This is a list of cancelled Family Computer and Nintendo Entertainment System video games. The Family Computer, nicknamed the Famicom for short, is a 1983 video game console produced by Nintendo. The system would be redesigned and brought to Western markets as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985. Both systems proved very successful and had several games released for them, until being succeeded by the Super Famicom and Super NES in 1990. This list documents all known games that were confirmed to be announced or in development for the Famicom or NES at some point but did not end up being released for them.
A video game adaptation of the James Bond film Licence to Kill was released by Domark in 1989 for multiple platforms. A port of the game for NES was being developed by Tengen and scheduled to release in June 1990, but was cancelled due to the publisher believing too much time had passed since the release of the film it was meant to promote.[1]
A humorous take on Shogi that featured real time combat when pieces came into contact with one another, the game was cancelled without ever being announced. A prototype of the game surfaced in an online auction in 2022.[5]
A sports game in which cavemen compete in Olympics-style competitions, such as dinosaur racing, was prototyped for the NES, but the project was never greenlit.[6]
A sidescrolling platformer in which the player controls a mutant ape was announced in 1991, with early previews noting the high speed of the gameplay compared to other NES games. The game was never released, though a prototype of the game surfaced online in 2010.[7][8]
A sequel to The Cheetahmen, one of the games featured in the unlicensed compilation Action 52 (1991), was set for release as part of plans to expand the property into a multimedia franchise. While the game was never officially released, several cartridges were found in a warehouse in 1996 and became collector's items on the secondary market.[13]
A video game based on the film Days of Thunder was developed by programmer Chris Oberth. For unknown reasons, the project was cancelled and Beam Software released their own Days of Thunder game for NES in 1990. Following Oberth's death in 2012, the Video Game History Foundation obtained several development materials from his estate in 2020, including the source code for Days of Thunder spread across several floppy disks, and used them to reconstruct Oberth's original version of the game.[15]
An NES port of Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas (1988) was announced in 1991, with screenshots appearing in the February 1993 issue of Nintendo Power. However, the game was never released, presumably due to the NES having already been succeeded by the SNES at that point.[16]
A 2D platformer starring Count Dracula and prominently featuring Reebok Pump shoes as part of a sponsorship deal, the game was never officially released, though a prototype later surfaced online.[17][18]
A port of the arcade game The Fairyland Story (1985) was planned for release in 1986, but failed to materialize. A prototype was later discovered and released online in 2022.[19]
In 1986, Rareware programmer Paul Proctor developed Glug, a shooting game in which players controlled a slime on a cylinder that would rotate when the player moved, causing enemy positions to shift. While approximately 60–70% complete, the project was ultimately abandoned.[20]
A sequel to The Magic of Scheherazade (1987) was mentioned by GamePro in the magazine's September 1990 issue for its coverage of the Summer CES, and by Nintendo Power in its November/December 1990 issue. At the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in January 1992, GamePro reported that an SNES game titled Golden Empire was officially announced by Culture Brain as a follow-up to The Magic of Scheherazade. The magazine made further mention of the game in their coverage of the following year's Winter CES, now titled Golden Empire: The Legend of Scheherazade. As late as 1996, the Japanese publication Family Computer Magazine listed the game for Super Famicom as Scheherazade Densetsu - The Prelude, with an unknown release date. Ultimately, the game never materialized.[21][22][23][24][25][26]
Taito intended to port the arcade game Hit the Ice (1990) to the NES with additional features, including a single-player campaign with RPG elements, but decided to cancel the port due to it being very late in the console's life cycle. A complete prototype was later discovered as part of the 2020 Nintendo data leak.[28]
Ports of John Madden Football '93 (1992) for Game Boy and NES were scheduled for release by the end of 1993, to be published by Ubi Soft. However, both versions were ultimately cancelled.[29][30]
In the early 1990s, the Minnesota State Lottery partnered with a technology company to develop a lottery cartridge for a modem-equipped NES, hoping it would lead to increased ticket sales. However, the organization received substantial opposition by advocates worried that use of an in-home video game console would encourage youth gambling, leading the project to be cancelled.[31][32]
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Police Academy
An NES game based on the Police Academy film series was set for a 1990 release, but the game experienced multiple delays and at one point restarted development before eventually being cancelled.[3]
A NES port of the arcade game Wardner (1987) was planned for release in North America under the name Pyross. Though demonstrated at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show in 1990, the port was never released.[33]
A port of SimCity for NES, developed concurrently with the game's 1991 SNES port and including many of the same features, was demonstrated at the 1991 Consumer Electronics Show, but was never released. A prototype of the NES version was discovered in 2018 and released online by the Video Game History Foundation.[34][35][36]
A version of Space Ace (1984) was developed for NES, redesigned as a side-scrolling platformer instead of a FMV game, similar to the 1990 NES port of Dragon's Lair. However, the game was never released.[37]
In response to a reader question about an unlicensed NES port of Street Fighter II (1991), Electronic Gaming Monthly stated that they had heard from a Capcom representative at the Consumer Electronics Show that an official NES port would be released later in 1993. However, no such port was ever released.[40]
In the early 1990s, Sunsoft began developing a video game based on DC Comics' Superman. However, the company later lost the license, prompting them to change the protagonist into an original character, "Sunman", to salvage the work that had already been done. Ultimately, the game went unreleased, though a complete prototype of the Sunman version and an earlier prototype of the Superman version both surfaced online years later.[41][42]
A localization of Super Pinball (1988), which replaced the game's original Mahjong theming with new graphics and cutscenes related to sushi, was demonstrated at the 1989 Consumer Electronics Show and planned for a 1990 release, but failed to materialize. A finished prototype of the game was later discovered and released online by the Video Game History Foundation.[44]
A video game adaptation of the Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends television series was announced for release on NES, Super NES, and Sega Genesis. While the 16-bit versions released in 1993, the NES version was delayed to the following year before ultimately being cancelled.[45]
The action game Time Diver: Eon Man had been completed and received a walkthrough and review in Nintendo Power, but went unreleased for unknown reasons.[46]
Capcom intended to release a sequel to their very first arcade game, Vulgus (1984), but the game was cancelled during development. A prototype of the game later surfaced in 2024.[47]
An action game starring a Native American warrior capable of transforming into different animals was near enough to completion that it received a review in Electronic Gaming Monthly, but was cancelled for unknown reasons.[48]
A wrestling game based on the Universal Wrestling Company license was in development, but was cancelled before ever being announced. A private collector later obtained a prototype of the game and released it online.[49][50][51][52]
