Nintendo

Nintendo surprised everyone Monday by announcing the Super NES Classic Edition is real, will hit stores September 29 and include 21 games.

Then, throwing a curveball on top of our collective shock, Nintendo did the unthinkable. It revealed Star Fox 2 would be included with the SNES Classic.

If you don't remember playing Star Fox 2, and are worried you're suffering from amnesia, don't worry. Star Fox 2 never actually came out.

The game was reportedly complete, and started making public appearances in advance of its planned summer 1995 release. Below, you can see some ancient footage of the game being played at the 1995 Consumer Electronics Show.

But unfortunately for Star Fox 2, the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation had already been released in Japan, and would soon hit America and Europe. Though Star Fox 2 looked good for a SNES game, Nintendo was worried it would be overshadowed by the competition's superior hardware.

"The decision was made because they didn't want the old-gen 3D going up against the much better 3D of the next generation, side-by-side," a former member of the Star Fox 2 team told Nintendo Life in 2015 in an extensive feature on the game's development and eventual mothballing.

For years, Star Fox 2 was only mentioned in passing. Various alphas of the game have floated around forums and fan sites, and elements of its gameplay eventually made it to later entries in the Star Fox series. During an E3 event promoting the Wii U game Star Fox Zero, Shigeru Miyamoto himself mentioned the game, telling Polygon: "In my memory, I enjoyed [Star Fox 2] but I'm not sure I would release it. I'd rather have people play a new game."

But now, after years of being locked inside of Nintendo's vault, Star Fox fans can finally play the sequel after beating the first level of Star Fox on the SNES Classic.

Read more about the SNES Classic right here.