Preserving Cancelled & Unreleased Video Game History Since 1999
Welcome to Games That Weren't!
We are a Cancelled & Unreleased Video games archive with prototypes, developer history and assets for many computers and consoles of all ages. A non-profit large archive dedicated to preserving lost games that were never released to the public. Sharing history and stories from the developers, assets and more before it is too late. GTW has been preserving lost video game history online since 1999, and long before that offline.
Please Browse our archive and discover the many entries that we host for many different platforms.
Recon is a sort of cross between Uridium and Paradroid, where you control a ship moving over a dreadnought horizontally – but not flying. The game was started in the hope of quickly pushing the demo around publishers to get interest.
It got to a fair stage of progress and was shaping up pretty well, though there is no sound at the moment.
It was started in 1986 by Ian and Michael Jones, but swiftly abandoned as Mastertronic sadly rejected the game.
The remains were passed onto Ikari to release back in 1988.
This is as far as the game got sadly, so it is a very quick open and closed case.
Victory! is a vertical push scroll game where you must control a tank and blast through various obstacles.
It got to a fair stage of progress and was shaping up pretty well. The game was started in 1986 by Ian and Michael Jones, in the hope of quickly pushing the demo around publishers to get interest.
No interest was found, so the game was abandoned very early on. The remains were passed onto Ikari to release back in 1988.
This is as far as the game got sadly, so it is a very quick open and closed case.
Well, thanks to David Wightman – we learn of yet another C64GS title that never quite made it.
Rolling Thunder was to be a title developed for either Ocean or US Gold (To be confirmed) by Imagitec.
David remembers seeing the artwork for it and being asked if he wanted to work on it. David declined and then the game was never seen again. David suggested that the C64GS was locked up in a metal suitcase as it was top secret, suggesting that this game was in development long before Double Dragon was for Ocean.
So who exactly at Imagitec was working on it? We hope to learn more soon, and hopefully Barry Leitch will know.
Hell For Leather was a game being developed for Audiogenic by James Macdonald under his Psycodelic Software Developments label.
It was the first game he had ever written, and was done to prove to someone at his local computer club that multiple levels of parallax could be done smoothly. Initially it started off as a single scrolling street scene, and then became a full game.
The game was pretty much completed, but never got released due to someone claiming rights on the game’s name, and then the game was stolen and leaked from a booth at a games convention in London.
So the game never got officially released by Audiogenic, which is a shame – as it is a good piece of work by James which deserves a look to show what he could do given no tight deadlines.
A quick entry for another game being developed by Tony Gibbs. Tony will hopefully fill us in very soon with more information on the game.
Basically, all we know at present was that Bloo! was to be a Pacman clone and was started around the same time as Tony’s other game that was aborted – so around 1997 time
Phantom – The Mission Remive was a remix of a SEUCK game called Phantom – The Mission that was created by Alex Aris and David Axtell back in 1988 on Commodore Disk User magazine. It was a pretty neat shooter which was enjoyed by many.
Alex and David produced their own remix of the game, but never submitted it to anyone.
Sadly Alex no longer has the game and has been desperate to find it. He believes that it was sent across Europe and as far as Australia – so it is hoped that it could still turn up.
Tanx was a SEUCK game that was created by Alex Aris and David Axtell back in 1989, and was an arcade adventure game (using paths to get trapped) where you control a tank sprite.
It was originally sent to Commodore Disk User, but sadly was rejected due to what the reviewers called collision bugs.
Sadly Alex no longer has the game and has been desperate to find it. He believes that it was sent across Europe and as far as Australia – so it is hoped that it could still turn up.
Check out the gallery for more bits and pieces that Alex had on the game.
Biz was a game that was written by Alex Aris back in 1989, and was based on a modified version of a game called Street Bomber done by Tony Rushbrook in October 1984 (Commodore Horizons).
The game was a Blitz clone that contained multi-coloured graphics, music created in Ubiks Music, a high score table and 5 levels in total.
It was originally sent to Commodore Disk User, but sadly was rejected due to a bug with the distance of the bomb from the space ship.
Sadly Alex no longer has the game and has been desperate to find it. He believes that it was sent across Europe and as far as Australia – so it is hoped that it could still turn up.
Check out the scans for more details, but can you help us find this game?
Thunder Hawk is a vertically scrolling shooter built by Steve Dunn, who did a number of games on the C64, including Call Me Psycho.
The game has been around the web for a while now, listed as being an Atlantis release – however it is believed that the game never actually got released by them or anyone for that matter. If we are wrong, please let us know and send us a scan! :)
It is not fully known why the game was not released, as Steve was paid for his work – though thought it strange that he never received a copy afterwards. The game features some fair graphics, though as a game it will not hold your attention for long. What is interesting is the use of passwords throughout each of the 20 levels.
Music is an early tune set by Mark Tait before he went to work for Tiertex we believe.
Anyway, until we learn more about this game development, here it is to download and check out.
It is believed that the game was complete, and was another production done unofficially and not for any company in particular.
The game was mentioned in ‘Commodore Ujsag” (see scans), a hungarian monthly for C64 enthusiasts in issue 10/1991. Andras had won a national programming competition with the program (as well as a Morse alphabet program). This gives us the date at least. We hope to get a scan of the article very soon!
We will continue to update this entry as we recieve more information. For now, the search begins. Get checking your disks!
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