Welcome to Games That Weren't 64!

We cover Cancelled & Unreleased Video games for the Commodore 64 computer. A non-profit large archive dedicated to preserving lost games that were never released to the public, as well as prototypes and the odd preservation of released titles. Our aim to share history and stories from the developers, assets and more before it is too late. GTW has been preserving lost video game history since 1999.

Please Browse our archive and discover the many entries that we host and have saved over the years.

Latest News and Posts

It Came From The Desert

Posted: by Frank Gasking

1989 Cinemaware

Platforms: Atari ST, Commodore 64, SEGA Mega Drive

A pretty famous Cinemaware title which was originally released on the Amiga and PC, but also had other versions planned that never saw the light of day. The Commodore 64 version we are already covering within the C64 archive, which has had mentions of being in development – but there is little evidence at this stage that anything was started.

icftd st shot

For the Atari ST – ST Action mentioned in issue 11, 1990 that the game was coming soon for the platform, and may have showed a screenshot for that platform. It is very likely it could also just be a screen from the Amiga version. Continue reading →

Posted in Atari ST, Commodore 64, Mega Drive, Reviews | Tagged | Leave a comment

GTW64 September 2024 update

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

As we leave Summer and begin to enter into Autumn, we have more updates to the Commodore 64 archive with the following for the month:

Stargate found!

If you missed it earlier this month, then the long lost AtariSoft development of Stargate has been recovered.

Stargate

5 new entries added

Harris House Software titles, Mission Extreme, Monster Bash, Sinister, Time Capsule

10 updates added

7 Minutes To Midnight, Black Cauldron, Championship Run, Covermount casualties, Industria 14, Make My Day!, Murder!, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3, Tetris, Xamitlu

See you next month!

Posted in GTW64 news, News | Leave a comment

Mars Cops

Posted: by Frank Gasking

1988 Arcana Software

Platforms: Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, Commodore 64

Mars Cops is game that we’ve long covered within our C64 archive and we found after a mention A game in Zzap issue 49 on page 3 – listed as coming soon on the Amiga, Atari ST and C64. A few mentions were done of the game across a few issues, but sadly nothing was to ever surface.

marsshot7

Thanks to contributor Jason Lethert (who has trawled through and dug out a lot of information about the game via archive.org and Stephen Stuttard’s amazing scans), we learn now a lot more about the Amiga and ST editions which seemingly got much further ahead compared to the Commodore 64 edition. We are sceptical that an 8-bit version ever existed, but we keep an open mind until confirmation.

As you might guess, the game has you flying around the Mars terrain, but with a Afterburner’esq viewpoint with your ship travelling along the surface and in space. Perhaps it may even be closer to SEGA’s Galaxy Force, which was released around the same time – was that a major inspiration perhaps? Continue reading →

Posted in Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Reviews | Tagged | 7 Comments

Hydrogenese – Preview of a game missing for 35 years on the Commodore 64

Posted: by Frank Gasking

Missing for 35 years, a preview of the long lost Hydrogenese on the Commodore 64 has finally been recovered by CBA/SCS+TRC. A brilliant early look at what could have been an amazing space shooter!

In addition to the shooter part of Hydrogenese being recovered, parts of the platformer elements were also saved. These have been added to the download thanks to CBA/SCS-TRC.

Read more about the title at:

https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/hydrogenese/

Posted in GTW64 news, News | Leave a comment

Time Capsule

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1987 Keypunch Software

Platforms: Atari ST, Commodore 64, Atari 400/800, Apple II and PC

A very short entry for a title that was advertised within the manual of Aliants at the very end. Time Capsule was listed as “Coming Soon” and was a strategy action game.

Nothing else is known at this stage, and no version seems to have surfaced for any other platform. If you know anything more – please do get in touch.

With thanks to Michael Huth for highlighting.

Gallery

Posted in Apple II, Atari 400/800, Atari ST, Commodore 64, PC, Reviews | Tagged | Leave a comment