And it was first pitched as a Nintendo 64 game.
It's not uncommon for a game to start off on one console and be released on the next generation console. This usually occurs to late-cycle games but can also occur to games stuck in Development Hell. Often overlaps with Schedule Slip if unexpected delays in a game's production pushes its release to near or after the launch of the next-generation.
There are many reasons why this happens, the most obvious being in order to take advantage of improved hardware. Another common reason is because late-in-life titles don't usually sell that well. With many gamers making the leap to the newest console or handheld, porting or remaking a title for the next gen is the best bet for sales.
In a certain way, sometimes consoles themselves can have this happen, originating as add-ons or planned features for older consoles before eventually releasing as entirely new systems.
See also Cross-Generation Video Game, where a game is developed and released on multiple generations of consoles simultaneously.
Examples:
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Action-Adventure
- Cubivore started out as a Nintendo 64 title intended for the 64DD peripheral. After the add-on's failure, it was shifted to being a standard N64 game, but due to it being late in the system's lifespan, it was moved to the Nintendo GameCube instead.
- Deadly Premonition started out as a PlayStation 2 title in 2005, but its 2010 release meant it got pushed to the Xbox 360. This is why the graphics are a generation behind: the director asked about redoing all the graphics and was told there was no way the artists were going to do that.
- ICO started life as a PlayStation title, but got shifted to the PlayStation 2 halfway through production due to the development team running into various hardware limitations on the former and not wishing to alter the scope and vision of the game.
- Kameo: Elements of Power had its development span across four different consoles. It was initially conceptualized as a Nintendo 64 title before shifting production as to be a potential GameCube launch title. Then developer Rare was purchased by Microsoft, at which point Kameo was moved to the Xbox and began being retooled for the more young adult-skewing demographic of the console; the long process of which ultimately resulted in it becoming an Xbox 360 launch title.
- The Last Guardian was announced at E3 2009 for the PlayStation 3 but didn't end up coming out until 7 years later on the PlayStation 4.
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was intended to receive an expansion pack called Ura Zelda, planned for the console's 64DD add-on. The failure of the 64DD led to it being scrapped, but it would come to inspire the Master Quest mode in the GameCube re-release and Nintendo 3DS remake.
- Inverted with Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. It was originally planned to be a PlayStation 3 release, but because the hardware specifications of the PS3 had yet to be finalized at the time of development, the game was instead made for the PlayStation 2.
- Metroid Dread was originally planned for the Nintendo DS, but series producer Yoshio Sakamoto felt its hardware was not powerful enough to convey his vision for the game. The project was shelved before eventually re-entering production over a decade later for the Nintendo Switch. It is generally assumed that Sakamoto was referring to the E.M.M.I. when talking about the hardware, with their behavior requiring more advanced AI scripting than the handheld could accomplish.
- Nioh was announced at E3 2005 during the press conference where the PlayStation 3 itself was revealed. The game wasn't released until 2017 (12 years later) on the PlayStation 4.
- The "Robot Kit" set for Nintendo Labo was originally announced in 2014 as "Project Giant Robot", a Wii U game that would help show the creative potential of the GamePad controller. However, it would be quietly changed into a Nintendo Switch game due to Nintendo pivoting many internal projects to the next system following an underwhelming holiday season.
- Shantae (2002) was originally considered for the Super Nintendo or the PlayStation. Prolonged development and limited resources resulted in only a Game Boy Color release, at the very end of that platform's life cycle. One can wonder if the game would've sold better if it was made for the Game Boy Advance instead.
- Shining Wisdom was rushed to be released on the Sega Saturn rather than the Sega Genesis due to Sega's surprise launch of that console several months early.
- Too Human started out as a PlayStation title, before becoming a GameCube title when developer Silicon Knights entered an exclusive partnership with Nintendo. The production on other titles pushed development back, with the game briefly becoming intended for the Wii until Silicon Knights learned of the system's hardware specifications, prompting them to immediately end their partnership with Nintendo to instead develop the game as a Xbox 360 title.
First-Person Shooter
- GoldenEye (1997) was first conceived as a 2D platformer for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, but was quickly shifted to the Nintendo 64 when one of the lead developers insisted that it should be a shooter.
- Halo: Combat Evolved went through two platform changes and one genre change before it was finally released. Steve Jobs himself introduced the game as a Real-Time Strategy title releasing simultaneously for Mac and PC during the 1999 Macworld Conference & Expo. Bungie later changed it into a shooter, and even later were purchased by Microsoft, who made it an exclusive launch title for the Xbox console. Funnily enough, it ended up getting ported to both PC and Mac after all, though two years later and by third parties (Gearbox Software handling the PC port and Westlake Interactive getting the Mac port).
