Prototype, Beta, pre-release and cancelled games

[RETRO-VETRO RETRO-VETRO]

Sonic X-treme, EarthBound 64, Rayman 2 (2D version)

 

[PhaseJump]

This one is looking more like it every day.

 

[csanjuro]

Mega Man Legends 3

 

[Tonberry]

Rayman 4
While Origins was amazing and Legends was fine, I can literally never ever get over the Rabbids…

 

[Jeff]

Earthbound 64, Donkey Kong Racing, Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers, Diddy Kong Pilot, Sonic Xtreme, Mega Man Legends 3, Mega Man Anniversary Collection for GameBoy Advance, Conker's Twelve Tales, Kirby Ball 64, Super Mario RPG 2, Super Mario 64 2, Yoshi Racing, Fire Emblem 64, Metroid 64.

 

[moonbits]

 

[Lena CE]

Tiberium! I think I may have told this story elsewhere, but I grew up with a love for Command & Conquer ever since I played Red Alert on my uncle's PS1. Outside of watching some G4 I didn't really keep up with new and upcoming games as a kid, but around 2009 my grandma started picking up old gaming magazines and giving them to me. As someone who didn't have any current gen consoles at the time aside from my PSP I got in the summer that year it was amazing to hear about all these games I knew so little about. These magazines might as well have been cutting edge for me!



One such game made the cover of Game Informer in January of 2008 and went by the name Tiberium. It was a brand new squad based FPS made by EA set in the original Tiberium War universe of Command & Conquer. You'd play as someone who could call in units and command troops in battle, with a planned single player campaign and online PvP component being planned. Unfortunately, the project would be silently cancelled as it slowly slipped out of news coverage.



As a kid though, I had no idea about any of the development woes and cancellations. It was on the cover of a magazine in 2008 and I wouldn't have a 360 to play it on until next year. Upon receiving that 360 though, about a month or two later when going through these old magazines to get ideas for games to get I came across this issue again. I was elated, surely some 2 years after being on the cover of Game Informer the game was out, right? Next trip to Gamestop I looked all over the store for a copy, to no avail. The clerk would then inform me that it was indeed cancelled, and I was utterly devastated.

 

[RetroGameUser25]

Off the top of my head - FF Versus XIII, SW 1313, Terra Battle 2, Republic Commando Sequel, FF Type Next, Cry On, KH Missing Link, KH Fragmented Keys.

 

[bjork]

True Fantasy Live Online

 

[Doomsday519]

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.

Sleeping Dogs 2 easily on the top of my list of games that should have been.

 

[Tonberry]

Why must you hurt me…

 

[Ons2k6]

 

[Leguminoso]

This one is looking more like it every day.

Oh goddamn, I forgot this game existed. I saw it like two years ago.

I have some hope, SIGNALIS took almost a decade.

 

[NisenWasTaken (NWT)]

Sonic Xtreme.

The game looked really cool, it was canceled unfortunately.

 

[Guinea]

Square Enix mobile games: All the Bravest, Opera Omnia, Brave Exvius, War of the Visions, Nier ReIncarnation, and others.

 

[Crashbandi]

ONI 2 sequel to the Bungie's (yes the Halo guys) 2001 Character Action game blended with 90s anime style like. ONI had a one and only combat system, where it combines melee combat with third person shooter and platforming and it seemed like you can approach enemies in any way shape or form. It had a great futuristic espionage theme with anime aestethic. But other than the combat it had many flaws such as uninspired level design, mediocre bosses, and bugs. A sequel could've fixed up everything and make it a classic the same way Halo was. It was cancelled due to poor sales from what I know but I do not have the knowledge to back it up.

View attachment 123704

Man I loved Oni! Really disappointed about the second game

 

[dropsmegamega]

There's a lot of interesting projects I remember from back when I used to visit unseen64, but the ones I always think about:

-Fallout 3 Van Buren
-Baldur's Gate 3 The Black Hound
-Heroes of Might and Magic V (from the og devs)
-Earthbound 64
-Kirby GCN
-Rayman 4
-Sekai no Hate (from the devs of Garage: Bad Dream Adventure)
-Frog Days (oldschool 1st person adventure/pc sim that served as inspiration for Hypnospace Outlaw)

 

[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: Oct 31, 2025

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 – CDRomance

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 – CDRomance

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