5 removed features from GTA San Andreas

GTA San Andreas was a highly ambitious project for its time, which meant Rockstar Games couldn't include everything they wanted.

At the time of release, GTA San Andreas was the biggest game in the series. The size and scope were unmatched at the time - it had bigger maps and more features.

GTA players can now swim, dual wield different weapons, and customize themselves. However, there was meant to be more.

While these are relatively small features, it goes to show the creative ideas Rockstar Games had in mind. Unfortunately, some of them simply couldn't work. Most of the time, it's because the development team had difficulties with these features (for one reason or another).

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Five GTA San Andreas features that were cut

#5 - Earthquakes

Surprisingly, this feature can be enabled within the game. Given the California-based setting of San Andreas, it seems Rockstar Games wanted to implement earthquakes.

They are relatively common in the state of California, so perhaps they wanted to invoke more realism.

There is a weather class within the game's executable. While it remains functional, the value is always set to zero. If a player adds a number, however, it will activate earthquakes. The higher the number, the stronger the severity.

Light earthquakes will cause the ground to shake, along with cars bouncing around. However, cars without drivers will float in the air.

Strong earthquakes will cause everything to go crazy. Perhaps the development team didn't want to deal with constant glitches, so they removed this feature.

#4 - Skateboarding

GTA players can already perform bike tricks at the local skate park in Los Santos. At some point in development, however, players were also meant to use skateboards. It was meant to function as both a weapon and a vehicle.

There is an unused in-game model for the skateboard left in GTA San Andreas. While it's disabled by default, GTA players can manually edit files to make it work. Skateboards can also be used as melee weapons by replacing other ones.

There were skateboarder NPCs that didn't make it in the final game. All that remains are a few voice lines.

It's a shame the skateboard didn't make it in the final product. Skating culture was just about to take off in the 90's, which would fit within the time period of GTA San Andreas.

#3 - Oil puddles

There is an unused mechanic within the game where players can set oil puddles on fire. It would be similar to Jerry Cans from GTA 5. A trail of gasoline oil could ignite the entire area in flames. Keep in mind the fire doesn't last too long.

It probably would've been used in action set pieces for missions.

In the final mission of GTA San Andreas (End of the Line), Sweet has unused lines that indicate the use of oil puddles.

Apparently in the chase sequence, the firetruck was supposed to drop hot oil. It's likely it would've caused GTA players to spin out of control, so they had to avoid it.

#2 - Safe cracking

Long before GTA Online players were cracking safes, the feature was meant to be included in GTA San Andreas. There are unused strings of code left inside the game.

When put together, it seems like GTA players had to correctly guess the combination. Scripted lines indicate the use of a rotating tumbler lock.

Since the game was originally on the PlayStation 2, GTA players had to listen to vibrations from DualShock 2 technology. The stronger the vibration, the more likely the correct number is nearby.

Once they heard a click, players needed to look for the next corresponding number; there were four in total.

Interestingly, the game had the ability to keep track of how many safes were cracked. However, it's impossible to raise the value above zero and Rockstar Games did revisit the idea in future GTA titles, thanks to the rise of heists.

#1 - Orange Grove Families

Early in game development. Grove Street Families originally sported a different color - they represented orange instead of green. Known as the Orange Grove Families, their base of operations would've been Orange Grove.

There are still remnants of this concept within GTA San Andreas. Throughout Los Santos, there are spray tags with the initials OGF (Orange Grove Families).

CJ even has unused dialog where he directly references this, such as the following:

"OGS, punk! You hear that?"

In this instance, OGS stands for Orange Grove Street. Speaking of which, there is a tattoo within the game that CJ can place on his upper back. It reads Orange Grove Families.

It's unknown if Rockstar Games forgot to change it or if they left it there as an Easter egg.

Note: This article reflects the writer's personal views.