11 Popular Video Games That Turned Out Much Different Than Planned

#1 Halo Was A Real-Time Strategy Game . . . For The Mac

This is wild I love Halo and never would have guessed it was introduced at the Macworld convention by none other than Steve Jobs himself.

Considering that Halo ended up being a first-person shooter that launched Microsoft's Xbox into the stratosphere, its origins couldn't be more bizarre.

If you want to go back to the very beginning, developer Bungie claims that Halo was originally supposed to be a sci-fi, real-time strategy game.

#2 Grand Theft Auto Was A Nonviolent Racing Game

This also surprised me since I spend most of my time in GTA trying to get a ton of stars for doing hood rat sh*t!

Grand Theft Auto‘s origins are far more humble. Conceived as a multiplayer racing game under the name Race'n'Chase, development strategy switched drastically when a glitch caused the game's cops to start attacking the players viciously.

#3 The Thrilling Alan Wake Was Meant To Be An Open-World Epic

For a game in development for over five years, it shouldn't surprise anyone that Alan Wake underwent a series of design changes. But did you know that, for some time, Alan Wake was intended to be a Grand Theft Autostyle sandbox game?

Even though the design was apparently scrapped six months into development, you can see a lot of open-world elements in the final product

#4 Goldeneye 007 Was Designed To Be Just About Anything But A First-Person Shooter

WHAT!!! This is still one of my favorite games of all time!

Many of the game's iconic elements were not part of the original design.

Very early pitches suggest that Goldeneye 007 was conceptualized as a 2-D, side-scrolling platformer, similar to the successful Donkey Kong Country. Soon, though, the game's director decided that it would work better as an arcade-style shooter, complete with a light gun peripheral. Development of that game began, but as the young team assigned to Goldeneye 007 developed rather intriguing approaches to its levels and mechanics, the project was adjusted to accommodate them. Even the game's revolutionary multiplayer mode was reportedly the product of one man's effort and was considered to be an afterthought among many of the staff.

#5 Devil May Cry Started Development As Resident Evil 4

Devil May Cry is considered to not only be one of the pioneers of the third-person action genre but was generally agreed to be the next big franchise for developer Capcom. For awhile it was intended to be a direct follow-up to the other big Capcom franchise: Resident Evil.

Beginning its life as Resident Evil 4, Devil May Cry retained all the attitude and fast-paced action it would later become famous for.

#6 Journey To Silius Was The Terminator Game We Always Wanted

Journey to Silius is an action side-scroller that didn't generate much buzz upon release but has since become something of a cult hit.

Of course, it likely would have been even more famous had it been released under its original design as a licensed Terminator game.

#7 Super Mario Bros. 2 Was A Mod Of An Entirely Different Game

The American version of Super Mario Bros. 2.We mention the American version because the initial Super Mario Bros. follow-up released in Japan was deemed too difficult for a Western release.

Instead, Nintendo took a prototype 2-D game from its vaults called Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic and tweaked the visuals to match the Mario universe.

#8 Conker’s Bad Fur Day Was A Sickly Cute Family Game

In 1997, developer Rare unveiled a game called Conker's Quest. Starring the titular squirrel and his best friend Berri, the goal was to release a cute and colorful family game that would capitalize on the success of Super Mario 64.

Rare delayed the game in an effort to retool its approach, but after a couple years of silence, many believed the project to be dead. When it finally did reemerge, Conker sported a new title and a new attitude so outlandish that many believed it to be an April Fools' Day joke. Conker's Bad Fur Day had ditched its childlike tones and replaced them with hyper violence, sexual humor, and pop culture parodies.

#9 Sonic the Hedgehog Was Originally a Rabbit

Sonic the Hedgehog was about to be Sonic the happy, bow-tie-wearing rabbit?! That would have sucked d*ck!

After being an armadillo for a while, Sonic (or "Mr. Needlemouse") finally became a hedgehog. With an appetite for bestiality.

#10 Doom Started Out as a Licensed Aliens Game

Doom had such a big impact on the gaming industry that, for years after its release, the name of the genre wasn't "first-person shooters" it was "Doom clones."

#11 Capcom Scrapped Resident Evil 4 and Started Over … Four Times

Resident Evil 4 was the game that reinvented the franchise. The developing process of this game could be described as "throwing shit at the wall for five years and seeing what sticks."