8 Cut Video Game Levels You Won’t Believe Exist
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00:00 cut content will always be a sort of forbidden knowledge when it comes to gaming.
00:03 In films, books, or TV, unless a creator directly talks about their initial idea, you rarely
00:09 get to learn how they planned the whole thing out, and what got scrapped along the way.
00:13 In the world of video games, however, these delicious secrets are usually tucked away
00:18 inside the game itself, nestled away in some unused files for a random person, or intentional
00:23 hacker, to stumble upon and then share with the rest of us.
00:27 I'm Jess from WhatCulture, and here are 8 cut video game levels you won't believe exist.
00:32 8.
00:33 Dust Hill - Sonic the Hedgehog 2
00:35 Four levels were scrapped from the final cut of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 that were at varying
00:39 stages of completion when they were removed.
00:42 Of these, Dust Hill is technically the most complete, as fans have created a version of
00:47 it based on the mock-ups shown of the area.
00:50 It's not anything you wouldn't have seen somewhere before, as it's just a desert level occasionally
00:54 interspersed with ice, but it's still interesting, as it's a little bit of extra insight into
00:59 one of the most iconic and recognizable games of all time.
01:03 Presumably, this zone, much like the other removed parts of the game, was cut due to
01:07 time constraints, as nobody was going to lose sleep over there not being a little less time
01:11 in the desert than previously expected.
01:13 If you're a Died in the Wolves fan or the fastest cartoon animal known to man, though,
01:17 it's still something that's definitely worth seeing, even if that's just so you can see
01:22 the commitment that some others went to in order to see this cut content still be in
01:26 some way playable.
01:28 7.
01:29 Hat Trick Manor - Bully
01:30 As much as the version of Bully we got is still an undeniably brilliant game, the amount
01:35 of cut content for it makes it clear that the original plans for it were far, far grander.
01:40 This is clear by the fact that Hat Trick Manor, the home of the school's maths teacher, was
01:45 initially explorable, likely for either a side quest or otherwise to just allow you
01:50 to terrorise him, which anyone feeling truly in the role of Jimmy Hopkins would likely
01:54 jump at the chance to take.
01:55 Given there are a fair few missions revolving around either doing teacher's whims or carrying
02:00 out pranks against them, it's unclear whether this would have featured in the main storyline,
02:04 or rather as an extra side mission for those who were especially angry about being taught
02:09 algebra.
02:10 Interestingly, you can still access the house in-game with only a touch of weird shenanigans.
02:15 Players are able to travel to the outside of the house, which still exists in-game,
02:19 and then ramp off some stairs in order to clip into the house.
02:22 While you're obviously not supposed to, getting in requires a method that's so in-fitting
02:26 with the rest of the game that it somehow makes perfect sense that you can still get
02:30 in.
02:31 6.
02:32 The City of Such, and Much More - Oblivion
02:35 Nobody's going to say for a single minute that Oblivion didn't contain enough content.
02:39 Fully completing it takes about 182 hours.
02:43 Those who've even attempted to try and finish the game have found that it's like trying
02:47 to drink a river - time-consuming, vaguely confusing, and likely to cause an existential
02:52 crisis before you're even a hundredth done.
02:54 But there could have been much more, as it turns out.
02:57 Most interestingly, one entire city was cut out of the game - the City of Such.
03:02 This is especially weird because Such was almost totally finished visually - it just
03:06 needed quests to make it worth going to.
03:09 Since it's practically complete, it's naturally been made into a mod by various
03:13 kind souls, so if you're curious, you can still roam its beautiful streets.
03:18 Thought Such still exists in Oblivion, though, as a testament to the place that never got
03:22 to be.
03:23 5.
03:24 The Top's Casino Sub-Basement - Fallout New Vegas
03:27 Fallout is a series that collects cut content like RPG fans collect all the Pokemon currently
03:32 in existence.
03:33 With such a huge amount of quests, weapons, collectibles, and more, it's inevitable that
03:38 plenty of stuff that's initially designed and created has to be cut, for a whole assortment
03:42 of reasons.
03:43 The most interesting of all this is that of the Top's Casino and its hidden mysteries.
03:49 While the sub-basement in this area is supposed to be inaccessible throughout the game, you
03:53 can actually reach it by having Benny follow you into the Presidential Suite and then murdering
03:59 him in there.
04:00 For unexplained reasons, this glitches out the building's elevator, which then allows
04:04 you to journey on down.
04:05 It's especially interesting because it's clear there was some aspect of the main mission
04:09 that was supposed to initially happen around here.
04:12 While most wouldn't complain about what we did get in terms of the main storyline, it
04:16 still makes you wonder what exactly earlier plans may have looked like.
04:20 4.
