Digital game downloads make playing games easier than ever before. Just buy from your console, download, and play. In most cases, one need not worry about running out of stock of a digital product. That doesn’t mean these titles are available forever, though, and sometimes they go away for good.
Delisted games are no longer available to download. If you had the game previous to its delisting then you’re still able to download and play it. If not, then you missed out and unfortunately, some of these titles are downright iconic. Here’s our top 5 delisted games.
5. Doc Louis’ Punch-Out!!
With the Wii eShop going offline January of 2019, a ton of games were lost to time. Games such as My Pokémon Ranch, Jet Rocket and more are no longer available to access on Nintendo’s tiny titan nor can they be downloaded again. This leads us to Doc Louis’ Punch-Out!! This game was free to Club Nintendo Platinum members in 2009 and later became available for all members in 2015 when the service shut down. While not the longest title, it serves as a fun precursor to the Wii title, with fights that aren’t found in the full Punch-Out!! release.
4. The Simpsons Arcade Game
The arcade classic Simpsons game was available on the PS3 and Xbox 360 for just over a year before being delisted in December of 2013. Konami beat-em-ups are some of the most iconic arcade multiplayer gaming. Picking from Homer, Bart, Lisa or Marge you are able to team with up to 3 others for side-scrolling brawler action. Unfortunately these are all now delisted games that have all been lost to time. If you were lucky enough to nab this game or any of the other classic Konami side-scrolling, multiplayer beat-em-ups then you’ve got a piece of gaming history and some awesome couch co-op titles.
3. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition
While Nintendo has announced to Mario fans that certain titles, including Super Mario 3D All-Stars, will be delisted at the end of this month, it’s way more notice than Zelda fans got. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition was a special release to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the franchise. It was only available between September of 2011 through February of 2012, with a brief re-release of 4 days between January 30th and February 2nd in 2014. This remastering is decoupled from its Link To The Past framework, with two levels made exclusively for the title. That makes the sting of this removal something even worse than that of Mario’s upcoming list of delisted games.
2. Marvel Vs. Capcom 2
Any long time fighting game fan has stories of this one. Released to PSN and XBLA in 2009, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2’s return was a triumph. With an HD filter and online matchmaking, it was a smash hit with any fighting game fan of that era. Fans new and old could clash online, bringing all their skill and tech with them to the new online arenas. Unfortunately, this era would come to a close in December of 2013 when it would be added to the growing list of delisted games. Fans would later be dealt a second blow in the form of the removal of Marvel Vs. Capcom Origins the very next year.
1. P. T.
The legendary teaser P. T. is a title that will forever live in infamy. Originally a playable teaser for Silent Hills, it would later go on to be removed from PSN without any way for even previous owners to obtain, drawing the ire of many Konami fans. The game was given immense praise from various outlets such as Kotaku and IGN, along with fans who had totalled over a million downloads for the demo. When Hideo Kojima left Konami, P. T. was removed around a year later in April of 2015. While the project is cancelled, this demo left a legacy like none of the other delisted games here that still has echoes in modern horror gaming.
While these delisted games may be gone, they are all still well-loved. Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 still has an active online community while P. T. is still considered a top-notch horror experience. As more online storefronts close, more of these games will be lost and while some games such as Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World have made successful comebacks, others won’t be so lucky. If you own any of these games and have them saved on one of your machines, you’ve got some fun times and some collectible hardware.
