Games That Weren't^®

Mantronix was due to appear on the C64, along with a release on the CPC, in 1986, sometime after it was first released by Probe Software on the ZX Spectrum. Like so many Spectrum games it failed to ever get released and today our only evidence of its existence is from an advert stating it was ‘forthcoming’ on the other 8-bit systems.

The premise of the game is that you are a bounty hunter, who has sent a robot to the excellently named planet Zybor to locate and bring to justice four criminals, who are in hiding and protected by defence humanoids.

Playing the Spectrum version and you see the game is enjoyable enough and the music and sound effects are in the classic ‘jolly 8-bit’ style, if that makes sense!

My first thought upon seeing the screenshots was that the reason it wasn’t released on the C64 was its isometric, Knightlore-esque viewpoint. However, a quick trip to the Lemon64 forums soon provided me with a list of isometric games that appeared on the C64, including a direct port of Head Over Heels, that certainly plays well enough with the benefit of music and sounds provided by the all-conquering SID chip.

Technically however, it does seem the C64 does have some technical difficulty with the process required for a fast isometric game. The C64 using tile mapping, which provides faster performance overall but isn’t well suited to the isometric style that flooded the Spectrum in the mid eighties and many gamers complain of the games being too slow to be enjoyable, Fairlight being a classic example.

Is this the reason why the game was eventually pulled from a C64 release? If so why not release the CPC version, which had ported versions of games like Knightlore? Frankly a game running too slow never really stopped many companies, then or now, on the Spectrum games like Outrun and Wonderboy are notoriously slow as soon as the screen becomes even slightly complicated.

If the market for isometric games was flooded on the Spectrum by the mid-eighties, possibly the most logical conclusion is that the game quickly sunk in terms of sales, and Probe Software, who were prolific releasers of games on all 8-bit formats, may have moved on to other projects. They certainly released most of their games on the Spectrum, perhaps this was used as a testing ground, and if a game had enough success they would continue with the port to the less successful C64 (in the UK at least) and CPC.

Yet another missing game for the archive, and a CPC version may exist too.

Will either version ever be found?

This game was found out about thanks to Jason Kelk, who pointed me in the direction of the DELTA loader… In that, you will read about forthcoming games on the C64, which includes Starline (See elsewhere) and also Mantrax.

I don’t know exactly what Mantrax was about… but its rumoured to be a space shoot-em-up.

Also I have no information on the people who were to release the game. Though Bob Stevenson and Douglas Hare are confirmed to be the guys behind the game..

Unknown as of yet what happened… most certainly not released…

Another beat-em-up clone which was planned for the Commodore 64 back in 1990, and another one which never got to see the light of day.

Manhattan Dealers was released on the Amiga/ST platforms and was a relative success, but not on the scale of other similiar beat-em-ups. The game was a side-scrolling beat’em up where you play a detective trying to stop the drug dealers. You would take packets of drugs to the fires/braziers on the level to earn extra energy! 16-bit versions feature digitised sound.

First news of a 8-bit conversion came when Zzap magazine posted the following in their review of the game:

“The 8-bit versions should be on the streets by March or April, no doubt having some graphical and audio differences, but with the basic gameplay unchanged.”

This sadly was all that was ever mentioned about the game and a 8-bit conversion. Neither spectrum or amstrad users got the game either. ACE magazine also had mention of 8-bit versions in their Atari ST review (see scans)

We don’t know how far exactly the game ever got, or if it was even started. This is another early days title where so much needs to be found out about it. Maybe someone will know something about this game?

More soon we hope!…

‘Make My Day’ and was another of those Trojan Light Gun games which were being created in the early 90’s as the light phaser games began to get popular. Virgin Mastertronic had already done a series of light gun games, and this was also another title in the series.

The game was to be a side scroller where you shoot gangsters in the street. Essentially it was going to be similar to the already released Ghost-town with different graphics. This means that the game was likely to be created by the same person who did Ghost-Town – Martin Howarth. We will try and ask him more about the game soon.

Thanks to Fabrizio Bartoloni – we learn that a ZX Spectrum version was also cancelled and unreleased too. Written by a Peter Gough, who had done other titles such as Future Games, Ghouls n Ghosts and Gunstar.

