Documenting unreleased, cancelled and prototype games.
Covering unreleased and cancelled games and prototypes on both consoles and computers. We are a large archive dedicated to preserving games that were never released to the public. Sharing history and stories from the developers, assets and more before it is too late.
A non-profit digitisation project, aiming to digitally preserve software and history which would otherwise be lost for good. If for any reason there is anything that you do not wish to be on the website, please contact us for removal.
Another puzzler that was due for release on both the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST platforms, and this time a late release for back in 1996 when the platforms were practically gone commercially.
An unreleased puzzle game that was due out from Ubi Soft in 1990 for both the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST platforms, created by Michel Ancel and Nicolas Choukroun who produced The Teller and Pick’n Pile. The game was previewed in Generation 4 magazine, featuring some neat looking screens.
A short entry for an Amiga/ST game that never was from 1988, and which was previewed in a Generation 4 and ASM Magazine. In the latter magazine, the game’s name was listed as having a working title of Jungle Olympics.
C64 owners will very much recognise our next entry, which was eventually released by Zeppelin Games back in 1992 as Bod Squad. Originally though, the game was due to be released by Digital Magic Software under the name of Bod the Alien, and released around October 1991 time.
From the creators of Cover Girl Strip Poker was yet another game along the same kind of theme of featuring naked women, this time with an Othello-based game to gradually reveal all. Continue reading
A very short post to flag up some unused assets and early screens for the Psygnosis classic – Agony thanks to Grzegorz Antosiewicz.
First of all there are a number of screens in the gallery below dug out by Grzegorz which show earlier screens with some slight differences to the final version, as well as some giant brown sphere monsters that didn’t seem to make the final cut. Continue reading
A short entry thanks to Grzegorz Antosiewicz of a cool isometric action game with a mix of strategy, where you control between 1-3 tank drones and must complete various objectives including destroying a number of marked buildings and other targets.
One of the main features of the game was the destructable environments, where some walls would remain solid and bulletproof to prevent you reaching your goals too soon.
A short post on what should have been the 17th Castlevania title and released on the SEGA Dreamcast back in 2000, where you were to control Sonia Belmont and Victor Belmont in a 3D third person title.
Recently we were informed about a website that has been set up recently to try and preserve all information on the game, which you can find at:
https://drmarchive.netlify.app/crp/start-home
So far the site contains a series of sketches, screenshots and various footage – as well as part of the development story so far. Over time it is expected that more information will be added, and it is hoped that something of the development itself will be saved some day.
When discussing about the unreleased Conquest for the GTW book with Larry DeMar, we already knew that the source code had been preserved. Jeff Vavasour had kindly provided screenshots of it running for the book.
We asked Larry if it would be possible to release the game in its final state, and he had no objections. After informing Jeff of Larry’s blessing, Jeff got to work on building the game into a playable state and you can now check it out at:
http://www.codemystics.com/conquest/
A great end to 2020 where you can finally check out a game that has been hidden for almost 40 years. For more of the story and assets, check out: https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2020/10/conquest/
The yearly tradition of a large GTW64 xmas site update continues, even if this year has been pretty shite overall. We kick off with the following updates for you:
A ton of new entries, mostly with downloads for you to check out of various previews that have been floating around for some time but may have passed you by. Ultrabulb is worth a look – a previously unknown Gremlin Graphics game.
Bad, Brain Tumour, City Champ, Coloris, CubeSim64, Eelona – The Warrior Princess, Flex, FootMan, Immensity, Jagged Sword, Jump-Kid, Jumpy64, Katabatia, Lingo, Mad Crash Racing, Mad Ninja, Mario Clone, Mario Run, Minimus, Misfire, Motorman, Mr. Pilic, On Table, Oolong, Outbreak, Oxygen Racer, Pac Man Arcade, Paku Paku, Phantasm, Proxima, Rip Off, Space Ball, Squad Force Five, Squirm 2, Squost, Star Fighter, Star-Wars, The Last War Brains, The Lost Vikings, The Sixth Sense, Ultrabulb
Then the usual updates for a number of posts, including tidy ups and new scans.
