Nintendo's decades-long history consists of some of the most beloved gaming classics with genre-defining franchises such as Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and countless more. Their ability to innovate and adapt to the changing expectations of the industry has helped them remain in the hardware business long after companies such as Sega and Atari failed and went third-party.

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Unfortunately, not every title from the Big N has seen the light of day. Due to hardware limitations, conflicts between the involved parties, or the market's ever-changing demands, these games seem forever doomed to remain in the Nintendo vault.

10 Wizards Might Have Fulfilled The Promises Of Warlocked

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Warlocked was an RTS title for the Game Boy Color developed by Bits Studios and published by Nintendo. As console ports of titles such as Command & Conquer and Warcraft have demonstrated, bringing a genre such as this to a platform with no mouse support and limited buttons will force developers to make some major concessions.

Despite these limitations, Warlocked gained some decent reviews from publications such as Game informer and IGN, showing that this franchise had some potential. Unfortunately, a proposed Game Boy Advance follow-up that might have addressed these problems was canceled due to the lack of a publisher.

9 Retro Would Have Haunted Players' DS

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Centered around the infamous spectral enemies from the Super Mario Bros games, Boo Haunt would have put players in control of a Boo who's just graduated from Haunt university. Retro Studios were developing the game for the Nintendo DS. Gameplay would have been centered around solving puzzles by undergoing bizarre transformations that would give Boo some new powers.

Concept art exists that showcases the many iterations the Boos would undergo. Some of these drawings showcase holiday-themed transformations, such as a Boo in the shape of the Star of David.

8 Riqa Is Another Lost Title From Bits Studios

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Another lost title from Bits Studios, Riqa, was to be a third-person action title published by Nintendo. Notable for its distinct anime-inspired art direction, many outlets compared it to titles such as Core Design's Tomb Raider franchise and Rare's Perfect Dark. Gameplay footage showcases third-person and first-person shooting mechanics as the heroine blasts away at human and creature hostiles.

Details are scarce as to why the game ended up getting canceled. However, many speculate that elements of the title would resurface in another title developed by Bits and published by Kemco – Rogue Ops.

7 Two Ubisoft Devs Proposed A Handheld Wind Waker

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Long before he teamed Mario up with the Rabbids, Ubisoft Milan director Davide Soliani attempted to bring The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker to the Game Boy Advance. Enamored with the game's distinct cel-shaded art style, he and artist Fabio Pagetti managed to build a demo that recreated its distinct look on the handheld platform within the span of a month.

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They later presented this to upper management at Ubisoft. Unfortunately, the game never ended up getting picked up, and all that remains of this proposed project is a screenshot. Thankfully, Soliani would get his chance with the Big N over a decade later.

6 N64 Wars Would Have Brought The Series To The Third Dimension

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Known as Advance Wars when it came to Western shores, the Famicom Wars series has seen a plethora of titles that didn't make their way overseas. One title was planned to be made by Bomberman and Mario Party developer Hudson Soft instead of Nintendo's internal branches.

Slated for a release on the Nintendo 64, it would have been the title that brought the series into the third dimension with fully polygonal in-game cinematics. The game also would have been one of the few titles other than Pokémon Stadium to utilize the Transfer Pack in order to connect to Game Boy Wars 2.

5 Raven Blade Was One Of The Many Casualties Of Retro's Beginnings

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Before breathing new life into the Metroid and Donkey Kong franchises, Retro Studios was almost killed in the crib. The company was formed as an alliance between Nintendo and entrepreneur Jeff Spangenberg, who managed to poach the best talent from studios such as Iguana Entertainment.

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The fantasy RPG Raven Blade was one of the many original titles pitched to the big N as part of their new collaboration. Unfortunately, Spangenberg's presence at the company was sparse, and progress was not meeting Nintendo of Japan's expectations. Frustrated with Spangenberg, but seeing potential in Retro, Nintendo decided to fire the former and restructure the latter.

4 Rogue Squadron's Developers Worked On A Successor To PilotWings

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Factor 5's pedigree of flight-based titles such as the Rogue Squadron titles made them the ideal developer for Pilot Wings - a franchise that hadn't taken flight since 1996. Initially planned for the GameCube, the game took on a considerably more realistic Cold War setting, drawing inspiration from some of Julian Eggebrecht's favorite films, such as The Right Stuff and Dr. Strangelove.

Unfortunately, the looming deadlines for Rogue Squadron III forced them to focus their attention on that title. The game went through another iteration as WeFly for the Wii, but Nintendo rejected it due to its similarity to the flight section in Wii Resort.

3 Some Of Nintendo's Biggest Talent Was Involved In Cabbage

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A collaboration between high-profile Nintendo staff such as Shigesato Itoi, Shigeru Miyamoto, Satoru Iwata, and Tsunekazu Ishihara, Cabbage was a proposed breeding simulator in which players would raise and care for a creature known as a cabbage. The game's strange name apparently came from a day when Shigesato Itoi blurted the word out.

The game's intended platform was a floppy disc add-on to the Nintendo 64, known as the 64DD, as it would utilize the hardware's internal real-time clock. While it's lamentable that the title never came out, elements of it would find their way into Nintendogs and Animal Crossing.

2 Emperor Of The Jungle Would Have Brought A Manga Classic To Gaming

An image of Kimba from Kimba The White Lion

Based on the Osamu Tezuka Manga of the same name, Emperor of the Jungle was to be a collaboration between Nintendo and Makoto Tezuka. Known more famously as Kimba the White Lion in western territories, this N64 title was the series' second ill-fated attempt at a video game adaption, following a canceled title on the Super Famicom.

The N64 game was originally slated for a Spring release in 1998, but Shigeru Miyamoto revealed in an interview during E3 that its development was troubled. However, despite the game's eventual cancelation, Kimba would eventually appear on a Nintendo platform via the superb Game Boy Advance title Astro Boy Omega Factor.

1 An Earthbound GameCube Title Utilized A Distinct Art Style

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Pitched by Yasuyuki Honne of Chrono Trigger and Baten Kaitos fame, this potential GameCube Mother title greatly intrigued the late Satoru Iwata, prompting a meeting between the two and Mother creator Shigesato Itoi. Unfortunately, according to a Tweet by Honne, Itoi didn't seem interested in the title.

Despite enjoying the title's hand-made felt art direction, Itoi "felt it was a little strange.” It's been speculated that the troubled development for the canceled N64DD iteration of Mother 3 is what eventually sealed this title's fate. Sadly, this canceled project now stands as yet another entry to the lengthy list of Mother fans' woes.

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