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Tiny Toon Adventures: Plucky Duck in Hollywood Hijinks
1
The cancelled Atari Jaguar game Tiny Toon Adventures: Plucky Duck in Hollywood Hijinks ran into trouble with its art direction. It originally used photorealistic backgrounds, uncharacteristic of the cartoon and described by a developer as "build and[sic] engine and insert your favorite licensed character here." Despite a complete reset being done to the game's art direction following this iteration, the art did not live up to Warner Bros.' standards for how the Tiny Toon characters and world should look, lacking color and brightness. After Warner Bros. provided model sheets with specific instructions for drawing the characters, the development team instead switched to taking photos of the TV show and converting those into sprites, which caused issues as the sprites would come out corrupted. Atari ultimately concluded that no artist at Telegames was able to create proper Tiny Toons art, requiring art duties to be swapped out to Digital Delirium, which also failed to deliver Warner Brothers-quality animation, which caused the game's development to start implementing pencil tests into their animation process, which slowed down the game's development significantly. Eventually, all of the art for the first 2 worlds was finished, however Telegames stated they did not need the art at that point, with the art (and its respective levels) not being implemented over a year later. Telegames laid out an offer where they would only release a milestone document if a fully laid-out stage map could be provided, something the developer who released this story believed was a stalling tactic, as they already had the art and mockup stage layouts. Shortly after this, the artist assigned to complete the level layouts was laid off, requiring Digital Delirium to be brought in-house, and some music was made for the game that was completely unfit for the source material.
Clockwerk
subdirectory_arrow_right Next Level Games (Company)
1
In 2011, Next Level Games began work on a game called "Clockwerk", that never made it to the prototype stage before its cancellation. The game was about a pair of elderly Hausmeisters named Otto and Herman, who take care of "The World Clock", a magical clock tower that governs the flow of time throughout the universe. On the day before their retirement, however, a group of gremlins attack and dismantle the clock tower's innards, forcing the grumpy pair to defeat the invaders and fix the inner workings before they can finally retire. Supposedly, it was pitched to multiple companies (including Sega and Nintendo), but was ultimately cancelled when the company they had partnered with felt that the gameplay was too similar to another game they were publishing.
Bubsy 3D
subdirectory_arrow_right Bubsy 2 (Game), Bubsy (Collection)
1
While Bubsy 3D is often considered to have killed the Bubsy franchise until its revival in the late 2010s, the franchise was not killed by Accolade as one may expect. Accolade wanted a new installment titled Bubsy 4 (Bubsy in Fractured Furry Tales not being considered part of the franchise's official numbering) after Bubsy 3D's release, but series creator Michael Berlyn was the one who pulled the plug on the franchise, believing that Bubsy 2 and Bubsy 3D had dealt too much damage to it:

"I pitched [Sparky and Bolt, an unmade, Jetsons-inspired game] to Accolade, and Accolade said, "Ummmmm, I don’t think so. We’re more interested in a Bubsy 4." And I said, "I really think Bubsy’s dead by now. Between what you guys did with Bubsy 2 and what I did with Bubsy 3D, it’s time to move on." They didn’t agree."
Ghostbusters
1
Ghostbusters is a modified version of an unreleased game called Car Wars. According to the game's developer David Crane in a 2010 interview, Car Wars was "a game about buying cars, tricking them out, and dueling them against other cars around a fictional city." After one month of development, Activision co-founder Gary Kitchen called and met with him to discuss making a game based on the then-upcoming Ghostbusters film to release on the same day as the film, and Crane immediately devised a way to change Car Wars into a Ghostbusters game with only minor changes and additions.
Toonstruck
1
Attachment 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.
Collection: Kid Icarus
2
Around 2007, Retro Studios designer Jason Behr pitched the idea of a new Kid Icarus title for the Wii to Nintendo, providing little more than an elevator pitch and some conceptual documents. When reached by Unseen64, Behr stated that the original NES title was a childhood favorite of his and a constant source of inspiration. However, Nintendo turned down the offer before it could proceed into creating test assets, as the pitch focused primarily on the idea of reviving Kid Icarus, which ran counter to Nintendo's approach of conceptualizing gameplay elements first and determining a suitable property for them second.
Franchise: Crash Bandicoot
1
Attachment In 2021, information leaked on a cartoon adaptation of the Crash Bandicoot franchise being developed by Eek! the Cat co-creator Bill Kopp for Amazon. The show would have been titled Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Cartoon Show (a name with a similar formatting to that of one of Kopp's previous cartoons, The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show), and would be an episodic slapstick cartoon rather than having an overarching plot. Supposedly, Activision wanted the show to lean more into adult innuendo, while Amazon wanted something more clean, and the straw that broke the camel's back for the series would be a single unspecified joke in an episode about Dr. Cortex transforming into a baby, like in the end of Crash Bandicoot: Warped. According to Kopp, Activision were the ones who aborted the project and not Amazon, though he had no clue what in particular caused the cancellation, but that the experience inspired him to work independently on his next series, Dumb Bunny and Jackass.

