When the Grey Faerie's Neopedia article was released, a "Bottled Grey Faerie" item was found in the game's servers. Neopian Times Editorial #90 would later imply that a plotline involving the Grey Faeries was on the way, however nothing has been heard about this since, likely meaning that whatever plotline was planned was either cancelled or delayed indefinitely.
When "THE JOY OF CREATION" was still in development as "The Joy of Creation: Ignited Collection", the first game in the The Joy of Creation series was going to be remade as part of the collection, where it would have been known as "The Joy of Creation: Classic". However, on July 27, 2023, Nikson revealed that he had changed his mind about adding Classic to the collection, instead having it only include The Joy of Creation: Reborn and The Joy of Creation: Story Mode.
One of the developers of Yo! Noid 2 also worked on STRAFE, a game featuring Totino's product placement. Through these food industry connections, said developer managed to contact Domino's Pizza and almost pitched the idea of having some kind of official collaboration. The developers ultimately did not go forward with, as the game's developers didn't feel they had enough energy to go through the hassle of making a pitch document. Despite the pitch not being made, the developers did compile a video of streamers talking about how the game made them hungry for Domino's for the purpose of the pitch.
Aang and Korra were first revealed for Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl on the Xbox Podcast with footage from their respective trailers. The CGI portion of Korra's trailer was not played, and following the reveal, Aang's trailer would be posted to YouTube, but not Korra's. This lead some to believe that a CGI trailer for Korra was never actually made until May 2022, when a YouTuber named socks dude discovered the trailer on the website for i95Creative, the studio that edited the promotional material for Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl.
A prototype exists for a US version of the original Japan-exclusive Puzzle Bobble known as Bubble Buster which removes the Bubble Bobble elements outright, as it was a very common practice for puzzle games at the time. This is somewhat unusual, because no replacement characters were provided, unlike localisations such as Tetris Attack, and Bubble Bobble had already proven itself to be a popular brand in the American market at the time. The logo for Bubble Buster would serve as the basis for the logo of the Neo Geo arcade remake's US release, Bust-A-Move, though that did not remove the Bubble Bobble characters.
According to the Song Production Information provided by D.J.Amuro (aka Takayuki Ishikawa), the song "A" was originally composed for Beatmania IIDX 3rd Style. However, the song was shelved until the release of 7th Style. This was due to the song being considered too difficult for the time, relative to player skill level.
Some unused content that was going to be used in the scrapped sequel is still referenced in the final game. The second installment would have had Drew Blanc and Flux Wildly traveling to the "Train of Thought", where they would meet an animated version of Vincent Van Gogh and have an encounter with a nightmarish dentist. In the opening for the first game, Drew receives a phone call reminder to get a dental filling, and a picture of Van Gogh can be seen on the wall in his workspace. Footage of the animated Van Gogh also appears in the official trailer for the game.
Titenic was finished an indeterminately long time before its release in 2003 (presumably back when the 1997 film "Titanic" was recent), but was temporarily shelved due to declining interest in the Taiwanese Famicom market. Although not stated by any official sources, it could also be incurred that it may have had difficulty releasing due to the film's target audience being very distant from those that video games were marketed to in the 1990s, as it was released with the more pre-teen-boy-targeting reskin, Harry's Legend in 2001, prior to the release of the original Titenic.
In 2019, amid a rise in popularity for anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and psuedoscience, a petition was started for Plague Inc. to implement anti-vaccine advocates, or "anti-vaxxers", as a situation that would buff your disease. Ndemic Creations, while noting that anti-vaxxers do technically exist as a smaller part of the "Science Denial" scenario along with flat Earth theorists and climate change deniers, agreed to include the movement as a solo buff for the disease, but did not have an idea for how they would work in gameplay at the time. Anti-vaxxers have not yet been added to the game, but a second buff partially referencing anti-vaxxers, "Fake News", would be added.
Atari Corporation lead Larry Siegel attempted to sell main Atari CEO Jack Tramiel on the idea of making a Jurassic Park game for the unreleased Panther hardware before the book's movie adaptation even entered production. They would've also gained royalties for merchandising and the eventual movie, but Tramiel turned down the offer due to the cost being too high. Siegel claims this is how he "realized that [Atari] would never spend the money to have an anchor title."
A TV adaptation of the de Blob franchise was in production around 2010 to be aired on the SyFy TV channel on a new children's block, which would've used Blob in its branding. This deal got so far that SyFy Kids' logo was included on trailers and promotional items for de Blob 2. Due to the sequel's underperformance, the cartoon would be cancelled, and given Blob's prevalence in preliminary branding and the lack of knowledge on what other series were being planned if any, the cartoon's cancellation likely also led to the SyFy Kids block being cancelled too. SyFy Kids would later be revived in 2013, but airing on the Asian and South African versions of KidsCo with a lineup almost entirely comprised of reruns and syndicated programming.
