However, there are those games that remain as classics in the gaming world. Video games, just like any other inventions, go through a series of trial and error in the prototype phase, in order to perfect the final product.

Let’s take a look at what could have been for three notable video games!

Could you imagine a gun-wielding Super Mario? Well, this was almost a reality when the creators of Super Mario Bros. produced their first prototype of the game.

So, what was the original prototype like? For starters, Mario was going to carry guns and shoot his enemies. Additionally, Mario was going to use his fists and feet as weapons by punching and kicking his enemies when he was empty-handed.

But these were only just ideas in the first prototype.  After all, the Mario that we all know and love now navigates his way through each level and beats his enemies by jumping on or over things; a very less violent approach to the original prototype.

How about an entire video game revolving around Jean Claude Van Damme; that idea may or may not sound like an entertaining game. But, when the video game engineers created the first prototype of Mortal Kombat, they initially thought about a game solely about Jean Claude Van Damme.

In the initial prototype, Van Damme would fight an array of digitized opponents. However, the original design of the game fell flat because the license to use Van Damme’s name and likeness was too expensive at the time for Midway Games.

Although they couldn’t obtain the rights to Van Damme’s name and likeness, they kept the photorealistic look that would remind people of a Van Damme movie.

Since the initial idea failed, it was time to employ plan B; and, this plan stuck. Mortal Kombat was then turned into a fighting game filled with mild violence, where the characters would fight undead ninjas, lightning gods and cyborgs. The game soon became a hit; however, it begs the question, did one of the most influential games ever created come to be because the company didn’t want to spend a lot of money on it? That question remains unanswered; but, we can confidently say that Mortal Kombat is one classic that gamers definitely enjoyed.

Let’s take a look at a more recent game, Halo. For many people, Halo was the main reason that they purchased their Xbox in the first place. But, the game that you know today that has sold over 40 million copies was initially intended to be a real-time strategy game, much like StarCraft or Age of Empires. The game also was being developed for Apple and not Microsoft.

Additionally, Halo was intended to be a real-time strategy game where the gamer would be looking at the action from an aerial view, while controlling their troops, almost the exact opposite of the game we know today.

The game continued to evolve to the point where there was almost an option to ride dinosaurs. Yes, dinosaurs; let that one sink in. It wasn’t until Microsoft purchased the developer, Bungie, before they gained Halo as their flagship Xbox title and it finally became a first-person shooter game. Eventually, Halo revolutionized the shooting game genre, albeit after many different ideas in the prototype stage.

As you can see, even the most notable games went through a series of trial and error in the prototype stage in order to fine tune their concepts. But if Super Mario was supposed to be a gun-carrying enemy killer and Mortal Kombat was going to be a Jean Claude Van Damme game, we can only imagine what other classic games could have been while in the prototype stage!

Copyright Davison 2013

Sources:

http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/717151/nugget-from-the-net-the-early-prototypes-of-your-favorite-games-were-insane/

http://www.cracked.com/article_19457_6-baffling-early-prototypes-your-favorite-video-games.html

Pictures:

http://digitaldeconstruction.com/scaredy-cat-jumps-time-super-mario-bros-sound-effects-played/#.UoodS8Skpd0

http://es.mortalkombat.wikia.com/wiki/Video_Juegos

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo:_Combat_Evolved

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A data-holding subsystem holding instructions executable by a logic subsystem is provided. The instructions are configured to output a primary image to a primary display for display by the primary display, and output a peripheral image to an environmental display for projection by the environmental display on an environmental surface of a display environment so that the peripheral image appears as an extension of the primary image. — United States Patent Application 20120223885

If you think this abstract from Microsoft’s 2011 patent application sounds like a bunch of tech mumbo jumbo, we don’t blame you. On the flipside of the mind-numbing legalese used to describe what Microsoft is calling the Immersive Display Experience is a gaming platform that might just take home entertainment to the Next Generation. Anna Leach of The Register has already compared the immersive display to the “Star Trek” holodeck.

By filling your game room walls with the very same environment created by the game, Microsoft wants to push Xbox games beyond the screen and put them all over your house. So instead of playing “Sonic and Tails,” gamers could imagine games like “Sonic and You.” The patent describes a situation in which you “may turn around and observe an enemy sneaking up from behind” while playing a game.

According to The Register, “the peripheral image would be created by a 360-degree projector and would adjust as the gamer moved around in the game, and in the room. Eye-tracking tech would ensure that the scene shifts as the user looks around it. A special built-in mechanism would avoid shining light into the user’s eyes.”

Games of the “Future” from the Past

The Nintendo Power Glove — The first peripheral interface controller to recreate human hand movements on a television or computer screen in real time. The Power Glove was not popular and was criticized for its imprecise and difficult-to-use controls. — Wikipedia

Time Traveler or Hologram Time Traveler – A stereographic laserdisc FMV arcade game released in 1991 by Sega and designed by Dragon’s Lair creator Rick Dyer. It is called the “World’s First Holographic Video Game,” because it uses a special arcade cabinet that projects the game’s characters. — Wikipedia

The Virtual Boy — A table-top video game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was the first video game console that was supposed to be capable of displaying “true 3D graphics” out of the box, in a form of virtual reality. — Wikipedia

Sega Activator — A 1993 peripheral based on a musical instrument called the Light Harp conceived by musician Assaf Gurner. Marketed as a new type of martial arts simulator, it is an octagonal device that lays flat on the floor and reads a gamer’s physical movements. As the player moves, infrared laser beams translate the movements into game inputs. – Wikipedia

Gnilley — You navigate the suspiciously Zelda-looking backgrounds with your keyboard and destroy enemies by screaming at your computer as loud as you can. The louder you scream, the faster they die. Yelling at different intensities allows you to bypass certain obstacles, and … yeah, that’s pretty much the whole game. If you get stuck, don’t worry: This is the only game where getting frustrated actually helps you. – Cracked.com

It’s not likely that Microsoft’s Immersive Display Experience will ever end up on a “worst-of” list like the aforementioned butts of jokes. But if it does, we’ll scream if the list leaves out Gnilley!

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