Nintendo used to be a go to source for awesome RPGs, from the NES to the Super Nintendo and even to the original Game Boy. However, starting with the N64, there were scarce RPGs for years if not decades, thanks to Sony scooping them up for the PS1 and beyond. What happened?

RELATED: 10 Canceled Movie Video Games You Never Knew Existed

This is all to say the late 90s and early 2000s had a lot of planned RPGs for Nintendo’s consoles that eventually went nowhere. These ten entries are some of the most interesting ones that never made it to the light of day. In no particular order, let’s dig for Nintendo RPG lost treasures.

10 Quest 64 II

Quest 64 - Brian battles a pig enemy

Quest 64 is a pretty mediocre N64 RPG that came out in 1998. While it did get two spinoffs, there was a full-on sequel for the 64DD in development as well. It would have been set a hundred years after the first and would have given players a choice between two characters who each came with a sidekick and a respective set of skills.

Very little is known about the project and there is scarce photographic evidence of it, but for those that want to know a teeny bit more, Unseen64 is the place to go.

9 Shining Legend

Shining Legend is a canceled DS RPG from the developers of the Kingdom Under Fire series, Blueside. And no, it is not part of Sega’s Shining series. The project’s original name, Princess and Knight, wasn’t as catchy though, right?

Anyway, while there is no video footage, there is plenty of artwork and screenshots from the game archived on Unseen64. It is unknown why it was canceled, but strangely enough, they did release an iOS game later, Princess Pajama, that looks eerily similar.

8 EarthBound GameCube

Most gamers probably know about how Mother 3 started out as EarthBound 64 for the 64DD, right? Well, last year it was revealed that the Xenoblade Chronicles team, Monolith Soft, had pitched Nintendo on an EarthBound title for GameCube. They made Nintendo a few assets constructed out of clay, but it was turned down.

Even though that was the case it is still interesting to know they were, well, interested. All that exists from the project now are those clay models from the pitch. Maybe after their remake of Xenoblade Chronicles on Switch, Nintendo can go ahead and let them make a new EarthBound/Mother game, or even a remake of Mother 3 would be great too.

7 Baten Kaitos 2

Speaking of Monolith Soft, they were working on an actual sequel to the first Baten Kaitos with Namco. See, the second game was a prequel so even though it would be the third game, Baten Kaitos II would have been the first sequel. Get it?

RELATED: 10 Canceled Superhero Games You'll Never Get To Play

Anyway, Nintendo eventually acquired Monolith Soft as a subsidiary to their company in 2007, which seems to be the big reason behind the game’s cancellation since they left Namco. There isn’t much more to say, as there is only one piece of artwork remaining. However, Yasuyuki Honne of Monolith Soft shared a few key anecdotes which are archived on Unseen64.

6 Sword of Legendia

Sword of Legendia is a real pickle. It was announced as a Wii game, but was never really shown off in any capacity. What is known is that even though Tales of Legendia shares a name with the project, this would have not been a spinoff in that RPG series.

That series' head, Makoto Yoshizumi, revealed initial information in 2006. In another 2009 interview he was asked about the project, which seemed to imply it was still going on, but in 2011 it was revealed that it was actually canceled before that time. Again, Unseen64 has a couple more details, but that’s it.

5 Gold Star Mountain

Dark Souls 2 Promo Image Of Knight Facing The Other Way

FromSoftware is known now for their grim Dark Souls and their many Souls-like related titles. Way before this they were working on a brighter RPG for GameCube called Gold Star Mountain.

Get this, it involved capturing monsters and fighting them in action combat scenarios. There are a few blurry screenshots, but the game is best represented in this quick trailer. What if FromSoftware was given the Pokémon license to do whatever they wanted. Drooling yet?

4 Space Agency

Contact is a super weird DS RPG that broke the 4th wall. Well, the followup to that would have been Space Agency, also for DS.

Based on the video, it looks a lot like that game only with a bit more of an intergalactic vibe instead of an island theme. Said video is more like a pitch because there is no real footage, only words, artwork, and screenshots taken. As Contact was super niche, it is not hard to imagine that this was canceled due to poor sales of their previous work.

3 Final Fantasy VII and Dragon Quest VII

Let's do a combo for this one because both of these projects were ultimately finished. First of all, while Square was still in the good graces of Nintendo they showed off a 3D demo of Final Fantasy VI characters running on the N64.

RELATED: 10 Canceled Game Sequels We Will Never Get To Play

This was presumably to test out the footage for Final Fantasy VII. Well, eventually Sony dragged Square away from Nintendo and apparently made them a better deal to create Final Fantasy VII for the original PlayStation instead. This basically happened with Dragon Quest VII as well with Enix. Work started on the 64DD before it was scrapped and brought over to the PS1 as well.

2 Fire Emblem 64 and 64 Wars

Advance Wars art of characters in a tank

This is a similar duo of games, this time from Nintendo's own Intelligent Systems. Work for the next Wars and Fire Emblem titles began on the N64.

However, for one reason or another both projects were scrapped and retooled as Game Boy Advance titles instead. As previously mentioned, this happened with EarthBound 64 for Mother 3 as well. At least these games weren't canned completely. Unlike Fire Emblem, there are some blurry screenshots of 64 Wars on Unseen64.

1 Dragon’s Heaven

Let's end with a true blast from the past on the Super Nintendo: Dragon’s Heaven. As it was so long ago it's hard to get any information on it.

In fact, this forgotten game was only discovered as of last year when someone dug up an article from an old Japanese magazine. It's hard to get a good look at the game itself, but boy, the artwork is cool at least.

NEXT: The 10 Biggest Game Companies, Ranked (According To Metacritic)