Welcome to Games That Weren't!

We are a 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.

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XLR8

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1998 Simtex / Speedworks / Europress

Platforms: PC, Sony PlayStation and Arcade

XLR8 was a futuristic bike racing game, where you race through the likes of volcanic deserts and ancient prehistoric looking rainforests. The game was due to be released by Europress back in 1998 and was featured in a number of magazines at the time. Due for release on PC, PlayStation – but later arcade too!

xlr8 screenshot 5
A screenshot from the PC edition.

You could say it was very similar to Wipeout, but according to the press, it had much more to it than that. One claim to fame mentioned about the title at the time, was that it had no pre-rendered images, and everything was generated in real-time throughout the game. Speedworks/Simtex had spent a lot of time working on a special engine for the game, where players were not restricted, and had complete freedom of movement as you hurtled around at breakneck speeds. Continue reading →

Posted in: Arcade, PC, Reviews, Sony PlayStation | Tagged: | 5 Comments

Company of Heroes

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

2006 Relic Entertainment

Platform: Mobile J2ME

A short entry for a Java Platform mobile conversion of a classic real-time strategy game that many of us have lost hours to over the years – including myself on PC over multiplayer. It seems that even mobile gamers were going to experience something of the game – albeit in a vastly cut down form.

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Being developed in J2ME, unfortunately the conversion would disappear quickly without a trace and never surfaced for reasons currently unknown. Fast forward to 2024, and 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. Continue reading →

Posted in: J2ME, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Street Fighter 2

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1993 U.S. Gold

Platform: Amstrad CPC

Our next entry into the archives is one which has tormented Amstrad CPC users for many many years. But were they then perhaps saved from the lack of a Street Fighter 2 conversion?

Back in early 1993, U.S. Gold finally got 8-bit editions of Street Fighter 2 out for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. The C64 edition was pretty terrible, due to how it was rushed out. The ZX version looked very impressive with its large sprites, but was far too slow. However, the CPC version was nowhere to be seen.

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Would the CPC edition been as bad as the Commodore 64 release? (pictured)

During early 1993, places like Software City and MJC Computer Supplies were listing the game as being available to purchase on the CPC, when it clearly wasn’t available. There seemed to be all the right signals that the game was coming soon, and adverts for the home computer versions made that clear with it listed as coming soon on tape and disk. Continue reading →

Posted in: Amstrad CPC, Reviews | Tagged: | 4 Comments

Spectrum Games – missing titles

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1983 Spectrum Games

Platforms: ZX Spectrum, ZX81, Commodore VIC-20

Our next entry into the archives is a collective one for a number of currently missing Spectrum Games titles that were advertised around 1983 time for the likes of the ZX Spectrum, ZX81 and Commodore VIC-20.

After the recovery of Monster Muncher for the VIC-20, I noticed that there were a number of other Spectrum Games titles that had yet to be fully preserved. Were they unreleased, or had they suffered a similar fate to Monster Muncher, and were just sold in very small numbers? Continue reading →

Posted in: Commodore VIC-20, Reviews, ZX Spectrum, ZX81 | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Modulus C64 game fully restored to full glory after 25 years!

Posted: by Frank Gasking

Not technically a Game That Wasn’t, but a lovely story from Ready64, where Modulus on the Commodore 64 was released with content missing, so it was not possible to complete.

modulus 09

One of the coders Ivan Del Duca has now restored it to full glory. More details and download can be found here:

https://ready64.org/recensioni/leggi_recensione.php?idrec=75

Posted in: Commodore 64 (C64), GTW64 news, News, Preservation | Leave a comment

Sonic the Hedgehog

Posted: by Frank Gasking

1991 U.S. Gold

Platforms: ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 (GTW64 entry), Amiga, Atari ST, PC

Back in the days before SEGA’s trusty blue mascot appeared on the scene, the company would licence its various games to the likes of Activision, and U.S. Gold – resulting in conversions of Afterburner, Outrun and many more for home computers of the time.

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What we believe is a mock-up of Sonic the Hedgehog on the Amiga.

When Sonic first appeared, it blew everyone away – including U.S. Gold, who were keen to snag the home computer rights quickly, and were very confident that they would get them given their current relationship with SEGA. Continue reading →

Posted in: Atari ST, Commodore 64 (C64), Commodore Amiga, PC, Reviews, ZX Spectrum | Tagged: | 3 Comments

IK++

Posted: by Frank Gasking

2021 System 3

Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 5

International Karate and IK+ are two titles which helped to really put System 3 on the map, along with of course the Last Ninja series. Archer Maclean did a superb job of creating two wonderful fighting games which got rave reviews in the press – so much so that a sequel was always on the cards.

ikplusplus 7

There were not just one attempt to produce a sequel, but a few over the years. Archer in particular was rumoured to have been working on a IK++/IK Deluxe game for the C64, though later confirmed he never started anything. Then in an interview with Retro Gamer, he spoke of working on an Amiga/ST IK++ where you collected moves.

We’ll take a look at the Amiga/ST development another time, but for now we’ll focus on a much later development from System 3 that caught everyone by surprise when System 3 launched a Last Ninja Collection Kickstarter in 2024. Continue reading →

Posted in: Microsoft Xbox One, PC, Reviews, Sony PlayStation 5 | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Last Ninja 4

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1996-2018 System 3

Platforms: PC, Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation 2, PSX, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 + others
Also known as: “The Last Ninja – Return to Lin Fen Island”

When you think of System 3, The Last Ninja series probably comes to mind – along with memories of frustrating lake crossings and those infamous mud pits in the first game. Despite the therapy I needed after that segment, the series was iconic. But when the third instalment was released in 1991, many thought it marked the end. Not quite!

ln4 2

Attempts were made to try and bring a 4th game to the Commodore 64, thanks to Jon Wells, but System 3 were not interested at this point in time and didn’t allow the project to continue.

Just a few years later though (around 1997 time), there was a change of heart, and the time was now right to resurrect the franchise and continue the series once more on modern platforms. At the start, an isometric style game similar to the original series, and graphically similar to the Little Big Adventure series with inspiration from the Oddworld series. Continue reading →

Posted in: Microsoft Xbox, Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo GameCube, PC, Reviews, Sony PlayStation, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 4, Sony PlayStation Portable | Tagged: | Leave a comment