Allegedly, Activision also wanted to license Super Mario out for a cameo in a Crash Team Racing-themed episode, something the team found ridiculous and made them believe Activision was not taking the project seriously. The series would have also featured the Land Shark from the cancelled 2010 Crash Team Racing pitch.
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month January 11, 2024
Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories
subdirectory_arrow_right Steambot Chronicles (Game), Poncotsu Roman Daikatsugeki Bumpy Trot 2 (Game), Irem Software Engineering Co. (Company), Granzella (Company), Zettai Zetsumei Toshi (Collection)
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In the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Irem Software Engineering was forced to cancel the majority of its video game projects, most notably Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories and a sequel to Steambot Chronicles titled "Poncotsu Roman Daikatsugeki Bumpy Trot 2". They then refocused their resources into the slot-machine and pachinko industry, which they were initially a part of prior to becoming a video game company. This lead numerous Irem designers (including producer Kazuma Kujo) to form a new company called Granzella to continue creating video games: notably, they acquired the IP rights to the Disaster Report series and revived Disaster Report 4. Additionally, while no longer involved in the development or release of new games, Irem is still involved in the games industry via licensing their IPs to other companies.
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month January 6, 2024
Collection: pop'n music
subdirectory_arrow_right jubeat (Collection)
1
In JAEPO 2020, Konami unveiled two new rhythm arcade titles that were never released:

• "NEW pop'n music Welcome to Wonderland!" was created as a reboot to the long standing "pop'n music" series. The game used a different arcade cabinet with smaller buttons and a touch panel meant for new slide notes. Aesthetically, the game also utilized 3D models for the characters as opposed to 2D sprites. Both licensed songs exclusive to this cabinet, "Phantom Joke" and "少年よ我に帰れ", were added to "pop'n music peace" on August 3rd, 2020.

• "jubeat (2020)" was also meant to be a reboot, this time to the identically-named "jubeat" series. Unlike "Welcome to Wonderland", the gameplay remained identical between it and previous entries. The arcade cabinet itself was roughly 1.2X the size of previous iterations and ran at 60 fps, as opposed to 30fps. The cabinets also supported music videos and would have come in several colors. In 2021, a mobile version of jubeat released utilizing similar aesthetics to this cancelled version. 2022 saw the release of a new iteration, "jubeat Ave.", which utilized the previous arcade technology.
person aa1205 calendar_month January 3, 2024
RemyWiki page on cancelled BEMANI titles:
https://remywiki.com/Cancelled_Games#jubeat_(2020)
https://remywiki.com/Cancelled_Games#NEW_pop'n_music_Welcome_to_Wonderland!

RemyWiki page on NEW pop'n music Welcome to Wonderland!: https://remywiki.com/AC_NEW_pnm

Gameplay of Welcome to Wonderland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbVlUpMS71I

RemyWiki page on jubeat (2020): https://remywiki.com/AC_jb_2020

Footage of jubeat (2020):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1sl8C338Fs
2
Attachment Due to the cancellation of the animated series "Sonic Underground", its storyline was left unresolved. However, staff members involved in Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comics had considered finishing the storyline: writer Ian Flynn had thought about writing a new story that could serve to wrap up where the original series left off, but felt it would be "stepping on the original creatives' toes," and that even if he was allowed to do it the story likely wouldn't see the light of day for at least two years. Originally, "Sonic Universe" issue 50 was intended to be the official epilogue for the show, with a preview cover being released. However, the epilogue was cancelled, and the issue instead featured a story centered around Metal Sonic.

