Top Ten Weirdest Unused Content or Ideas in Video Games
Here are some weird unused things and ideas in video games that never made it to the final release. Learning about changes that happened during development is cool and it's fun to think about what they might've been used for. Vote for the weirdest things on the list and add your own items if you'd like.I actually remember this! I used to be a huge fan of this game a few years ago. I watched Let's Plays of this game and I loved it. But me gushing about this game isn't why you're here. You're here for weird stuff. Well, this is both weird and nightmare fuel as well!
I originally saw this from a video when I was really into Mother 3. It definitely scared me then, and it still does honestly. It was so weird when I saw this again after forgetting about it for years. Anyway, that's enough. Let's just talk about it.
When you see this for the first time, it makes absolutely no sense at all. It has creepy noises with some weird images of Claus and other characters, and the enemy names make absolutely no sense. Vapor 2? Rope Snake? Train? SIGN? Yes, literally a sign. That last one is kinda funny to me. They're all just completely random.
There are multiple theories about this, such as it being part of a dream. Another theory is that Itoi wanted to add something like this in the final battle but couldn't due to issues with the age rating. Whatever the reason why this even exists, it's still the weirdest unused thing in a video game I have seen.
Yep! Mario originally had a gun. Shigeru Miyamoto, Mario's creator, said so himself. Of course, this idea was scrapped and he now uses fireballs instead for reasons related to gameplay. Imagine how different the series would be if they kept this idea. It's truly shocking to me.
Yeah, this game had a beta game over screen. It featured Luigi outside the mansion looking completely lifeless. I don't think it's hard to figure out why this was scrapped. It probably would've scared children too much.
Remember when I said the Invisible Island in The Wind Waker nearly tops all of the weird test maps in games? Well, this is the weirdest one out of all of them, even weirder than that island. It's a stage with strange gray ground, but what's even stranger is the background, an image of a pub.
It's absolutely bizarre that this stage even exists at all. Game Theory made a cool video about it, though. You should check it out.
Now Gen 1 had some weird beta designs for Pokemon as well, but I decided to go with the beta designs for the Johto Pokemon simply because I believe they are weirder. For example, Blissey had two pouches and a heart on its head. Porygon2 looked more like a weird dog than a duck like it does now. Leafeon looks more like its final version than the other two I mentioned, but the final version is much better.
Lickylicky... what the actual hell is that? And Tangrowth looks kinda creepy. I'm glad they changed them, honestly, especially Lickylicky. Seriously, what is that thing?
There are some test maps out there that are pretty strange, but this one almost tops them all for me. On this map, there's an invisible island where only Link, some monsters, some trees, and grass are visible. It would definitely be difficult to survive on this island, and I have no clue why this is in the files.
In the Indev versions of Minecraft, absolutely huge pyramids made of brick blocks spawned. Yep, that's it. I have no clue why this is the case. I'm not Notch, but free bricks are cool, I guess. I think they're a cool block to build with.
What... the... hell. Haha, see what I did there? Anyway, there's a horrifying unused audio file in Cuphead. It features crackling and the opening song in reverse and at a lower pitch, followed by laughter, then a very weird noise, and finally a part of the opening song repeating, still reversed and lower in pitch.
What's even creepier? When you view it in a spectrogram, you can see the devil from the game. I've also heard there were casino chips sliding in the file, but I don't hear it. Tell me if you do. Yes, I'm gonna make the same dumb joke again, yayyy! What... the... hell.
There's some very weird unused audio. For example, there's a file named 123_abc_a.ogg. In very strange robotic voices, we hear, "Hello. He-he-he-he-have some respect and don't spoil the game. It's impossible to have mysteries nowadays, because of nosy people like you. Please keep all of this between us. If you post it online, I won't make any more secrets. No one will be impressed. It will be your faaaaault! He-he-he-he-ha-he-he-ha-he-he."
As you can see, it's clearly a message from Toby Fox to dataminers. It's totally bizarre how he made his message in these weird robotic voices, but it's probably that way because he's trying to scare people. There's another one called mus_smile. It's even creepier. It plays in an unused room with a hidden log in Wingdings.
I didn't even know Wingdings existed until I became a fan of this game. The log is believed to be made by Gaster, and I think it probably does have a connection to him. Creepiest audio I've ever heard, probably.
This is far from the weirdest item on the list, but I still find it strange. If you go to the beta information on the Cave Story website, you will find some images from the development of the game. There are some nice drawings on there, but near the bottom of the page are some pictures of everyone's favorite toaster. Except he is white like snow and has glasses.
I find this pretty weird because early Balrog doesn't look like the kind of character who would try to kill you.