Games That Weren't^®

“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…

The Doomsday Papers was originally an Adventure game release on the ZX Spectrum by a newly formed software house from two teenagers Matthew Holmes and Andrew (Unknown surname), with the software house name "Matand" being a combination of both their first names. The full story about them can be read on the Solution Archive website at http://solutionarchive.com/Various/Matand_Story.php

It was well recieved, and whilst developing another game on the Spectrum (Dome Trooper), Matthew Holmes started work on a Commodore 64 conversion…

"In parallel to the creating the new game, I borrowed a Commodore 64 for a couple of weeks and converted The Doomsday Papers to it with enhanced graphics. Soon the development of Dome Trooper took over though and the Commodore version never really made it from the master tape – even though it was complete and ready to sell. The Spectrum’s adventure market was far greater than the Commodore’s in any case, but it was nice to work with another platform other than the Sinclair for once." (Quote from Solution Archive website)

When GTW got in touch with Matthew to ask him more about the whereabouts of this completed adventure, we had sad news…

"Much as it pains me to tell you, the master tape was lost at some point in the late 80’s, almost certainly disposed of. I checked all of my master tapes / artwork etc a few years ago to sort a perfect image for World of Spectrum etc, the C64 version wasn’t with them. I’m afraid this particular game will have to stay as ‘lost forever’…. although I might see if I can port it across somehow… from the Spectrum… it’s just having the time!"

Who knows, by chance it may appear… but it looks bleak. This is very likely lost in the midst of time.

More soon from Matthew we hope on this one…

A rather old Probe game is next up, and from the depths of 1985 to be precise. The Devils Crown is an explorationg based game where you go under the sea to explore a sunken ship for treasure. CPC Reviews details the game as follows:

"You’re exploring a sunken ship, trying to find a lost golden crown. You’ll first have to collect many treasures hidden in the darker places of the ship, avoiding ghosts and having enough oxygen to survive. This is the kind of Sorcery-style game that you love to play; even though the graphics aren’t brilliant, the sound effects are poor and the action is rather repetitive. Anyway, it will keep you in front of your screen for a few hours, because you always want to discover new treasures."

So as you can see, the game did get a CPC release and it also seems to have got a release on the ZX Spectrum via the Mastertronic label. It is unknown exactly why the C64 never saw a release, but the game was advertised as coming soon on the Commodore platform. Again this could well be a case of programmer jumping ship (Sorry!) at the crucial moment or just that this could have been a straight spectrum port gone wrong. It’s not quite known.

We still need to find credits for this game, but with over 20 years now passed, its gonna be tough. Maybe you know more or have spotted crucial details in the magazines of the yester year?… If so, please get in touch!

Another one maybe lost in the depths of time…