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Worst Tragedies in Gaming History (Lost Games)

Geno Breaker

Geno Breaker

Banned
Iwata passing away was pretty shitty. Still can't believe it all these years later.

As far as games go, the fact that Smash went into a different direction after Melee always disappointed me. I love Melee, but Brawl was a huge disappointment and although Sm4sh is a really well made game, it's just not for me.
 
T

Teh Lurv

Member
element said:
I really don't get why people freak out about this. All the parts in the Xbox Alpha kits are off the shelf parts. Generic Intel Mobo, Intel Celeron 733A and Geforce 2. The XDK software has been floated for years, so there isn't anything special in the actual hardware on those kits.

My list:
True Fantasy Online (it was rough though)
HumanHead Prey 2
Star Wars 1313
This is Vegas - Almost had The Hangover licensed added to it as a last ditch attempt
Click to expand...

IIRC, the biggest source of consternation was the kid may have wiped the HDD and destroyed who-knows-what files stored on it. Stuff like possible early builds of Halo, etc.
 
Jetboxx

Jetboxx

Member
a Master Ninja said:
Microsoft published Ninja Gaiden II (Xbox 360) was rushed out to go toe-to-toe with the PS3's MGS4, in addition to shenanigans that got Itagaki out the door. It clearly suffered from not having a few more months to polish the back half of the game and tweak enemies. It could have been better than Ninja Gaiden Black.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's true. Still NGII is better than any of Hayashi's games.
 
V

Valkerionseven

Member
It always amazes me to see companies admit to straight up losing source code and assets from games they made. Like there are no copies, no storage room, no nothing for this stuff? It just seemingly gets tossed out when its done in some cases.

As for other games I'd say series trying to be something they clearly are not is the saddest thing.

Ridge Racer chasing the Burnout money, a couple of years after the Burnout spectical racer
trend was clearly over. Ace Combat trying to be even more acton-y and CoD like. Final Fantasy and Metal Gear (though amazing gameplay in MGSV) turning into a boring open world slog.
 
B

Bobo Dakes

Member
To right the countless wrongs of our day, we shine this light of true redemption, that this place may become as paradise. What a wonderful world such would be...

hqdefault.jpg
 
-hadouken

-hadouken

Member
Code for Garou Mark of the Wolves 2 got lost (and some say stolen) during the demise of the original SNK in the early 00s. Tragic we never got a follow up to SNK's finest fighter. :'(
 
B

BigDes

Member
This thread seems pretty much made for the Legacy of Kain games

Every so often we still get news of a new LoK game that was in development but got scrapped because...

I think it is up to five failed sequels now?
 
Bioshocker

Bioshocker

Member
For me Sega pulling out of the console hardware business is the worst "tragedy" (if that word is at all appropriate here). I was actually in a state of grief then. Being a Sega fanboy, young with no experience of real tragedy in my life at that point I took it hard. Imagine being a hard-core fan of a soccer or hockey team and the franchise disappears for some reason.

It felt so unfair, to me Dreamcast was the system to own. It had tons if great games, it was Sega at its best.

Looking back as a grown up and console agnostic I can still say that the demise of Sega hurt the industry too. We'll likely never see the likes of Sega again. Today Sega is a shadow of its former self. The risks they took were simply too great. But being a Dreamcast gamer in the year 2000 was nothing less than amazing. I'll never forget that year.
 
C

Cave Johnson

Member
KefkaPalazzo said:
Sorry, Bioshock Infinite is a great game that deserved the tremendous critical reception it received.
Click to expand...

Other than Konami, every other studio would further supplement it's success with such acclaim. Instead, Irrational downsized and a lot of the team members left the studio.

Hardly, the definition of "success". The game has pointed to numerous development problems from being overly ambitious, underpowered hardware and restarted the design multiple times.
 
G

GamerJM

Banned
element said:
I really don't get why people freak out about this. All the parts in the Xbox Alpha kits are off the shelf parts. Generic Intel Mobo, Intel Celeron 733A and Geforce 2. The XDK software has been floated for years, so there isn't anything special in the actual hardware on those kits.

My list:
True Fantasy Online (it was rough though)
HumanHead Prey 2
Star Wars 1313
This is Vegas - Almost had The Hangover licensed added to it as a last ditch attempt
Click to expand...

Wasn't it because he wiped the HDD, which could have potentially had unseen beta software on it?
 
Bioshocker

Bioshocker

Member
Cave Johnson said:
Other than Konami, every other studio would further supplement it's success with such acclaim. Instead, Irrational downsized and a lot of the team members left the studio.

Hardly, the definition of "success". The game has pointed to numerous development problems from being overly ambitious, underpowered hardware and restarted the design multiple times.
Click to expand...

It still ended up being a great game that sold more than 6 million copies, if I'm not mistaken (excluding sales from BioShock The Collection). From what I gathered from Ken Levine he wanted to start fresh with something smaller. Irrational had grown and grown and BioShock Infinite was a huuge project.
 
SolVanderlyn

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
It's kind of understandable as it was very ambitious, but Xenosaga's original six episode concept not coming to fruition

Xenogears was Episode V and to this day I believe that Xenosaga Episode V would have been a reworked Xenogears. It was clear that after Episode I the direction had already changed though
 
E

Eylos

Banned
Breath of fire 6
breath_of_fire_vi_2.jpg


Japan old cellphone exclusive (the servers are closed a game nobody Will play anymore)
psp_wallpaper__before_crisis_by_rukiruki.jpg


And chrono trigger where's It Square
 
P

Parallax

best seen in the classic "Shadow of the Beast"
The mega man series devolving and going back to 8 bit like games rather than having higher resolution sprites, or not continuing the mega man powered up series on other consoles or portables
 
O

Oyashrio-Sama

Member
Silent Hills Is the freshest in my mind. Kojima, Del Toro, Junji Ito... Man... Shit...

