as how it was in UT2004 (this is the whole reason why I still play the with flak cannon since its demo released lol):

View attachment 123879

#MakeUTGreatAgain!!! lolol

Thanks a lot for the thorough explanation dude

I always wanted to see the golden age of arena shooters, I knew about em as a kid, but sadly I didnt have the internet until 2009ish, and a decent enough laptop until 2012. I at least made up for it when it comes to the single player stuff like doom and serious sam..


There was this bried period in 2017 when it looked like arena shooters were making a comeback, but they all fizzled out..
I tried quakr champions and it had overwatchesque classes and ultimates, including a class thats the fastest. In a game about movement.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Oni 2

Perfect Dark Core

Mirror's Edge 2 (not Catalyst)

Sonic Adventure (Saturn)

Any potential Nights 3 (Dream Wheel)

Super Mario 128

Metroid Dread (DS)

 

[YurokashitheBandit]

Star Wars 1313 would've been a treat to have. A (comparatively) grittier Star Wars Bounty Hunter game in the ps3 / 360 era? Ohh I think that game would've been real cool! I was upset when it was cancelled.

Sleeping Dogs 2 as well. Unfortunate that the game never came to be.

Honorary mention that kind of exists... Warcraft : Lord of the Clans! Never really published, but apparently it exists and can be played.

I would do ANYTHING for Sleeping Dogs 2. Quite scared tho that if the movie gets greenlit and releases to huge popularity that a sequel does happen but turns out to be dogshit :/

 

[Lee__Kanker]

Oni 2

Perfect Dark Core

Mirror's Edge 2 (not Catalyst)

Sonic Adventure (Saturn)

Any potential Nights 3 (Dream Wheel)

Super Mario 128

Metroid Dread (DS)

There was a scrapped version of Mirrors Edge 2?

 

[χKai]

 

[John Cruelty]

Yume Nikki

 

[Mr.MiniMii]

Hmmm... Let's see.

- Conker's Other Bad Day
- Dinosaur Planet
- Rayman 4
- Metroid 64
- Resident Evil 0 64
- ANY of the cancelled Star Fox games
- Kirby GCN

 

[RestoredaftrLostv2]

Rockman Dash 3 for 3ds....still hurts seeing that.

Also the many many cancelled rpgs that were scheduled but never got an english translations.

 

[dropsmegamega]

Does anyone remember Citizen? An isometric game where you control the main character by adjusting his moods in order to fulfill objectives on individual days. Only had a demo on a magazine disk.

interesting. do you know where can I find more about this?