Hack-and-Slash
- Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment began development for the Nintendo Switch, but was moved to its successor partway during production in order to take advantage of the console's superior specifications, allowing them to have greater numbers of enemies onscreen and a higher framerate than the previous game in the series, Age of Calamity.
Horror
- Eternal Darkness started off as a N64 title, but due to starting development so late in the console's lifespan, Nintendo pushed them to make it a Nintendo GameCube launch title instead. However, the need to replace one of the game's chapters in order to distance itself from the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks resulted in the game being delayed into the following year.
- Resident Evil 0 went both ways: it started development for the N64's Disk Drive addon, but shifted to a regular cartridge game because of the 64DD's constant delays and low sales when it finally did come out. Issues caused by the low storage capacity of N64 cartridges then lead them to shift forward to the GameCube, which in turn caused the game to be delayed even further in order to put its graphics on par with the remake of Resident Evil 1.
Hardware
- The Nintendo GameCube had a number of scrapped peripherals and features that Nintendo would later implement into future hardware:
- Nintendo experimented with motion controls for the system, with early versions of the GameCube controller having the feature. The idea was kept long enough for some developers to begin utilizing it in development of their games, but it was ultimately scrapped. The concept would serve as the basis for the Nintendo Wii, with there also being patents that suggest the system's Wiimote and Nunchuk may have been considered as possible peripherals for the GameCube as well, before it was decided to make them a standalone console.
- Nintendo considered a slimmed-down, portable version of the GameCube with a LCD screen that could connect to a TV via a docking station. They never went through with this idea, but the concept would eventually manifest with the Nintendo Switch.
- After a few early, unsuccessful experiments with stereoscopic 3D that took the form of a 3D glasses accessory for the Famicom and the Virtual Boy, Nintendo looked into implementing stereoscopic 3D on a number of their subsequent systems before finally doing so with the Nintendo 3DS. These include special 3D display accessories for both the Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance that were scrapped; the former because the accessory would have cost more than the GameCube itself, and the latter because the GBA's screen resolution was too low to produce a satisfactory 3D effect.
Party Games
- Inverted with Mario Party 2, which was moved from the Nintendo 64DD to the vanilla Nintendo 64 due to the former's failure.
Platform Games
- Banjo-Kazooie went through this along with a Mid-Development Genre Shift. The developers originally envisioned it as a pirate-themed RPG-adventure for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System before deciding to turn it into a Funny Animal 3D Collect-a-Thon Platformer for the Nintendo 64.
- Donkey Kong Bananza began development as a Nintendo Switch game, but was moved to the Switch 2 when the development team realized the more powerful hardware would allow them to expand the scope of the voxel destruction gameplay.
- Kirby:
- Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards started out as a 64DD title before being moved to cartridge.
- A Kirby title for the GameCube tentatively titled Kirby for Nintendo GameCube was worked on for years but ultimately shelved, with some of its elements reworked into the Wii's Kirby's Return to Dream Land.
- The first Densetsu no Stafy title started development in 1995 for the Game Boy. It was moved to the Game Boy Color in 1999 before finally being released as a Game Boy Advance title in 2002.
- Owlboy was conceptualized as a Wii game, but the game suffered Development Hell due to the creator struggling with depression and restarting the project multiple times. It ended up on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch.
- The original Rayman game started development as a Super NES game, but it was later shifted to the Atari Jaguar, PlayStation, and Sega Saturn.
- Sonic the Hedgehog:
- Knuckles' Chaotix began development as a Sega Genesis title under the name Sonic Crackers. When Sega realized that the sun was rapidly setting on the 16-bit era, they moved the game to the Sega 32X (it was also considered for the Sega Saturn, but its increasingly stagnant development and a lack of 32X titles led to it being moved there instead), reorienting it to remove Sonic & Tails and instead give Knuckles A Day in the Limelight.
- Sonic Adventure started out life on the Sega Saturn using the "Sonic World" engine from Sonic Jam. Early in development, it was moved to the then-upcoming Sega Dreamcast.
- The PC Engine port of Strider has a tortuous history within the generation of that console and its add-ons. Announced in late 1989 as a SuperGrafx-exclusive HuCard, by early 1991 it was reported as being merely enhanced for the SuperGrafx, which by then was evidently a commercial failure. Development later abandoned the SuperGrafx entirely and shifted to the Super CD-ROM2 system, and by the time it was finally released in 1994 its system requirements included the Arcade Card introduced earlier that year.