In early 2013, Ian Flynn revealed that material from "Sonic Underground" was off-limits: this was the reason why the epilogue was put on hold. He also stated plans to include the epilogue as part of "Lost Hedgehog Tales", a written document featuring Sonic comic material that will no longer be used, suggesting that the epilogue was no longer possible. In June 2017, any chance of a "Sonic Underground" epilogue by Archie was precluded when Sega announced that the comics produced by them had been cancelled.
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month December 31, 2023
Franchise: Batman
subdirectory_arrow_right Konami (Company)
1
Konami wanted to license out Tim Burton's film adaptation of Batman for an arcade game, but were not able to as Atari Games claimed the license first.
Final Fantasy V
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Attachment The translation group RPGe's 1998 English translation of Final Fantasy V is considered to be one of the most widely-played and influential fan translations in video game history. It gained this reputation because it released before Squaresoft's first official translation in Final Fantasy Anthology in late 1999, and despite RPGe primarily consisting of inexperienced teenagers, it was regarded as a better translation than the official one, leading many Western players to first experience the game through it.

The first translation attempts stemmed from widespread confusion over Squaresoft not releasing three FF games in the West: Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy III, and FFV. Their decision to release Final Fantasy VII internationally under its original numbering after Final Fantasy VI was released in the West a few years earlier as the "third" game in the series also contributed to this.

The co-creator of RPGe, named Shadow, was inspired by an incomplete FFII translation by users Demi and Som2freak (the latter having later lent Shadow tools to work on FFV), and started translating FFV by making flashcards for which hex code corresponded to each Japanese and English character in the game's data. He promoted his efforts online using photoshopped FFV images and recruited other users to create RPGe, including translator David Timko, and a computer engineering major named Hooie who also asked Japanese instructors at his university to help translate some enemy names. RPGe's plan was to directly edit their English script into the text files of a ROM of the Japanese version, but their work was slow and tedious due to them having little experience with fan translations and being out of touch with fledgling emulation communities. This lead to technical issues with their text and sprite editing software, and English characters being poorly displayed under conditions that were originally designed for larger Japanese characters. The group also suffered from internal factionalism, and since Shadow promoted himself as the public face of the project, he found that he could not handle the attention and controversy that came from how seriously he took the project and RPGe itself, seeing the translation effort as a vital service to the Squaresoft fan community. After Demi published a lengthy post parodying Shadow, he "snapped" and left RPGe. The co-founders of RPGe would also eventually step down, but other users would take over and start their own work.

A user named Myria, who had argued against RPGe's hex editing approach to no avail, split off from their efforts beforehand to work on a separate translation. Sharing similar setbacks to them, she gradually parsed through the code used to handle the text files, and edited it so it could recognize English characters of different sizes and fit more in a dialogue box. Som2freak helped translate the script for a time, but then left the project after bringing on a new editor, named harmony7, who started heavily revising Som2freak's translations to his chagrin despite seeing several issues with it.

One of the most controversial aspects of the translation was the main character's name. Squaresoft's later English translation named him "Bartz", but RPGe's translation named him "Butz", which many joked sounds like "butts". Myria claimed that Butz was the most accurate translation based on documents and official merchandise using it "the way we'd written it" (for reference, the Romanized version of the Japanese name "バッツ" comes out as "Battsu"). However, Butz is used in real life as an actual German surname with a different pronunciation, the vowel being an "oe" sound like in the English words "put" and "good". Therefore, Bartz would make more sense to match up with the vowels in the Japanese name than Butz, and also fits better as a German first name since Bartz is a pet name for Bartholomäus (Bartholomew).

