Welcome to Games That Weren't!

We are an Unreleased and Cancelled Video games archive with prototypes, developer history and assets for many computers and consoles of all ages. A non-profit large archive dedicated to preserving games that were never released to the public. Sharing history and stories from the developers, assets and more before it is too late. GTW has been preserving video game history since 1999.

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Batman Returns

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1993 Gametek

Platform: Atari ST (also Commodore 64 – See link below)

We have had a detailed page on the cancelled C64 development for quite some time – but hadn’t realised that an Atari ST edition once existed until flagged up by Ross Sillifant.

Batman Returns was previewed in ST Action issue 63 back in June 1993, and showed a number of screenshots of the game in progress. The game was being developed by Denton Designs, where according to the article, John Heap was the programmer, with Ally Noble and Dawn Jones on graphics, and with Fred Gray on music.

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The game was initiated in October 1992 according to the article, and was due for release in September 1993. Oddly though, the film was released in July 1992, and it seemed quite late for the game, where usually games were developed to co-incide with the film release. Continue reading →

Posted in: Atari ST, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Citizens: Backwater Affairs

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1994-1996 Microprose Software

Platform: PC
Also known as: Little People

Inspired by Activision’s Little Computer People, Citizens: Backwater Affairs originally started out as a game called Little People, before it was renamed due to the name being taken already by Fisher Price.

Everything starts with the tragic event of you dying in a road accident, where you then enter the afterlife and taken on the job as a caretaker for a small world under a dome called Backwater.

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According to lead artist Terry Greer, the idea was that you would be given tasks to do, such as helping a character get a new job. You would do this by changing that character’s statistics to have an affect on the final outcome. Terry gives a detailed account on his own page about the game here.

The game was felt to be ahead of its time, and as a result – management within Microprose didn’t fully understand the game or its appeal. Eventually it was cancelled, and a few years later The Sims appeared which did very similar things, much to the frustration of the original team.

Continue reading →

Posted in: PC, Reviews | Tagged: | 1 Comment

Wardner

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1988-1993 NEC

Platform: PC Engine
Aka: Wardner no Mori and Wardona Forest

Toaplan’s Wardner is a side scrolling platformer, similar in some ways to Ghosts n Goblins, and was ported to a number of platforms over the years. One version that never saw release was on the PC Engine (A NES edition also never made it, which you can read more about over at Unseen64).

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Development was announced back in 1988, originally as a hucard release, and but would never see release. Later the game was moved to CD-ROM format, but was cancelled after too many delays, even though it is suggested that the game was fully complete. Oddly, it seems the cancellation was as late as 1993, some 4-5 years since its announcement.

Within the announcement, the names Tamakichi Sakura (possible artist for the game?) and Toshio Tabeta (possible producer?) were mentioned – so it is hoped they might be able to shed more light on why there were so many delays, and if crucially anything may still exist today.

When you look at the various previews from magazines such as PC Engine Fan and Gekkan PC Engine, then you can see that it was clearly very close to completion, which makes this more of a tragic shame that it never quite made it out.

Continue reading →

Posted in: PC Engine, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Riamel: Black Prophecy

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1994 Steve Postma

Platform: Commodore Amiga

Riamel was a follow up to Lords of Time, which was created by Steve Postma back in 1994. A very exciting RPG that would span 3 disks, but sadly didn’t seem to get experienced as it should have been.

For years, a demo has been floating around, but even that was quite obscure and not within the usual channels to download and check out. Within the demo, it talks about how you can send off for a full copy of the game – though it seems that it may never have reached any hands.

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Darren Gurney was doing some detective work back in 2018 regarding Lords of Time, contacting David Joiner regarding the title as his Faery Tale Adventure game was very similar. He created a post regarding his findings. Continue reading →

Posted in: Amiga, Reviews | Tagged: | 1 Comment

Resolution

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1988 Nexus

Platform: ZX Spectrum

Fairlight is a title which brings back extremely fond memories for me on the Commodore 64, which was a brilliant isometric game created originally on the ZX Spectrum by the genius Bo Jangeborg.

I always thought it was a shame that we didn’t see a lot more from Bo, though there could have been more with the release of Resolution, a game that was due for release on the Nexus Software label in 1988 and mentioned in numerous magazines.

Rather than an isometric fantasy game, Resolution was to be a strategic, horizontally scrolling shooter, where the player tried to save the world from a manic mining corporation determined to destroy all the Earth’s natural resources. Continue reading →

Posted in: Reviews, ZX Spectrum | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Duster

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1991 Image Works

Platforms: Commodore Amiga, Atari ST and PC

Yet another title caught up in the collapse of Mirrorsoft in late 1991. A title created by Realtime Software, known for both Carrier and Battle Command.

Duster was set in a place called Heaven in 3800 AD, where the world has become a breeding ground for vicious crop-eating pests with a high mutation rate. You are a crop duster, who not only has to save the world, but also make sure you keep your business going. This is done by earning cash with your crops, but also acting as a bounty hunter, taking on various contracts and missions.

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Visually the game was quite similar to Realtime’s previous games, with the main action rendered in 3D as you fly around the landscape, and with strategic sections handled via static images and menus. This was their next big game after Carrier Command (though were reportedly working on Battle Command for Ocean around the same time). Continue reading →

Posted in: Amiga, Atari ST, PC, Reviews | Tagged: | 5 Comments

The hunt for Kanaan

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

Also known as Chaos at one point, Kanaan was a 1st/3rd person shooter due to be published on PC by Ubisoft, and developed by Argonaut. It was cancelled when very close to completion.

The game is already well covered by our friends at Unseen64, though reader Werta Best has been on a mission for many years now to try and recover remains of the game as part of an ambitious project.

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From magazine screenshots, details and various promotional art recovered, Werta and his team have been painstakingly trying to make a complete recreation of the title, which you can see some progress of further below. Continue reading →

Posted in: PC, Reviews | Tagged: | 2 Comments

Geometry

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1992 Thalamus

Platform: Commodore Amiga
Also known as: Quedex 2 – The Geometry Challenge

Geometry was a working title for a new puzzler game that was due for release from Thalamus back in late 1992 on the Commodore Amiga.

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What was perhaps surprising was just how simple looking the game was for Thalamus to consider it for release. It didn’t look too different to something that you might find within a PD library. However, there must have been something with the game for David Birch to have taken a shine to it at the time. Continue reading →

Posted in: Amiga, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment