Preserving Cancelled & Unreleased Video Game History Since 1999
Total results: 26
199? Unknown Platform: Atari 400/800/XE Our next entry in the archives is for the Atari 8-bit home computer platform, and is the early start of a fairly impressive conversion of Delphine’s Another World – though not by Delphine! It is … Continue reading
1982-1983 Archer Maclean Platform: Atari 400/800 In August 2023, Chris Wilkins (Fusion Retro Books) entrusted Games That Weren’t with the task of preserving all of Archer’s development disks. Whilst going through Archer’s 5.25″ work disks, a series of significant discoveries … Continue reading
Atari Mania are on it again, with a Atari 400/800 prototype recovered by John Hardie. This time an Astrology program which was developed in 1982. http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-astrology_42800.html This is what Atari Mania posted about it on AtariAge’s forums: “It seems Astrology was only … Continue reading
1984 Archer Maclean Platform: Atari 400/800 As our preservation work continues with the late Archer Maclean’s disks, we take a look at something a little different and unexpected that was found within his Atari 8-bit formatted disks. After developing his … Continue reading
A quick news post to highlight an Atari 400/800 prototype that has gone under the radar, as reported by Bertrand / Atari Frog. http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-avalanche_42784.html Seems to be essentially the same game, but with some slight differences including: No year displayed … Continue reading
1982 Archer Maclean Platform: Atari 400/800 Dropzone is one of the most memorable games on the Atari platform of all time, created by the genius that is the late Archer Maclean, who sadly passed away in late 2022. With the … Continue reading
Our second Games That Weren’t Christmas update day is for Atari 8-bit fans, with a hugely important discovery and set of findings from the disks of the late Archer Maclean, which GTW has been meticulously preserving thanks to Chris Wilkins … Continue reading
Our friends at Atarimania.com have been busy yet again, with preservation of a prototype of Caverns of Mars. This was dumped for the site by John Hardie, and is different from the final release. Not sure how much is different exactly, … Continue reading
GTW Highlight No.2: Also in December, we made a hugely important discovery from the disks of the late Archer Maclean. The origins of Dropzone were recovered in the form of Defender and Stargate conversions on the Atari 800: Defender and … Continue reading
GTW Highlight No.6: In March, preservation work of Archer Maclean’s disks continued with a look at many arcade concepts that Archer had created on the Atari 800 and sadly abandoned, including an early Robotron development. https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2024/03/archer-macleans-atari-concepts/ As well as our … Continue reading
1983 SEGA Platforms: Arcade, Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit and Commodore Vic 20 (Probably C64 too) Ixion is an intriguing arcade title that was due for release from SEGA back in 1983, and was based on Zaxxon’s hardware, even though you … Continue reading
1984 Datasoft Platforms: Atari 400/800, Apple II and PC If you have never played Mancopter on the Commodore 64, then you are really missing out. It is one of the great early C64 games which feels like an extended version … Continue reading
Thanks to Fabrizio Bartoloni for flagging up, but Atari Mania have recently announced recovery of four games by General Masters Corporation for the Atari 400/800 which apparently were never released. Mike Burkhart kindly dumped the games in 2022: Con Job … Continue reading
1985 O.F.A Platform: Atari 400/800 series A short collective entry for a series of Atari 400/800 adventures that are currently missing and were advertised for a long period of time in Computer Shopper magazine in 1986. Flagged up by Bertrand … Continue reading
1983-1984 Archer Maclean Platform: Atari 800 Whilst working to recover the late Archer Maclean’s work disks, we discovered a few things which surprised us. As well as games, Archer also did a bit of freelance development work outside of games … Continue reading
1985 Protocom Platform: Atari 400/800 Apologies to Bertrand / Atari Mania, we’re a little late reporting news of this finding that was made back in March by Philsan / Filippo Santellocco. In 1985 Raph Koster programmed his first ever game … Continue reading
1984 Roklan / Walt Disney / Atari Platform: Atari 400/800 Our next title was confusingly referred to under a number of different titles, including Captain Hook’s Revenge and Peter Pan’s Daring Journey. In a CES 1983 show, it was reported … Continue reading
1983 Roklan Corporation / Probe 2000 Platforms: Atari 800 and Commodore Vic 20 One of the holy grail titles for the Atari 2600, Pursuit Of The Pink Panther was also due for release on the Atari 800 and the Commodore … Continue reading
1983 Archer Maclean Platform: Atari 400/800 If you haven’t already, before reading this page – we recommend checking out our page on Defender first. This is the title that would evolve from that development, in which was Archer’s second attempt … Continue reading
1982 SEGA Electronics Platforms: Commodore Vic-20, Intellivision, Atari 5200, Colecovision and Atari 400/800 Tac-Scan was an early vector-based title by SEGA Electronics in 1982. The game uniquely had you controlling up to seven ships at once, each of which could … Continue reading
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