More research needed. Sadly we cannot ask Martin Holland more about the game, as he sadly passed away in 2003. Maybe one day his lost graphics will be recovered to preserve the title and his memory once more. Hopefully Martin Howarth will help shed some light some day soon.

More soon we hope!…

Magnox was yet another Cyberdyne game, but one of the more forgotten titles which never saw the light of day.

Dan Phillips cannot recall too much about the game, but it is believed to be a vertical shoot-em-up that was being worked on by John Harries when they all first met up.

This is speculation at the moment, but we soon hope to speak to John Harries to find out more and see if anything of the game still exists.

Things are still very sketchy… it could well have been a completely different game, but we’ll find out soon hopefully!

Will this ever be found?…

Magnetic was to be a complex puzzler written by the Magnetica Team which consisted of:

Giuseppe Tresoldi – graphics and game designer
Omid Ehsani – C64 developer
Gerardo Iula – Amiga developer and graphic artist
Emiliano Gusmini – ST developer, graphic artist and musician

In an interview with Magnetica Team on the Italian edition of C+VG, issue 6, June 1991, it’s said that the team (whose claim to fame is

F1 GP Circuits created a game that was too offstream to see publication, before their aforementioned commercial success:

"It was entitled "Magnetic", and it was a strange programme
where a modular robot had to drag a sphere across a field covered with holes and bumps with the sole aid of a powerful magnet.

There were enemies to be avoided, many controls, and a game design so complex it would take half a hour to explain it all. It was very original and well coded, but a bit too complex to be released to market."

It sounds like the game actually got quite far – so we hope that maybe something of this complex game can be found and released to the public after many years gathering dust.

More information needed!

Probe software quietly had in development a game for U.S. Gold called ‘Magic Sword’. This conversion was in fact based on the Capcom arcade of the same name, which was a poor hack and slash affair, in no good comparison to Golden Axe.

As to what the C64 version was like, seeing as it was Probe working on the game, its likely to have been as good as their other games.

Unfortunately, there is no information to build up a better GTW description… anyone know any more about the C64 version?

Thanks to Karl Kuras, we’ve added some brief confirmation about Probe’s involvement on the conversion for now.

Magic Carpet was to be a Intellivision game conversion to the C64 by the Mattel Electronics France offices. It was scheduled, but apparently never worked on, though it was given an id of #7860 on diskette.

The game was about piloting a magic flying carpet and was apparently scheduled based on a written proposal – with no working prototype of the game ever being seen.

The Intellivision version never surfaced, and the C64 version was rumoured never to have been ever started. So its unlikely that we will find a full game, but we could find something of it at the very least!

More soon on this one!…

Yet another Demonware game which appeared in the Early Warning scanner pages of Commodore Format. With a rather interesting title, it sounded like something quite special.

Nothing was really known about the game, but Games X magazine did a sneak preview of the title – showing Amiga screenshots of a game which looked pretty good (see gallery). The general basis was of a gap being bridged between space as we know it, and limbo state of hyperspace. Your faithful friend Spiff has been kidnapped by aliens and you now have to rescue him.

Contributor Daniel found that German magazine Playtime 91/1 mentions in a feature about Demonware, that the game should have a “50s Film-Noir” style with the Retro Future of the 50s. The game was also compared to Heart of China and Rise of the Dragon, with control of the game accomplished by using a series of pre-determined expressions and commands that could be cycled through and selected. So an interactive adventure overall, which would have been very welcome on the C64.

Seems possible that Demonware closed its doors after poor sales, and the games went with it. It is likely also that the C64 edition was never started, as they may have been waiting for the Amiga/PC lead versions to be completed first. Maybe someone will surprise us?

Additionally, with the Amiga/PC version expected to take up 10 disks – was a C64 version realistic? Or was a much cut down version planned?

Hopefully we can soon hear from some ex-employees about game and the others. But after speaking to one of the developers of Gem-X, they didn’t recall any other titles that never saw the light of day apart from Gem-Z.

Do you know anything more about this game?