One year's vaporware is another year's...new game!

[YoshiFlutterJump]

Vaporware is sad. Really. You get hyped for this new game or console Nintendo announces, but it’s never released. It happened with Mario 64 2. It happened with Donkey Kong Racing. It will likely happen with Yoshi Switch. Except for one game (Star Fox 2), no game has ever risen from the vaporware grave.

But what if these games were released after all, as some of the greatest games in gaming history? What if we could rework Mario Takes America into a revolutionary game? How about Yoshi Racing? Super Mario Spikers? Kirby GCN? Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers? Mario RPG 2? VB Mario Kart? We can’t just let these ideas go to waste!

So what do you think these cancelled games would be like? For reference, here’s a list of Mario-related vaporware (List of unreleased media).

 

[Toka Hebizuka]

The thing about Star Fox 2, was that it was already finished, but they cancelled it anyway. That means if they wanted to release the game (like they did) then all they would need to do, was find the complete ROM on the internet, give one or two touch ups and then release it. If they were to release one of these games, then they probably have to start from scratch, considering how little work may have been one on some of them. I don't think any of these games will ever get a full release.

Kirby GCN? [...] Mario RPG 2?

These games were released, in the form of Kirby's Return to Dreamland for the Wii, and Paper Mario for the N64 respectively.

EDIT: I'm pretty sure Vaporware refers to a game that has been promised for awhile, but hasn't been released (such as Half-Life 3).

 

[winstein]

In regards to the poll, I find that a difficult question to answer because we didn't get to see how much of Super Mario 64 2 has been completed, as opposed to Star Fox 2 being completed but held back due to conditions of the industry at that time. I feel that Super Mario 64 2's ideas might have been done in Super Mario 64 DS, therefore I will abstain from voting.

Anyway, the first game that comes to mind when it comes to vaporware is Mother 1 (a hitherto Japan-only game), which was released as Earthbound Beginnings on Wii U's Virtual Console.

If we're talking about games that I would love to see being released one day, the answer will most definitely be Lady Sia's sequels. The first game only existed on Game Boy Advance, but the game strongly hinted that there will be further adventures despite the plot of that game being resolved. There was not one, but two games in development! One was a GBA follow-up, and the other is a 3D adventure for the Gamecube and PS2. The latter is in the prototype stage though, so it might not have reached vaporware status, but the former fits the criteria more. Here's a sample:

For reference, this is a screenshot from the first game (the HUD hides elements when it's not required after some time):

As for why those games never hit the market? The simple answer is: the company that made those games went bankrupt, and the properties went to Take-Two as a result. It's not likely to reach the status Shantae had, who had one game but years later had a resurgence since the company that made the game is still around.

Thank you for reading.

 

[Noct]

While vaporware truly is a unfortunate occurrence, at least in most cases the leftover materials and ideas are usually salvaged for much grander works and can live on through them.

One such work I kinda would like to see Nintendo revitalize at some point would be the Metroid Dread project.

 

[Magikrazy]

Except for one game (Star Fox 2), no game has ever risen from the vaporware grave.

Duke Nukem Forever
Final Fantasy XV
The Last Guardian
Team Fortress 2
Spore
Too Human
Half-Life 2

want me to keep going?

 

[YoshiFlutterJump]

Except for one game (Star Fox 2), no game has ever risen from the vaporware grave.

Duke Nukem Forever
Final Fantasy XV
The Last Guardian
Team Fortress 2
Spore
Too Human
Half-Life 2

want me to keep going?

Oh wow...