10 Video Game Endings You Weren't Supposed To See
These endings weren't meant for your eyes.
As important as any video game's opening is, the ending is arguably even more so, because after investing potentially dozens or even hundreds of hours of time in a game, that payoff better be worth it, right?
Game development is however incredibly iterative, and so it's extremely common for endings to be changed right up to release, as the creatives and business-folk hash out what will work best for the game overall.
But due to the complex nature of creating any game, it's often simpler for developers to simply leave discarded or unfinished endings in the game data rather than remove them and risk causing unexpected errors.
And so, committed fans can take a dive into the game data and often uncover these endings through datamining, allowing fellow players to catch a glimpse of tossed-out endings which, for one reason or another, the developers never actually meant for you to see.
Perhaps they decided the original ending didn't suit the game's overall ethos narratively or tonally, and so left it on the cutting room floor. But thankfully, by hook or by crook, they saw the light of day in the end...
10. The Animated Ending - Crash Bandicoot
During the early stages of the original Crash Bandicoot's development, Universal Animation Studios were commissioned to produce two hand-animated videos for the beginning and end of the game.
The ending animation would've effectively picked up where gameplay concludes, with Crash defeating Dr. Neo Cortex atop his giant airship.
The 20-second sequence shows Cortex being thrown from his airship, landing on a passing boat, and then pressing a remote control to blow up the airship, before the words "The End?" appear on the screen.
These scenes were ultimately scrapped after Sony picked up the game for publication, per Sony's desire to emphasise the PlayStation's 3D polygonal graphics.
And while the scenes weren't included on the game disc to be datamined by enterprising players, they were posted online in 2015 by producer David Siller, allowing fans to observe a vision for Crash Bandicoot that Sony never intended you to see.
It's a damn shame too, because the animation is gorgeous in the most aggressively '90s way imaginable.