3 Days In Carpathia, Alloyrun, Atlantian, Bubble Blaster, Defensive, Dux, Futureball, Great Giana Sisters, Klartz and the Dark Forces, Nightbreed RPG, Nuclear War, Outrage, Pipe Mania 2: Plumber’s World, Play and Learn series, Savage Platforms, Teladon, Total Recall V1
Not C64 related, but over the past few months we have been adding a plethora of new content, detailed write ups and assets for a number of different platforms. Most of these are in relation to articles covered in the book and assets that didn’t make it to print. There are also a number of multi-format posts which you may want to check out via the links below:
As you can see, we didn’t get to dig out any new big C64 findings in time for the update, which was mostly due to being tied up over the past few months with the release of the Games That Weren’t book and committing to adding bonus content to the site which was referenced in the book. Just hasn’t been time i’m afraid. The aim is to resume trying to find more lost C64 titles once more in the new year, now things are beginning to settle.
However, my good friend Vinny Mainolfi has come to the rescue this year and has two previously unreleased and complete games being released as part of his Xmas newsletter to subscribers to FREEZE64. These are in the shape of Trooper (by Barbarian 2 developer Rob Stevens) and Winning Streak with graphics by Jon Temples (artist for CJ’s Elephant Antics). This is along with some new titles as part of his Christmas pack to supporters. Well worth checking out at https://freeze64.com/
Finally – thank you to everyone for all their support during 2020 and for those especially who have brought the book and shared their love of it online and personally. It has meant a great deal seeing all the positive reviews and photos, and has been very humbling. Happy holidays to you all and here’s hoping for a more positive 2021!
Frank.
(Long suffering GTW webmaster!)
Thanks to Grzegorz Antosiewicz, we present a series of earlier screens from Arabian Nights on the Amiga, showing various differences from the final game. I will hand over to Grzegorz to explain what he’s found:
Today I would like to share a page from old magazine “Joystick” from November 1992. There is a preview of Krisalis’ Amiga platform game “Arabian Nights” (released in 1993).”
In the preview, you can see how different the main protagonist looks. His red fez in the early version has some white material, plus his face was more chubby. All pictures from preview show different parts of the first level, and layout was not changed in released version. Continue reading
I never played the SNK arcade, but remember seeing the terrible Commodore 64 conversion by Sentient Software and wondering just how it got past quality control at Ocean Software at the time.
Also in production though were conversions for the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST platforms. It seems that these were being arranged by Ocean France, and the work was subcontracted out to a team called Prestasoft, which only seemed to have the one game to its name – Expressing.
Apart from adverts, nothing much was mentioned or shown of the conversions at all, especially in the UK press. It would be the French press which would see exclusive screenshots of at least the Atari ST edition.
For years, screenshots from magazines have taunted us for the many games that got away from us, and none more so than Ramrod by Gremlin Graphics. Previewed in the likes of Zzap!64, Zero and various other magazines over the years – we salivated over the wonderful Marble Madness‘esq graphics with a character that looked like the distant cousin of Robocop.
Following on from Grzegorz Antosiewicz’s recent asset differences post for Alien Breed 3D, comes a set for Alien Breed Tower Assault.
Grzegorz summarizes the following differences to the final game, which you can check out in the gallery below.
“I gathered screenshots from two demos by Amiga Power and The One magazine. The first demo has two maps with a unique layout based on the “Engineering and Storage” section, with two bonus marketing screen shots which show two player gameplay, some text and big bosses – see screens (1)(12). The Second demo just has one map based on Engineering section, no bonus screen shots on the end.
Pictures from “amiga cd32 issue1.jpg” and “Clipboard19″ are from an early version of the animated intro, same goes for Clipboard 00 and 01. In final version Team17 staff made intro with both real life actors (Team17 workers themselves) and 3d rendered animations/backgrounds. Clipboard 21 is probably concept-art or early version picture of towers you have to explore in the game. Clipboard 05 showcases an unused giant robot on floor.”
Gallery
A quick post thanks to Grzegorz Antosiewicz, with some images showing some minor differences and what seem to be some unused assets not seen in the final game.
The One magazine showed a preview with some early screens, one showing screens with a mountain background layer. In the final game, that level section would feature just plain blue sky and some small white clouds.
