When comparing a game from its design phase to the finished product, the result can be vastly different than what was originally intended. Sometimes this results in a much better game, and quite often those titles have gone on to inspire games for years to come, showing the developers that their decision to take a risk paid off. So, let’s take a look at how some games drastically changed throughout development. Here are five video games that are nothing like the developers originally intended.
Conker’s Bad Fur Day
– Original Idea: A family-friendly 3D platformer inspired by Super Mario 64 and Donkey Kong.
– Final Release: A adult-themed 3D platformer featuring violence, swearing, sexual references, and crude jokes.
Following on from the success of Donkey Kong 64 and Banjo-Kazooie, Rare set out to develop their next title, focusing on a Squirrel called Conkers. Partway through development, the team decided to change things up and give the game an adult theme, with violence, swearing, and plenty of sexual references. Looking at the box art you would never know the game was adult-themed, so I do wonder how many parents bought this for their children.
Goldeneye 007
– Original Idea: A 2D platformer and later a rail shooter inspired by Virtua Cop for the SNES.
– Final Release: A first-person shooter game that set the standard for modern FPS games on console.
The original plan for Goldeneye was vastly different from the finished product. Originally due to be a 2D platformer on the SNES, the game saw many changes before becoming the game we know it as today. It is hard to believe that the team that worked on the game had little prior experience developing games. But, the small team changed console shooters and set the standard for what modern FPS games should be.
Grand Theft Auto
– Original Idea: A multiplayer cops and robbers style game.
– Final Release: A top-down 2D open-world game where the player is the criminal.
I think it’s safe to say that if DMA Design had released the game as planned that the game would not have become to juggernaut IP that it is today. Originally designed as a cops and robbers game, the developers realized that the criminal aspect of the game was the most enjoyable, so they decided to just focus on that, and it paid off for them. In the last 20 years the series has gone from strength to strength and has become a multi-billion franchise.
Halo: Combat Evolved
– Original Idea: A real-time strategy game for the Apple Mac.
– Final Release: A first-person shooter released exclusively for the original Xbox.
Halo was set to be a very different game before Bungie was acquired by Microsoft. The game was originally set to be a real-time strategy game for the Apple Mac, before being changed to a traditional FPS game on the original Xbox. The series did revisit the genre in later years with the Halo Wars series.
Resident Evil 2
– Original Idea: The game that became known by fans as Resident Evil 1.5.
– Final Release: A reworked game with new characters and story.
Following the success of Resident Evil in 1996, Capcom immediately began work on the sequel, and it almost became a vastly different game. While the overall concept of the game would remain the same, following two main characters as they escape Raccoon City, the finished product differed greatly. The original Resident Evil 2, or 1.5 as it has been dubbed by fans, still featured Leon Kennedy, but the second character would be Elza Walker, a university student who returned to the city for the summer break. Both characters would begin their journey in the RPD but would never cross paths. Speaking of the RPD, it was originally intended to be vastly different to the Gothic art museum that we saw in the finished release. The original design was very cold and sterile and a lot like a modern police station in design.
The cast of characters varied greatly too. Some characters such as Sherry and Marvin were present but in different roles. Marvin would follow Leon through the game and play a secondary role, rather than being fatally wounded when he is encountered near the start of the game. Sherry played a similar role, with her mutated father hunting her down how he did in the finished game. Ada would be an Umbrella scientist rather than a spy, and the characters we know as Chief Irons and Kendo would be different, with Kendo’s character model being a police officer called Roy, and Irons being a good character rather than the sadistic psychopath we saw in the finished title.
Many fans yearn for Resident Evil 1.5 and wish they could play the game as intended, but most people who have played the leaked 40% version will agree, what we got ended up being a much better game.
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