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[VGEsoterica]

If you are a fan of R-Type at all and you have never played R-Type Leo...this is your reminder to play it! It's a wholly unique and awesome entry into the R-Type series that everyone should check out if they are into shmups.

Just don't be surprised if it doesn't play or look much like an R-Type game at all...and that's because it was never intended to be an R-Type game at all. Namco was actually developing their own horizontal shmup but the story goes is they ran into development issues so they game/sold the property to Irem to complete as an R-Type entry so that Namco could salvage their work on the project.

So the end result is you have an R-Type shmup that is A) awesome B) never meant to actually be an R-Type game and C) a totally unique entry in the R-Type series. Gotta love when these weird development stories happen.

It's like the reverse of Devil May Cry coming from failed developments in the Resident Evil series. Think more how Conkers Tales became Conkers Bad Fur Day.

There really aren't many instances of games being turned into franchise entries mid development but if anyone has any other examples I'd love to hear them as it's a super fun topic

 

[VGEsoterica]

So you can see what it looks like...which is NOT R-Type like lol

 

[VGEsoterica]

Probably the most famous example...Dinosaur Planet suddenly had the Starfox franchise added in mid-way through development

 

[TintoConCasera]

Wasn't Contra Force a similar case? The game sure feels nothing like a Contra game.

I also think Quake II was going to be named something else, but they ended up slapping the Quake franchise on the title to help with sales. Or something on those lines.

 

[VGEsoterica]

Wasn't Contra Force a similar case? The game sure feels nothing like a Contra game.

I also think Quake II was going to be named something else, but they ended up slapping the Quake franchise on the title to help with sales. Or something on those lines.

Yeah Contra Force originally had nothing to do with the Contra series but was folded in during development. It was a stand alone game called Arc Hound before that

 

[bender]

Funny you mention DMC since DMC2 wasn't originally a DMC game.

 

[VGEsoterica]

Funny you mention DMC since DMC2 wasn't originally a DMC game.

shut up baby I know it (hope you get the joke)

 

[UnNamed]

Silent Hill The Room.

The only game shifted by two developers I know was Metal Gear Rising.

 

[jufonuk]

Devils Third.
Didn’t that change loads and just bad ?

 

[VGEsoterica]

Silent Hill The Room.

The only game shifted by two developers I know was Metal Gear Rising.

I’d have loved to have seen Silent Hill : The Room before Silent Hill was added in to the narrative. The Room is a solid game but maybe tied down a bit by the story

 

[Danjin44]

I don't know if this counts but this entirely different game and even looks like different type of story than we got in the final game.

 

[SF Kosmo]

Mario Kart famously started as a two player F-Zero until they realized that split screen meant they had to shrink the maps to fit in memory and slow the vehicles down.

 

[VGEsoterica]

I don't know if this counts but this entirely different game and even looks like different type of story than we got in the final game.

Close but it was always going to be a Bioshock game

although what a bummer. Infinite was fun but every preview before the final concept seemed more interesting than the game we got

 

[Star-Lord]

Probably the most famous example...Dinosaur Planet suddenly had the Starfox franchise added in mid-way through development.

I’d kill for a remake of this on Switch.

Imagine that on an OLED screen.

 

[SF Kosmo]

Oh, Decap Attack on Genesis is a graphics swap of a japanese game called Magical Hat Adventure, which itself started out as a follow to Psycho Fox, I believe.

There's actually a lot of this sort of thing in the 8-bit era, where Japanese games would have different license or theme bolted on for the western release. Stuff like Yo! Noid, Ninja Kid, Alex Kidd in High Tech World, etc.

 

[VGEsoterica]

Oh, Decap Attack on Genesis is a graphics swap of a japanese game called Magical Hat Adventure, which itself started out as a follow to Psycho Fox, I believe.

There's actually a lot of this sort of thing in the 8-bit era, where Japanese games would have different license or theme bolted on for the western release. Stuff like Yo! Noid, Ninja Kid, Alex Kidd in High Tech World, etc.

