New video games are released all the time. There are a lot of games that people really look forward to and get excited for the day that it'll be released so they can finally get their hands on it or download it and get to playing! But there are some games that didn't come out as planned. Although having a developer cancel a video game is sadly not that uncommon, some games have a more interesting story.
There are some games that, for whatever reason, weren't actually released on schedule. But, some time later, these games actually became available to the public, either because they were finally released or because another video game fan managed to get their hands on it and made it available.
10 10. Resident Evil 1.5
In the new Resident Evil 2 remake, players will find a hidden costume for Claire Redfield called the "Elza Walker Costume." Even the most serious Resident Evil fans may find themselves confused about exactly who Elza Walker is - and for good reason! Elza Walker is a character that never actually appeared in a Resident Evil game. Her appearance was set to be in Resident Evil 1.5, a game that was canceled when it was about 70% complete.
Several different supposed versions of the game have been floating around the Internet and serious horror game fans have been adamant about getting their hands on the final version. One game fan that goes by the name of MartinBiohazard has been working to finish the game and has been releasing patches as recently as 2018.
9 9. Diddy Kong Pilot
Diddy Kong Pilot is a game that was being developed in the early 2000s. At a press event for Nintendo in 2000, they showed that they were working on a game called Diddy Kong Pilot and planned to include other Nintendo characters like Mario, Princess Peach, Wario, and others.
Diddy Kong Pilot ended up being scrapped and instead, the developers flipped it around and turned the entire game into Banjo-Pilot. But, through emulation, serious Nintendo fans can actually play this game today!
8 8. The Shadow
The Shadow is a game that was supposed to be released on the SNES and is based on the film from the mid-1990s by the same name. The game was supposed to be released around the same time as the movie but considering the fact that the movie wasn't exactly a hit at the box office, we can see why this game was canceled, even if there's no official statement from Nintendo on why they chose to do away with it. Still, fans that really love side-scrolling beat 'em up games, this game can be played through emulation today.
7 7. Rayman For SNES
Rayman may be a video game character that we all know and love now, but not many game fans will know that there was actually a game in development for the SNES featuring this character that got canceled.
In this canceled game, the main character was a boy named Jimmy who created a world called Hereitscool on his computer. When a virus took over this virtual world, Jimmy was forced to enter the world to save it! The game ended up being canceled but an early version of the game was discovered and made playable for Nintendo fans that want this piece of Rayman history.
6 6. Gauntlet
Gauntlet is a game that was going to be released on the Nintendo DS and had quite a few really interesting features planned. According to the developers, issues with the publisher stopped this game from ever coming to market, but Nintendo kept the game on their website for a really long time after it was released and simply had "to be determined" as the release date.
In 2013, a version of the game that seemed either complete or very close to complete was found and made available for players to check out for themselves.
5 5. Labyrinthe / Horror Tour 3
Labryinthe is the third game in the Horror Tour video game series. This game series was released exclusively in Japan between 1996 and 1998. Even though this series of games was actually released, the fact that it only came out in Japan meant that this game was lost to the rest of the world for a long time.
But in 2018, an anonymous video game fan uploaded a huge, private collection of Japanese video games that had never received an international release online. That means that these games were all finally available for the rest of the world to play and experience.
4 4. Resident Evil For Game Boy Color
Not many people think of horror games when they think of their Game Boy Color. Resident Evil Gaiden is a game from the Resident Evil franchise that actually was released on the Game Boy Color, but it wasn't the first Game Boy Color game that the Resident Evil franchise almost got.
The game was supposed to be a Game Boy Color version of the PlayStation game, but it was canceled when it was really close to complete. In 2012, the latest version of the game was found and made available for players.
3 3. Star Fox 2
While many video games that were lost or canceled end up being found and released online by a video game fan or collector, Star Fox 2 is a game that Nintendo actually decided to release themselves over 20 years after the first game was released.
Star Fox 2 is a sequel to the 1993 game Star Fox and was released in 2017. This game was in development in the mid-1990s and a playable demo was even available in 1995 at the 1995 Winter Consumer Electronics Show. The game ended up being canceled but was released in 2017 on the SNES Classic Edition.
2 2. Bio Force Ape
Bio Force Ape is a truly strange game that was in development to be released on the NES in 1991. According to the original description for this game, it was going to follow a chimpanzee who is being kept as a pet and must save its owners by taking a strange Bio Force serum and mutating into a pro wrestler.
The game had built up some hype in the 1990s when it was going to be released but after it was apparently canceled and lost, many people forgot about it. Over the years, a few people claimed to have gotten their hands on it, but it wasn't actually found and made playable until 2011 when a video game collector got their hands on it and made it playable online.
1 1. Sound Fantasy
Sound Fantasy is a game that was planned to be released in 1994 for the SNES. This game was one of the few games that would use the SNES Mouse and would have been sold in a bundle with that SNES accessory. Because rhythm games weren't exactly popular yet and Nintendo was mostly focused on games that had a marketable character, this game was canceled when it was almost complete.
In 2014, a video game collector came into ownership of an early prototype of the game and, after the game traded hands between a few different collectors, it was made available for video game fans to play.