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.
By 1998, things were looking extremely bleak for the Amiga platform, but there were people still trying to keep the dream alive. None more so than Black Flag and Vulcan Software with the development of Caveman Species.
Following the success of Starwing, Argonaut sought to find a new title to utilize the Super FX chip once more and prove that the SNES still had plenty of life in it yet against the newcomers of the Sony PlayStation and SEGA Saturn.
Super Play magazine reported in 1994 that Argonaut had signed the Transformers licence, and this was to be their next big title on the platform. It was felt that producing large scale robots would work perfectly with the Super FX chip and something special could certainly be created. Continue reading
Bit of an odd one to kick off the week. Years ago my mum picked up a copy of Wreckin Crew by Telstar for the PC in a charity shop around 22 years ago, and I couldn’t get it working at the time. What was odd was that it looked like a pirated copy inside the box, with no instructions. So, I thought it was a dud and it was left to gather dust in my parents attic for many years.
Clearing out recently and finding the game again last week, I realised that all wasn’t what it seemed when I was a kid. The CD of course looked to be some kind of prototype burn of the game, so I quickly set about making a backup to ISO to run within Virtual Box and a copy of Windows XP.
Following on from last week’s early screens from Beavers on the Amiga, Grzegorz Antosiewicz has dug out some early preview screens from Sensible Software’s brilliant Cannon Fodder.
These screenshots are from when it was in early development, taken from magazines such as Amiga Power (October 1992), Amiga Games (11/1993), TGM (issue 47), Generation4 (issue 46) and The One magazine.
Our next entry is thanks to Grzegorz Antosiewicz, and is of a title that was eventually released on PC for the German market in 1997, but was due an Amiga release much earlier.
Bazooka Sue (or Bazuka Sue as one magazine oddly referred to the game) was first mentioned way back in 1992 as being a new SCUMM style game with a protagonist described as a cross between Kim Basinger and Miss Piggy. Not an insult to the looks of the character, but the fact that they are oddly part human and part pig!
Following on from our recent post about the arcade version of Fire and Forget 2, comes yet another title that was being developed simultaneously whilst the home conversions were under way. With The Living Daylights, it would have essentially been the Amiga game that users would have seen – well, had the Amiga version been released that is.
Arcadia Systems was set up by Mastertronic to try and break into the arcade market, and their business model was to essentially put an Amiga PCB with a game burned onto EPROMS, making for much more efficient development and a far easier way for arcade owners to swap games around. The plan would be for the home computer version to be made available 90 days after the arcade release. Continue reading
John Phillips was a brilliant developer who created classics such as Nebulus and Eliminator, and was to extend his exciting catalogue of games with a new title called Scavenger for Hewson software back in 1990.
It’s been on the Gamebase64 and GTW64 missing list for many years now and was unknown if it was released or not. Well, it can be confirmed that the game was indeed released and has been fully preserved.
The game is an educational game from 1987, and is yet another piece of C64 history now preserved.
Check it out at https://csdb.dk/release/?id=199870
With thanks to Chris Kraus and Simon Quernhorst for their preservation efforts!
First update of 2021, and hopefully first of many more this year with the following:
After The Fire, Beyond the Infinite, Chinese Juggler V1, Daxis, Felix the Cat, Midwinter, Pyramids Of The Sun, Sorderon’s Shadow: The Legend of Elindor, Teacher Trouble, Terror Tunnels, The Legacy of Light, The Wooden Box, Trooper, Valley Of The Source, Winning Streak, Wrath of Magra
Bloo’s Magic Trip, Body Slam, C64GS cartridge titles, Chainsaw Warrior, CubeSim64, Dreamraider, Great Giana Sisters, Heavy Barrel, Italian pirated games, Katabatia, Mad Crash Racing, Magic Sword, Movie Monster, The, Mr. Pilic, Ooops Up, Operation Thunderbolt V1, Paku Paku, Restrictor, S.D.I, Space Hop, Spooky, The Reactor, The Soul Gem Of Martek, Touchlight
The Mindwarp was not your usual Sim game from Maxis, and should have been their first proper foray into the realm of action-based titles back in 1997. It should have also been simply called “Mindwarp”, had it not been for someone at Maxis’ main office accidently appending “The” to the front!
Developed by Maxis’ satellite office in Salt Lake City (originally the Virtual Arts group, which had been acquired by Maxis and turned into Maxis Labs), The Mindwarp was best described as a mixture of Descent and Microcosm, with organic-like structures throughout. One potentially exciting feature at the time was with the tunnels that reconfigured themselves, based on how well you are playing. It had been unclear for some time though about the actual story to the game, and what exactly you were meant to do. The press also seemed confused at the time.
Also known as “Quick”, B.U.D was a neat looking platformer that was due for release at least on the Commodore Amiga back in 1993, and was previewed by French magazines such as Generation 4 and Tilt back in the day.
You were to control a dinosaur named “B.U.D” (Bio-tech Universal Dinosaur), who lives within a tribe of dinosaurs who have survived extinction and have adapted to a new environment – The Amazon. The tribe has evolved, become smaller and have created new tools to be able to swim and climb within their new environment. Continue reading
A space trading game that was due for release on the Amiga 1200 back in 1998, and was previewed in magazines such as Amiga Computer Studio in June of that year.
ACS described the game as being a mixture of Supremacy and Re-union, where you fight some aliens, build your own space fleet, colonies and travel to different planets to trade and use diplomacy. In addition to this, the game was to feature some small adventure parts to mix up the action.
A short entry to kick off for now, and whilst more information is uncovered. It seems that back in 1991, a Star Wars spin on the classic Carmen Sandiego games was on the cards. Broderbund had the license in the US around the time, and Don Daglow wanted to make an RPG Star Wars game, but the Domark arcade conversion was just released instead.
This was the opportunity to do their own thing, with “Where in Space is Han Solo?”
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.
As you know, we occasionally like to also do posts that highlight assets that were not used in a final and published game. Thanks to Grzegorz Antosiewicz, we now have a short post to share some earlier screens from the Amiga version of Grandslam’s Beavers with some minor differences compared to the final released game.
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:
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.