True. I wonder if that’s it’s own sub category though? Finished games that got asset swaps for a different property in the west? Because then something like Doki Doki Panic / Super Mario 2 would count?

 

[nush]

Oh, Decap Attack on Genesis is a graphics swap of a japanese game called Magical Hat Adventure, which itself started out as a follow to Psycho Fox, I believe.

There's actually a lot of this sort of thing in the 8-bit era, where Japanese games would have different license or theme bolted on for the western release. Stuff like Yo! Noid, Ninja Kid, Alex Kidd in High Tech World, etc.

I remember that butchered Super famicom game Ramna I/2 they changed everything about it for the US release.

 

[VGEsoterica]

I remember that butchered Super famicom game Ramna I/2 they changed everything about it for the US release.

I do appreciate we are beyond the days of games getting wildly altered for different regions

 

[SF Kosmo]

Oh, wasn't the cancelled Thrill Kill heavily reworked into Wu Tang Shaolin Style?

 

[nush]

Oh, wasn't the cancelled Thrill Kill heavily reworked into Wu Tang Shaolin Style?

It was.

 

[OmegaSpirit32X]

Doki Doki Panic being turned into Mario 2.
Puyo Puyo Tsu!! being turned into Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine or Kirby's Avalanche/Ghost Trap
Those two are the most popular examples of this.

 

[ManaByte]

Ultima Online 2 becoming Star Wars Galaxies.

They deny it, but SWG had a bug in the game at launch that UO had.

 

[01011001]

I mean this right here is a prominent example
many people disliked it, I personally think it's one of the best SH games, and yes you can tell it originally was not meant to be a SH game but in the end I love the concept of it and the inescapable apartment + first person view in the apartment is extremely unnerving.
I bet it was the inspiration for P.T. as well

although I think this was almost like a Super Mario Bros 2/USA situation, as in it was originally supposed to be a SH game, then turned into something different, but then got turned into a SH game again at the end.

For the uninitiated, that is how Super Mario USA came to be too. it was originally a concept for a new Mario game, then Nintendo made a deal with a TV station and turned it into Doki Doki Panic, and then turned it back into a Mario concept again for the western market.

 

[01011001]

this right here is also an interesting one.
this game is IN NO WAY related to Urban Chaos on PS1/DC/PC. The only connection is that Eidos published both.

This game was originally developed under the code name "Roll Call", it was first announced as "Zero Tolerance: City Under Fire"... then there was a copyright thing about that name... and Eidos apparently just thought using an old IP name they had lying around would be beneficial to the success of the title.

and so they dug out the Urban Chaos name and gave it a subtitle.

 

[nkarafo]

This crap

 

[01011001]

This crap

best Banjo game, and it's not even close
I rather have an innovative game with new ideas than a mediocre collectathon with zero gameplay depth

 

[Soltype]

Metal Black started developement as a Darius Sequel

Perfect Dark was originally planned as a Tomorrow Never Dies game(Mr Blonde face texture is Stamper)

Fighting Force was pitched to Sega as Streets of Rage 4.The beta was titled Judgement Force,they retooled it to a new IP.


Shenmue started as a Virtua Fighter RPG for the Saturn centered around Akira.Not sure why it was changed when it was brought to the DC.

 

[nkarafo]

best Banjo game, and it's not even close
I rather have an innovative game with new ideas than a mediocre collectathon with zero gameplay depth

 

[01011001]

 

[wondermega]

Red Read Revolver (prequel to Redemption) began life as a Capcom title developed in collaboration with Angel Studios, before running into a wall. Angel was acquired by Take 2 and the unfinished/troubled development was picked back up and given a fresh lease on life as a Rockstar San Diego game.

 

[MonkeyClaw36]

Super Mario Brothers 2 anyone? They added Mario characters to a unnamed game and distributed it just in time for Christmas.
That's why its the only "off" Mario game of the 8-bit line.

 

[MadViking]

God of War