- Super Mario Bros.:
- Mario was meant to have a rideable dinosaur companion ever since the original Super Mario Bros. 1, but they couldn't get it to work on the NES, so they waited until Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Ironically, the 1995 unlicensed NES port of Super Mario World did get Yoshi to work, proving that pirates do what Nintendon't.note
- Simultaneous 4-player co-op was envisioned as far back as Super Mario Bros. 2 on the NES, but technical limitations resulted in it not being implemented until New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
- According to a Super Mario Galaxy preview on G4 (circa 2006), it was initially going to be a Nintendo GameCube game (this was in turn one of the remnants of the cancelled Super Mario 128 project).
- Super Meat Boy was original planned as a WiiWare game; however, the developers were unable to fit the game within the strict 40 MB size limit for WiiWare games, so they released it on Xbox Live Arcade instead.
- A Wii U version of Yooka-Laylee was planned, but cancelled when development moved towards the Nintendo Switch.
Puzzle Games
- The Witness was originally planned for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but later moved to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 after the game engine grew beyond the capabilities of the 7th generation.
Racing Games
- Donkey Kong Barrel Blast was meant to be released on the GameCube, using the DK Bongos peripheral made for Donkey Konga. It then became a Wii title, using motion controls instead of the bongos.
- Mario Kart World began development as a Nintendo Switch title. However, the team found that they would have needed to make far more compromises and cut more content than they had any desire of doing in order to make the game playable on the console, so development was shifted to the Nintendo Switch 2. To help justify this to higher-ups, they pitched creating additional DLC content for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which became the "Booster Course Pass".
Rhythm Games
- Daigasso! Band Brothers, later released in Europe as Jam with the Band, first started development as a Game Boy Color title, then it moved to the Game Boy Advance under the title Game Boy Music, before finally seeing an release on the Nintendo DS. This was mostly due to the limitations of the Game Boy and the developers struggling to get Nintendo to approve the game because of it staring an unestablished character.
Roguelikes
- Inverted with the second installment in the Shiren the Wanderer series; it was intended for the Nintendo 64DD but got released on a regular cartridge instead when the expansion unit proved to be a failure.
Role-Playing Games
- Inverted with Dragon Quest VII, which was originally intended for the Nintendo 64DD, but the platform's failure resulted in the game moving to the PlayStation instead as the game presumably would've been too large for a cartridge.
- EarthBound 64 (Mother 3 in Japan) started out as a Super Nintendo Entertainment System game, then a 64DD game, then a standard Nintendo 64 title, but development stagnated due to a mix of Shigesato Itoi overestimating the N64's capabilities and the dev team's inexperience with 3D, which led to the game getting cancelled in 2000. Six years later, it came out as the sprite-based (and Japanese only) Mother 3 for the Game Boy Advance.
- Elemental Gimmick Gear was being developed for the Sega Saturn before being released for the Sega Dreamcast. The game as released shows off the Dreamcast's advanced 3D capabilities in Boss Battles, but maintains a low-resolution 2D look in other sections.
- Final Fantasy:
- A subversion in regards to Final Fantasy IV: originally there were plans for a fourth NES title in the series, which got cancelled due to the arrival of the Super Nintendo. Turns out that said fourth game was a different title entirely, and that the game with Cecil and Kain was always intended for the SNES, but it would've been titled Final Fantasy V had the fourth NES game materialized.
- Development for Final Fantasy VII originally started on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, but was postponed in favor of working on Chrono Trigger. Once that game was released, Square revisited the project on the Nintendo 64, until frustrations with Nintendo's use of cartridges on the system (rather than the more capable Compact Disc format) combined with longstanding issues with the company's licensing and censorship policies motivated the developers to shift focus to the PlayStation, on which it would ultimately release.
- Final Fantasy XIII was originally intended for the PlayStation 2, but the long development cycle made Square Enix switch to the PlayStation 3 instead so they could take advantage of its improved hardware.
- Final Fantasy XV was announced in 2006 as Final Fantasy Versus XIII for the PlayStation 3, a spin-off of the then-still-upcoming Final Fantasy XIII. After a decade of Schedule Slip, the connection to Final Fantasy XIII was dropped, and it was it reworked into the series' next mainline installment that ultimately released on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
- Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade was originally intended for the Nintendo 64, but some Troubled Production caused by the failure of the 64DD peripheral led to development being restarted from scratch and moved to the Game Boy Advance.