04:21 The Mountain Peak - Stardew Valley
04:23 Sometimes, in especially unusual circumstances, a level or area from a game will be cut despite
04:28 the fact that fans had seen it in previously revealed footage and screenshots of the game.
04:34 This was the exact case for the Mountain Peak area in Stardew Valley, as there were both
04:38 screenshots of areas that led to the area and the fact that it existed in the game's
04:42 files, and yet didn't exist when you actually booted it up.
04:46 Speculation for this is that the area had only been designed for special events, since
04:50 Santa could be seen up in this mysterious area during Christmas.
04:54 The area has since been patched in by several mods developed over the years, as it's a
04:58 nice additional area to the game's map.
05:00 However, it seems as though the regular version will never make use of it, as if they'd intended
05:05 to, it likely would've been in the game proper from the first release.
05:09 Even if you don't want to download these modifications, you can still get there, it just takes a fair
05:13 bit of time, and a fair bit more fiddling around.
05:17 3.
05:18 Various Bosses - Cuphead
05:19 Since boss fights are the vast majority of what makes up Cuphead, it's more than fair
05:24 to call these battles levels.
05:26 With this in mind, there's very few cut levels from the cheery cartoon game, as many planned
05:31 boss fights were ultimately scrapped to give it the more streamlined version we play today.
05:35 Firstly, and most preciously, comes Jelly the Octopus, a clown-coloured aquatic friend.
05:42 Given the tentacle on his head turns pink, the cue for parrying things in the game, it's
05:46 likely safe to believe that this critter was made to show players how to parry, perhaps
05:50 before it was implemented in the tutorial itself.
05:53 The rest of these bosses, while still interesting, don't serve the same educational purpose
05:58 as our dear friend Jelly.
05:59 They tend to be extra bosses that would have appeared in levels that have several different
06:03 boss enemies for you to take down, such as the King Dice battle or the Devil fight.
06:07 However, this isn't a solid rule, as one of the most finished-looking cut bosses is
06:12 actually for an airship level, which boasts a spider in a suit and bowtie.
06:17 Whether he was cut to evade any player arachnophobia, we can't say for sure.
06:22 2.
06:23 The Emerald Dream - World of Warcraft
06:25 The Emerald Dream has been a mystery since before the game even came out, with word on
06:29 the development of the game stating that it may be added as an end-game area or extra
06:34 bonus content.
06:36 While some quests require you to enter the Emerald Green, you never properly see it,
06:40 as the actual area is never opened up for you to explore, rather letting you have a
06:44 tiny taste as a way to spice up some quests a little by reminding you that, at least in
06:49 lore, this place is a fully-defined thing.
06:52 However, players have found the original designs for the Emerald Dream map, which is apparently
06:57 the size of Lordarien, which, for anyone who doesn't know what that is, basically means
07:02 it's huge, given Lordarien is one of the in-game continents.
07:06 You can even visit it, as long as you're willing to get a private server to teleport
07:10 to it.
07:11 Strangely, the Emerald Dream might not be cut forever.
07:14 After all, with the amount of effort that's been put into visualizing this area, it seems
07:18 impossible that some eventual future update won't contain it, even if it's only a fraction
07:23 of the one we've glimpsed.
07:24 1.
07:25 The Part Where You Kill Cave Johnson - Portal 2
07:28 Cutlines from Portal have long been a subject of fan intrigue, ever since the dialogue was
07:33 found that covered Aperture Science's best personal assistant, Caroline, being put into
07:38 the device that would make her a part of GLaDOS, only to be massively misinterpreted at the
07:42 time.
07:43 Far more interesting, though, is a few little lines of dialogue that some brave adventurers
07:47 found while looking through the game's files.
07:50 Against all odds, this cut speech suggests that you find Cave Johnson in Portal 2, or
07:56 rather, what remains of him.
07:58 As the script tells you, the CEO had his consciousness placed inside a companion cube, leaving his
08:04 entire living consciousness for all eternity inside a machine.
08:08 Quite fairly, he also states that this has made his life a torture, before begging you
08:12 to then kill him.
08:14 The script then appears to detail you murdering this former meatbag by unplugging him from
08:19 the computer that has sustained him.
08:21 It's… really, really sad.
08:24 As much as Johnson sounds his usual level of excited about seeing the great beyond.
08:28 It's profoundly interesting to learn all this, but it's also not entirely a bad thing
08:32 that this one area was removed from the final version of the game.
08:35 That's the end of our list, but do let me know down in the comments if you can think
08:39 of any other cut video game levels that most people don't even know exist.
08:44 As always, I've been Jess from WhatCulture, thank you so much for hanging out with me.
08:47 If you like, you can come say hi to me on my Twitter account, where I'm @JessMcDonald,
08:52 but make sure you stay tuned with here for plenty more gaming goodness.