Games That Weren't 64^®

Only feels like yesterday when I was doing the last Christmas update for GTW64, but here we are and we have a bumper update as always for you, including some very special prototypes from the disks of the late Archer Maclean, who sadly passed away last December.

We also have a series of commercial titles that have been preserved thanks to the efforts of Allan Pinkerton and a series of lost Hungarian titles dug out by Csaba Virag. This and a number of new entries added to the archive and a load of updates too for pre-existing entries. We hope you enjoy!

International Karate and IK+ prototype materials

Some early prototypes, bitmaps and sound demos added – including interesting early builds into the original codebase to make IK+, and a sleeveless version of the game which Archer had started.

International Karate prototype page , International Karate + prototype page

We have also produced a video that talks through the recoveries and findings:

Archer Maclean materials

In addition to the IK materials, we also found a bunch of other odds and ends which may have been from Archer, as well some interesting Dropzone sprites that were never used and the Micro Projects graphics editor.

Archer Maclean materials page

Traffic Signs title recovered

Thanks to Allan Pinkerton, the full version of the missing Traffic Signs game from Little People Software has been preserved, which features the same speech engine as that in Suicide Express.

Little People Software games page

Here is a bonus educational title too which was preserved last year, but Allan has also backed up and scanned in a copy, so here it is: TheSweetShoppe

3 K-Tek full games have been preserved

A bumper set of preservations from Allan once more, with Sky Diving, Crystal Mountain and Stomp Ground all saved!

K-TEK software entry page

Four Hungarian games saved

Csaba Virag has also been helping with the GTW archives by recovering another 4 Hungarian titles, including the very interesting looking Jaceman which might be a hack of something.

Jaceman , Amoba , Malom , Waterloo

Polar Bear in Space prototypes

Silvan Reinhold has very kindly provided some early prototypes and screens from his amazing Polar Bear in Space game, showing elements not quite used in the final game too.

Polar Bear in Space prototype page

6 new entries added

Then we have a bunch of new entries that have been added to the archive, mostly thanks to Roberto Nicoletti and Vinny Mainolfi for highlighting.

Dance on a Volcano, El Moringe, Il Conte, La Casa, MegaGame 64, Parky 2

20 entries updated

And as the archive is always evolving, we have 20 entries overall that have been updated. This includes some major tidy ups for Paranoid Pete + Razzmatazz (including some findings from Chris Abbot and myself), more details about Show Jumping and its link to Rob Hubbard and also a small breakthrough with Gods.

Amok, Amphora of the Star God, Babylon, Boost, Chain Reaction V1, Gods, Grell And Falla, Grubz, Lemmings V1, Mad Mission, Paranoid Pete, Penguin Tower, Penguin Tower V2, Razzmatazz, Shoot, Show Jumping, Starsat, Unicorn Software titles, Xenodrome, Xenophobia

And with that, we finish for the year and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We’ll be back in 2024 with many more findings and new unreleased titles to read about. For now, check out our social media channels for daily posts that look back on our updates for the past year.