The bulk of Myria's technical work ended in October 1997, with harmony7 still working to revise the entire script until something unexpected happened. An early version of the fan translation mysteriously appeared on a Geocities website with others taking credit for it. This prompted RPGe to release their work up to that point as "v0.96" on October 17, 1997, with the final patch eventually being released in June 1998. The translation patch received acclaim for its technical aspects and near-professional writing quality, and influenced other players to become translators, including Clyde Mandelin who would later create the English fan translation for Mother 3. Squaresoft never contacted RPGe about the translation, and while their 1999 localization of the game was seen as inferior to RPGe's, Myria would later opine that Square Enix's 2006 localization in Final Fantasy V: Advance was better than theirs. Myria continued hacking and reverse-engineering games and eventually earned a job at an undisclosed major video game company.
person MehDeletingLater calendar_month December 24, 2023
Angry Birds
subdirectory_arrow_right Angry Birds (Franchise)
1
Attachment In a 2023 leak of unreleased content from different iOS games, an app titled Angry Birds Island - or alternatively Angry Birds Hatchery - was discovered. The prototype was simply a version of the original Angry Birds with two major differences
•A mode called "Hatchery", which shows an overworld map of an island with a row at the bottom of toys and furniture
•The first two worlds of the original game, but with an option to select from a set of birds, all of which appear to be hybrids of the regular birds
This seemingly implies some kind of pet simulator mode with an egg breeding mechanic, not unlike the Chao Gardens from the Sonic Adventure series. It is unknown if this was planned as an update for Angry Birds or a new spin-off.
The Last of Us Part II
subdirectory_arrow_right The Last of Us (Franchise)
1
Attachment At E3 2018, it was initially confirmed that The Last of Us Part II would feature a multiplayer mode, following the Factions online multiplayer mode featured in The Last of Us that received more uniformly positive praise from fans and critics compared to the main game. However, in September 2019, the same month the PlayStation 3 servers for the original Factions mode were shut down, it was revealed that Part II would solely focus on a single-player narrative, and that development on the multiplayer mode had been spun-off from the main game to continue work separately. Throughout 2020 and 2021, Naughty Dog increased job openings related to the multiplayer mode's development and continued seeking out additional staff to work on it, implying that it had increased in scope to a full game.

At Summer Game Fest 2022, Neil Druckmann showed off the game's first piece of concept art and confirmed that they were working on it as its own game, revealing that the team's ambitious scope had caused it to be "as big" as the single-player modes. The game would feature its own storyline that would be told in a unique way compared to the previous two games, take place in a new location in the United States (presumably San Francisco based on the art featuring the South of Market neighborhood and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge), and feature brand new characters.

The development of the game, which was later revealed in 2023 to be named "The Last of Us Online", was led by co-game directors Anthony Newman and Vinit Agarwal, and narrative lead Joseph Pettinati. Starting with the Summer Game Fest appearance, Druckmann reiterated that more details on the game would be revealed in 2023, and shared a second piece of concept art in January of that year.

In May, it was revealed in a Bloomberg article that Sony had scaled back development on the game and moved many of its developers to other projects, with Naughty Dog putting out their own statement on Twitter shortly after the article's release which revealed that they "realized what's best for the game is to give it more time." As a result of Sony's more recent heavy investments into "games as a service" (GaaS) products in an attempt to centralize control over and make more money on its games after release, they requested Bungie, a studio which Sony had recently acquired in July 2022, to re-evaluate the game. Bungie questioned its ability to maintain player engagement for long periods of time, which was ultimately what caused Sony to intervene.

According to Naughty Dog in a December 2023 blog post, the entire time since the multiplayer mode was first being worked on for The Last of Us Part II in 2018, The Last of Us Online had still been in pre-production, with the multiplayer developers' vision changing and taking time to form into something they were more satisfied with. With Sony's GaaS investments affecting the game, if they wanted to put the game into full production, they would need to take all of their resources away from the single-player games they had become known for and switch to a fully live service model with the ability to put out long-term post-launch content updates.

After Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells retired in July, the company faced an internal restructuring, eventually leading to at least 25 contracted developers being laid off from Naughty Dog's staff in October, contributing to a wave of layoffs across the video game industry at the time. With a reduced, restructured workforce and other major upcoming single-player projects at the helm, Naughty Dog was inequipped to become a live service studio, and announced in December that they cancelled the development of The Last of Us Online after more than three years of work.
person ProtoSnake calendar_month December 17, 2023
E3 2018 confirmation article:
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-last-of-us-2-has-multiplayer-naughty-dog-confi/1100-6459784/

Multiplayer standalone game update articles:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gaming/features/the-last-of-us-part-2-exclusive-interview-neil-druckmann-ellie/
https://www.vg247.com/the-last-of-us-part-2-wont-have-multiplayer-after-all-update

Naughty Dog tweet confirming continued development:
https://twitter.com/naughty_dog/status/1177392945458286595