The fact will will never get a real sequel to Final Fantasy Tactics due to the vastly inferior Tactics Advanced series.

Chrono Break.
 
V

Ventara

Member
I'm playing Ever Oasis on the 3DS right now, which reminds me of Fantasy Life, and it's a real shame about it's sequel. Moved to mobile, kept getting delayed (I'm not even sure it's out yet, though apparently it had a beta not too long ago), will probably die a quick death. A fantastic new IP pretty much immediately destroyed.

Edit: Oh, another one I just remembered; sequel to Prince of Persia (2008). The game didn't do too hot, and with AC being the new hot stuff, it was sidelined and forgotten. The game had problems with it's combat, but artsyle, music, characters, story, the calming platforming all resonated with me, and it's a real shame will never get to continue the Prince and Elika's story.
 
B

Borman

Member
Teh Lurv said:
IIRC, the biggest source of consternation was the kid may have wiped the HDD and destroyed who-knows-what files stored on it. Stuff like possible early builds of Halo, etc.
Click to expand...

Apparently the HDD was already wiped. Most likely had nothing, but was disappointing that he refused to send it out to someone like myself.

element said:
I really don't get why people freak out about this. All the parts in the Xbox Alpha kits are off the shelf parts. Generic Intel Mobo, Intel Celeron 733A and Geforce 2. The XDK software has been floated for years, so there isn't anything special in the actual hardware on those kits.
Click to expand...

Sound card isn't easy to find though, but now someone made a handful of custom cards to fill that gap. But you're still talking about potentially damaging what is a rare kit.
 
B

Big_Al

Unconfirmed Member
Starbuck2907 said:
Remember when Dark Sector (360/PS3) was a sci-fi stealth game? It looked cool.

https://youtu.be/gzsLrcTNfO8

Then, it released as a quasi-RE inspired game. While not awful, was not nearly as cool as the earlier concept.

https://youtu.be/bkfujrkd4Uo

Also, Starcraft: Ghost and ...did the Fallout MMO from Interplay get cancelled?
Click to expand...


At least they eventually got to make their game as Warframe though which they are now doing very well from :)
 
N

Nuu

Banned
randomengine said:
SEGA - Goes third-party and 90% of their game diversity evaporates.
Click to expand...

This wasn't instantaneous. Sega initially kept releasing the quality and style of the games they released on the Dreamcast as they did when they first went third party:

  • Jet Set Radio Future
  • Gun Valkyrie
  • Toe Jam and Earl 3
  • Shenmue 2
  • Crazy Taxi 3
  • Shinobi
  • Nightshade
  • Virtua Fighter 4
  • Super Monkey Ball
  • House of the Dead 3
  • Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst
  • Billy Hatchet
  • Panzer Dragoon Orta
  • Outrun 2

The issue is that with the exception of Super Monkey Ball and Shinobi, all these games either underperformed, or flatout bombed. This led to Sammy completely restructuring Sega in 2004 and the company immediately transforming into...well what it is now.
 
B

BADMAN

Member
I'd like to pour one out for every unannounced game cancellation that we may never know about. Of the thousands of games that died in the dark I'm sure a few would have been classics.
 
BennyBlanco

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
3-cruzko.gif



AKI Corp losing the contract with EA to make a new Def Jame, letting an EA studio make Def Jam: Icon which turned out to be terrible.... and lead to AKI corp changing their name and releasing a bunch of 3ds dressup games
 
S

Slaythe

Member
1. Vampire the masquerade : Bloodlines

2. Indiana Jones and the rise of the Iron Phoenix, sequel to Fate of Atlantis, my heart may never recover
 
P

Prophaniti

Banned
Starcraft Ghost.

I just want to poke around in the starcraft universe bro. Just let me do it. I don't care about orcs or magical pandas or whatever Warcraft shit you got. I just wanna punch a protoss in his face.
 
C

chronic_archaic

Member
Bandersnatch

I think that one actually got released by... Psygnosis? The original game is certainly gone.

Cry On - Cavia developed RPG for Xbox 360, cancelled when they got dissolved in 2010.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Wished we had gotten Whore of the Orient. A game in that setting and era could have been something special

Colossal Moo said:
Bioshock Infinite didn't deserve the praise it originally got and it doesn’t deserve the hate it now gets. Bioshock Infinite is a good but not great game. Here are some of its problems:

1. It starts out slow. There is very little combat in the first half hour and the story content is boring.
Click to expand...
How is this a problem? That was like the most interesting part of the game
 
U

uocooper

Member
Breakage said:
Sleeping Dogs 2 never happening.
Click to expand...

This one still hurts. I remember being so excited when I heard United Front Games was working on a sequel to one of my favorite games and then I remember being devastated when I saw that it was going to be online multiplayer. Such a waste of what should have been a great franchise.
 
V

Version 3.0

Member
ShadowSwordmaster said:
I didn't hear good things about that game when people played it.
Click to expand...

I played Starcraft: Ghost at E3 2005 or 2006. It wasn't bad. I thought it had potential. I was certainly still looking forward to it, and was bummed when it got cancelled.


AmyS said:
A distant second, but still incredible tragic, is that the 3DO / Panasonic M2 was canned.
Click to expand...

Nah, man. Huge sigh of relief when the also-rans from that last in-between generations stampede died off. 3DO's vision was a nice one, but they'd long since buried it by the time they were working on the M2.
 
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