In 2013, a Kingdom Hearts online mobile game was in development that never saw the light of day. It was to be called "Kingdom Hearts: Fragmented Keys". The game was rumored to feature customizable avatar characters (like Union Cross). It would also have been in 3D instead of Union cross' 2D art style. Most interesting and exciting of all though (gathered from concept art no less) was the Disney world list as the game would feature returning worlds like: Agrabah, Wonderland, a Lilo & Stitch Hawaii world, Space Paranoids/The Grid, London/Neverland, and Dwarf Woodlands. It also included worlds that didn't appear in the series yet but would appear in later games like Union Cross and Kingdom Hearts III, such as: Arendell (Frozen), Kingdom of Corona (Tangled), and Niceland/Game Central Station (Wreck-It Ralph). Finally, and most shockingly, a world based on the Star Wars franchise, although this world's chronology is unknown as concept art show different conflicting eras, such as an image of characters Anakin, Obi-wan, Padme, and Master Yoda in their exact looks from Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie and series in a separatist gunship's hanger as well as a planet that looks similar to Tatooine and an anachronistic Death Star power station room. It is unknown why this game was cancelled.
The version of Panel de Pon included on Nintendo Puzzle Collection was originally intended to be released on the Nintendo 64 in Japan, and a prototype featuring the Panel de Pon fairy characters is known to exist. It did see release on the console in other regions as Pokémon Puzzle League, however.
The SwordQuest series was a series of 4 games developed by Atari, each one having an associated contest to win a one-of-a-kind item from the game made of real gold by finding clues in the game and using them to uncover hidden messages in the attached comic book, then coming to Atari headquarters to compete in a contest version of the respective game. The advertised prizes were:
•Talisman of Penultimate Truth, Earthworld's prize •Chalice of Light, Fireworld's prize •Crown of Life, Waterworld's prize •The Philosopher's Stone, Airworld's prize •The Sword of Ultimate Sorcery, the grand prize
Halfway through the series, the video game crash of 1983 hit, and it was put to a halt, leaving Airworld, the Philosopher's Stone, and the Sword of Ultimate Sorcery unreleased. The Chalice of Light is the only item known to still exist, with all others being believed to have been melted down at some point.
In Atari 50, a game based on Airworld would see release, though it was not based on the work done for the game back in the 1980s.
According to a hidden credit in the game's code, the Atari 2600 version of Midnight Magic was released 3 years after it was completed in 1984, likely for reasons relating to the 1983 US video game crash.
There exists an extremely early test prototype of Disney's Lilo & Stitch 2: Hänsterviel Havoc that is simply just a compilation of a platforming level from Ed, Edd n' Eddy: Jawbreakers and a racing level from Hot Wheels: World Race as a proof-of-concept that both styles of gameplay could fit in a single game pak. The only element of Lilo & Stitch that exists with in the game is Eddy's sprite in the Jawbreakers segment being replaced with Stitch.
According to an Electronic Gaming Monthly preview article, Cool Spot was originally a Reversi clone like Spot: The Video Game, titled Spot II - the graphics used in Cool Spot seem to have been reused from cutscenes in the cancelled game.
The Madden curse was an urban legend which claimed that athletes who appeared on the box of Madden games would either under-perform or sustain an injury in the season following their game's release. After a 16-year streak of "bad luck" starting from Garrison Hearst's appearance on the box of Madden NFL 99 in 1998, the first Madden game to feature a cover athlete and not John Madden himself, the "curse" would finally be broken in 2014, when Calvin Johnson managed to have one of the best seasons in his career following his appearance on the box of Madden NFL 15. Although the streak ended, the curse would strike sporadically over the continuning years, but so far has not begun another continuing streak of bad luck.
In 2010, a film adaptation of the Madden curse was announced by EA, but no news has surfaced on it since and it can be assumed cancelled.
In the lead-up to the release of Super Villain Island, a piece of concept art titled "Combo Breaker" was posted on the Daily Pop, depicting what appears to be a robot that combined elements from the four villains featured in the island's story (rabbit traits from Dr. Hare, jester traits from Mordred/Binary Bard, artist traits from Black Widow, and pirate traits from Captain Crawfish), as well as what appears to be traits reminiscent of a cowboy. This, combined with an earlier Daily Pop post titled "Perchance to Dream" that suggested the Dream Machine was originally going to have five containment units instead of four, has lead some fans to believe that El Mustachio Grande (the main antagonist of Wild West Island) was originally going to appear alongside the former four as one of the main villains. While this has never been confirmed, it's worth noting that El Mustachio Grande appeared as one of the answers to the Pop Quiz question "Who is your favorite Poptropica villain?" alongside the four. Additionally, while he does not play a role in the story of Super Villain Island, he does still make a cameo during the elevator sequence alongside various other Poptropica villains.
