Nothing gets me more amped up than learning about canceled games. Hmm, maybe amped up is the wrong sort of phrase here. I don’t find glee in games that get canceled. Well, except for a few of these on this list. No, what I really mean is I love to learn about video games, be it classics, new releases, or even yes, canceled games. The best source to go to is Unseen64. I had come across the website a few times via links through the Did You Know Gaming YouTube channel, as the two giants have collaborated on videos. I think the first collaboration I watched was this one concerning the canceled Marvel game from THQ. It blew my mind. To think we were THIS close to getting a proper Avengers game and in first-person no less. Yes, it looked rough around the edges, but the footage was from an alpha build.

Anyway, this prompted me to check out the actual Unseen64 website. I thought I'd find a handful of games there and probably a lot of them I would know about, but I was wrong. There is content on there that dates back to the NES. It's massive! For today I decided to focus on PlayStation games. Most of them are from the PS1 era, but I mixed in some PSP, PS2, and even some PS3 games for good measure. Also of note, some games have generic names so I put the console next to them to make them less confusing.

25 Too Human (PS1)

This year is actually the tenth anniversary of Too Human’s release on Xbox 360. I actually covered its bizarre history in a retrospective back in August. Here’s a condensed version. Silicon Knights' first prototype was more in line with a typical third-person shooter. It didn't have any of the Norse mythology in it. In the early 2000s, they made a deal to make some exclusives for the GameCube with Nintendo and thus halted work on the PS1 game. Then eventually they made the same deal with Microsoft later and that's about it.

24 Fallout (PS1)

There were, unfortunately, no assets I could find for this game, but the write up on Unseen64 was very intriguing. At first glance, I assumed this was going to be a simple port of the first game on PS1 similar to what EA did for Blizzard concerning Diablo, another popular PC game at the time. It, instead, was going to be a top-down shooter. Why is there nothing to show for it? It was canceled after only about four months.

23 Shantae (PS1)

The original Shantae released at the end of the Game Boy Color’s life in 2002, which is a year after its successor launched, the Game Boy Advance. That’s why it sells for so high now. Anyway, before that, WayForward tried to pitch the idea for PCs and the PS1.

I whip my hair back and forth.

If you look at the screenshots on Unseen64, it actually looks very similar to the original game with slightly altered designs. Shantae, for example, is a bit taller, sleeker, and has brown hair.

22 Marvel 2099: One Nation Under Doom

Marvel 2099: One Nation Under Doom is a pretty bad name, but that alone couldn’t have been the reason for its cancelation. Well, not much is known why except for the usual comments like it wasn’t coming together. It was shown publicly at E3 1996 and even had merchandise to hand out. Plus you can see a really terrible VHS demo reel showcasing a Punisher level. Presumably, it would star multiple Marvel heroes fighting Dr. Doom’s henchman in 2D environments.

21 Jet Moto 2124

It’s sad to say, but there were only three Jet Moto games. They were awesome, futuristic jet ski racers all of which were released almost within years of each other. One could easily surmise that too much of a good thing, without much evolution, would lead to deteriorating sales. That’s my guess why this game got canceled. Why Sony hasn’t picked it up since is beyond me. No one is doing something like this now. Oh wait, there is a spiritual successor called Riptide GP Renegade. Check out my review if you're curious.

20 Pac-Man Ghost Zone

Pac-Man has been through the wringer. It made video games a thing back in the 80s. Because of that Namco has tried numerous times to reboot it, placing the yellow circle into new genres. One of these new genres was platforming. Pac-Man Ghost Zone was going to be the first 3D platformer.

No wonder he eats so many pills.

Thankfully Namco mercifully canceled it because, well, it probably wasn’t coming together. If you want to see some more terrible Pac-Man games, then you should check this out.

19 South Park (GameCube)

South Park premiered in 1997. Since its debut, many companies tried their hand at games and all of them were terrible until 2014 when South Park: The Stick of Truth broke the almost two-decade long curse. The only game prior to that that looked interesting was this game, which was being published by Ubisoft funnily enough. It was going to be a clone of a clone, aka it wanted to be The Simpsons: Hit & Run. The footage Unseen64 dug up looked promising, but even though it was canned, I’m glad Ubisoft was able to redeem itself.

18 This Is Vegas

The year was 2007. My family finally decided to upgrade from basic cable boxes to satellite, which is how I was finally introduced to G4. The network gave me the opportunity to watch an E3 press conference live for the first time. This then was also the first time I was able to keep track of games that were announced and then canceled. For example, This Is Vegas. There’s quite a bit of footage out there and looked like an interesting Yakuza-like take, but for America. Unfortunately Midway had financial trouble and the game had to eventually get canceled.

17 Crash Landed

There are actually a lot of canceled Crash Bandicoot games so picking one was actually kind of difficult. Maybe I’ll get into the others in a future installment. If you followed my retrospective of the series back in 2016, then you would know the final new console game to come out was Crash: Mind Over Mutant in 2008.

Let's reboot the reboot!

