Hard 'n' Heavy was originally conceived as a sequel to
The Great Giana Sisters titled
Giana 2 - Arthur and Martha in Future World, but was changed due to
the threats the developers had received from Nintendo over the previous Giana game. Screenshots and a box art for
Giana 2 exist, and show that seemingly only the character of Giana was removed in the transition to
Hard 'n' Heavy, but the version of the game with Giana is not known to exist.