Moved to the Next Console

It's not uncommon for a game to start off on one console and be released on the next generation console. This usually occurs to late-cycle games but can also occur to games stuck in Development Hell. Often overlaps with Schedule Slip if unexpected delays in a game's production pushes its release to near or after the launch of the next-generation.

There are many reasons why this happens, the most obvious being in order to take advantage of improved hardware. Another common reason is because late-in-life titles don't usually sell that well. With many gamers making the leap to the newest console or handheld, porting or remaking a title for the next gen is the best bet for sales.

In a certain way, sometimes consoles themselves can have this happen, originating as add-ons or planned features for older consoles before eventually releasing as entirely new systems.

See also Cross-Generation Video Game, where a game is developed and released on multiple generations of consoles simultaneously.

Examples:

Action-Adventure

• Cubivore started out as a late Nintendo 64 title but was moved to the GameCube.
• Dinosaur Planet (Rare) was a late Nintendo 64 and was far enough in production to have showings at trade shows, before being moved to the Nintendo GameCube in order to take advantage of the tech and because the N64 was at the end of its life cycle (with the suggestion from Shigeru Miyamoto to turn it into a Star Fox game coming around the same time). The final game, Star Fox Adventures, ultimately had several planned features cut due to developer Rare being purchased by Microsoft during production, which imposed a hard deadline for the game's release. These cut features include the main female lead (Krystal) losing her role as the second playable character, the number of Spellstones and Krazoa Spirits being decreased by two each, many areas being removed entirely, the removal of General Scales' boss fight, and the story getting trimmed down.
• ICO started life as a PS1 title, but got ported to PS2 midway. One artifact of that is the game running in 240p mode, needlessly upscaled to 480i (or 288p to 576i for the PAL release).
• Kameo: Elements of Power has its development span across four different consoles. It was initially conceived as an Nintendo 64 title before shifting to be a potential GameCube launch title. Then developer Rare was purchased by Microsoft, at which point Kameo was moved to the Xbox and began being retooled for the more young adult-skewing demographic of the console; the long process of which ultimately resulted in it becoming an Xbox 360 title.
• The Last Guardian was announced at E3 2009 for the PlayStation 3 but didn't end up coming out until 7 years later on the PlayStation 4.
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was intended to receive an expansion pack called Ura Zelda, planned for the 64DD. The failure of the 64DD led to it being scrapped, but it would come to inspire the Master Quest mode in the GameCube re-release and Nintendo 3DS remake.
• Inverted with Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. It was originally planned to be a PlayStation 3 release, but because the hardware specifications of the PS3 was far from being finalised at the time of development, the game was instead made for the PlayStation 2. The game would later see an Updated Re-release for the PS3 as part of the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, however.
• Metroid Dread was originally planned for the Nintendo DS, but series producer Yoshio Sakamoto felt its hardware was not powerful enough to convey his vision for the game. The project was shelved before eventually re-entering production over a decade later for the Nintendo Switch. It is generally assumed that Sakamoto was referring to the E.M.M.I. when talking about the hardware, with their behavior requiring more advanced scripting than the handheld could accomplish.
• Nioh was announced at E3 2005 during the press conference where the PlayStation 3 itself was revealed. The game wasn't released until 2017 (12 years later) on the PlayStation 4.
• Shining Wisdom was rushed to be released on the Sega Saturn rather than the Sega Genesis due to Sega's surprise launch of that console several months early.
• Too Human started out as a PlayStation title, before becoming a GameCube title when developer Silicon Knights entered an exclusive partnership with Nintendo. The production on other titles pushed development back, with the game briefly becoming intended for the Wii until Silicon Knights learned of the system's hardware specifications, prompting them to immediately end their deal with Nintendo to instead develop the game as a Xbox 360 title.

First-Person Shooter

• GoldenEye (1997) was first conceived as a 2D platformer for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, but was quickly shifted to the Nintendo 64 when one of the lead developers insisted that it should be a shooter.
• Halo: Combat Evolved went through two platform changes and one genre change before it was finally released. Steve Jobs himself introduced the game as a Real-Time Strategy title releasing simultaneously for Mac and PC during the 1999 Macworld Conference & Expo. Bungie later changed it into a shooter, after which Microsoft bought Bungie, and made it an exclusive launch title for the Xbox console. Funnily enough, it ended up getting ported to both PC and Mac after all, though two years later and by third parties (Gearbox Software handling the PC port and Westlake Interactive getting the Mac port).

