Platforming games are some of the mo🐬st widely copied types in the industry. What are the greatest platforming icons of all time? Mario? Sonic the Hedgehog? Crash Bandicoot? All of these are fine choices, but they are 𓃲not the focus of this article.

RELATED: 10 Canceled Gam🀅e Sequels We Will Never Get To Play

What about the heroes that either never saw the light of day or didn’t get to have as long-lasting careers as the previous three examples? It’s time to uncover ten platforming games from the PS2 era and beyond that - for one reason or another 🧸- did not make it onto store shelves. Some are lost sequels while others are original concepts that didn’t get too far off the ground. It’s time to start digging.

10 Banjo X

Similar to 2005’s Xbox port of Conker's Bad Fur Day, Rare was going to remake the original Banjo-Kazooie for Microsoft's system as well. The project, titled Banjo X, wasn't even revealed until 2011 when someone it viaꦆ an Xbox developer kit.

The idea would have had 4-player co-op functionality. On top of that, work spun off on a racing game as well, Banjo Kazoomie, but both games were eventually merged, in a way, for 2008's Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts on Xbox 360.

9 Gremlins

Gremlins got a few games following the success of the two films in the '80s. The two NES games were pretty good, but they were followed by a long gap before the property cropped up again into the early 2000s. Several more games came out during this period, like Gremlins: Stripe vs. Gizmo, but they were not received well.

RELATED: 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:10 Canceled Nintendo RPGs You Never🦄 Knew Exis🍸ted

Around this same time, Krome Studios wantඣed to make a game based on the original film. The idea centers around Gizmo going around Kingston Falls while setting traps for his crazed brethren. There are only a few screenshots of this lost Xbox 360 game left on .

8 🌠 Two Canceled S🍬pyro Spinoffs

To capitalize on their Spyro property, Vivendi Universal wanted to start milking side characters as well. In fact, Agent 9 from Spyro: Year of the Dragon almost got not one but . One was being ha🐓ndled by Blue Tongue Entertainment while the other was Bꦿackbone Entertainment.

The latter of the two studios used what they created for their Agent 9 demo to make Death Jr. for the PSP instead. Blue Tongue Entertainment's project was reborn as Prime 8 after some focus testing, but it never came out in any for𒆙m. There is some test footage on Unseen64 along with a bunch of scrapped artwork ideas.

7 Gex 4

As of 2020, 1999's Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko was the last game in the series t🌼o be released. While Crystal Dynamics were apparently making a fourth entry, only two pieces of💯 concept art exist.

The only other thing to note here is that Gex 4 was being made for the PS2. Gex fans may take sola🔥c❀e in the fact that a new game may one day get made via the .

6 ⛄ T♉wo Canceled Earthworm Jim Games

Earthworm Jim prepares for battle

Prior to last year's announcement of an being made🌠 exclusively for the Intellivision Amico, this series had gone through several phases of canceled games.

The last two games were released in 1999 followed by plans to make on the PS2 and Xbox, along with what looked like a remake of the first game for the . The reasons for these cancelations were normally du🤪e to licensing rights being thrown around from one company to another.

5 🧔 Metal Arms 2 👍

Metal Arms: Glitch in the System is an underrated, well-reviewed GameCube, PS2, and Xbox game from 2003. The developer, Swingin' Ape Studios, was working on a sequel, but funnily enough, they moved to an even more infamously canceled game, StarCraft: Ghost.

RELATED: 10 Canceled Cr🧜ash Bandicoot Games You Never Kneജw Existed

This eventually led to the company being absorbed into Blizzard; consequently, as a separate company, Swingin' Ape Studio was only able to release one game. Aꩵll that exists for the sequel is some🐼 concept art via .

4 Record of the Elf Saga 💛

Record of the Elf Saga is, without a doubt, the most oꦯbscure game on this list. The publisher, Software 2000, as well as the developer, Kaiko,൩ aren't huge companies in the gaming space. However, it is on this list for two reasons.

The first is that the hero looks a little like Jak from Jak and Daxter. Secondly, as there appears to be a box and disc amidst the screenshots and artwork found on , it could be theorized that this game was basically done before the plug was pulled. Will Record of the Elf Saga get dumped to t𒊎he Intꦐernet for all to enjoy one day?

3 Maximo 3

Maximo, for those who don't remember, was Capcom's attempt to reboot their Ghosts 'n Goblins franchise. With two well-receiꦺved games on PS2, a third entry was planned for 🌃the console as well.

Sadly, Capcom canceled work on the third game due to the second's poor🎶 commercial performance. Critical acclaim does not always equate to sales, unfortunately. There is a brief clip of all existing gameplay footage in Unseen64's analys꧒is along with some scrapped artwork.

2 🔯 𝓰 The Magical Ninjya: Jiraiya Kenzan

The Magical Ninjya: Jiraiya Kenza was another game from that also looks a lot like Maximo based o🍃n the art style. It was announced in 2003 for the PS2 with a trailer, which had animated cutscenes inไ it as well.

Unlike Maximo, The Magical Ninjya: Jiraiya Kenza would have featured co-op and ninjas rather than knights. Not much else was known about the project or why it was canceled. The trailer aꦬlong with some art, screenshots, and promotions can be൩ found on .

1 Crank the Wease𓂃l ඣ

Crank the Weasel was an attempt at creating another crass platformer in the same vein as Conker’s Bad Fur Day. It was in development for the GameCube, PS2, and original Xbox around 2002. Based on the gameplay footage it looked a little like Capcom's Under the Skin game, also on PS2.

That game was all abo🦋ut creating chaos in smaller environments with dozens of NPCs. Based on what uncovered, that comparison doesn't seem too far off. A demo was also in 2017.

NEXT: The 5 Best Things About Kingdom Hearts III Re:Mind (& The꧅ 5 Worst)