10 Video Games Created By Accident
When you don't measure the ingredients and it still tastes INCREDIBLE.
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00:00It's interesting how some of the most influential and popular aspects of gaming weren't actually
00:05meant for this world. For example, fog was inserted into Silent Hill not to build tension,
00:10but to hide processing limitations. Stealth was never meant to play a part of Metal Gear.
00:15And Space Invaders created the concept of a difficulty curve by mistake. Sometimes developers
00:21will actually just stumble upon cool mechanics whilst playing around with software, and then
00:25go on to create an entire game around it. Or in the 11th hour, developers might decide
00:29to revise central characters, plotlines, levels, or the genre itself.
00:34So let's take a look at them as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are 10
00:38Video Games That Were Created By Accident.
00:4010. Super Smash Bros.
00:43Considering that Super Smash Bros. could have been nothing more than a gimmick, it's bizarre
00:46how it became the best-selling fighting series ever. Although Smash Bros. owes its success
00:51to its unique combat style and precise controls, it's the branding that turned it into a
00:55towering success. The fact that you could play as Pikachu, Sonic, Solid Snake, and so
00:59many more other iconic characters helped cement this legacy. I mean, could you imagine how
01:04Smash would have turned out if it had zero recognisable characters? But weirdly enough,
01:08that was the original idea, because back in 1998, Masahiro Sakurai was actually working
01:13on a four-player co-op fighting game, which roughly translated from Japanese into English
01:18to Dragon King the Fighting Game.
01:20When future Nintendo president Satoru Iwata took a look at Dragon King, he thought that
01:24it was too generic. So to make it leave a bigger impression, Iwata suggested replacing
01:29the combatants with Nintendo characters. Worried that Nintendo overall wouldn't be on board
01:33with this idea, Sakurai took Iwata's advice behind the company's back. So when he presented
01:38his project to the higher-ups, they were actually surprised to see their mascots beating the
01:42utter crap out of each other. Fortunately, they loved the presentation, and gave Sakurai
01:47permission to incorporate Nintendo characters. And with that, Super Smash Bros. was born.
01:539. Fighting Force
01:55After Streets of Rage 3 was released, fans could have never anticipated that they would
01:58have to wait a quarter of a century for a sequel. Considering Streets of Rage was a
02:02cornerstone for beat-em-ups during the 90s, you'd think that SEGA or some other development
02:06team would just get cracking with Streets of Rage 4 far sooner. But here's the thing,
02:11they technically did. Core Design pitched a new Streets of Rage installment directly
02:15to SEGA's CEO Bernie Stoller. Annoyingly, though, this proposal was dismissed, since
02:20the CEO had never heard of the series, despite being in charge of the company who released
02:25it. Instead of giving up, though, Core Design decided to craft their own beat-em-up called
02:29Fighting Force. Despite not having SOR's branding, there was a lot of hype for this
02:33title, since it was made by the same guys behind Tomb Raider. Unfortunately, this Streets
02:37of Rage clone was ripped apart for its repetitive gameplay, uncreative character designs, and
02:42the fact that it was clearly a Streets of Rage clone. In hindsight, it was actually
02:46a blessing that Fighting Force wasn't an official Streets of Rage follow-up, as it
02:49would have actually tarnished the franchise's reputation.
02:528. Banjo-Kazooie
02:54Banjo-Kazooie is a 3D platformer where the titular bear and bird must defeat an evil
02:59witch and rescue Banjo's sister. And when you hear that premise, you would never believe
03:03that it started off as a SNAYERS title called Dream Land of the Giants, and was centred
03:07around a boy, a dog, and a parrot battling pirates. Not only was the story chalk and
03:12cheese, the style and genres were completely different as well. Rather than being a platformer,
03:17Dream was envisioned as an isometric RPG. By using ACM technology, Dream would have
03:22had graphics akin to the Donkey Kong Country series, but to a slightly higher degree.
03:26When Rare got their first glimpse of Super Mario 64, they realised that 3D platformers
03:31were the future of gaming, and that compelled them to turn Dream into a similarly structured
03:35title for the N64. Believing a human character looked too generic in three dimensions, Rare
03:40changed Dream's protagonist into a rabbit. After a few days, they reworked the lead character
03:44again into the backpack-wearing bear Banjo. Although the developers wanted Banjo to be
03:49agile like Mario, they thought an acrobatic grizzly would look kind of weird. And so after
03:53some brainstorming, Rare decided to give Banjo a partner, a bird called Kazooie, who would
03:58pull off the more nimbler techniques. And when you look back at it, the only thing that
04:01Dream and Banjo-Kazooie had in common was… well, they were both games.