Horror

• Eternal Darkness started off as an N64 title, but after some time, it was decided to shift gears and develop it as a Nintendo GameCube launch title, though ultimately be delayed and miss the launch window, releasing the following year.
• Resident Evil 0 had its development shifted to the GameCube due to the developers having issues working within the limitations caused by the low storage capacity of N64 cartridges. The shift to the GameCube also led to production being delayed even further in order to put its graphics on par with the remake of Resident Evil.

Hardware

• The Nintendo GameCube had a number of scrapped peripherals and features that Nintendo would later implement into future hardware:
  • Nintendo experimented with motion controls for the system, with early versions of the GameCube controller having the feature. The idea was kept long enough for some developers to begin utilizing it in development of their games, but it was ultimately scrapped. The concept would serve as the basis for the Nintendo Wii, with there also being patents that suggest the system's Wiimote and Nunchuk may have been considered as possible peripherals for the GameCube as well, before it was decided to make them a standalone console.
  • Nintendo considered a slimmed-down, portable version of the GameCube with a LCD screen that could connect to a TV via a docking station. They never went through with this idea, but the concept would eventually manifest with the Nintendo Switch.
• After a few early, unsuccessful experiments with stereoscopic 3D that took the form of a 3D glasses accessory for the Famicom and the Virtual Boy, Nintendo looked into implementing stereoscopic 3D on a number of their subsequent systems before finally doing so with the Nintendo 3DS. These include special 3D display accessories for both the Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance that were scrapped; the former because it would have cost more than the GameCube itself, and the latter because the GBA's screen resolution was too low to produce a satisfactory 3D effect.

Platform Games

• Banjo-Kazooie went through this along with a Mid-Development Genre Shift. The developers originally envisioned it as a pirate-themed RPG-adventure for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System before deciding to turn it into a Funny Animal 3D Collect-a-Thon Platformer for the Nintendo 64.
• Inverted with Donkey Kong 64, which was originally planned for the Nintendo 64's 64DD add-on. Production was moved to the base Nintendo 64 as a result of the add-on's continuous development delays.
• Kirby:
  • Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards started out as a 64DD title before being moved to cartridge.
  • A Kirby title for the GameCube tentatively titled Kirby for Nintendo GameCube was worked on for years but ultimately shelved, with some of its elements reworked into the Wii's Kirby's Return to Dream Land.
• The first The Legendary Starfy title started development in 1995 for the Game Boy. It was moved to the Game Boy Color before finally being released as a Game Boy Advance title in 2002.
• The original Rayman game started development as a Super NES game, but it was later shifted to the Atari Jaguar, PlayStation, and Sega Saturn.
• Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • Knuckles Chaotix began development as a Sega Genesis title under the name Sonic Crackers. When Sega realized that the sun was rapidly setting on the 16-bit era, they moved the game to the Sega 32X (it was also considered for the Sega Saturn, but its increasingly stagnant development and a lack of 32X titles led to it being moved there instead), reorienting it to remove Sonic & Tails and instead give Knuckles A Day in the Limelight.
  • Sonic Adventure started out life on the Sega Saturn using the "Sonic World" engine from Sonic Jam. Early in development, it was moved to the then-upcoming Sega Dreamcast.
• According to a Super Mario Galaxy preview on G4 (circa 2006), it was initially going to be a Nintendo GameCube game (this was in turn one of the remnants of the cancelled Super Mario 128 project).
• Super Meat Boy was original planned as a WiiWare game; however, the developers were unable to fit the game within the strict 40 MB size limit for WiiWare games, so they released it on Xbox Live Arcade instead.
• A Wii U version of Yooka-Laylee was planned, but cancelled when development moved towards the Nintendo Switch.

Puzzle Games

• The Witness was originally planned for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but later moved to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 after the game engine grew beyond the capabilities of the 7th generation.

Racing Games

• Kirby Air Ride for the Nintendo GameCube started life as an early Nintendo 64 title called Kirby Bowl, a sequel to Kirby's Dream Course, then Kirby's Air Ride. This incarnation of the game ended up being cancelled, but eventually got revived as a GameCube game.
• Donkey Kong Barrel Blast was meant to be released on the GameCube, using the DK Bongos peripheral made for Donkey Konga. It then became a Wii title, using motion controls instead of the bongos.