After that shipped Radical Entertainment went into production for this. It was going to be a reboot and show Crash rescuing other adorable bandicoots. Unfortunately, layoffs led to its cancelation.

16 Castlevania (PS3)

Akumajō Dracula, or Castlevania, were the tentative names for the next main console entry, slated for PS3 and Xbox 360. This was before Castlevania: Lords of Shadow was given to Mercury Steam. The famed Castlevania producer, Koji Igarashi, was actually helming this. The only thing that exists for it is this very brief teaser trailer showing Alucard. To think, we could have had a true successor to Symphony of the Night last generation and instead we got an average trilogy and then the series' demise. Oh well, at least we have the Netflix anime.

15 Chocobo De Battle

Since its premiere in 1987, Final Fantasy has had loads of spinoffs both good and bad. I thought I knew most of them when I did research for my spinoff retrospective. That is until I read about Chocobo de Battle, which was going to be a Chocobo-themed fighting game. Not ordinary birds either, but mech hybrids. The only official information that exists is in an issue of GameFan where there was a small preview. It looked like Tim Burton's idea of a Chocobo.

14 Tomb Raider: Ascension

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I didn’t like the Tomb Raider games before the 2013 reboot. I absolutely adore it in every single way. That is, however, until I read about the original concept for the game called Tomb Raider: Ascension.

Bring back Resident Croft Raider!

Now all I want is that! It was still going to be an open world, but actually more open than the smaller, closed off segments of the reboot. It was also going to be horror-themed and even have Shadow of the Colossus type encounters. The concept art looks cool!

13 Guy Savage

Does Guy Savage ring any bells for you? It probably won’t because it went unnamed in the game, but it was a super secret Easter egg in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. If you happen to fall asleep in the prison once you get caught, Snake will dream, allowing players to play this secret prototype for a new Konami game. Based on the hooked blades, it reminded me of Kingdom Hearts. There’s really not much information known past what you could play in the game though. It was never officially announced as a project either.

12 Ico (PS1)

Before development moved and was finalized on PS2, Ico was going to be released on PS1. Here’s a little secret. I know it's beloved by many, but I think its janky as all heck. I can only imagine how bad it was in its PS1 state, or maybe the move is what damaged it. I have no idea, but it seems all of these games have a troubled history. Fumito Ueda is a great director, but I think his ideas are hindered by his poor time management skills. That's just a theory though.

11 Resident Evil (PSP)

Poor PSP. Sony tried so hard to rope in third-party developers to get exclusive games for the handheld. One of these early games, which I remember being advertised in a sizzle reel with just a title, was Resident Evil.

Zombie destruction on the go.

It was a new game, not just a port of the first title. Sadly nothing exists in terms of assets. All we know can pretty much be gathered from E3 2009 articles like this one from IGN.

10 Zone Of The Enders 3

Right around the time of the PS3 and Xbox 360 HD collections, Zone of the Enders 3 was officially announced by Hideo Kojima. Well, so we thought. He and official Konami press went back and forth on the matter. While we saw an anniversary concept art that kind of announced its existence, and there was a presser, nothing else was ever shown off. Here's my theory. Due to poor sales of the HD collection, they canceled it. I assume it was meant to test the waters and the waters, buddy, were ice cold.

9 Metalocalypse: Dethgame

Konami used to make some amazing beat ‘em ups back in the day. They kind of stopped after the arcade scene dried up. This game was going to be based on the amazing, but criminally underrated, Metalocalypse cartoon from Adult Swim and was going to be a more brutal callback to the old days. I was actually pretty excited for it when it was announced even though most licensed games turn out badly. So realistically this was probably going to be bad too.

8 Onimusha: Demon Warrior

Did you know that Onimusha was originally conceived as a Resident Evil game? Like the original, it was planned to be in a mansion, but one filled with ninjas and traps instead, set in ancient Japan. This was on PS1. As it continued, Capcom instead moved it to be a new IP and was given the name Onimusha: Demon Warrior.

Resident Samurai, or Samurai Evil both sound fun.

The demo footage actually looks like the PS2 game, but just, you know, a very low poly version of it. Want more knowledge on Onimusha? You bet I made a retrospective!

7 MediEvil 3: Fate’s Arrow

MediEvil launched for the PS1 in 1998, a sequel followed for the PS1 in 2000, and then this sequel was being worked on for the PS2 around 2003. After the cancelation it was decided to make a remake for the PSP, MediEvil: Resurrection, instead which came out in 2005. Oh yeah and now a third remake of the original is planned for PS4 in 2019. At this rate look forward to a fourth remake in 2030, but don’t get your hopes up for a true sequel anytime soon.

6 Call Of Duty: Devil’s Brigade

There have been rumors about a third-person Call of Duty for years now. I assumed it was canceled or was still being worked on. Little did I know a story came out about the whole ordeal via Polygon in 2012. The game was called Call of Duty: Devil’s Brigade and would have taken place in World War II. It was also going to be sort of tactical in nature and would have been a side series next to the continued modern take. Personally, I think it looked boring so good job canceling it?