You saw the previews and have been following the news, then an upcoming video game gets canceled. This is what we at TheGamer call a “gamer’s grievance.” Video game cancellations are the worst—especially when it’s a sequel.
Video games can get canceled for going past its deadline or because the game doesn’t turn out how a developer or publisher envisions. The game could have been a hit, but it was canceled for other reasons. Most of all, the cancellation of a video game affects the gamers who look forward to it. These are 10 canceled video game sequels we still want.
10 Star Fox 2
Star Fox 2 was never meant to be released on the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System). Many years later, however, Star Fox 2 was included with the purchase of the SNES Classic Edition, a miniature SNES console remake with a small collection of games.
IGN criticized the game for its “primitive choppy 3D.” The game was never finished, and what was released had weird triangles with frame rate issues. Had Star Fox 2 reached completion, Star Fox may have become a more substantial part of the Nintendo company.
9 Doom 4
Doom is one of the oldest games to exist in video game history. The original Doom was first released in 1993 for MS-DOS PC. The graphics were nowhere near as they are today, but many of its fans still enjoy the classic game.
Doom 3, the three-dimensional 2004 game was a hit with players and critics. Sometime after the release of Doom, Doom 4 was planned to be released. Marty Stratton, a producer of Doom, said the game was a lot like Call of Duty and “didn’t feel like Doom.” They may have made a wise decision since their new 2016 Doom game is one of id Software’s best games yet.
8 Silent Hills
For a game that only takes about an hour and a half to beat, it is more fun than a significant number of survival horror games. Silent Hills (P.T. when referring to the demo) is a game that could have produced massive sales figures were it not canceled in April 2015.
Hideo Kojima, one of the leading forces behind the Metal Gear series, decided to leave Konami due to a difference in opinions. Kojima’s last games became Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and the unfinished Silent Hills.We won’t get to see the finished version of Silent Hills, but we will get to play Death Stranding, the upcoming action game by Kojima starring Norman Reedus.
7 Diddy Kong Racing 2
Technically, what we see in the above photo is a remake of the original Diddy Kong Racing. Still, the picture can help us visualize what a sequel to Diddy Kong Racing may have looked like. Oddly, the first appearance of Rare’s Banjo was in Diddy Kong Racing and not in Banjo Kazooie.
We loved Diddy Kong Racing for being the kart game of our dreams. Unlike Mario Kart, which also released on the Nintendo 64, Diddy Kong Racing has a single-player adventure and unlockable characters. The game rewarded you and was less forgiving than Mario Kart. Hopefully, Nintendo makes a sequel to Diddy Kong Racing.
6 Banjo-Threeie
After making a reference to Banjo-Threeie in Banjo-Tooie, fans were confident they would get the sequel featuring the loveable bear and bird they yearned for. Instead of getting the amazing platformer, we got Banjo-Kazooie: Nut and Bolts, a game that revolved around building weird vehicles. Nuts and Bolts could have been worse, but it is not the game we were hoping for.
We did get Yooka-Laylee, a game made by some of Banjo Kazooie’s developers, but it was nowhere near as enchanting as Banjo Kazooie. Now that Rare is owned by Xbox and years have passed, it is uncertain if we will ever get Banjo-Threeie.
5 Fable Legends
Fable was a critic success that released for the original Xbox. A few lackluster sequels paved the way for Microsoft to make a comeback. Fable Legends was supposed to be a $75 million project that could have given Xbox the edge on PlayStation 4.
Fable Legends’ cancellation in 2016 was a big hit for Microsoft since it has so few exclusives now. On the one hand, Xbox has Crackdown, Halo, Gears of War, Forza, Quantum Break, Sunset Overdrive, Ashen, and Super Lucky’s Tale. PlayStation, however, has God of War, Uncharted, Gran Turismo Sport, Shadow of the Colossus, Bloodborne, Spider-Man, Horizon Zero Dawn, The Last Guardian, MLB The Show 19, and The Last Of Us. It’s easy to say that PlayStation has the edge with its exclusives.
We may never know why this sequel never came to fruition, as no reasons were given for the decision to cancel.
4 Star Wars Battlefront III
Star Wars Battlefront III was a game that was going to be released for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Due to deadline requirements, Free Radical Design was forced to cancel the project.
We’re not referring to a sequel made by Electronic Arts. Star Wars Battlefront III would have followed 2005’s Battlefront game by Pandemic Studios if it was created. Star Wars Battlefront III had been in development for approximately two years before cancellation. We can say that if Battlefront III released, it wouldn’t have had microtransactions or a small roster of playable heroes and villains.
3 Prey 2
2017’s Prey released not that long ago, so it’s strange that Arkane Studios canceled Prey 2 as quickly as they did. Prey 1 was surprisingly fun and could be compared to games like Bioshock and Dishonored. Arkane Studios did development work for Bioshock 2, which is why you might see similarities between their games.
Bethesda Softworks was supposed to be the publisher for Prey 2, but none of that seems to matter since Bethesda didn’t feel like the game was up to par with their standards. Prey had an engaging story, but less engaging gameplay, which could be a contributing reason why they didn’t make a successor.
2 StarCraft: Ghost
Starcraft: Ghost could have been the most awesome action game of its year. The idea to continue the Starcraft series in the form of an action game that relies on stealth would have been monumental. In Starcraft: Ghost, players would encounter enemies like Zerg while playing as an infantry member from the Terran species.
After a while of development, the game was put in the backburner, and eventually, Blizzard Entertainment canceled production. It took a while for this to happen since Starcraft: Ghost was announced in 2002 and officially canceled in 2014.
1 Titan (Halo MMORPG)
Once upon a time, there was going to be a Halo MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) with Ensemble Studios was at the forefront of the project, but the game was canceled to make Halo Wars instead.
We still crossing our fingers, hoping for a Halo MMORPG. If The Elder Scrolls and Star Wars can do it, then Halo should be able to as well. Looking at the bright side of things, Halo Wars turned out to be an outstanding real-time strategy game. After a restructuring at Microsoft, the executives decided a Halo MMORPG wasn’t in their best interests.
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