Role-Playing Games

• EarthBound 64 (Mother 3 in Japan) started out as a Super Nintendo Entertainment System game, then a 64DD game, then a standard Nintendo 64 title, but development stagnated due to a mix of Shigesato Itoi overestimating the N64's capabilities and the dev team's inexperience with 3D, which led to the game getting cancelled in 2000. Six years later, it came out as the sprite-based (and Japanese only) Mother 3 for the Game Boy Advance.
• Elemental Gimmick Gear was being developed for the Sega Saturn before being released for the Sega Dreamcast. The game as released shows off the Dreamcast's advanced 3D capabilities in Boss Battles, but maintains a low-resolution 2D look in other sections.
• Final Fantasy:
  • Development for Final Fantasy VII originally started on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, but was postponed in favor of working on Chrono Trigger. Once that game was released, Square revisited the project on the Nintendo 64, until frustrations with Nintendo's use of cartridges on the system (rather than the more capable Compact Disc format) combined with longstanding issues with the company's licensing and censorship policies motivated the developers to shift focus to the PlayStation, on which it would ultimately release.
  • Final Fantasy XV was announced in 2006 as Final Fantasy Versus XIII for the PlayStation 3, a spin-off of the then-still-upcoming Final Fantasy XIII. After a decade of Schedule Slip, the connection to Final Fantasy XIII was dropped, and it was it reworked into the series' next mainline installment that ultimately released on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
• Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade was originally intended for the Nintendo 64, but some Troubled Production caused by the failure of the 64DD peripheral led to development being restarted from scratch and moved to the Game Boy Advance.
• OMORI was supposed to come out on Nintendo 3DS in addition to PC as part of a stretch goal, but when the game's development cycle eclipsed the 3DS's lifecycle, the game was ported to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 instead.
• Persona 4 Golden was originally planned as a PSP title. However, after the Play Station Vita was announced, they chose to make it for that system instead, since it would allow them to produce a proper Updated Re-release that wouldn't require them to remove any features from the original PS2 version.
• The original Shadow Hearts was originally planned for the PlayStation, like its predecessor Koudelka. Development shifted to the PlayStation 2 for the final release.
• Shenmue was originally made for Sega Saturn during the last years of the console, but due to limitations of the system and the upcoming arrival of the then-next console Sega Dreamcast, the developers decided to move the game to the new platform. Actually there're plenty of images when the game was in development, as well some videos; there are also strong rumours about a Saturn ISO with the beta existing, but this has never been confirmed.
• Super Paper Mario was originally designed for the Nintendo GameCube, but it was changed over to the Wii during development. A dual-platform release was considered at one point, and the game contains Dummied Out assets intended for the GameCube version, including interface elements and lower quality versions of the graphics designed for the older console's weaker hardware.
• Tomato Adventure was originally titled Gimmick Land and intended for the Game Boy Color. Developer AlphaDream moved it to the Game Boy Advance and changed its name when that console got released.
• According to Toby Fox, Nintendo approached him about the possibility of porting Undertale to the Wii U and/or Nintendo 3DS, only for the idea to be scrapped due to neither system supporting the Game Maker game engine (which Undertale was developed with). The game would eventually be ported to the Nintendo Switch, the successor system to both devices, which did support Game Maker.

Shoot-Em-Ups

• Ketsui was going to be ported to PS2 by Arika, however the port was scrapped because the PS2 doesn't have enough memory for a background-swapping process in Stage 5. Instead, the first home port of the game would be released on the 360 and PS3, handled by 5pb instead.

Simulation Games

• Nintendogs was conceived as a Nintendo GameCube title, but it was moved to the Nintendo DS to take advantage of its touch-screen.
• Pokémon:
  • Inverted with Pokémon Snap, which started out as a Nintendo 64DD game before becoming a standard Nintendo 64 game after the peripheral's failure.
  • According to New Pokémon Snap director Haruki Suzaki, there were several attempts to develop such a game for various (unspecified) consoles prior to them joining, before plans were finally settled to develop the game for the Nintendo Switch.
• A Wii U port of Stardew Valley was scrapped in order for it to instead appear on the Nintendo Switch.