A quick post thanks to Grzegorz Antosiewicz, with a series of screenshots and magazine scans showing unused assets and features not found in the final version of Alien Breed 3D. The game was previewed in many magazines during 1995, with some of the most interesting screens being shown in CU Amiga magazine. The first preview is from March 1995:
An impressive looking title which featured a massive dragon main character, which took up most of the screen. This was to be a second title signed up by Firebird from ICOM Simulations, along with Blazing Barrels (which also never saw release).
The game was shown briefly in a few magazines, and TelecomSoft’s Richard Hewison recalls seeing the game on the ST and how simple it was:
“Dragon was never advertised, and the development version on the ST was extremely simple. Basically, on the left you saw a castle with a drawbridge. The drawbridge was open, and a large dragon sprite could walk along the drawbridge and back. That was about it! The whole thing looked and felt a little bit like ‘Black Lamp’ which Firebird had only published earlier the same year (1988).
I have no recollection as to what happened to the deal with ICOM (UK) Ltd. It might have still been active when BT sold the labels to MicroProse, or the deal might have already been dead.”
Cyber Assault was a vector-based obstacle course game announced by ARC. In the game you must control a character called TRAX (an exo-skeletal humanoid), who can run, jump and walk through a 3D universe. Impressively he would have displayed over 70 faces animated accurately at 15 frames per second.
The story would go that years ago, you murdered a civi-cop and were then imprisioned for life. Once a year, the worst prisoner is given the chance of freedom by entering the Cyber Assault. A deadly obstacle course race. Win and you are free. Fail and you are a dead man. Continue reading
As part of the launch and release of The Games That Weren’t book, we are adding assets and content that didn’t make it to print as bonus DLC content to share with you.
Within the book is an in-depth and detailed 16 page story about the ambitious MARSOC development by Zombie Studios. A game inspired by titles such as Gears of War and Call of Duty, the title would set you within the lawless port of Massawa, Eritrea – hunting down a dangerous warlord called Limbano.
We talk to Zombie Studios founder Mark Long, senior level designer Erik Bretz, producer John Williamson about the promising development, which at one point had been picked up by SEGA for publication. You can read the full story about the development in the Games That Weren’t book.
This was to be the last of a trilogy of Nightbreed games produced by Ocean Software in 1990 and produced by Imagitec, overseen by David Wightman. The game would utilize essentially the same engine as Times of Lore, which they developed on the Amiga. This means it is likely that Adrian Waterhouse and Julian Gardner were the developers, with Nigel Cook on graphics duty.
Not to be confused with the recent Psytronik release of the same name, Rotator was a one/two player tank game, where you would have to link a number of generators together to boost their flagging power. This is due to an alien invasion which is disrupting the world’s energy systems, and has thrown civilisation into chaos.
As part of the launch and release of The Games That Weren’t book, we are adding assets and content that didn’t make it to print as bonus DLC content to share with you.
Within the book is an in-depth and detailed 10 page story about the Game Boy Advance conversion of Tork. We talk to head of Realism Studios, Andy Onions, developer Neil Millstone and artist Michael Smith about the development, which at one stage overtook the XBox development due to the efficiency of the Realism team.
Thanks to Grzegorz Antosiewicz and Hall of Light, here are a number of early screens from Fire and Ice on the Commodore Amiga showing a few assets that didn’t make the final cut.
Grzegorz found early screenshots in various magazines (ACE, CU Amiga, Generation 4 (1991 October), Power Play (1991 issue 4), The One (1992 April).)), showing the game before the main protagonist was set in stone. Continue reading
A short entry for a title that was previewed in Generation 4 magazine, issue 19 from 1990 – thanks to Grzegorz Antosiewicz for the heads up. The game was called AAA for the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST. The magazine snippet was brief, but said the following:
“AAA is a fabulous arcade / strategy game, with awe-inspiring graphics and animations. Suffice to say that we will talk to you about it soon! The game will be released on Amiga and ST during 1990.”
