If you only ever know one thing about game development, let it be that it is a process so fraught with pitfalls that it’s a miracle any game is released at all. From graphical requirements to gameplay refinement, there are any number of aspects for developers to flesh out in only a few years, and many times titles can require excessive amounts of time to come together in a way that’s suitable for release. With that in mind, these are five games that went through development hell and came out the other side.
5 Games That Went Through Development Hell and Came Out the Other Side
Mother 3
The quirky RPG Earthbound captured many a gamer’s imagination when it was released to the wider world in 1995 for the Super NES. Host to a cast of lovable characters who each held eccentric traits and abilities, it was a series many were eager to return to as soon as possible.
This was far from what would happen. In Japan, Earthbound marked the second entry in the Mother RPG series and its development had nearly been rocky enough to keep the title from ever being released. Mother 3’s development cycle proved just as turbulent, with the title originally planned for release on the Nintendo 64 peripheral 64 DD Disc Drive. Due to questions of whether its new 3D gameplay would fit the series though, it was reshaped and reworked continuously until it was officially canceled in 2000 despite having a complete plot and several completed gameplay mechanics.
Fortunately, fans found the game revived when it was announced for release on the Game Boy Advance, this time in the series’ traditional 2D style and with a release limited to Japan. It proved a huge success commercially and critically upon its release in 2006, and while it still has yet to see a widespread localization, it continues to be lauded as one of the few games to escape development hell and find success once it did.
