Author Archives: Frank Gasking

Total results: 1217

Æon_Flux

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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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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

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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 | Leave a comment

Bad Max

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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

Fatman and Slim

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Fatman and Slim was to be a unique and challenging character based puzzle platformer by Attention to Detail, under their Kaboom label. Set for release on PlayStation 2 and PC around 2003 (later slipping to 2004), the game stood out at the time for trying something a little different during an era dominated by more action driven titles. Continue reading

In: PC, Reviews, Sony PlayStation 2 | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Bounty Hunter

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Bounty Hunter is a new finding and recovery at Games That Weren’t, and a relatively advanced multi-screen platformer for the Amstrad CPC. The game has a main character navigating slopes and throwing grenades, and with land-mines that set off a very Raffaele Cecco-style explosion. Perhaps Raffaele was even involved with the development?

The high-score screen lists a “Raffaele”, and also a “Nick” (which could be referring to Nick Jones). There are other credits though much higher up though, including a “Leo”, “Nigel”, “Chris” and “Jim”. Is it all merely a co-incidence? Continue reading

In: Amstrad CPC, Reviews | Tagged: | 4 Comments

GTW on holiday before more mystery disks arrive!

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We’ll be taking a short break next week for a much needed recharge, but we’ll have more recoveries, updates and preservation work to share very soon.

In the meantime, if you’d like to help support our searches and preservation efforts, please consider sharing the archive or any posts/pages that interest you using the sharing tools across the site. Every little bit genuinely helps us reach more people who may have material, memories or leads to help preserve gaming history. Continue reading

In: News | Leave a comment