Thanks to Grzegorz Antosiewicz, here are a number of early screens from Alien 3 on the Amiga, featuring an unused picture with the Alien head (which Grzegorz believes was going to be a level loading screen) and a screenshot showing a different score panel arrangement from Amiga Action magazine.
As part of the launch and release of The Games That Weren’t book, we are adding assets and content that didn’t make it to print as bonus DLC content to share with you.
Dizzy and associated characters and images are © The Oliver Twins and Codemasters. “Dizzy” is a trademark of Codemasters. (c) 1986 – 2020.
Within the book is an in-depth and detailed 12 page story of the Dizzy Returns project, and what should have been Dizzy’s triumphant return for both new and audiences back in 2013, but was just not to be. We talk to creators Andrew and Philip Oliver and artists Duncan (Dunk) Nimmo and Nick Myles about their vision for the game and the failed Kickstarter which prevented the game from being fully started.
Thanks to Niklas Lindholm, we learn of yet another lost football management game, this time with a game in the Ultimate Soccer Manager series, with the 2000 edition. Niklas has produced a brilliant video about the series, where he also talks about the cancelled edition here:
Trouble had started when some of the old team decided to leave Impressions due to various reasons undisclosed, and the code was too messy/complicated for the new crew to be able to pick up and resume in an effective way. They decided to restart development, and had a promising and playable alpha coming together after a short space of time.
The problem was (according to an unnamed developer on the project), Sierra were incredibly impatient, and were frustrated at the delays caused. They wanted the game for a Christmas 2000 release, and were not willing to give the team more time beyond that. The friction caused by this saw productivity fall as morale dropped. When it was realised that the Christmas 2000 deadline would not be met, Sierra decided to cancel the game.
At present, all that remains are a series of adverts and screenshots – but it is hoped that something of the cancelled development will surface in the future. Maybe one of the developers still has something tucked away that they could share. For now, check out a few additional items provided by Niklas from his research.
As part of the launch and release of The Games That Weren’t book, we are adding assets and content that didn’t make it to print as bonus DLC content to share with you.
Within the book is an in-depth and detailed 14 page story about various conversions of Putty Squad across almost 20 years that never quite made it, including of course the famous Amiga 1200 edition. We discuss the various developments with Phil Thornton (Putty Squad designer), Andy Roberts (PS2, CGB project leader), Jon Wells (CGB developer), Galahad (A1200 version saviour), John Twiddy (A1200 developer + other various conversions), Michael Smith (CGB artist) and Nick Lee (A1200, Mega Drive and PS2 artist).
Virocop is an often overlooked classic Amiga game by Graftgold that was released in 1995, a spiritual sequel of sorts to the likes of Quazatron and Magnetron that you may have missed. If you did, then check it out!
Thanks to contributor Grzegorz Antosiewicz, we are able to show a series of early screenshots during its time in development that show different features and assets which didn’t make the final game.
This is a smaller piece intended for inclusion in The Games That Weren’t book that didn’t make the final cut. Within the book is an in-depth and detailed 18 page story about the unreleased Carmageddon TV (CTV from this point on) by Visual Science. Often it has been stated that CTV was due for release on the Gizmondo hand-held, but this wasn’t the case at all. In fact, it was a conversion of the original PC classic.
We had planned to tell the story of the Gizmondo conversion in the book, but had to cut the piece due to space. As part of our Bonus material series, here is the full raw article for your enjoyment, where we speak to the Stainless Games team – Patrick Buckland, Ian Moody, Steven Haggerty, Neil (Nobby) Barnden, Kev Martin and Will McCourt. Special thanks to Justin Castle for allowing us to use his screenshots from the demo.
Please note that it hasn’t been professionally proof read compared to the published pieces in the book. Apologies for any errors, which we will be happy to fix over time.
Although Visual Science’s Carmageddon TV development had been faltering and eventually saw a professional relationship destroyed, elsewhere another was about to be repaired after half a decade towards mid-2005, when opportunity arose to develop for the new upcoming and exciting Gizmondo handheld. However, this was not the CTV conversion as often reported over the years online.
DISCLAIMER: We are a non-profit digitisation project, aiming to digitally preserve software and history which would otherwise be lost for good. If for any reason there is anything that you do not wish to be on the website, please contact us for removal.