Games That Weren't^®

A fantastically recieved RPG was recieved by Zzap 64 when they reviewed the first game back in 1991, giving it 90%. The reviewer enjoyed the game very much and was looking forward to the sequel.

But what sequel?… Well, The Magic Candle 2 sadly never quite made it… but was it even started? We have to put an entry in for this game, as the reviewer could have known that Mindcraft were doing a sequel for the C64. A sequel there certainly was, but only for the PC in the end. Even the Amiga version never got released.

According to one online source, the Amiga version was cancelled early on… which we assume could have been the case with the C64 version too. We can understand why the C64 version may have been cancelled, as it would have been into 1992 and very late for the likes of Mindcraft or Microprose to release a C64 game. But the Amiga was getting at its peak and surely not releasing the sequel because the platform was aging would be a bad mistake?

Anyway, we know little more of the C64 conversion, as the first game’s Zzap review seems to be the only reference to the sequel. It may well be vapourware, but we have to be sure…

Do you know any more?…

The Legend Of Prince Valiant was to be a platform game based on the cartoon series shown on BBC television in the early 90’s. Ocean bought the licence and had planned to do conversions across a series of platforms.

Commodore Power magazine confirmed a C64 version in issue 2, whilst various other platform magazines did the same.

Out of all the planned conversions (including a scrapped Amiga version), it seems only the NES and Gameboy versions made it out and was very well recieved in the end (On the NES at least, the GB version seemed to be more like Zelda). The game seemed like your typical platform affair with sniffs of a OP wolf style shooting sub section with a crossbow.

This was very close to the end of the C64’s life, so it would be easy to say that it was just too late… but the Amiga version fell a similiar fate, so what happened?…. Was it the same developer behind both versions, and did they both come out pretty crap?

We’re not sure just yet exactly what happened, but will be doing more research to find out just why – firstly by getting in touch with the Ocean guys to find out more.

Early days just yet…

Part of a series of Power House titles which never quite saw the light of day, or at least are not picked up in Gamebase 64.

Did this game ever get a release?

Certainly this title although mentioned in Zzap 64 September 1988, never actually got reviewed, but only mentioned briefly with a series of other Power House titles which were on the way.

The Legend Of Crollo was deemed an arcade adventure with a hint of puzzling, concerning the collection of fuel crystals for a crashed spacecraft. This was all the information given out on this interesting title.

The quality of most Power House titles left a lot to be desired, and it is possible that this also would have been dire like many of their other games. But the curiousity is still there to find out exactly what it was like… Who knows?…

More research needed.. thats for certain!

Can it be found, or is it lost forever?…

Very early days for this entry, but this is based from a conversation that GTW had with Alan Botwright (Who worked on Brides of Dracula), who mentioned what C64 titles he worked on including Judge Dredd and a game called “The Last Stuntman”

This was a game that was unreleased and meant for CRL in the late 1980’s via their new label Actual Screenshots. We assumed it to involve cars, but were not sure of the perspective of which the game was to be played, or any other details.

Alan mentioned that the game was split into 6 parts, essentially mini games which were developed independently by different developers. Alan produced the last level which involved jumping from a plane and fighting for a parachute in mid-air.

Unfortunately not much else was known just yet, but we hope to get some more developer names soon!

There was primarily an Amiga/ST version in the works though, which Drew Northcott worked on though. Thanks to Brendan Phoenix, a very short preview was shown in Amiga Action issue 1 of the Amiga edition of the game. This shows the part that Alan mentioned working on.

If you know anything more, please do get in touch.

“As good a danger-filled dungeon as you could wish to expire in” – Personal Computer News describes The Greedy Dwarf.

The game was a text adventure that apparently had a very powerful command structure. It seems that the primary releases were for the BBC and Electron. The C64 version is completely missing.

It could be a case that the game just hasn’t turned up yet, or it was cancelled because the developers struggled with it. A lot of research needed – Goldstar doesn’t seem to be a well known company, so did they fold early?

Thanks to contributor Strident, we learn the following:

Talking to Mark Hardisty, in issue 5 of the Classic Adventurer magazine, Greedy Dwarf author Simon Ainsworth said:

“I seem to recall that Dorling Kindersley got another programmer to port the game to the Spectrum. I’m not sure what happened to the CBM version, but both ports should have been fairly simple since there was no graphics and the only machine code was for quick table searching. I think I was working on another adventure at the time, so did not get a chance to help out. So, they would have been straight ports, with no extra locations or puzzles.”

So was anything ever started, or did perhaps the company collapse before the other versions could be completed.

The Great Space Race was to be a huge game across many platforms, especially after the success of Valhalla by Legend.

The game was advertised quite heavily with large black space backgrounds with text “The Great Space Race” in large white lettering. For ages people waited for the game, and eventually it was released on the ZX Spectrum and people were very disappointed overall. It wasn’t quite the mega game that people were expecting, and people felt very let down.

Legend tried to rectify things later with some other games which were pretty good – but sadly the damage was done and eventually they faded away.

According to Home Computer Weekly, The Great Space Race was also to be released on the Commodore 64 – but as you can probably tell, this didn’t quite happen for reasons unknown. It is possible that the C64 version was running late after the Spectrum version, they saw the failure of the game on that platform and decided to scrap the C64 version. Or did it even get started at all??

