Games That Weren't^®

Already there exists a TV game of the old classic TV series, but Domark decided to upgrade the old franchise on the C64 and soop up the aging Macmillan version which was already done.

We don’t know exactly how far things would have been enhanced, but Domark did say that Anneka Rice would not feature in the game.

Apart from this we know no more – was this ever even started?… Or did they just stick to releasing the age old version which was done years before?

We are not sure – we need confirmation. Can you help?

A very quick entry, but it seems that there exists a version of Trantor the Last Stormtrooper which features graphics by Paul (Dokk) Docherty.

Paul Docherty wrote in a feature on C64.com that “I did some in-game graphics too, but they were replaced I suspect. Certainly the sprites were.”

When we quizzed further, Paul said:

“I don’t remember off the top of my head what happened to the Trantor in-game graphics. probably replaced. And I don’t know anything about a sequel, no, sorry”

It suggests that at some stage there was a version with graphics by Paul floating around, but for reasons unknown they were replaced with graphics by another artist.

More soon on this one we hope!

Trantor was a fairly well received game, but mainly for its awesome music and graphics. The game itself sucked a little bit, but overall it still has its fans.

Recently C64 endings discovered that at the end of the first game there is a message saying…

Just random stuff from the authors, or did they really plan a quick sequel? (See the ending page here btw)

It is possible that there were plans all along for two games, but maybe if the first game done very well. Overall it got average reviews for not being a game of great depth, so it is very likely plans for the sequel were scrapped as a result.

Was anything started though? Would it have been different or more of the same?…

Well, team member Ross Sillifant highlighted that Retro Gamer magazine did a feature on Trantor and revealed the following about a possible sequel:

Ports aside, the original Trantor teased a sequel, but Nick reveals that his ideas for Trantor II were never acted on. “Sadly no work was ever started. If we had switched to the Amiga / ST then I would have tried a co-op version. I liked the idea of players having to cover each other. For this to work I would have had to pull the camera out further. David Perry and I worked as a team for many years after Trantor, so the sequel would have been made by both of us.”

A technically impressive game which you’d never expect to see on a C64, though Gremlin had other plans… They had managed to get Lotus converted to the C64 with success, so Toyota Rally didn’t seem that impossible to try too.

Commodore Format #6 said the following to first mention the conversion… “Following the success of Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge, Gremlin have just announced that they will be doing a C64 version of TOYOTA RALLY, which blew 16-bit reviewers away.”

Well, this sadly was it. The conversion was never mentioned again, and Gremlin went on to do a few other titles before moving onto the other higher platforms.

So was the game ever even started?…. Was it too impossible to convert?….. What happened? …. Well, the Spectrum and Amstrad versions got a release (Just like with Nigel Mansell)… http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0005357
The conversion getting very good reviews from Crash and Your Sinclair.

There must have been a C64 conversion started somewhere as a result, and we are guessing it was an external development team who didn’t quite get it going. Maybe there is something exciting to find here, we’re not sure yet!

Thanks to Martin/Stadium64 – we learn that the C64 version is included within the game’s manual. But where the credits are listed, the C64 segment is curiously empty. Maybe it was in the process of being outsourced?

More information needed, so can anyone help?… who did the C64 version?

‘Tower Toppler’ was basically the American version of Nebulus…. and none other than John Romero of Doom fame was beind it apparently. Nebulus basically involved you controlling a frog which had to be guided up a tower, all the way to the top without getting killed.

According to Keltic Danor, this game was released as Tower Toppler in the states, and it was Nebulus. So it seems that John Romero was set to program a new version, but that fell through so the UK version was bought up instead.

It’s not known how far John Romero actually got with his version of the game, or what it was going to be like.

Hopefully more information soon….

Tournament Golf was to be a conversion of the Sega arcade game Arnold Palmer’s Tournament Golf for the C64. The only knowledge we have of such a conversion was from Elite’s very own website:

http://www.elite-systems.co.uk/elite/htdocs/games.php?id=64

The game got a release by Elite on the likes of the Amiga and Megadrive, but the C64 version was never to be seen unfortunately. Was it possibly too late in the C64’s life for Elite, or for other reasons?

We hope to get hold of Steve Wilcox at somepoint to find out more

Early days yet!

Combining comedy and, er, cycling, Tour De Force was due for release by Gremlin Graphics in 1988 yet never materialized on the C64, despite being released on the Spectrum and CPC.

Your objective is to cycle through various locations around the world, in an attempt to win the ‘coveted’ yellow jersey. Various drinks are scattered across the road that you can pick up to keep your rider hydrated, (go easy on the wine though!), whilst sumo wrestlers, thugs, snakes and other riders will try to get in your way and stop you winning the race.

So what happened to the game itself? The C64 edition was advertised by Gremlin Graphics that stated that it was due for release on cassette and disk. Does that mean it was mastered and waiting for release at this time? If so then who programmed and worked on it? And why was it not released across all platforms simultaneously?

Well, David Plummer got in touch recently and confirmed that he was the developer for the game. He was working for a company in Ottawa, Canada called Aero Animation at the time, where the game was pretty much complete for Gremlin, but the company went under unfortunately before they could supply the game.

Very unusual that Gremlin had outsourced to a team in Canada, but then it may have come the way of US Gold’s links, as they had a Canadian team (Sydney Software) who developed titles like Dam Busters. They were ironically based in Ottowa, Canada – so it could be that it was the same company perhaps?

Although David has the source code still to the game, he has chosen not to release it out of loyalty. We may have to hope to find the game via another source for it to be properly preserved and enjoyed for the first time. For now, check out the newly found C64 screenshots, thanks to Martin / Stadium 64!

In 2017, contributor Sean O’Neill found that the game was almost released on the 10 Mega Games Volume One compilation. It even featured on the cover and on the back, but was found that at the last minute was replaced on the tape with Cosmic Causeway. A shame, and something which almost made it out!

Martin/Stadium 64 also found that C64 instructions were included in the released Spectrum/Amstrad versions. It seems that Gremlin must have had a preview copy or something at some stage – so there could be something small to find of the game some day. Hopefully of course David will change his mind and release what he has.

Thanks to Hedning for flagging this game up, but in COMPUTE’s Gazette May 1985, page 147, a game called Tornado Tom was flagged up.

We know little about the game at present – but here is the scan from the magazine thanks to Peter Weighill. So just an entry for now to make it known we are looking to find out more about this game!

Did this game ever get released or was it canned early on?

More soon on this one we hope!