Every Cancelled Super Mario Game - Ranked
6. Super Mario Spikers
Next Level Games have become known for producing the Punch-Out!! series, with the fifth version arguably one of the stand outs in the series thanks to the motion controls on the Nintendo Wii. They also produced the Super Mario Strikers: Charged for the Wii, which had been pretty well received at the time and led to the development of Super Mario Spikers as a reward by Nintendo.
The game began development in 2006 and ran through 2007 and was initially intended to just be a simple volleyball game featuring audiences' favourite Mario characters. Next Level then began to incorporate elements from wrestling games, creating a hybrid of two sports most people would not have paired together.
This is interesting concept would never be realised however, with the project being cancelled in 2007 following a pitch to Nintendo. According to one of the game's developers, the game broke Nintendo's 'code of honor' around violence in their games, particularly those that involve Mario.
Super Mario Spikers is reportedly one of the most aggressive games for the Wii's system, something that Nintendo are always quite hot on and naturally has quite a few elements that would overlap with their Super Smash series.