Welcome to Games That Weren't!

We are an Cancelled & Unreleased 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 lost 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 lost video game history online since 1999, and long before that offline.

Please Browse our archive and discover the many entries that we host for many different platforms.

Latest News and Posts

Dinosaurs

Posted: by Frank Gasking

1983 Eastern Micro Electronics

Platform: Arcade

Our next title Dinosaurs is entered into the archives, but was seemingly released in very limited numbers, and therefore is still at large. Currently you cannot play the game in the likes of MAME, and its a shame – as the game looks like it could be a lot of fun.

dinoshot1

It feels almost like a clone of Dig Dug or Mr. Do when you look at the grainy screenshots, though according to one article in Video Games magazine, it is a bit more original than that.

However, Eastern Micro Electronics were offering Mr Do kits and were licenced by Universal to aid in marketing Mr Do! on the East Coast. When you compare the grid size of both Mr Do! and Dinosaurs, they are almost the same (Dinosaurs is about 1 row smaller). Could Dinosaurs have been using the same chipset? Continue reading →

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

Zoids 2

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1986 Martech

Platforms: Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum

This is a short stub entry for now which is thanks to Patrick Furlong. At the end of the first game on the ZX Spectrum, there is mention of a Zoids 2 game coming soon.

Was this true, or was it perhaps something tongue-in-cheek from the developer? Considering that the C64 ending doesn’t have a similar message, then it could well be the case.

However, for now we have added a short entry and hope to learn more soon. We have also created a short entry for the C64 too in the archive.

Ross Sillifant also highlights that there was a rumour about an Atari 8-bit version of the first game being in production. If we get further confirmation, then we’ll add a separate entry for this.

With thanks to Patrick Furlong for the heads up and Ross Sillifant about details of an Atari version of the first game.

Posted in: Reviews, ZX Spectrum | Tagged: | 2 Comments

Monster Truck Wars

Posted: by Alex Ross-Shaw

1994 Acclaim

Platform: SEGA Mega Drive

Please note that this is just a quick placeholder post, where we have split up an old post which flagged up 3 entries. The original text that follows is from our old team member Alex Ross-Shaw in 2012. No doubt there have been further discoveries since. We’ll try and update this page with any links to resources at a later date – or please feel free to leave any suggestions in the comments and we’ll update as we go.

Monster Truck Wars was actually released back in the 1990s…for the Game Gear and Game Boy. A Mega Drive version was planned and indeed we even know the person who did it. Mike Crandall has his own website and among the list of games he worked on he reveals that he developed the Sega Genesis version of Monster Truck Wars. We’ve contacted him but sadly got no reply.

This isn’t a plea for you to pester the poor guy, he’s probably got a life, unlike us. But unless we can find out more info from anyone else who worked on the game then we’re at a dead end in trying to find out how much of the game was made and why it got cancelled.

With thanks to Fever for the suggestion of breaking up into a separate entry.

Posted in: Mega Drive / Genesis, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Puggsy 2

Posted: , last updated: by Alex Ross-Shaw

1994 Psygnosis

Platform: SEGA Mega Drive

Please note that this is just a quick placeholder post, where we have split up an old post which flagged up 3 entries. The original text that follows is from our old team member Alex Ross-Shaw in 2012. No doubt there have been further discoveries since. We’ll try and update this page with any links to resources at a later date – or please feel free to leave any suggestions in the comments and we’ll update as we go.

Puggsy was an innovative little platformer released by Psygnosis on the Mega Drive in 1993 and the Amiga a year later. A sequel was promised at the time according to Wikipedia but nothing ever came of it, probably due to poor sales of the original, even though it’s highly thought of.

A search online gives no details at all of a possible sequel, and of course Wikipedia isn’t the most reliable of sources but given the positive reputation of the game it would make sense that they wanted to give the franchise another go.

At the end of the first game and just before the credits, it says “Watch out for Puggsy Part II Coming Soon”. Was this just a joke, or was it serious that a sequel was on the cards?

We’ve contacted the company Jon Burton set up, Traveller’s Tales, who produced Puggsy for Psygnosis, to see if we can chat to him and ask a few questions. Beyond that however the trail is completely cold. Any ideas?

With thanks to Fever for the suggestion of breaking up into a separate entry and Adam Markey for the extra info.

