Monthly Archives: June 2026

Total results: 15

Three Big Commodore 64 recoveries

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Posted: by Frank Gasking

A lovely surprise for the weekend for you all! Today we are very pleased to add not one, but three significant Commodore 64 recoveries to the archives thanks to former Beam Software developer Tony Smales.

First up is Arcade Wizzard, a long-lost U.S. Gold pinball game that GTW has been trying to solve for over 22 years. Thanks to Tony, we can finally confirm its Beam Software origins and present a playable prototype.

Joining it is an Australian prototype of Aussie Games, containing a number of interesting differences from the released editions, plus Tony’s own unreleased game Void – a complete commercial title that sadly fell victim to publishing changes before release. Continue reading →

In: GTW64 news, News, Reviews | Leave a comment

EPT

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Posted: by Frank Gasking

Something very special for you today at Games That Weren’t, with further long lost prototypes of Rainbird’s EPT added to the archives (a single prototype has been out there for a while already), specifically the Atari ST edition. This is a lost space exploration game where a huge amount of the intended design has thankfully survived through documentation and various builds.

Thanks to the generosity of Ricardo Pinto and preservation work by Richard Hewison, alongside prototypes, we have been able to piece together what was planned for this ambitious space opera, along with detailed documentation files that you can read for yourself.

Today’s addition into the archive has been made to coincide with the launch of the new Kickstarter for the Rainbird History book written by Richard Hewison (which contains the full story about EPT). This is a follow-up to Richard’s amazing Firebird book, and which is looking just as good, if not better. Please check out the Kickstarter page for more details and please pledge your support if you can!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zzap642021annual/memories-of-rainbird-and-beyond-software Continue reading →

In: Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Gravitor Game (Atari) Preserved

Gravitor Game (Atari) Preserved thumbnail
Posted: by Frank Gasking

Bertrand / AtariMania has once again highlighted an interesting preservation release, this time with the recovery of Gravitor, a 1984 Atari 8-bit shoot’em up developed by Alan Kramer and published by Comax Software.

The game was discovered by John Hardie amongst a collection of disks that included a letter sent to First Star Software for evaluation. After tracking down Alan Kramer, additional materials were obtained, including the original packaging, manual and a written account covering the game’s history. Continue reading →

In: Atari 400/800/XL, News | Leave a comment

Escapeque

Escapeque thumbnail
Posted: by Toppy

Escapeque was a game developed around 1991-1994 by Stavros Fasoulas and Tomas Dahlgren (aka. Uncle Tom of Scoopex, who was a known musician in the Amiga demoscene in the early 90s).

The exact genre/premise/gameplay description of the game is unclear, but judging by the graphics made for it (dated 1991-1994 and released as part of Tomas’s entire graphics directory which was dumped in late 2010 by somebody who bought his original Amiga), it would have been a 2D side-scrolling platform adventure game in the vein of Flashback/Another World. Continue reading →

In: Commodore Amiga, Reviews | Tagged: | 2 Comments

Dungeon Keeper 3: War for the Overworld

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Posted: by Timo Weirich

Dungeon Keeper is considered by many as one of the best real-time strategy games ever made and quickly gained a huge fanbase after its release in 1997. The follow-up, however, did not do as well as expected in the marketplace.

When the decision was made to go on with the series, the developers were instructed to make Dungeon Keeper 3 more accessible so that the game would reach a wider audience. With a small team of only three people, the project entered the conceptual stage in November of 1999. Continue reading →

In: PC, Reviews | Tagged: | 1 Comment

Æon_Flux

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Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Following on from our recent post on the cancelled PlayStation 2/Xbox edition of Æon Flux by Argonaut Games, Steve Cook of Videogame History recently got in touch to highlight that this wasn’t the first attempt to bring MTV’s cult animated series to consoles.

Several years earlier, Cryo Interactive Entertainment had been working on a PlayStation adaptation for Viacom New Media, with development already underway by 1996. Based upon the surreal animated series created by Peter Chung, the game aimed to translate the strange world of Æon Flux into a third-person 3D action adventure. Continue reading →

In: Reviews, Sony PlayStation | Tagged: | 2 Comments

Acolyte

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Posted: by Frank Gasking

Acolyte is a cancelled Clockwise title that was practically complete when it was cancelled, and a neat multi-screen arcade adventure which had versions created for ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. It seems the game was originally being developed by Video Images, but then picked up by Clockwise to finish off and sell to someone like Alternative Software, but sadly it never happened.

Today we’re adding an early prototype version of the Amstrad CPC edition thanks to Dean Hickingbottom, which doesn’t have all the enemies, has slightly different titles and also may have differences in the map as well. Continue reading →

In: Amstrad CPC, Prototype, Reviews, ZX Spectrum | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Sketch Prototype (Atari) Preserved

Sketch Prototype (Atari) Preserved thumbnail
Posted: by Frank Gasking

Bertrand / AtariMania has once again come up with the goods with another preservation find, this time sharing an early prototype of Sketch by Romox for the Atari 8-bit home computer platform. Although it is technically an application rather than a game, it is still a very interesting recovery, especially since Romox was otherwise known for producing games.

According to Bertrand, this prototype has been sitting in his collection for at least twenty years, but for some reason it never previously made it online. The build is an early disk version written in BASIC and includes a few sample pictures. It is also believed the cartridge release would have been partially rewritten, although that version has not surfaced. Continue reading →

In: Atari 400/800/XL, News, Preservation | 2 Comments

Bad Max

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Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Bad Max was a rather unusual French graphic adventure by Transoft, released in 1985 for the Amstrad CPC. Inspired heavily by the Mad Max universe, the game attempted something quite ambitious for its time by presenting its world using a 3D effect, requiring players to wear red and blue 3D glasses included in the box. Continue reading →

In: Commodore 64 (C64), Reviews, Thomson MO5, Thomson TO7 | Tagged: | 3 Comments