Preserving Cancelled & Unreleased Video Game History Since 1999
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.
MegaRace was an ambitious title due for release on the Amiga CD32 by Mindscape back in 1994, and was being developed by French programmers Cryo.
Set in the future, the game revolves around a VR gameshow that is hosted by a Lance Boyle where you participate in a death or glory race over 15 different tracks and with 8 different supercars. Seems like something very Running Man’esq. Continue reading
Ten years after the release of the Commodore 64 classic Way Of The Exploding Fist, there were plans for an Amiga and PC game which had a lot of inspiration from the title and was a sort of unofficial port of the game with various improvements, including design inspiration from the training bits from Chambers of the Shaolin.
The game started as a cross-platform Atari/Amiga game, and then later moved fully to PC due to the market changes at the time. Development was by Dave Gibbons, with graphics by Steven Day (who had previously done titles such as Fireforce on the Amiga and ST). Continue reading
To mark the 40th anniversary of Elite by Ian Bell and David Braben, Ian has added further sources to his archives for the likes of Apple, Atari, C64, NES – but crucially a few unreleased titles too.
This includes source code for the SNES and Mega Drive editions of the game (listed as SNES, but there seems to be Mega Drive code too) and also an amazing addition of “Elite II” for the BBC Micro.
We’re hopeful to see some of these compiled up soon and will report back here once any become available to play. Look forward to seeing remains of the BBC Micro Elite II for instance!
More details: http://www.elitehomepage.org/fourty/
A pretty famous Cinemaware title which was originally released on the Amiga and PC, but also had other versions planned that never saw the light of day. The Commodore 64 version we are already covering within the C64 archive, which has had mentions of being in development – but there is little evidence at this stage that anything was started.
For the Atari ST – ST Action mentioned in issue 11, 1990 that the game was coming soon for the platform, and may have showed a screenshot for that platform. It is very likely it could also just be a screen from the Amiga version. Continue reading
A short entry for a title that we believe may have had a Commodore 64 conversion planned at some point. It seems to have been also planned for Amiga, Atari ST and Spectrum platforms too.
Enchantress was a title due for release by CRL, and written by Fergus McNeill. Thanks to CASA Solution archive, we learn that the game was set to feature RPG-like stats invisible to the player, and let them be affected by the weather.
A detailed preview was shown in C&VG magazine in October 1987, which seems to show ZX Spectrum screenshots.
Was the game ever started, why was it cancelled and could anything still exist of it today? Fergus spoke with CASA and suggested that it was just a proposed game that some mock-ups were done for and prelimary design work – but the project never really got going compared to Mindfighter that appeared later.
It’s unlikely that a C64 version exists in any form, but it would be great to see the ZX mockups one day!
With thanks to JazzGhostrider and CASA Solution Archive for the heads up and details.
Our next entry is for a title from the creators of Mindfighter by Activision, developed by Abstract Concepts and mentioned within the manual. We assume therefore that Activision were set to release the game around 1989 time.
Little is known so far, apart from that those behind the title were Fergus McNeill, Anna Popkess and John Popkess. However, within the Mindfighter manual, the following details were given:
“In the wake of the First World War, amid crumbling empires, economic depression swept the world. International tension eased but remained present as some countries sought refuge in the ideologies of Fascism and Communism.
It became and area of rebellion, civil war… and spies!
The story follows the progess of a French secret service agent, Monsieur Phillip Grouchy. Returning from a disastrous mission in London, Phillip is severly reprimanded by his superiors. Although certain that he was betrayed, he can show no evidence to excuse his failure. Subsequently, the success of his next mission is vital to regain lost credibility. However, as he discovers the ever-increasing dangers of his current assigments, he begins to suspect that he may be walking into a trap and that the traitor may be closer to him than he thought…”
Was the game ever started, why was it cancelled and could anything still exist of it today?
With thanks to Tobias Hultman and JazzGhostrider for the heads up and details.
Our next entry is for a title from the creators of Mindfighter by Activision, developed by Abstract Concepts and mentioned within the manual. We assume therefore that Activision were set to release the game around 1989 time.
Little is known so far, apart from that those behind the title were Fergus McNeill, Anna Popkess and John Popkess. However, within the Mindfighter manual, the following details were given:
“By 1998, New York has become a violent police state. Ravaged by constant gang warfare and organised crime, the police have fallen back, leaving no-go areas in the control of the drug barons. Disease is rife and areas of the city are frequently sealed off to control an epidemic.
And yet, throughout all of this, life goes on as normally as possible for the people of Manhattan.
John Schulz is a computer operator for the Rosling Corporation. He lives with his girlfriend, Val, in a basement apartment in the Chinatown area.
One night after a row, Val leaves the apartment and vanishes. John’s worries turn to a nightmare when he learns that the police suspect him of foul play. Knowing the Justice Department’s ´Shoot First, Ask Questions Later´ policy, John goes into hiding.
His fugitive search for Val uncovers deeper crime and corruption than he ever imagined…”
Was the game ever started, why was it cancelled and could anything still exist of it today?
With thanks to Tobias Hultman and JazzGhostrider for the heads up and details.
Mars Cops is game that we’ve long covered within our C64 archive and we found after a mention A game in Zzap issue 49 on page 3 – listed as coming soon on the Amiga, Atari ST and C64. A few mentions were done of the game across a few issues, but sadly nothing was to ever surface.
Thanks to contributor Jason Lethert (who has trawled through and dug out a lot of information about the game via archive.org and Stephen Stuttard’s amazing scans), we learn now a lot more about the Amiga and ST editions which seemingly got much further ahead compared to the Commodore 64 edition. We are sceptical that an 8-bit version ever existed, but we keep an open mind until confirmation.
As you might guess, the game has you flying around the Mars terrain, but with a Afterburner’esq viewpoint with your ship travelling along the surface and in space. Perhaps it may even be closer to SEGA’s Galaxy Force, which was released around the same time – was that a major inspiration perhaps? Continue reading
As we leave Summer and begin to enter into Autumn, we have more updates to the Commodore 64 archive with the following for the month:
If you missed it earlier this month, then the long lost AtariSoft development of Stargate has been recovered.
Harris House Software titles, Mission Extreme, Monster Bash, Sinister, Time Capsule
7 Minutes To Midnight, Black Cauldron, Championship Run, Covermount casualties, Industria 14, Make My Day!, Murder!, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3, Tetris, Xamitlu
See you next month!
Quarterstaff: The Tomb of Setmoth is an RPG title that was created for the Apple Macintosh back in 1988 for Infocom. It featured text entry, but also a dynamically generated map and graphics throughout the game. The game was developed by Scott Schmitz and Ken Updike.
In the game you would control Titus, sent by the Druid Council to explore remains of an abandoned colony. Along the way, you meet and recruit friends and improve your skills as you try and progress through the game. Continue reading
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