Games That Weren't^®

A rather interesting entry for an unofficial conversion of Space Ace for the C64. Not the same as the planned version being done by Empire Software in 1990-91, but a version way back in 1987/88 by Gregg Kustudic and his friend Scott.

The developers were so disappointed by the Dragons Lair conversion that was done by Software Projects, that they decided to have a go at doing Space Ace and show how a Laserdisc could be converted successfully to the humble C64.

They produced the first level from a possible 15, after borrowing a Space Ace cab and carefully replicating the various parts of the level. According to the developers it was very faithful, and of which can be seen partly from the screenshots.

They showed and pitched it to Electronic Arts, but they were not interested and rejected it. However, a year later and EA were releasing their own conversion of Space Ace on the likes of the Amiga.

It seems that Gregg then decided to call it a day and the C64 conversion was canned. However in recently years Gregg got a web presence and added up a page with the work on the game and various screenshots – which seemed to suggest that the conversion still existed and was still runnable.

In 2009, GTW got hold of Gregg and he very kindly offered to post us a copy of the final remains of the game. He did this, and GTW is very proud to present what Gregg and Scott produced, which is a rather nice conversion!

It is a little rough around the edges, but it shows just how well a C64 conversion could have shaped up. It reminds me a lot of the work of Paul Norman, and works very well. It’s a shame that Electronic Arts didn’t sign up the guys to finish it off! The preview happens a bit fast, so we recommend you read the instructions. Please note that the disk original version is NTSC based, so use the patched version instead if you are PAL based!

In February 2022, PatmanQC created a video on the history of Space Ace, which talks about the C64 edition. You can check out the video here:

Salvaged and preserved … a taste of what could have been. Case closed!…

Soldier Of Light was not a particularly memorable conversion of the arcade game from ACE software back in the mid to late 80’s. However, the weak result was found to be possibly down to this very version which sits in GTW…

Carl Coffey was the coder of this game, and produced a very well presented demo featuring the main character and some cut scenes. The main character moved, but that was it. There was no scrolling or anything playable. A screenshot of this demo was published in Commodore User magazine, so we know that this was originally to be the official conversion.

Although the game looks better than the completed effort, it is unfair to compare, as this isn’t really playable!… Plus with the cancellation of this version, the new team that had to take over were left with far less time to get a quality product out. More time seems to have been spent on graphics in this preview.

Rob Whitaker has kindly put his story across about the completed version, after it was found that this review originally unfairly took digs at the completed version, and wished more of this particular version. Considering the time limits they had, Rob’s team did wonders to get something out like they did. No doubt had the guys had the full development time, things may have been more successful. Reading Creator Speaks will explain more in Rob’s own words.

So what happened to version 1?… Well, we don’t know, and neither does Rob.

Darren Melbourne recently particially solved the mystery, by mentioning…

"Carl actually walked away from the project after The Edge software company never honoured any of it’s payment schedules. Carl was a good coder and an exceptional artist, who could have created an excellent conversion of SOL, if he had been paid. Carl created many C64 games which didn’t see the light of day, with Hobey Joe (the story of a winged Gryphon type creature) being outstanding for it’s 1984 dateline. As far as I know Carl left the industry disullusioned by the poeple who ran publishing companies."

So sadly it was nothing to do with Carl not being able to do the conversion, but non-payment. How would Carl’s version have shaped up? Did Carl do more than this demo?… Was anything actually playable? Just how far Carl got before he left is unknown. Contact is needed with Carl to find out more, and even see how much more was done. Quite possibly Level 1 could exist in a more fuller form at the very least. It will be interesting to find out and see.

So for now we are left to ponder what could have been, though when compared with the prototype previews of R-Type, there is not much to ponder, as there simply isn’t enough evidence.

Faithful to the eye, but covering up not a great deal…

Another great looking game from one of the C64’s last commercial saviour’s, Jon Wells.

You simply had to replicate the picture on the left hand side by sliding the pieces together. The same game essentially as ‘Puzzle Shuffle’.

This puzzler was going to contain 8 pictures in total, but unfortunately Michael Arrowsmith was unable to carry on the project due to work and College commitments and another decent artist couldn’t be found to finish the remaining 6.

Therefore the game was sadly scrapped, and now exists only as a 2 preview game with two different puzzles to complete. The completion status of the game is 80% complete.

This title has been in GTW for a number of years now, but Jon has confirmed that the game has been completely scrapped. Now with this, we can finally bring you an exclusive download of this promising puzzler.

Check out a possible Visualize goodie… and hopefully someday soon we will find Mike Arrowsmith and hear some words from him about this little game…

If you liked Puzzle Shuffle, then you’ll like this…

"Slammer" is a nice update to the classic Pong theme, with two jetpacked characters and two bats which have to defend a goal and get the ball in the back of the opponents goal.

Featuring some updated graphics, nice sprites and sounds, the update of the classic theme seems to have worked in this preview, being quite addictive and fun to play.

The game was to be played over a series of playing fields with powerups, but was never to be as the game sadly faced the scrapheap before its completion.

Strange really, as it wasn’t like the game was a complete mess or far from completion. However, it happened and the game never found its ways into the hands of many C64 owners.

The game’s creator, Maik Jost was shocked to see his game on the net, as he only released the game to disk magazines and companies. Apparently the game reached a more completed state with added music by Xayne of Crest. Maik hopes to dig this out for GTW very soon.

And yes, the game was completed and ready for release, but according to Maik, it seems that they couldn’t find a buyer for it, so it gathered dust for eternity.

GTW has added the music that Xayne did, which resides in the HVSC, and hopefully soon Maik will dig out the full game for GTW to show to the world.

Classic theme taken up a gear, sadly never released…

A currently unknown game which is still being investigated by GTW.

In a music collection sent out to software houses as a demo by Mark Wilson, Mark mentions music for a game called SHYLOCK being developed by Deesl Designs.

Now, from issue 55 of ZZAP!, there was a news item about Ocean developing a game called THE MERCHANT OF VENICE where the played played the part of Shylock…

"Ocean director Gary Bracey announces SHYLOCK, MERCHANT OF VENICE. A maze game with the characters chased by a pound of flesh.". It was found not to be connected to the version by Deesl.

Mark Wilson (MW20) created music for the game, featured in a music demo, and GTW recently got in touch with Mark about the game. Mark has been porting his disks, and kindly dug out a preview he was sent of the game from Mark Gallagher who programmed it.

It is a very simple space SEU game, with an impressive landscape to fly over… Mark’s music suits the game well… and overall this is a promising preview which no doubt would have done quite well on a particular label had it been released. The game was inspired by Vulcan Venture according to Mark Gallagher and was the result of a small production over the summer holiday and a few weeks.

Sadly after trying to get a publisher after showing the game to everyone at the PCW88 show, no-one picked it up and the game was sadly scrapped as a result. A huge shame.

It is a good find for GTW, and we are glad that Mark shared this with GTW to show people what the game behind his music looks and plays like. Its not much to look at, but its a game mystery basically solved. Read the coder’s own words in Creator Speaks!

This is all that ever existed of the game, so there is no search to be made. It is indeed the end of the road for the search.

Case closed …