24 Famous Video Games That Changed Dramatically At Some Point

Super Mario's origins are much more quaint than the pipe-hopping, turtle jumping, dinosaur riding, karting, smash brothering, golfing, Chris Pratt-sounding plumber that we all know and love today… When he made his debut in 1981, he was a lot more like you and I… Just a guy in a jumpsuit trying to save his girlfriend from his escape gorilla-monster pet at a construction site. These types of changes are pretty common in video games, and many characters have seen a growing depth in lore and adventures from their initial debuts on more humble systems-- While many other games have changed dramatically over the course of their initial production. Did you know that Sonic the Hedgehog could have been a rabbit? Or that Jean-Claude Van Damme was supposed to star in Mortal Kombat? Even the aforementioned Donkey Kong was supposed to tied to classic cartoon hero Popeye rather than it's own thing. Here are some of the craziest ways video games have changed over time.

24 Metroid

Samus Aran THEN NOW Dynamic Dynamic protagonist of protagonist of a an entire revolutionary genre-defying sidescrolling franchise. adventure. Oh, Rule 34 is, and by the way? sadly, in full She's a chick! effect. CRACKED COM — **Source:** **Iconic Video Game Characters Who Have Changed Dramatically**

23 Sonic The Hedgehog

SONIC THEN NOW Same as before, Felix the Cat + but now he's an Mickey Mouse = alien who corporate immediately mascot meant to leaves his home compete with planet to fight Jim Mario. Briefly Carrey all across a named Mr. middle school Needlemouse. history textbook. Yeah, that's right, the movie. I don't want to write about Sonic Mania and you don't want to read about it. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **Iconic Video Game Characters Who Have Changed Dramatically**

22 The Legend of Zelda

LINK THEN NOW Silent protagonist who lets you experience the thrill and serenity of exploration by pushing the limits of video game technology. CRACKED COM — **Source:** **Iconic Video Game Characters Who Have Changed Dramatically**

21 Splatoon

SPLATOON THE M CRACKED.COM Splatoon was going to feature familiar faces from the Mario games before Miyamoto settled on creating new characters, the Inklings, for the company's first foray into the competitive shooter genre. — **Source:** **16 Early Wack Versions Of Popular Video Games**

20 Halo: Combat Evolved

HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED CRACKED.COM Halo: Combat Evolved was almost a top-down, real time strategy game, a la StarCraft. It wasn't until Microsoft bought the developing studio, Bungie, and launched Halo as their flagship XBox title that it became the first person shooter we know. — **Source:** **16 Early Wack Versions Of Popular Video Games**

19 Mortal Kombat

MORTAL KOMBAT CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTER FREE PLAY CRACKED.COM Mortal Kombat was originally supposed to star Jean-Claude Van Damme, who would fight a cadre of digitized enemies. When Midway Games couldn't afford the rights to Van Damme's likeness, his character was renamed Johnny Cage and joined the lineup of other fighters. — **Source:** **16 Early Wack Versions Of Popular Video Games**

18 Pac-Man

PAC-MAN PAB-MAN READY! CRACKED COM Pac-Man was originally titled Puck-Man, based off of the character's disk-like shape, but the creators feared the impish Americans would turn the P into an F on arcade cabinets. — **Source:** **16 Early Wack Versions Of Popular Video Games**

17 Dr. Mario

DR. MARIO DR.MARIN TM Dr.MARIO TOP 0010000 SCORE 0003400 LEVEL 10 SPEED MED CRACKED.COM ..Dr Marin Dr. Mario was titled Virus and did not feature the hirsute Italian in its first incarnation. Trying to recreate the success of Tetris, Nintendo needed to use their strongest IP to sell this new puzzle game, so the title was changed and a lab coat wearing Mario was added. — **Source:** **16 Early Wack Versions Of Popular Video Games**

16 Donkey Kong

DONKEY KONG 1UP HIGH SCORE 2UP 000100 L=01 BONUS CRACKED COM Donkey Kong was made to be a Popeye the Sailor game, featuring Bluto, Olive Oil, and the titular Popeye. When Nintendo could not secure the rights, they settled on a King Kong inspired aesthetic with a mustached protagonist that ultimately changed gaming forever. — **Source:** **16 Early Wack Versions Of Popular Video Games**

15 Half-Life

HALF-LIFE CRACKED.COM The early prototype for Half-Life's protagonist was a burly-bearded, strung out looking mad-man nicknamed by the designers as Ivan the Space Biker. As game production advanced, they changed Ivan into Gordon Freeman, with his iconic goatee and glasses. — **Source:** **16 Early Wack Versions Of Popular Video Games**

14 Super Mario Bros 2

SUPER MARIO BROS. 2 GRACKED.COM Super Mario Bros. 2 was originally more similar to the first game, although much harder. So hard, in fact, that developers didn't think Americans could play it, so they reskinned the Japanese game Doki Doki Panic with familiar Mario characters. — **Source:** **16 Early Wack Versions Of Popular Video Games**