Naughty Dog multiplayer job listings increase article and blog post:
https://www.naughtydog.com/blog/celebrating_the_last_of_us_day_2021
https://www.ign.com/articles/naughty-dog-on-the-last-of-us-multiplayer-project-in-short-were-working-on-it

Summer Game Fest 2022 announcement and first piece of concept art:
https://www.polygon.com/23161755/the-last-of-us-part-2-tlou2-multiplayer-release
https://www.ign.com/articles/the-last-of-us-standalone-multiplayer-game-new-details-story-concept-art
https://www.gamesradar.com/the-last-of-us-is-getting-a-standalone-multiplayer-game/
https://www.escapistmagazine.com/the-last-of-us-multiplayer-game-new-story-large-naughty-dog/

Second piece of concept art:
https://www.naughtydog.com/blog/the_last_of_us_10th_anniversary_kickoff

Development scaling back article:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-26/-last-of-us-multiplayer-video-game-faces-setbacks-at-sony

Naughty Dog co-president retirement and restructuring:
https://kotaku.com/naughty-dog-neil-druckmann-evan-wells-tlou-president-1850633642
https://www.naughtydog.com/blog/neil_druckmann_naughty_dog_studio_leadership_team

October layoffs article:
https://kotaku.com/naughty-dog-ps5-playstation-sony-last-us-part-3-layoffs-1850893794

Naughty Dog statement on scaling back development:
https://twitter.com/Naughty_Dog/status/1662166716892479488

Cancellation articles and blog post:
https://www.naughtydog.com/blog/an_update_on_the_last_of_us_online
https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/14/24002141/naughty-dog-the-last-of-us-online-multiplayer-canceled
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-last-of-us-online-finally-cancelled-because-naughty-dog-thinks-it-will-severely-impact-development-on-future-single-player-games/
Crush Crush
subdirectory_arrow_right Ayano's Lovesick Labyrinth (Game), Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals (Game), Yandere Simulator (Game), YandereDev (Company)
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1
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month December 14, 2023
Donkey Kong
subdirectory_arrow_right Radar Scope (Game)
2
Some concepts considered for alternate games to use unsold Radar Scope cabinets for if Donkey Kong couldn't be developed were a Jack & the Beanstalk game, a fishing game, a space shuttle construction game due to space shuttles being a hot news topic at the time, and a game about fighting a disease in the human body, based on a movie (likely Fantastic Voyage).
I-Ninja
1
At one point, a sequel to I-Ninja was in development, but was ultimately cancelled (likely due to the liquidation of Argonaut Games). Concept art for the game was released, notably featuring a military theme compared to the original, with both the Ranx and the Kappa Captain getting redesigns, a new enemy called the "Top Droid", and various props and weapons. Additionally, it seems that the sequel would have featured Halo, a character that was supposed to appear in the original game as the Ninja's girlfriend but was ultimately scrapped.
Franchise: Jurassic Park
subdirectory_arrow_right Atari Corporation (Company)
1
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."
Mario Lemieux Hockey
subdirectory_arrow_right Atari Lynx (Platform), Atari Corporation (Company)
1
Atari Corporation wanted to license out the likeness of hockey player Mario Lemieux for a Lynx game that would've been titled "Super Mario Hockey" as a jab at Nintendo and their Super Mario franchise disguised as a reference to Lemieux's nickname. The game was never made, but eventually Lemieux's likeness would be licensed out to Sega for a 1991 hockey game.
Platform: Xbox One
subdirectory_arrow_right PlayStation 4 (Platform)
3
Attachment In 2019, UK bargain store Aldi attempted a publicity stunt known as the "Teatime Takedown", where parents would send Aldi their childrens' usernames on gaming platforms (with the service being provided for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles, and unusually the streaming platform Twitch) and the supermarket would send professional gamers to defeat the child in-game so they would eat their food, though Aldi claimed that the effectiveness of the program may vary. Despite a released commercial for the campaign showing children "rage quitting" FPS games, the hired eSports teams, originating from Veloce, specialized in racing games. This sparked massive backlash within the UK eSports community, to the point where Resolve eSports offered to send its players to help kids fight back against the bullies. Aldi would eventually cancel the campaign and send coupons to those who complained as a form of apology. Print adverts were made, but are not known to have been printed in any magazines or catalogues, and radio and till reciept ads were planned.
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month November 30, 2023
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