There’s been a push over the past decade and change to switch to digital media. It would eliminate the need to devote shelf space to cases and cases of cartridges and discs, which can deteriorate over time without care if they weren’t busted up already. Plus, those Steam sales do get pretty generous compared to whatever GameStop or another brick & mortar store is willing to offer.
However, physical games can be picked up whenever and wherever (price allowing). Digital games can be pulled for any reason, legal or otherwise. SoulCalibur V, P.T., the original ports of the Grand Theft Auto trilogy, and more have all vanished into the ether. There’s a chance they could make a comeback, like Scott Pilgrim Vs the World. If so, they should be joined by these other delisted games.
10 Alpha Protocol
Obsidian Entertainment’s action RPG aimed to do for spy-fi what Mass Effect did for sci-fi. Players could customize agent Michael Thornton’s looks and select the right options on dialogue wheels to gain extra Perks. They could then refine Thornton’s skills in Stealth, Technical Aptitude, Toughness, Martial Arts, and a variety of weapons. However, it didn't quite match Mass Effect in quality. In fact, the game was panned quite strongly on release.
Yet its story about a spy trying to avert war by uncovering a conspiracy was better received, with many more appreciating its gameplay, jankiness and all, as part of the experience. Sadly, it got pulled from digital stores by Sega when its licensed music rights ran out. At least it can still be bought on a disc or as a Steam key.
9 Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows
With Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 ready to introduce Peter Parker and Miles Morales to the Venom symbiote, Spider-fans might be tempted to see how older games handled a similar premise. Made by Shaba Games and Treyarch, Web of Shadows sees Spidey try to stop the symbiotes from taking over Manhattan with the help of Wolverine, Black Widow, and the other Marvel heroes.
It has an InFamous-style morality system where Spidey can be a good guy or a bad guy depending on the player's choices. While it wasn't quite on par with InFamous, the game caught on with fans, becoming a cult favorite. Luckily, there are still plenty of physical copies out there as the game was delisted back in 2014.
8 Blur
Bizarre Creations’ game was a vehicular combat game, though more in the Wipeout vein than Twisted Metal. Players picked one of many licensed cars and raced each other on tracks based on real locations. They could collect and stack up to 3 power-ups to use against each other, improve their car’s stats in Career mode with points earned from stunts, and get tips from real-life racer Danica Patrick.
It sounds like a lot of fun, and critics liked it, but it received middling sales on its 2010 release. Unperturbed, Bizarre Creations planned to make sequels and keep its momentum going. Right up until their parent company Activision shut them down 9 months later. The game lasted longer, getting delisted in 2013 once the license for the cars ran out.
7 OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast
The original OutRun was an arcade classic that received a host of follow-ups, but it didn’t really get a bona fide sequel until 2003’s OutRun 2. Sega AM2 and Sumo Digital’s game brought everything fans liked about the original OutRun and breathed new life into it with 3D graphics and extra modes to mix up the gameplay. It was hard to imagine how it could be improved.
OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast found a way. It gave players 15 Ferraris to choose from, new modes that tested their drifting and slipstream skills among others, and an expanded Career Mode that threw in missions to complete. Like Blur, the game was delisted from Steam in 2010 after Sega lost the Ferrari license. If players want to get their hands on it now, they’ll have to look for the PS2 or Xbox disc copies.
6 Project X Zone 1 & 2
The very nature of Banpresto and Monolith Soft’s crossover action RPG games give away why they were delisted. They were both Nintendo 3DS games, so they’d have been gone for good anyway following its eShop closure in 2023. But they disappeared way back in 2016 & 2017 respectively when Bandai-Namco’s arrangement with Sega and Capcom ran out.
Both games combined those companies’ franchises against a dark force that threatened to destroy their worlds. It was full of guest characters from big games like Xenosaga, Yakuza, and Resident Evil among others. They were also spiritual successors to Namco X Capcom, which hasn't seen a re-release since its Japan-only PS2 debut. There are physical releases of PXZ1 & 2, but a fresh release with a translated NXC would be a nice treat.
5 Etrian Mystery Dungeon
Speaking of obscure RPGs, Atlus worked with Spike Chunsoft in 2015 to combine their own franchises. Players picked and customized classes from the EtrianOdyssey games to form a party and take on randomly generated dungeons a la Mystery Dungeon. They had to reach the end of each dungeon without dying, or they’d get dumped back in town without their cash or items.
It was basically the RPG fan’s RPG: one for keen, experienced players. But it was delisted from Western territories in 2020, only to be briefly relisted for North America in April 2021 before being delisted again by the end of the month. It remained on the Japanese eShop listings until its closure in March 2023.
4 Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure HD Version
Before the 2012 anime series, the most popular adaptation of Hirohiko Araki’s surreal series was perhaps Capcom's fighting game take on its 3rd part, Stardust Crusaders. Using the same arcade hardware as Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, players could control their favorite characters and use all their trademark moves, be it Jotaro's Timestop or DIO's Road Roller.
It only got ported to the Dreamcast and PS1 in its late 90s heyday. But Capcom would re-release the game to the PS3 and 360 in HD with widescreen support and online play. It was crisp, clean, crazy, and chaotic as fans remembered it. But it was delisted just 2 years later in 2014 as, by then, the Jojo license was in Bandai-Namco’s hands.
3 Marvel Vs Capcom Games
There are a lot of Marvel games that have since disappeared from digital shelves, like the Marvel Ultimate Alliance games and Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth. However, the biggest of all would have to be the Marvel Vs Capcom games. Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 can still be picked up for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Others weren’t so lucky.
Marvel Vs Capcom: Origins combined the original Marvel Super Heroes fighting game with the first MvC game, and gave both of them an HD makeover and online modes. It lasted just over 2 years, getting delisted in late 2014. Marvel Vs Capcom 2 popped up on the PS3 & 360 in 2009 before getting pulled in 2013. Maybe someday fans will get a proper Marvel Vs Capcom collection, and it'll last longer than 2 summers on storefronts.
2 X-Men: The Arcade Game
Capcom wasn’t the only company to make games about Marvel heroes brawling with each other. After making beat ‘em ups based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Simpsons, Konami gave the X-Men a go in X-Men: The Arcade Game. They made a cabinet big enough for up to 6 players to pick their favorite character and fight a host of oddly-voiced baddies ("WELCOME TO DIE!").
It received a re-release in the 2010s via Backbone Entertainment that cleaned up the graphics and redid the voice acting (while retaining the weird dialogue). It was a nice touch that made it the definitive way to play the game until its 2013 delisting. This version of the game never got a physical release, so Backbone’s extra work is now harder to trace if not gone completely.
1 Super Mario Bros 35 & Super Mario 3D All-Stars
Despite their hatred of emulation, Nintendo's artificial scarcity tactics do more to promote it than anything else. Super Mario Bros 35 and Super Mario 3D All-Stars were limited to a 6-month availability period as a “unique and different way” to celebrate the plumber’s 35th anniversary.
While 3D All-Stars weren’t console-perfect ports of Super Mario 64, Sunshine, and Galaxy, they were still good enough to play on the go via the Switch. Likewise, Super Mario Bros 35 was a neat variation on the original SMB1. But now they’re basically gone for good because Nintendo wanted to spike sales. That, or spike downloads of Gamecube and Wii emulators.