Summary
Game development can be an arduous process, with games likeBlack Myth Wukonggoing through many years of development before finally releasing to the public. In some cases, a game can start as one project and evolve into a radically different one in terms of genre, style, and even intellectual property.
Many would be surprised to find out that some of their favorite games were going to be almost completely unlike the final product. It’s an example of how, sometimes, a setback or simply having second thoughts can be beneficial to a project’s final release, resulting in something that is a success or becomes part of gaming history.
AfterResident Evil 3and a few spin-off titles, Capcom wanted to break into new ground withResident Evil 4. The project underwent many revisions and concepts before landing on theover-the-shoulder third-person gamethat changed games forever.
One of the concepts made it so far into production thatgameplay footage can be found online. It showcased thatResident Evil 4was going to embrace a more supernatural angle. Not only was Leon Kennedy going to be in a castle akin to something in aDraculamovie fighting zombies, but the footage showcased Leon fighting a ghost.
The high-octane action and slasher gameplay ofDevil May Cryis so over-the-top, it makes it hard to believe that, at one point, it was going to beResident Evil 4. Another one of many ideas forResident Evil 4was topossibly drift away from survival horrorand lean toward action and adventure.
Thankfully, the idea would drift so far away from Resident Evil and end up becomingDevil May Cryand startone of Capcom’s most famous franchises. From Dante to Nero, the gameplay worked well for Devil May Cry games, but considering how much fans disliked it whenResident Evil 6became an action game, the outrage would be even worse ifResident Evil 4played likeDevil May Cry.
When it comes to the first-person shooter genre,Halo: Combat Evolvedis often in the conversation for being a pinnacle, which makes it ironic that it was never meant to be a shooter in the first place.The original concept forHalobegan as a real-time strategy in the same vein asStarCraft,with armored humans going up against alien threats.
ThenHaloevolved into a third-person shooter, but due to budgetary constraints, Bungie needed to make changes to finish by the deadline. This resulted in the change toa revolutionary first-person shooter, and the rest was history, with theHalofranchise still going strong today. Thankfully, the franchise was able to retain its roots by later introducing the RTS spin-off:Halo Wars.
The setting ofBioShockbeing an underwater city seems like that would have been the concept from the beginning. That is not the case, withBioShockoriginally intended to be set on a derelict space station with genetically mutated monsters roaming the facility along with a dangerous cult, which became the concept for the developers' newest game:Judas.
Perhaps since EA was about to releaseDead Spaceto the masses, which had a nearly identical concept,BioShockchanged to a zombie-infested islandsetting and then, one more redesign later,the underwater city of Rapturecame to fruition. As a result,BioShockbecame cemented as one of the most iconic games of the 2000s.
In the mid-90s and early 2000s, studios were trying their hardest to create mascots to lead new gaming franchises, such asCroc: Legend Of The Gobbos,in an attempt to compete with juggernauts like Mario. Ironically, Croc beganas a prototype for a 3DYoshigame, but when Nintendo rejected the idea, the developers at Argonaut repurposed the prototype to develop a new game.
In 1997,Croc: Legend Of The Gobboswas released on the PlayStation 1, Sega Saturn, and PC, taking the gameplay ofSuper Mario 64and mixing it withTomb Raidermechanics. While critics were harsh on Croc’s first outing, it was successful enough to warrant a sequel and a 2024 remaster.
Mixing spy thriller and stealth gameplay,Splinter Cellquickly became a hit that was intended to be UbiSoft’s answer toMetal Gear Solid. However, in its early production phase,Splinter Cellwas going to be a first-person shooter by Red Storm and, at another point, there was an attempt tomake it into the next James Bond game.
All previous plans went out the window when the developers got the chanceto license Tom Clancy’s novels. So, Splinter Cell became what it is today as a third-person action-stealth game with Sam Fisher going down in history as an iconic protagonist.
Replace Donkey Kong with Bluto and Pauline with Olive Oyl, and finally swap Mario with Popeye and the result is what the original idea forDonkey Kongwas going to be. Shigeru Miyamoto’s job was originally meant to be a game based on the famousPopeyecartoon, but the limitations at the time forced him and his team to change the character designs.
Popeye became Mario and without that change, the world’s most famous video game franchise would not exist today. Donkey Kong would remain an iconic piece of gaming history as well, becoming his own franchise and appearing in many Nintendo games. Later, aPopeyegame would launch on the original NES that would borrow from Donkey Kong’s structure and gameplay.
Another famous first-person shooter, GoldenEye 007, paved the way for how many shooters would come to play and that historical part of gaming history likely would have been delayed if Rare had gone in their original direction. Before it was the first-person shooter as fans know it, it wasoriginally built to be an on-rail shooterin the same vein asVirtua CoporThe House Of The Dead.
The developers at Rare were even sent to the sets of theGoldenEyemovie to get reference photos for the authentic replication inGoldenEye 007. However, one thing led to another and, instead of a simultaneous release with the movie,GoldenEye 007was released two years after the movie and became a beloved classic.
Fantastical realms, gods, monsters, magic, robots,and the signature bloody fatalitiesare what turnedMortal Kombatinto a household name, and it’s all because Jean-Claude Van Damme turned down the chance to be in the original game. Initially,Mortal Kombatwas pitched asa fighting game starring the famous actorthat would have been likeBloodsport.
However, when Jean-Claude turned down the opportunity, Ed Boon and John Tobias reworked their idea to include elements ofBig Trouble In Little ChinaandEnter The Dragon, turning Jean-Claude into the character of Johnny Cage, and Mortal Kombat came to be. Jean-Claude Van Damme would later become the face and voice of a skin for Johnny Cage.
In an ironic twist, some of the bestAliengames made in the 90s took inspiration fromDoom, when the grandfather of first-person shooters was going to be anAliensadaptation. It’s a space marine stuck on a barren planet gunning down scary monsters; the similarities to Aliens have always been there, only they have been replaced with demons from Hell.
The simplest reason whyDoomnever became anAliensgame was purely because negotiations with 20th Century Fox fell through. This led to Id Software coming up with their own game using what they previously did withWolfenstein 3DandDoomwas the greatest of results.