We got hold of Trevor Inns, who tells GTW64 that the game was originally being developed alongside the Spectrum edition. As things were beginning to fall behind due to this, they decided to focus on the Spectrum edition first and get that finished to ensure it was released asap.

After the game so spectacularly failed commercially, they decided to shelve the C64 edition. As a result, it means that there is a C64 conversion partically complete out there – but we’re not sure if it will ever be found. According to Trevor, the developers would have been the same as the Spectrum edition, so we’ll continue to dig to find out more!

In April 1985, an issue of Commodore Horizons (Page 33) mentioned a particular adventure collection called "The Gold Collection", which was seven games that were to be marketed by Gilsoft and written with the aid of The Quill. These would have therefore been adventure games featuring just text and no graphics.

The games in the collection were:

1) Adventures of Barsak the Dwarf
2) Africa Gardens
3) Spyplane
4) Magic Castle
5) Devil’s Island
6) Mindbender
and 7) Diamond Trail

Games 1), 2) and 7) are all currently in Gamebase and have been preserved, however the rest are at large and it is unknown if the games ever got to see the light of day.

Interestingly, Magic Castle and Devil’s Island are known to exist on the C64 but are missing currently. GTW contributor, Peter Weighill supplied us with photos of the game’s cassette and inlay, which clearly states C64 from an old auction:

Where is this game, and will we get to preserve it soon? It seems these two at least may well get preserved, as a well known collector bought these and hopefully will be porting them for a preservation project.

In December 2011, I had a mail from Rio Baan saying the following:

"GB64 has located tapes for the following games from Retrosoft in the UK

Spyplane by Gilsoft
Devil’s Island by Gilsoft
The Curse by Gilsoft
Mindbender by Gilsoft

We’ve ordered them today. They haven’t arrived yet, but now we we can confirm that they exist. "

So another 3 found, and a previously unheard of title as well!…. These will no doubt make their way into GB64 very soon!…. So now only Magic Castle may need preserving!!

So overall we can now confirm that none of these titles are proper GTWs and therefore we can close the case for this one…

Case closed! …

The famous film set was to finally get its long awaited conversion to all the home computers, and issue 4 of Commodore Format stated that U.S. Gold had bought the rights to all three films, promising two games: an arcade game and an adventure game (based on MEAN STREETS by Accolade).

Games X magazine back in 1991 stated that U.S. Gold was cracking on with the home computer versions, and like with Indiana Jones, there were to be two separate styles of game. None other than Software Creations was drafted in to do the arcade-style version, and progress at the time was reported to be good on the game by Commodore Format (see below).

The game was expected to feature five to eight levels, jam-packed with platform and shoot’em up action. The adventure version was to follow the plot of the film very closely. Rumor has it that Delphine were to carry out the adventure version of the game. They may have done the Amiga and ST conversions which were released.

According to Games X, the games were both to be finished in time for the CES show in September of 1991, though sadly this was never to be and the games sank without trace on the C64. Not even a screenshot or a mention was to be made, and so that ended the glorious possibility.

One of the magazines (Commodore Format) said the following:

“Real power can’t be given – it must be programmed. After Francis Ford Coppola’s GODFATHER 3 opened in London to critical acclaim, US Gold is cracking on with the home computer versions. Like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, two separate versions will appear, in the form of both an action and an adventure game.

Software Creations has been called upon to program the arcade-style game and progress is reported to be good. It’s expected that the game will feature five to eight levels, jam-packed with platform and shoot ’em up action. The adventure format will follow the plot of the film very closely.

Speculation as to the identity of those responsible for producing the adventure game is rife. It is suggested that French adventure wizard, Delphine will be behind the game.” Both the adventure and action games will be available in all formats in time for the CES show in September [1991]”

Just how far the games got is unknown and previous employees of Software Creations have never mentioned The Godfather, so some questions will be asked. But who did the Adventure style version?… Was it Delphine?

Recently GTW spoke to ex-US Gold games tester Simon Hadlington suggested that no C64 conversion was ever started, and only the Amiga had a version started. Simon says that he was lead tester, whilst Tony Porter produced the game.

This was a SEUCK game released commercially by Compass Software and reviewed by Commodore User in September 1988 in their Cheapo Round up section.

The game was panned for being dull, and containing styltifying gameplay. Overall it got 1/10.

Compass Software were more known for their adventure games, and in particular on the ZX Spectrum. But did Compass decide after the review that it was not worth releasing, or were small numbers released and sneaked out into the world? This game seems to have been part of a series, where The Micro Zone was reviewed in a previous issue and got 1/10 too….

We’d love to find it, even if just for the SEUCK vault. But are interested to see also if it had enhancements like Wheelies did back at the same/similiar time.

More soon on this we hope…

The Flight of The Phoenix was written back in 2000 by Richard Bayliss when he was learning from Commodore Zone’s Hex files.

The game was generally a static screen shoot ’em up, with over simplistic attack waves. You controlled a spaceship and you had to blast aliens that wrapped around the screen. It was about a 5 minutes of fun game and that was it.

In the end the game was not completed or released as Richard felt that it may annoy the creator of the Hex Files, as he copied the same style of enemy movements. "Not a good move" – Richard added.

Sadly it seems this little game has been lost, so unfortunatly this is one that got away from preservation.

Case closed…