Games That Weren't^®

Had it found its way onto the 8-bit market, Whirligig would have been that rare thing for the time, a game planned to be released on all the major gaming markets, the 8-bit, 16-bit and the PC (However, although it was released on the ST and the Amiga, the 8-bit versions (And also PC version according to Richard Hewison) never saw the light of day.

The game itself is a 3D space exploration game, although in reality it seems like only a few of the sprites, including the player, were drawn in 3D and the game itself plays pretty much in 2D. In fact it plays like a souped-up version of the classic ‘Asteroids’ and as such seems like it could be easily ported to an 8-bit system.

A review of the game in Computer and Video Games Magazine from August 1988 states that the 8-bit versions were to follow in the autumn along with the PC version, ‘no earlier than October’. The PC version made it, so why didn’t the 8-bit versions?

Well, Mike Singleton confirms that when Microprose took over Firebird, they decided to drop the C64 versions due to concerns with framerates and also that the markets were dying and did not want to waste too much time on the platforms. Otherwise the games would have in fact been completed and released.

We know from an interview Chris Pink did with the Amstrad CPC Games resource website (http://tacgr.emuunlim.com) that not only did he create the graphics for the PC version of Whirligig but that he also programmed the 8-bit versions.

Indeed Chris confirmed to us he was involved, and confirms that a C64 conversion did indeed exist. The C64 version was not done by Chris though, but by Mike Lyons – with most of the maths done by Chris.

The game had a working level system which showed the map (where you could pick a gate to go through to test). The Spectrum and Amstrad versions were fully playable, but also scrapped. The C64 version isn’t available from Chris, but he does have the PC, Amstrad and Spectrum code still… maybe someday people will get to see it.

Mike Lyons got in touch with GTW in December 2022 and explained there was very limited graphics for the game, most of the sheet sprites were computer generated and the ship from a mesh. The rest of the graphics used complex maths to draw. It took about a minute of processing time on the ST 16-bit version, and with that in mind it was probably beyond acceptable for the 8-bits.

Mike had actually taken over the project from Kevin Mulholland, and it was worked on after finishing a UK and US version of War in Middle Earth.

Chances of finding anything are slim, though Mike does have some disks still and is in the process of going through them. An early concept or remains of the code could some day be dug out to show how it was looking.

A wonderful game on the Spectrum 128k, and the silent sequel to The Great Escape (As the game was originally billed as a sequel and called Tibet). This was set in the same mould as TGE, and followed on from its success.

After the success of the Spectrum game, talks were made about creating ports to all other machines, including the Commodore 64.

The main problem was that the Spectrum game was fitted into 128k of memory, and the C64 had the job of squeezing it into 64k. Not totally impossible, but a hard task, and something that could not be made into Multiload.

Stuart Fotheringham does not recall the C64 version, but worked on the Spectrum version. He states about the problems of trying to convert this game had it had happened. GTW is told that Ocean recieved the finished game and design from Denton Designs, and Ocean would have contracted other developers to do other versions.

It seemed therefore that it was likely that there was a C64 version in consideration, or even production. Unfortunately we can now confirm that although considered, the game was never started.

John Heap in a recent article with Retro Gamer magazine on Where Time Stood Still on the Spectrum, mentioned to Stuart Hunt that the problem was that the game was 128k for a start, but additionally they had seen the C64 port of Great Escape and felt that was incredibly slow. With both those factors, it was decided that no C64 conversion was to be started and that it would remain exclusive to the ZX Spectrum.

It seems that Gari Biasillo was also close to have been involved in a C64 conversion, as a recent interview with C64.com revealled:

"I joined Ocean as a musician but asked if I could write a game first to help improve my programming skills. This was the first real game I wrote which was a port from the Spectrum version by Dynamic Software (Basket Master)

I had no code to go from so I had to just play the game and come up with my own interpretation. I was actually first asked to port a game by Denton Designs and was sent to their offices in Liverpool to take a look and talk to the guys there. The game was Where Time Stood Still, an isometric game, which would have been too complex for a green programmer like myself to undertake, which I told the boss, Gary Bracey."

The game was later to be released on the Amstrad and ST, but only the ST version made it. But with the C64 version, it is another case we can close the door on.

Case sadly closed :(

Released on the Amiga back in 1989, Wayne Gretzky Hockey was a great little game of hockey. In an 1989 issue of games magazine "Games Player’s" and in its Amiga review, it mentioned that a C64/128 version was being planned for release that year. It is hard to imagine EA doing a game so late into the 80’s when you consider they practically left the C64 market early on to go onto the 16-bits.

However, we can confirm that a conversion was started…

Michael Hart was given a dream job at the age of 14 as a beta tester at Bethesda Softworks before they hit the big time. At one point during his career in around 1990, Michael joked about doing a C64 port of the original Wayne Gretzky Hockey game, seeing as the NES version was being done and released. Chris Weaver had heard the idea and told Michael to go ahead and do it if he wanted. Michael was loaned the NES source code as reference and Michael set to work on the game in his own time. It took some weeks to knock out a prototype due to school work and other things, but he got smooth scrolling just right with tons of players moving around the screen. The guys at Bethesda saw it and loved it and tried to encourage Michael to finish it off. But unfortunately just before he left the office that day, Chris Weaver decided to abandon the project due to the dying C64 market. That was the death of the game.

Michael did keep a disk with the work on, but sadly tragedy struck in years that followed and a leaky pipe destroyed all of his C64 disks and whatever might have remained of the game. There is a really really really slim hope that it ever survived in any other shape or form as a result.

It seems that the conversion was a test to see Michael’s programming abilities, with Chris knowing from the start that they probably couldn’t release it as it was too late into the C64’s life for them.

A huge shame overall, but we will keep this one open in the hope that it may turn up some day… you never know… For now, read Michael’s full story in Creator Speaks, and we’ll get on with the search…

Do you know more about this conversion?…

Yet another Taskset GTW has come to light thanks to the stearling work of Paul Drury and his discussions with the Taskset crew.

The game ‘Vulcan’ originally started off as an arcade board called ‘Hunter’ which was being done by the Stampers (Of ‘Ultimate/Rare’ fame), but never seemed to get off the ground, possibly to do with the fact that the arcade hardware was not great at scrolling character sets. The game idea as a reuslt was turned into ‘Vulcan’ by Taskset and was being produced on the C64 back in the early 80’s.

Descriptions are slightly vague, but the game apparently involved flying over an area which you were bombing and aiming bombs at, shot from above… possibly inspired by Stanley Airport/Falklands.

The guys from Taskset could not remember too much more, apart from some tidbits including a vague memory of "Arktus" graphics on the C64, and that possibly Mark and Andy did the graphics for the game. It is possible that Cosmic Convoy took over the production time, but for reasons currently unknown.

Its still very early days, but what with a recent discovery of a box of disks by Andy Walker, there is a possibility that maybe something of this game could be uncovered!… It would be fantastic to preserve anything!

More soon on this one we hope!