Summary
Waiting for games is one of the hardest things that fans can do especially for sequels in a given franchise. For example,Final Fantasy 7’sremake was promised back on the PS3 with a tech demo, but that’s all it ever was: a tech demo. That didn’t stopPlayStationfans from wishing it was real and after almost two decades, Square Enix fulfilled the promise by creatingFinal Fantasy 7 Remake.
Even though fans got their wish, there is still some waiting involved. Well, the wait for these other games was in some instances just as long, or longer as they moved production from one console to another. Sometimes several consoles were skipped. Before jumping into thesePlayStationgames, Unseen64 was used for a majority of this research, and it is a great place to go for lost game media.
Final Fantasy 15is probably one of the best-documented PlayStation games that started somewhere else. It was announced asFinal Fantasy Versus 13alongsideFinal Fantasy 13tojoin Lightning and Serah, both for the PS3, and several other tie-ins were revealed too. It was a big project under the name ofFabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasyand a majority of these games were either canceled or reworked such asFinal Fantasy Versus 13.
Based on screenshots and gameplay trailers, the battle system looks mostly the same in the final game, but the game itself is almost nothing alike. After years of development hell,Final Fantasy 15would be released ten years later under that new name with its own series of tie-ins including games, movies, anime, and more. Check out the content theyhave on Unseen64.
Gravity Rushwas a launch gamefor the PS Vitastarring Kat, a female hero who had the power of gravity. It was internally developed by Sony in Japan but it was not always a PS Vita game. The game started production under the name ofGraviteand it was a PS3 title.
The game looks virtually the same although there is not a lot of content out there. There are screenshots along with some artwork from the project that started around 2008. A lot of these details and screenshots were released on Dengeki Online, a popular Japanese gaming website. They went into the history of the series around the game’s launch in 2012 whichUnseen64 decoded a bit of.
Icois one of the most celebrated games on the PS2 because of its haunting world, and unique gameplay concepts. It was not the director’s first game, Fumito Ueda, but it was his directorial debut. As celebrated asIcois, most fans of his would sayShadow of the Colossusis his superior title in the three that he has directed so far.
Now,Icobegan life on the PS1 as a concept demo in 1997. The video has been archived and the look of the game is definitely there along with the gameplay albeit in a more early polygonal manner. This footage was discovered on a DVD which was part of a special edition released only in Japan forShadow of the Colossus’launch and it isarchived on Unseen64.
Icois not the only game from Fumito Ueda that began on another console. While Ico was a prototype in a movie sense, it is not known if a playable build was ever created.The Last Guardianwas certainly runningon a PS3though and it was first unveiled for the console at E3 2009 during Sony’s press conference.
The game would disappear for years, many thinking it was canceled. Eventually, the game was released on the PS4 in 2016. It looked identical to the rare footage that would be released albeit prettier looking. There isa video onlinethat goes through all of the trailers and the subtle changes. The wait wasn’t as long asFinal Fantasy 15, but it is funny that these two games both came out in 2016 after years of obscurity.
2Onimusha
Capcom has been pretty good about taking its franchises to other consoles but theOnimushaseries isthe odd duck out. It began and died during the PS2 generation although this first game did get a remaster in 2018. Nothing new has been released sinceOnimusha: Dawn of Dreamsin 2006 is the point, but fans are still hopeful for a sequel one day.
Sequel history aside, Onimusha actually beganon the PS1and it was unveiled in 1999. Besides the downgrade in graphics, the screenshots make it look the same as the PS2 final release. There are a couple of videos too from around this time, but the footage is very grainy because it was filmed via a camera at a booth. The screenshots and Japanese preview information are proofenough in Unseen64’s rundown.
1Rayman
One of the holy grails for collectors is prototype ROMs. It’s one thing to see a screenshot or a trailer for a canceled game. It’s another thing to actually play it.Raymanfalls into that category because a playable build was discoveredfor the SNESand it was uploaded online for all to enjoy.
This prototype is presumably very early on though because it’s not long and it doesn’t even look like the one screenshot that is out there on Unseen64. The screenshot on the website came from a book that detailed the history of the series calledL’Histoire de Rayman. And yes, it is in French. The most interesting thing about this screenshot is that it showcases co-op gameplay.