04:057. The Legend of Zelda – Link's Awakening
04:08Since every Legend of Zelda spends years in development, you'd safely assume that each
04:12character, mechanic, and area is examined and reworked meticulously. As such, it doesn't
04:17seem actually that feasible for a Zelda game to come by chance. And yet, that's exactly
04:21what happened with Link's Awakening. Kazuki Morita, who worked on the first two Legend
04:26of Zelda installments, was hired as an object programmer on A Link to the Past. In his spare
04:30time, he would use a Game Boy development kit to tinker with another Zelda-like title.
04:34But because this was an unsanctioned project, he never thought that his little hobby would
04:38materialise into something major. As such, he inserted many non-Zelda traits into his
04:43game, including the Chain Chomp from Super Mario and Wart from Doki Doki Panic. But when
04:47Nintendo saw his work, they knew that it had potential, and so agreed to release it as
04:52an official Legend of Zelda title. This installment, which became Link's Awakening, was a financial
04:56and critical success, winning two Golden Joystick Awards and spawning a 3D remake in 2019, which
05:02was also met with universal acclaim. Which is not bad for something that started off
05:06as a pet project.
05:086. Star Fox Adventures
05:10During its inception, Star Fox Adventures had no connection with, well, Star Fox. Originally,
05:16it was a new IP called Dinosaur Planet, which was set to be released on the Nintendo 64.
05:21Lead developer of Rare, Kevin Bayliss, explained how the game was meant to centre around a
05:25tiger called Timber, who had been transported to a prehistoric world. Over time, the developers
05:29repurposed Timber for Diddy Kong Racing, and had him replaced with two protagonists, Saber
05:34and Crystal. And according to head programmer Phil Tossall, you could actually swap at
05:39any time between the two by speaking to Swapstone characters. Originally, Crystal also had a
05:43sidekick character called Kite, similar to Trucky in the final game, but was a pterodactyl
05:48that could fly, and the story was also quite different.
05:51After Dinosaur Planet was revised for the GameCube, Star Fox creator Shigeru Miyamoto
05:55looked at the beta to see how it was coming along. When he noticed the similarities between
05:59Saber and Star Fox, he convinced, or some would say forced, Rare to turn Dinosaur Planet
06:04into a Star Fox installment, much to the developers' dismay. So if you wonder why
06:08Star Fox Adventures feels like two games smushed together, it's because that's exactly what
06:13it is.
06:145. Zombie U
06:16Zombie U was a first-person survival horror title originally released for the Wii U. The
06:20game was similar to the House of the Dead series, but with more emphasis on elaborate
06:24means to dispose of the undead. Not only could you shoot the flesh-eaters to death with a
06:28good old-fashioned pistol, you could whack them with a crowbar, a crossbow, a shovel,
06:32or indeed a cricket bat. And throughout your playthrough, you're sure to see more zombies
06:36than you can shake a stick at. But there are two things you definitely won't see, and
06:40that is aliens and raving rabbits.
06:42As hard to believe as it is, that is how the project got the ball rolling. The original
06:47game, Killer Freaks from Outer Space, would have had the player fighting extraterrestrials
06:51resembling the buck-toothed bunnies. Although the rabbits were removed early in development,
06:55their small size was actually incorporated into the aliens. But while playtesting, the
06:59developers ran into two major problems. Firstly, blasting at tiny aliens just wasn't satisfying,
07:04and since the game was originally released on the Wii U, the player had to keep checking
07:08the gamepad and TV screen almost simultaneously, which was exhausting since the creatures moved
07:13so fast. The developers realised these issues could be resolved by making the enemies slower
07:18and larger, which resulted in transforming them from aliens into zombies.
07:224. Tekken
07:23Virtua Fighter might have been the first 3D fighting game, but Tekken was responsible
07:28for rocking the genre to its core. Because of its tight and diverse combat mechanics,
07:33Tekken was the first game to give Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat a run for their money. But
07:37since it's on this list, you just know that Tekken was envisioned as something entirely
07:41different.
07:42But let's just get something straight first. When I say that a game was created by accident,
07:45I usually mean that it started one way, but ended up being something else. But Tekken
07:48is kind of different, since it was never intended to be a game to begin with. Originally, Tekken's
07:53beta was created by Namco to test 3D character models and texture mapping. But after Namco
07:59hired Virtua Fighter's designer, they thought they could turn the project into a fighting
08:03game called Rave Wars, rivaling the soon-to-be-released Virtua Fighter 2. To ensure the game stood
08:08out over its competitor, the roster was filled with extremely distinctive combatants, including
08:12Jack the Android, King the Luchador Wrestler, and whatever the hell Yoshimitsu is. And weeks
08:17before its release, the title changed itself from Rave Wars to Tekken, and the rest was
08:22history.
08:233. Devil May Cry
08:25To delve into the origins of Devil May Cry, we first need to look at Resident Evil 4.