Posted in: Mega Drive / Genesis, Reviews | Tagged: | 2 Comments

Sonic 3 (V1)

Posted: by Alex Ross-Shaw

1994 SEGA

Platform: SEGA Mega Drive

Please note that this is just a quick placeholder post, where we have split up an old post which flagged up 3 entries. The original text that follows is from our old team member Alex Ross-Shaw in 2012. No doubt there have been further discoveries since. We’ll try and update this page with any links to resources at a later date – or please feel free to leave any suggestions in the comments and we’ll update as we go.

Of course Sonic 3 wasn’t an unreleased Mega Drive game, and it went on to become one of the top ten best selling games released on the system. However, budgetary and scheduling issues meant several planned levels had to be cut from the game.

Presumably these were at least in a state of near-completion when they were canned and given the stature of the series you would hope that something remains of these unreleased levels. Yuji Naka was part of the Sonic Team that produced all the Megadrive Sonic games and we’ve tried to get in touch but had no luck so far.

Due to the high profile of Sonic it’s possible, perhaps even probable, that Sega and anyone who still owns the copyright to Sonic 3 that there would be reticence to release unreleased material into the public domain, but it would be nice to see it archived publicly for posterity given the importance of the blue hedgehog to gaming history.

With thanks to Fever for the suggestion of breaking up into a separate entry.

Posted in: Mega Drive / Genesis, Prototype, Unused materials | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Die Hard 2: Die Harder

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1992 Grandslam

Platform: SEGA Master System

By the early 1990s, games based on movies were extremely popular – but there were a *lot* of duff titles in the mix. Die Hard 2 could well be considered to be among that list, though Grandslam were putting a lot of faith in the licence, with conversions to most major platforms – including a conversion to the SEGA Master System.

diehard5

Grandslam had just recently got their break on the platform with the release of The Flintstones, so Master System owners could also ensure the pain of having to paint a wall for fun like I once did on the C64. Tiertex had converted that one for them, and they would also be entrusted with doing Die Hard 2 – of which they had carried out developments for the other platforms too. Continue reading →

Posted in: Reviews, SEGA Master System | Tagged: | Leave a comment

GTW64 July 2024 update

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Apologies all – its a very small GTW64 update this month, as my Dad sadly passed away at the beginning of the month. As a result, i’ve been busy making funeral arrangements and sorting out bits and pieces.

Normal service will hopefully start to resume from next week onwards and for next month. Thank you everyone for your support!

1 new entry added

memoryman2

Memory Man

4 updates added

Arthur, Born In Space, Chinese Juggler V1, Game Maker

Dedicated to my Dad – Charlie Gasking (27/06/37 – 03/07/24)

Posted in: GTW64 news, Reviews | 4 Comments

Rogue Trooper

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

2006 Unknown

Platform: Mobile J2ME

A short entry for a Java Platform mobile de-make of Rogue Trooper, 3rd person shooter game that was released on many platforms of the time in 2006. The game of course was based upon the 2000 AD comic.

rogue large

In 2024, ex-Ocean Software artist Bill Harbison would provide Games That Weren’t with a series of mock-up screens that were produced to show how the game could look on the platform, depicting an early look at a potential version of the game for a far more limited platform. Continue reading →

Posted in: Reviews | 1 Comment

The Ravaging

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1999-2000 Pukka Games

Platform: PC

The Ravaging was a third person PC action adventure game that was being developed by Pukka Games between 1999-2000, where you controlled an angel from hell. According to “10ahu” from an old ASSEMBLERgames.org thread (who we assume worked on the game), it was an action title which was worked on by a tiny studio of great people.

rav7

10ahu had found the demo rotting away on a CD from back in the day, which had other assets and video files that sadly got corrupted. The part of the disk with the demo was fortunately still working though. Within the demo folder were also a series of development notes about how to run and control the game.

Everything was first highlighted to us by LiqMat(rix), who had got a copy of the demo from the old thread. He had managed to get the demo working on modern hardware and offered to share a video he was producing to showcase how the game looked. Continue reading →

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

GTW64 June 2024 update

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Now in the middle of 2024, a bit of a slow down with new entries with just the one (a second Gremlins adventure game), but also 18 updates to pre-existing entries (check the “History” tab for each for more details), including some major findings on EastEnders (sadly not good news!).

1 new entries added

Gremlins: Part 2

18 updates added

Alien Vs Predator, Arthur, Beat Em Up, Corporate Raider, EastEnders, Eleroo, Galencia Khaos Sphere, Gremlins, Gunboat, Inside Trader, Maximum Retaliation, Paranoid Pete, Space Raider, Splish Splash, Squad One, Stargate, Sword Of The Samurai, Vietnam Gunboat

See you all next month!

Posted in: GTW64 news, News | 2 Comments