Aang and Korra were first revealed for Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl on the Xbox Podcast with footage from their respective trailers. The CGI portion of Korra's trailer was not played, and following the reveal, Aang's trailer would be posted to YouTube, but not Korra's. This lead some to believe that a CGI trailer for Korra was never actually made until May 2022, when a YouTuber named socks dude discovered the trailer on the website for i95Creative, the studio that edited the promotional material for Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl.
A prototype exists for a US version of the original Japan-exclusive Puzzle Bobble known as Bubble Buster which removes the Bubble Bobble elements outright, as it was a very common practice for puzzle games at the time. This is somewhat unusual, because no replacement characters were provided, unlike localisations such as Tetris Attack, and Bubble Bobble had already proven itself to be a popular brand in the American market at the time. The logo for Bubble Buster would serve as the basis for the logo of the Neo Geo arcade remake's US release, Bust-A-Move, though that did not remove the Bubble Bobble characters.
Some unused content that was going to be used in the scrapped sequel is still referenced in the final game. The second installment would have had Drew Blanc and Flux Wildly traveling to the "Train of Thought", where they would meet an animated version of Vincent Van Gogh and have an encounter with a nightmarish dentist. In the opening for the first game, Drew receives a phone call reminder to get a dental filling, and a picture of Van Gogh can be seen on the wall in his workspace. Footage of the animated Van Gogh also appears in the official trailer for the game.
A TV adaptation of the de Blob franchise was in production around 2010 to be aired on the SyFy TV channel on a new children's block, which would've used Blob in its branding. This deal got so far that SyFy Kids' logo was included on trailers and promotional items for de Blob 2. Due to the sequel's underperformance, the cartoon would be cancelled, and given Blob's prevalence in preliminary branding and the lack of knowledge on what other series were being planned if any, the cartoon's cancellation likely also led to the SyFy Kids block being cancelled too. SyFy Kids would later be revived in 2013, but airing on the Asian and South African versions of KidsCo with a lineup almost entirely comprised of reruns and syndicated programming.
In 2013, a Kingdom Hearts online mobile game was in development that never saw the light of day. It was to be called "Kingdom Hearts: Fragmented Keys". The game was rumored to feature customizable avatar characters (like Union Cross). It would also have been in 3D instead of Union cross' 2D art style. Most interesting and exciting of all though (gathered from concept art no less) was the Disney world list as the game would feature returning worlds like: Agrabah, Wonderland, a Lilo & Stitch Hawaii world, Space Paranoids/The Grid, London/Neverland, and Dwarf Woodlands. It also included worlds that didn't appear in the series yet but would appear in later games like Union Cross and Kingdom Hearts III, such as: Arendell (Frozen), Kingdom of Corona (Tangled), and Niceland/Game Central Station (Wreck-It Ralph). Finally, and most shockingly, a world based on the Star Wars franchise, although this world's chronology is unknown as concept art show different conflicting eras, such as an image of characters Anakin, Obi-wan, Padme, and Master Yoda in their exact looks from Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie and series in a separatist gunship's hanger as well as a planet that looks similar to Tatooine and an anachronistic Death Star power station room. It is unknown why this game was cancelled.
The SwordQuest series was a series of 4 games developed by Atari, each one having an associated contest to win a one-of-a-kind item from the game made of real gold by finding clues in the game and using them to uncover hidden messages in the attached comic book, then coming to Atari headquarters to compete in a contest version of the respective game. The advertised prizes were:
There exists an extremely early test prototype of Disney's Lilo & Stitch 2: Hänsterviel Havoc that is simply just a compilation of a platforming level from Ed, Edd n' Eddy: Jawbreakers and a racing level from Hot Wheels: World Race as a proof-of-concept that both styles of gameplay could fit in a single game pak. The only element of Lilo & Stitch that exists with in the game is Eddy's sprite in the Jawbreakers segment being replaced with Stitch.
According to an Electronic Gaming Monthly preview article, Cool Spot was originally a Reversi clone like Spot: The Video Game, titled Spot II - the graphics used in Cool Spot seem to have been reused from cutscenes in the cancelled game.
In the lead-up to the release of Super Villain Island, a piece of concept art titled "Combo Breaker" was posted on the Daily Pop, depicting what appears to be a robot that combined elements from the four villains featured in the island's story (rabbit traits from Dr. Hare, jester traits from Mordred/Binary Bard, artist traits from Black Widow, and pirate traits from Captain Crawfish), as well as what appears to be traits reminiscent of a cowboy. This, combined with an earlier Daily Pop post titled "Perchance to Dream" that suggested the Dream Machine was originally going to have five containment units instead of four, has lead some fans to believe that El Mustachio Grande (the main antagonist of Wild West Island) was originally going to appear alongside the former four as one of the main villains. While this has never been confirmed, it's worth noting that El Mustachio Grande appeared as one of the answers to the Pop Quiz question "Who is your favorite Poptropica villain?" alongside the four. Additionally, while he does not play a role in the story of Super Villain Island, he does still make a cameo during the elevator sequence alongside various other Poptropica villains.