As anyone in the industry can attest, game development is often an emotionally draining and difficult process. Time, resources, and budget limits often force vision to compromise with reality. In an ideal world, games would be given everything they needed in order to realize their developer's visions.
Unfortunately, that world is not this one. Games often have to cut a lot of features, story sequences, and even fully voiced dialogue in order to make a shippable product on time. Sometimes, a quick dig through the final game's files shows an amazing amount of work that didn't make it to the final release.
10 The Hat Kid Befriended More Characters During A Hat In Time's Development
Gears For Breakfast's Kickstarter success, A Hat in Time, went through several iterations before the final product was released on Steam. However, models for several scrapped characters can still be found in the files, including a second player tag along akin to Tails named Timmy. When asked what happened to the character, the developers cryptically replied, "electrical fire."
There were also plans for an ending sequence where players controlled an adult Hat Kid and an additional scene where the bosses of the game chat at a diner, reflecting on their experiences with the girl they ended up befriending.
9 Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Has A Hidden Palace Of Content
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic CD started out as the same title that took divergent paths, with Yuji Naka's team handling the former and Naoto Ohshima working on the latter. As such, many levels and gameplay concepts were dropped from Sonic 2. Three known levels, Dust Hill Zone, Genocide City, and Hidden Palace, relied on the game's cut time travel mechanic.
While the beta cartridge was being previewed across America, it was mysteriously stolen at a New York toy fair in 1992. Six years later, the cart was leaked online, where gamers discovered all sorts of aesthetic differences, such as an alternate title screen and early level names.
8 SaGa Frontier's Semi-Finished State Is Explained By Its Files
Following heavy hitters such as Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VII, this PlayStation RPG from Square faced a rushed and hectic development which undoubtedly led to its considerably mixed reception. Publications such as GameInformer claimed that the title felt more like an outline than an actual finished product.
It should probably come as no surprise to players that this game has a ton of unused assets, such as fully pre-rendered environments, tons of cut dialogue, and many unused items and skills. If that wasn't bad enough, even an entire chapter failed to make it to retail, which would have fleshed-out characters like Fuse.
7 Many Of Deus Ex's Cut Content Can Still Be Found In The Game
Unsurprisingly, a game of Deus Ex's scope and ambition had to make a lot of unfortunate cuts, with the bulk of that being fully voiced dialogue. However, some of these cut lines give more insight into the game's world and even foreshadow further plot developments, such as a message that would have been found on an answering machine in Paul's apartment.
In addition, many of the game's early models still exist in parts of the game players cannot access. For example, scrapped versions of Liberty Island appear in Chapters 4 and 5, but players cannot access them in chapters 3-5.
6 Castlevania Symphony Of The Night Had Scrapped Game Over Lines And Boss Fights
Digging through the PlayStation disc shows a lot of recorded dialogue for cut content. Like the Batman Arkham games, characters who bested Alucard in battle originally taunted them during the game over screen. Two fights against Maria were cut, with one involving her being possessed by the dark priest Shaft.
This suggests that the fight against Richter may have had a time limit at one point, with a bad ending scenario occurring if players were too slow. Some of this content would later be implemented in re-releases, such as the Dracula X Chronicles port for the PSP and the Requiem Collection.
5 Many Of Half Life's Creatures Did Not Leave Xen
It should be no surprise that one of the most revolutionary first-person shooters has a lot of content that had to get cut. Several lines of dialogue from Barney, the scientists, and even the elusive G-Man got the crowbar as well as many weapons and enemies. One particular enemy that wisely did not make it to the final game was the provocatively designed "Mr. Friendly."
This was one of the many creatures that artist Ted Backman presented to Valve developer Ken Birdwell. While Gabe Newell expressed great enthusiasm for the creature, it and its method of attack were not implemented in any versions of the game.
4 Many Of Raziel's Targets Avoided His Blade In Soul Reaver
The second entry in the Legacy of Kain series faced a tumultuous development. Soul Reaver was originally unreleased to the Kain franchise and was later subjected to a contentious legal battle between publisher Crystal Dynamics and Blood Omen developer Silicon Knights. As a result, several boss fights, plot points, and recorded dialogue did not make it to the final game.
While the plot originally called for Raziel to slay his former brethren for casting him into the abyss, characters such as Turel, the Priestess, and even Kain eluded his grasp. Regardless, dialogue and models were created for these fights and have even been recreated by fans.
3 Cut Dialogue And Art Can Be Flushed Out Of Day of the Tentacle
As with many LucasArts adventures, Day of the Tentacle is a title that's chock-full of dialogue – many of which did not make it into the final cut. Even though there are certain items that characters cannot access, fully voiced observations were recorded, such as Hoagie's commentary on the hamster.
Players can even find remnants of a scrapped copy protection puzzle in which Bernard must help Dr. Fred with the plans for the super battery that's crucial to powering the Cron-o-johns. In addition, several unused item portraits and background art can be found in the game's files and even demos.
2 Banjo Kazooie Cartridge Swapping Eventually made It To The Xbox
Noticing that the Nintendo 64 would retain some of the cartridge's information even after it was removed, Rare conceived of a feature known as "Stop 'N' Swop," where players could swap their copies of Banjo Tooie and Banjo Kazooie for some exclusive content. Unfortunately, revisions in the console's hardware eventually made implementing this impossible.
Tooie also had a cut mode called Bottle's Revenge, where a second player could take control of nearby enemies to hinder their friend's progress. While Bottles never got his revenge, "Stop 'N' Swop" would be implemented in the XBLA versions of the N64 Banjo titles and the Xbox 360 title Nuts & Bolts.
1 The Cut Content In Fallout New Vegas Sheds Further Light On The Mojave
The amount of cut content from Obsidian's post-apocalyptic RPG could almost be enough for its own game – featuring several unused NPCs, gameplay features, cut endings, and hours of voiceover. Players who left the title wondering why characters like Benny and Victor just disappeared at a certain point will be floored to discover the numerous cut combat encounters.
Omitted endings for the DLC episodes show that Dead Money originally had more ways for the courier to meet their end at the Sierra Madre, and Old World Blues could've let the Think Tank run wild in the Mojave.