Top 10 Cancelled Nintendo Games

This game was intended to be the sequel to Earthbound on the Super Nintendo and was originally planned for the Nintendo 64DD. After the 64DD flopped, it moved to a cartridge format. This new format caused numerous problems, and HAL started to lose money. In late 1999, they decided to cancel the game. The project was revived in 2003 for the GBA and released in 2006 as Mother 3. However, the original N64 version remains lost.

Kirby GCN entered development after Kirby 64 was released and was intended to bring back helpers from Super Star, years before Star Allies did. The game even had a trailer at E3. Unfortunately, after E3 2005, the game ended up in a state of limbo. Numerous prototypes were created that completely reworked the game, including one that turned it into a 3D platformer. Eventually, Nintendo settled on a version that became Kirby's Return to Dream Land.

Super Donkey, despite its name, isn't a Donkey Kong game but rather an original game intended for release on the Super Nintendo. Little is known about it, mainly because only prototypes exist. The game was canceled sometime before 1994 and was ultimately reworked into Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.

Starting as a tech demo at SpaceWorld 2000, Super Mario 128 was supposed to be the next big Mario game after Super Mario Sunshine and a sequel to Super Mario 64. Despite reports that the game would appear at E3, it never did. In 2007, it was confirmed that Super Mario 128 had been canceled. However, many elements of the game were incorporated into other games, such as Pikmin and Super Mario Galaxy.

Raven Blade was an RPG developed by Retro Studios from 1999 to 2001. It was intended for release on the GameCube and was showcased at E3 2001. However, Nintendo was dissatisfied with the project's progress, mainly because most of Raven Blade's developers had moved to working on Metroid Prime, slowing the game's development significantly. Nintendo threatened to cancel the project if Retro didn't show any improvements by a certain date. Retro failed to meet this deadline, and the game was canceled in July 2001, just a few months after it was shown at E3.

Donkey Kong Racing would have been a sequel to Diddy Kong Racing, featuring characters from the main Donkey Kong Country franchise. Unlike Diddy Kong Racing, this game would have featured characters riding on animal buddies from the Country series, like Rambi and Enguarde. Sadly, the game was canceled when Microsoft bought out Rare, preventing them from continuing development.

Yoshi Racing was a prototype created by Argonaut Software and pitched to Nintendo after Star Fox 64/Lylat Wars was finished. It was supposed to be a 3D Yoshi racing game. However, Nintendo rejected the prototype due to their strict policies on licensing their characters to third parties. As a result, Argonaut reworked the prototype into Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, which was released on all platforms except the Nintendo 64, likely as a response to Nintendo's rejection.

Another victim of Microsoft's Rare buyout, Donkey Kong: Coconut Crackers was to be a Game Boy Advance puzzle game featuring Donkey Kong. Like Donkey Kong Racing, the game was canceled after Microsoft bought Rare. However, unlike DKR, the game was revived a few years later as It's Mr. Pants, released by THQ and no longer featuring a Donkey Kong theme.

Pokemon Pink was intended to be a companion game to Pokemon Yellow, centered around Clefairy instead of Pikachu. The game was never released for unknown reasons.

Was reworked into Star Fox Adventures for the GameCube.

Super Mario Spikers was developed by Next Level Games and would have been a cross between a volleyball and wrestling game for the Wii, featuring Mario characters similar to the Mario Strikers games. The game did not progress past concept art and early animation tests. When Nintendo saw the animations, they rejected the game for being too violent.