Documenting unreleased, cancelled and prototype video games.
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.
A small post on an earlier build of Wizard of Wor that has been highlighted to us by Roberto Nicoletti.
Some years ago, Jeff Bruette released all of the source code to the game, which was then very carefully compiled up by Commodore International Historical Society. Continue reading
Just a quick post to share some preservation work by our friend Allan Pinkerton, with Linkword German by Artworx on the Commodore 64.
As it was released, it doesn’t warrant creating a GTW64 entry, so we’ve done a post with it instead for people to grab.
With thanks to Allan Pinkerton for preserving and passing on.
A late title for the Dragon 32 now, with one which was apparently similar to Uridium on the Commodore 64. A Uridium clone on the Dragon 32? This I would love to see!
The game was announced in a Quickbeam catalogue in March 1987, and Simon Hardy suggests that the game was reportedly seen working at a 6809 event in 1988. Continue reading
Our next Dragon 32 entry into the archives was a strange sounding game where you must encounter nine different screens of action with revolving doors and a mad woman called Edna. Welcome to ‘Eager Edna’.
The game was written in machine language around late 1984 and was a multi-screen arcade title which full colour animation according to a news article snippet in Dragon User magazine in December 1984. Continue reading
This is a short entry to extend our Dragon 32 entries into the Games That Weren’t archive, though for two titles which may have actually been published according to Dragon 32 historian Simon Hardy.
The titles in question were:
Both titles may have been published eventually by a different company, but more research is needed and proof to be found. Are you able to help track these long lost titles down for preservation? If so, please do get in touch.
With thanks to Simon Hardy for highlighting.
With Autumn well and truly under way and the nights drawing in, there is less time outside and more time trying to update the archive as best as we can. This month we have the following for you:
Details about an earlier build of Chain Reaction, a possible sequel to Special Agent, an April Fools and more.
Chain Reaction V1, Daniel Shutters games, Special Agent 2, TJ, Zak McKracken 2
Plenty more updates to the archive too, including some rare screenshots of Curse of the Mushroom People added, more scans added to Bomb and a lot more.
Amok, Bomb, Curse of the Mushroom People, Nedime – The Caliph’s Daughter, Operation Mindcrime Xertyn-X, Operation Thunderbolt V1, Orbyte Software titles, Phantomas, Plan 9 Outer Space, Super C, The Critters Company, The Western Game, Twilight Beyond, Unicorn Software titles, Unnamed Andrew Braybrook game, Wild Women Of Wonga
If you consider that the Commodore 64 essentially put an end to the VIC-20’s commercial life perhaps a bit prematurely, there are likely many titles out there which never saw the light of day as a result. Our next entry certainly came a bit late in the day, and was also the first work by a young 12 year old Oliver Ridler in the form of a Moon Patrol clone.
“Back in 1984, my father gave me a VIC-20 computer at the age of 11.” began Oliver. “It was a portal to the digital universe, and I soon discovered the Moon Patrol game. Determined to recreate it, I had a go at coding it in BASIC but found it too sluggish for a decent frame rate.” Continue reading
Following on from our recent addition to the archives of Fatal Mission, we add yet another title that was being worked on by Ola Zandelin.
This time, instead of a 2D platformer, Ola decided to jump into the challenge of trying to write a texture mapped 3D game for the Commodore Amiga. One of the attempts was a 3D driving game called Truxz, which would be created by both Ola and Rodrigo Perez on both code and graphics. Continue reading
In our very first Dragon 32 entry into the archives, we take a look at what seems to be a game based on the famous Doctor Who series, at least in places when you read the story below.
Previewed in Dragon User magazine in June 1986 (with a brief mention in May’s editorial), the game had a story as follows (listed in Dragon User, June 1986, page 6): Continue reading
Games That Weren’t features in the press this month in various forms, with an Amiga CD32 Games That Weren’t piece in the latest Amiga Addict magazine (CD32 special to celebrate 30 years), and also an interview with Amstrad Addict (an Amstrad special) where we give tips on trying to hunt down unreleased games.
If you haven’t seen the magazines already, then the series (including titles such as Pixel Addict) are well worth checking out: shop.amiga-addict.com
DISCLAIMER: We are a non-profit digitisation project, aiming to digitally preserve software and history which would otherwise be lost for good. If for any reason there is anything that you do not wish to be on the website, please contact us for removal.
Games That Weren't® is the registered trademark of Frank Gasking.
