Preserving Cancelled and Unreleased Video Game History Since 1999
Total results: 33
Atomic Robokid was a horizontal scrolling game developed and released in Japanese arcades by UPL and in the USA by Nikom. Activision got the rights to port it to the UK home systems and it was released on the Commodore Amiga, Commodore 64 and Atari ST and adverts reflect this fact. Continue reading
Way back in Commodore User issue 25 (October 1985) is how far we’re travelling for our latest preservation work – a board game tie-in that blurred the lines between digital and physical play: Bryan Robson’s Super League, published by Paul Lamond Games. And that is the key thing, at first on our C64 entry we wasn’t sure if it was published or not, but turns out it was. Continue reading
1988 Ariolasoft / U.S. Gold Platform: Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, PC, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 Bushido Warrior (or potentially just Bushido) was a new oriental themed Gauntlet clone that was due out for a wide number of … Continue reading
In 1990, Codemasters announced the CD Games Pack – a compilation for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and Sinclair Spectrum with 30 games which would be read from a stereo CD player via a lead that plugged into the headphone … Continue reading
Although digital preservation has been happening for quite some time now, there are still many games actually released that are still very much at large. Often perhaps because some of these titles didn’t sell in great numbers in the early … Continue reading
1992 Hi-Tec Software Platforms: Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga and ZX Spectrum 48/128K 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 … Continue reading
Days of Thunder was based on the film starring Tom Cruise based around NASCAR racing in the USA. Mindscape got the rights to make a tie-in game and it was released on all the major platforms in the UK but not on the Amstrad. Continue reading
Before you say anything, I know this game came out and that Amstrad Action gave away the game on their September 1992 cover tape as I have that tape and played it to death. But there is evidence of an earlier (or later) unreleased version. Continue reading
A very small post to just share a previously unseen Flying Shark asset from the original game before it was handed over to Dominic Robinson and John Cummings at Graftgold Ltd. Yes, that is right – Bob Pape within his … Continue reading
1985 Aardvark Software Platform: Amstrad CPC A short entry which is thanks to @nivrig and @ChinnyVision for posting on Twitter a few days ago. Amstrad Computer User in June 1985 had posted a short news item regarding an Amstrad CPC … Continue reading
GTW Highlight No.10: Again in April, another recovery was made – this time with Bushido Warrior on the Amstrad CPC. A neat oriental themed Gauntlet clone due for release in 1988. https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2024/04/bushido-warrior/
Hill 19 was to be a strategic action-shooter game, very similar to Ikari Warriors/Commando, but with more strategy involved. The player would control a team of characters (believed to be about 3), including Radio and Gunner. Sadly it was never to be though! Continue reading
Our next entry into the GTW archives is a slightly controversial title due to its rather risqué advertisement that featured in the Italian press at the time. Ifigonia was an erotic/adult themed text adventure, with graphics created by artist Mauro Mazza. The game was based on a poem from 1928. Continue reading
Several Amstrad CPC titles have been flagged up that appear to be completely undocumented. The games were discovered among a batch of CPC tapes and feature homemade labels and inlays.
The titles are:
Lost Legacy
Captain Ralph’s Island
Haunted House Adventure / Pools Winner (double pack)
These were written by Steve Ralph, and checks on CPC Power and the CPC Wiki have so far drawn a blank, and while there is a brief mention on a French CPC site, no further information is known. One inlay is dated 1988, but there is no evidence of these titles appearing in contemporary magazines, and it’s unclear whether they were ever commercially released or simply created for personal use.
The tapes have now been secured and will be preserved and scanned in due course. If anyone has any information about these titles, their author, or their origins, please leave a comment below. Continue reading
In 1990, it was announced that Virgin Games had obtained the licence to produce a game based on the popular 2000AD comic character Judge Dredd on all the major home formats and adverts showed screenshots from all six formats. Continue reading
1987 Melbourne House Platform: Amstrad CPC It is with thanks to Chris Abbott that we add this new Amstrad CPC GTW entry for a conversion of Knuckle Buster. Although released on C64 and ZX Spectrum, any CPC edition was nowhere … Continue reading
1993 Radical Software Platform: Amstrad CPC (possibly Plus range) With the infamous Amstrad version of Street Fighter 2 never going to appear, a fan of the machine would take matters into their own hands back in 1993 with the development … Continue reading
1991 U.S. Gold Platforms: Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC Mega Twins (known as Chiki Chiki Boys in Japan) was a sickly cute platformer produced by Capcom in the early 90’s, a slight sideways turn from the likes of … Continue reading
This isn’t an unreleased game as such, but at least half of the game was! New York Warriors on the Amstrad CPC is an interesting tale, as the special 128K disk version release was missing half of the content, with the first disk side repeated on both sides (whoops!). This also included a bunch of cut scenes and the final end sequence too.
Troubling users for 36 years, it is now time to put it all to rest and give you the opportunity to play those missing levels as intended, and crucially be able to play through the entire game. Developer Fred Williams thankfully kept all his 3″ development disks, and passed these onto Kevin Edwards (ex-BBC Micro programmer) who now helps to preserve and rescue old game development disks during his retirement. Continue reading
Rimrunner was an action game released by Palace Software in 1988 for the Commodore 64 and Atari ST. However, Palace were also working on a version for the Amstrad CPC. The game was massively hyped in Amstrad Computer User, featuring on the cover of the July 1988 issue with a massive 2 1/2 page article. The CPC screenshots in the article are similar in style to the C64 version, but are not from that version. Continue reading
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