08:30Even though this game is regarded as a masterpiece, it is a miracle that it saw the light of day,
08:34because its development was so chaotic that four versions of the sequel were discarded.
08:39The first incarnation revolved around a superhuman called Tony, who was endowed with heightened
08:43agility, speed, and strength. And to show off Tony's skill set, producer Shinji Mikami
08:47thought that it would be better to remove the fixed camera angles and pre-rendered backgrounds,
08:52which were staples in the Survivor horror series.
08:54But over time, the developers thought the gameplay had become so bombastic that it had
08:58little resemblance to Resident Evil. Yet, rather than scrapping it, the project was
09:02reworked into a demon-hunting hack and slash called Devil May Cry.
09:06But that's not all. When Capcom was playtesting Onimusha Warlords, they noticed a glitch that
09:11allowed the player to juggle their enemies in the air with their sword. The developers
09:15found this bug so entertaining that they made it a key component in Devil May Cry's fighting
09:19mechanics.
09:20It may have been heartbreaking when Capcom had to start from scratch with Resident Evil
09:234 again, but you know what? It was definitely worth it, since the decision indirectly led
09:27to the creation of one of the coolest franchises ever.
09:312. Bioshock
09:32Early on in Bioshock's development, the team devised three pivotal concepts – drones,
09:37protectors, and harvesters. This trio eventually evolved into the Little Sisters, Big Daddies,
09:42and the Sploices.
09:43Apart from those three elements, Bioshock was totally different to begin with. Instead
09:47of exploring the aquatic terrain of Rapture, the story took place on a monster-filled spaceship.
09:52Originally, the story followed a character called Carlos, who's tasked with finding
09:56and deprogramming a senator's daughter, after she's been brainwashed by a cult.
10:00When Take-Two Interactive realised the setting and story wasn't working, they changed everything.
10:05This time, the developers envisioned Bioshock taking place in an abandoned Nazi lab, which
10:09had been unearthed in modern times.
10:12Although this plotline was abandoned, many factors were incorporated into the final product,
10:16including plasmids, Eve, automated security systems, stealth, expositional audio recordings,
10:21and a consistent relationship with a character through a radio.
10:24But director Ken Levine felt that Bioshock looked too cyberpunk, which he regarded as
10:28being cliched at this time. So he changed the setting once more, this time to an underwater
10:32city. After that, it only required some more adjustment to get the Bioshock we know and
10:37love today.
10:381. Diddy Kong Racing
10:40When a game goes through drastic changes in graphics or genre, you can usually see a sliver
10:44of what the prototype was going for. However, the original version of Diddy Kong Racing
10:48has got virtually nothing in common with its retail form. Although Rare's beloved title
10:53was a vibrant and cartoony racer, it was actually pitched as a real-time strategy title, centred
10:58around a time-travelling caveman.
11:00According to Rare developer Lee Musgrave, the initial pitch was in the style of Command
11:04and Conquer and not related to what we got. Over time, it evolved into a Disney World
11:08inspired adventure called Wild Cartoon Kingdom. By 1997, the project was reshaped into a driving
11:14game called Adventure Racers. Shortly after that, it was changed again to Pro-Am 64, serving
11:20as a sequel to the NES racer R.C. Pro-Am.
11:23But when Banjo-Kazooie missed its December 1997 deadline, Rare felt obligated to release
11:28a triple-A title that Christmas. But since Pro-Am 64 wasn't a well-known brand, Rare
11:33knew that it wouldn't grab consumers unless it incorporated an iconic character. This
11:37inspired the team to not only implement Donkey Kong's sidekick Diddy Kong, but to make
11:41him the titular star. This decision altered the game's design to fit the more DK aesthetic
11:46and incorporate other staples from the franchise, including Bananas and Kremlings.
11:50And when you compare how it started to where it ended, and how many people cite Diddy Kong
11:54racing as the real best kart racing game on the N64, the two properties couldn't have
11:59less in common.
12:00And there we go my friends, those were 10 video games created by accident. I hope that
12:04you enjoyed that and please let me know what you thought about it down in the comments
12:07section below. As always I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Instagram at
12:11RetroJ but the O is a zero and I hope to see you over there my friends. But before
12:15I go I just want to say one thing, in life you, I and every other human on this planet
12:19will make accidents from time to time, it is part of living I'm afraid. But you know
12:23what my friend, don't beat yourself up for mistakes that you've made in the past, as
12:26I've said we all make them so learn to forgive yourself, because if you can do that then
12:30you can go on to live a healthy and happy life and at the end of the day that is all
12:34I want for you and you just need to remember, above all else, even if you do mess up from
12:38time to time, you're a big ledge and you deserve the best. As always I've been Jules,
12:43you have been awesome, never forget that and I'll speak to you soon, bye.