Due to various reasons (ranging from being of poor quality, being produced for a failed or soon-to-be-discontinued system or having its developer facing financial or legal woes), a game can end up being cancelled and cease production. Despite their statue, concepts present in cancelled games can end up being reused in commercial releases and some cancelled games can end up being repurposed into different projects.
A game in developement can also end up being Vaporware, a term for projects that are announced on which development is started but, for a possible variety of reasons, were never published.
Following is a list of cancelled Mario games and Vaporwares. Both should not be confused with Beta elements, elements from a game that are removed before release, or playable Tech Demos rarely intended to be turned into commercial products.
List of Cancelled Mario games and Vaporware
| Game | System | Reason/Description |
|---|---|---|
| Return of Donkey Kong | Nintendo Entertainment System | A sequel to Donkey Kong cancelled for unknown reasons. |
| Donkey Kong no Ongaku Asobi | Nintendo Entertainment System | A music-based spin-off of Donkey Kong, also cancelled for unkown reasons. |
| Super Mario's Wacky Worlds | CD-i | Was cancelled due to the CD-i's drop in popularity.[1] |
| Mario Takes America | CD-i | Cancelled due to Philips being unsatisfied by the development's progress. |
| Donkey Kong | CD-i | Cancelled due to the CD-i's drop in popularity.[2] |
| VB Mario Land | Virtual Boy | Cancelled due to the discontinuation of the Virtual Boy.[3] |
| Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest | Virtual Boy | Also cancelled due to the discontinuation of the Virtual Boy.[4] |
| Luigi's Mansion | Nintendo 64 | Got moved to Nintendo GameCube. |
| Mario Artist: Game Maker | Nintendo 64DD | Cancelled due to the failure of the Nintendo 64DD. |
| Mario Artist: Graphical Message Maker | Nintendo 64DD | Cancelled due to the failure of the Nintendo 64DD. |
| Mario Artist: Sound Maker | Nintendo 64DD | Cancelled due to the failure of the Nintendo 64DD. |
| Mario Artist: Video Jockey Maker | Nintendo 64DD | Cancelled due to the failure of the Nintendo 64DD. |
| Super Mario 64 2 | Nintendo 64DD | Abandoned due to a lack of progress and failure of the Nintendo 64DD. Certain aspects were carried over to Super Mario Sunshine & Super Mario 64 DS.[5] |
| Super Smash Bros. 2 | Nintendo 64DD | Got reworked into Super Smash Bros. Melee for Nintendo GameCube.[6] |
| Mario Paint 64 | Nintendo 64DD | It had many processors when playing and the original mouse.[7] |
| Ultra Donkey Kong | Nintendo 64DD | Also known as Donkey Kong World and Donkey Kong Universe while in development got reworked into Donkey Kong 64.[8] |
| Diddy Kong Pilot | Game Boy Advance | Not finished before Rare joined Microsoft in 2002 and Nintendo not approving of the concept. It was later reworked into Banjo Pilot.[9] |
| Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers | Game Boy Advance | Much like the aforemented Diddy Kong Pilot, it was not finished before Rare joined Microsoft. It was eventually reworked into It's Mr. Pants.[10] |
| Donkey Kong Racing | Nintendo GameCube | Not finished before Rare joined Microsoft. (Unofficially cancelled)[11] |
| Yoshi Touch & Go | Nintendo GameCube | Moved to Nintendo DS with the same name. |
| DK Bongo Blast | Nintendo GameCube | Got reworked onto the Wii as Donkey Kong Barrel Blast.[12] |
| Super Paper Mario | Nintendo GameCube | Got reworked on Wii with the same name.[13] |
| Super Mario Spikers | Wii | A cancelled volleyball-wrestling hybrid game in development for Wii by Next Level Games.[14] |