- Golden Sun: Camelot originally planned the first game for the Nintendo 64, but since development began late in that console's life, they decided to develop it for the Game Boy Advance instead.
- Monster Hunter: Rise's development shows off an unique spin on this trope; while the game was always targeting a Switch release, development originally started using 3DS devkits due to Creator/Capcom not having received Switch devkits yet. When they finally got them, development was moved over to the Switch.
- OMORI was supposed to come out on Nintendo 3DS in addition to PC as part of a stretch goal, but when the game's development cycle eclipsed the 3DS's lifecycle, the game was ported to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 instead.
- Persona 4 Golden was originally planned as a PSP title. However, after the PlayStation Vita was announced, they chose to make it for that system instead, since it would allow them to produce a proper Updated Re-release that wouldn't require them to remove any features from the original PS2 version.
- Pokémon:
- When localizing Pokémon Yellow for the West, the developers decided to capitalize on the Game Boy Color and upconvert the game for that console, although it was still marketed as a regular Game Boy game. The 3DS eShop did treat Western versions of the game as a GBC game however.
- Downplayed with Pokémon Gold and Silver: they were originally developed for the monochrome Game Boy with Super Game Boy support for color, but after development got pushed back they wound up on the Game Boy Color instead. However, though marketed on the box as GBC games, the cartridges are still the same design as those for, and can be played on, the basic Game Boy, so for all intents and purposes they're simply Game Boy games with noticeably more effort put into color distribution when played on a Color.note A demo of the original Game Boy version was shown off at the Spaceworld '97 event, said demo would later be leaked to the public in 2018.
- Inverted with Pokémon Stadium, which was originally intended for the Nintendo 64DD but got released on regular Nintendo 64 cartridges instead due to the DD's abysmally low sales.
- Infamously inverted with Secret of Mana, which originally targeted the cancelled SNES CD add-on and was forced to switch to the base system when said add-on was cancelled. The switch to cartridges meant that approximately 60 percent of the game had to be cut, and it inspired Square to jump to the PlayStation after Nintendo affirmed their decision to stick with carts for the Nintendo 64.
- The original Shadow Hearts 1 was originally planned for the PlayStation, like its predecessor Koudelka. Development shifted to the PlayStation 2 for the final release.
- Shenmue was originally made for Sega Saturn during the last years of the console, but due to limitations of the system and the upcoming arrival of the Sega Dreamcast, the developers decided to move the game to the new platform. There are plenty of images when the game was in development
, as well some videos; there are also strong rumours about a Saturn ISO with the beta existing, but this has never been confirmed.
- Super Paper Mario was originally designed for the Nintendo GameCube, but it was changed over to the Wii during development. A dual-platform release was considered at one point, and the game contains Dummied Out assets intended for the GameCube version, including interface elements and lower quality versions of the graphics designed for the older console's weaker hardware.
- Tomato Adventure was originally titled Gimmick Land and intended for the Game Boy Color. Developer AlphaDream moved it to the Game Boy Advance and changed its name when that console got released.
- According to Toby Fox, Nintendo approached him about the possibility of porting Undertale to the Wii U and/or Nintendo 3DS, only for the idea to be scrapped due to the Game Maker game engine (which Undertale was developed with) not being designed to work on either system. The game would eventually be ported to the Nintendo Switch, the successor system to both devices, which Game Maker does support.
Shoot-Em-Ups
Simulation Games
- Nintendogs was conceived as a Nintendo GameCube title, but it was moved to the Nintendo DS to take advantage of its touch-screen.
- Pokémon:
- Inverted with Pokémon Snap, which started out as a Nintendo 64DD game before becoming a standard Nintendo 64 game after the peripheral's failure.
- According to New Pokémon Snap director Haruki Suzaki, there were several attempts to develop such a game for various (unspecified) consoles prior to them joining, before plans were finally settled to develop the game for the Nintendo Switch.
- Seaman was originally considered for the Nintendo 64DD before being moved to the Dreamcast due to the former's failure.
- A Wii U port of Stardew Valley was scrapped in order for it to instead appear on the Nintendo Switch.
Visual Novels
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney was initially planned to be released on the Game Boy Color. However, early in development the production team was shown the upcoming Game Boy Advance and were so impressed they switched over to take advantage of the new hardware. It could be argued they went overboard in this aspect, as they ended up having to cut some character animations to fit the whole game on a GBA cartridge.