13 Goldeneye 007

GOLDENEYE 007 MAGNUM ECESE - 63 148 CRACKED.COM Since the team working on GoldenEye 007 was inexperienced and stretched thin, the game was initially intended to be a simple rail-shooter, lacking the immensely popular 4-person multiplayer that eventually made the game a bestseller on the Nintendo64. — **Source:** **16 Early Wack Versions Of Popular Video Games**

12 Grand Theft Auto

GRAND THEFT AUTO CRACKED.COM Grand Theft Auto, originally titled Race'n'Chase, struggled to find its identity during development. The game first gave players the option to play as law enforcing police, but after realizing playing as a criminal was more fun, they decided to lean into the mayhem the series became known for. — **Source:** **16 Early Wack Versions Of Popular Video Games**

11 Pokemon Crystal

POKEMON CRYSTAL Nintendo PoKéMoN Gotta catch emall! PHM TRAINER RED wants to battle! CRACKED.COM AME BOY COLOR The Pokemon series was planned to end with Pokemon Gold and Silver, fighting your way back through the first game's gyms and using the original protagonist as the final boss was a fitting conclusion to the story. Of course, after the success of the previous games, the Pokemon Company decided to continue the franchise with Crystal. — **Source:** **16 Early Wack Versions Of Popular Video Games**

10 Doom

DOOM ALIENS - are 43 100% 2 DIS 100% AMAG HEALTH ARMS ARMOR CRACKED.COM The original Doom game was based off of James Cameron's Aliens, where you would presumably fight waves of dangerous Xenomorphs. When negotiations between the developers and 20th Century Fox deteriorated, the setting of the game was changed from space to Hell itself. — **Source:** **16 Early Wack Versions Of Popular Video Games**

9 Tomb Raider

Lara Croft THEN NOW High-res Highly archaeologist's polygonal daughter; still professional raiding tombs. puzzler, She got wilier archaeologist, and more petite, and tomb with more raider. computing power dedicated Would you believe she to her brains was designed by a man? than her ...brawn. CRACKED COM — **Source:** **Iconic Video Game Characters Who Have Changed Dramatically**

8 Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong THEN NOW DK . The hero of The Big Bad his own vast of someone franchise! else's game. Patriarch of a Characterised family of by cowardice protagonists! and cruelty. Still 95% 100% naked. naked! CRACKED COM — **Source:** **Iconic Video Game Characters Who Have Changed Dramatically**

7 The Sims

The Sims THEN NOW SIM Cancel Become the Become perfect version someone else of yourself, for a little down to the while. last pixel. Relax, unwind, Take control in a world of escape! chaos! CRACKED COM — **Source:** **Iconic Video Game Characters Who Have Changed Dramatically**

6 Diddy Kong Racing

DIDDY KONG RACING PLAYER SELECT 1 CRACKED.COM When game studio Rare needed more time to develop Banjo-Kazooie to compete with Super Mario 64, they pushed the generic title Pro-Am 64 for a Christmas release. There were concerns the IP wasn't strong enough and may hurt sales, so at the last minute assets were changed to the more familiar Diddy Kong. — **Source:** **16 Early Wack Versions Of Popular Video Games**

5 Super Smash Bros

SUPER SMASH BROS. LUIGI MARIO DK LINK SAMUS C.FALCON NESS YOSHI KIRBY FOX PIKACHU JIGGLYPUFF 1PHMT 2PHN 3PHMN 4 HMN CRACKED COM Super Smash Bros. was pitched as a 4-player brawler, but Nintendo did not initially want their licensed characters to appear. After the small team of developers added Mario, Link and Samus anyway, Nintendo liked the demo so much they granted them permission to use the characters. — **Source:** **16 Early Wack Versions Of Popular Video Games**

4 Perfect Dark

PERFECT DARK Position Image er ightness OK CRACKED.COM Perfect Dark was to have a face-mapping feature that enabled players to change the appearance of enemies into that of family and friends using their GameBoy Camera. Insurmountable technical difficulties caused the feature to be scrapped; that, or the eventual lawsuits sure to follow. — **Source:** **16 Early Wack Versions Of Popular Video Games**

3 Batman: Arkham Asylum

BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM 241 PERFECT CRACKED GOM Batman: Arkham Asylum was going to turn into a colorful, 2D rhythm game whenever a fight would start. Developers said they wanted the fights to feel choreographed but with the player in complete control, which isn't SO different from how the final game turned out, minus the colorful notes flying up the screen. — **Source:** **16 Early Wack Versions Of Popular Video Games**

2 Pac-Man

Pac-Man THEN NOW Featureless Spherical humanoid circle. 137 nugget. Loving pixels, family man and soaking wet. Google doodle. GRACKED.COM — **Source:** **Iconic Video Game Characters Who Have Changed Dramatically**

1 Super Mario

Super Mario THEN NOW ? ? 100 Mario, Jumpman, a plumber a carpenter whose sentient who wears a hat grants him hat because the ability to warg into any programmers creature he couldn't can huck it animate hair. onto. CRACKED COM — **Source:** **Iconic Video Game Characters Who Have Changed Dramatically**

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