Preserving Cancelled & Unreleased Video Game History Since 1999
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.
A kids learning game this time, featuring some weighing scales, where you have to add the numbers and perform the maths to balance the scales.
Looking very much the thing was programmed in Basic, I can’t see a child being interested for long. Not when products like Fun School are available which far superior graphics for children.
It does teach though, and works fine… with very little bugs… But lacks in various areas.
Kids would run off and play Quake…
Our next game sounds rather familiar to a popular puzzler that we all love…. Check out the advert blurb…
"A game of strategy. Choose your colour, choose your rules. Blocks are coming down and across… But there is a twist in it! Calm control and cunning skill is required!"
Tetris anyone?…. Maybe, maybe not… but the description certainly describes something that could well have been an early tetris clone.
Apart from the advert, we haven’t seen anything of this game since the advert, and nothing certainly has surfaced. Could it be that this game is another case of "Company collapse" ?
Well, contributor Dumbflag has come forward and said tha he used to own the game many years ago, which sadly was dumped many years ago. The date may well have been 1984. So its suggested that the full game could well have been released and is out there. Can we find it though and close the case?
We know little else about the title, so a lot more research is needed… but promising news that this one is out there somewhere!
More soon we hope on this one!…
Now next is a Jet Set Willy clone of sorts with Costa Capers. Infact, it is a quiet sequel to Technician Ted which was released strangely by Hewson. The first game never saw the light of day on the C64 (It is unknown if a conversion of that was planned – there is no evidence as of yet).
The kind of confirmation we have that a C64 conversion of Costa Capers was being done or at least thought about, was the advert from Firebird advertising their "Hot Range" of titles. They stated that all titles were coming soon on Spectrum, Amstrad and C64. Both Spectrum and Amstrad versions surfaced, but surprise surprise the C64 version didn’t. The Amstrad version was basically a Spectrum port, the C64 version could well have been a development from scratch.
Or did Firebird accidently state the C64 for Costa Capers?… We hope to find out more soon. At the moment we have no details of programmers or artists who worked on the conversion, and no evidence other than the adverts that a conversion was underway.
This one is going to be a tough nut to crack…
Well, what can we say about this entry?
Not a lot! – At present it seems we just have a teaser about a new game coming soon from Blue Chip, which from the looks of the graphics is a kind of space themed game.
Maybe a SEU of some kind?
Overall we’re not sure, and apart from some credits – there isn’t much else to gleen. Unless anyone can provide a translation which gives a few more clues away? :)
Early days, but an entry for this odd game/intro…
Cosmic Shock Absorber was a game that was heavily advertised in all the major magazines of the time (Thanks to LeeT for the supplied scan!), and for years C64 users waited for it to arrive, but it never did. However, the game did surface on the likes of the Spectrum, CPC and MSX… http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0001085
The game itself was a rather poor 3D shoot-em-up which composed of very slow vectors and unresponsive movement, even on the Spectrum version! It seems from all the poor reviews, it could be reasonably obvious why the C64 version never surfaced in the end. If the Spectrum version struggled, then surely the C64 version would have sucked bad?…
Well, we’re not even sure if the C64 version was even started or how far it may have got, but it is rumoured that Rob Hubbard composed the music for the game, as he did for a number of titles for Martech. Rob did seem to recall the title, but could not remember to be sure.
It will be hard work trying to locate the developers or project manager of this game, but if anyone knows anything more about this game, then please contact us. For now, more research needed and definately some contacting is required. Anyone know who was at Martech?
More to come soon hopefully…
Corporate Raider was announced as a title coming soon for the Commodore 64 back in 1988 in Power Play magazine. Mobygames describes the game as follows, based from its eventual DOS release:
“The object of the game is to make a fortune by acquiring as many companies as posible within each industry while building a monopoly.” There are 12 different industries and the player begins holding one company in each. First, the player must raise funds through financing (either a bank loan, venture capitalists, or junk bonds), stock trading, and later greenmail (above market offers for stock the player holds, usually to stave off a takeover). The player only deals with one industry at a time, but can change at any time and use funds gained in one to take over companies in another.
It sounds simple, but there is a hostile corporation in each industry that is also trying to take over other companies. Additionally, there are three possible responses to a takeover bid: accept, offer too low, and no deal. In the case of “no deal,” only a hostile takeover can be done, and the company will use takeover blocking tactics. And if a hostile corporation gets controlling interest in your company, you can no longer buy stock in that industry. Luckily, you can also use takeover blocking tactics. “
Not really my cup of tea, but Cosmi felt that it could attract a segment of users on the C64 and announced its conversion. Sadly it was never to be, and we’re not quite sure why. Cosmi had a release or two around the time, so its possible that this non-release was down to poor sales of the PC version or something.
The game was a sequel to Inside Trader, of which we also have an entry for. We know very little at the moment of this sequel, but it’s another title confirmed and one lost. Can we find anything of it, or is it lost forever?
Do you know anything about this conversion?…
Not the same game which CRL were to release in the same year, but this was a game to be developed by Lynsoft it seems back in the day.
The disk label came with "Cops n Robbers" on it, and we believe this was a working title. Load up "CP" from the download, and you will see the very early mockup for the game (The disk also comes with the source files used to compile the mockup). Gamebase recently added a version showing the game as it should look.
It just seems at this stage to be a test for a isometric engine, possibly in preparation for the Bubbler licence? This is a much fuller screen though and looking to a more "Head over Heels" type of game.
Just what was it to be? What was the game to be about and what would its real name have been?
All questions we don’t yet have any answers to, though hope to ask Matt Young very soon, who we believe wrote the code.
Early days, do you know more about this one?…
In the dying days of the C64 (sounds familiar to some of titles I guess), a swarm of SEUCK titles were planned to try and combat the lack of software on the C64 in the dying days.
Most of the SEUCK efforts were from Psytronik, who were updating a range of Alf Yngve titles which were passable indeed as commercial efforts. Psytronik released some fantastic games, but sadly many did not get a release, including the awesome Project Argus which we released in recent times.
Cops Fight Back was yet another title, and a 4th installment in the fantastic Cops series. I loved the first game, not so much the other 2, but still it was great to play. I certainly was disapointed that this one never quite made it. The game had a slightly different approach where you would shoot upwards from the bottom of the screen in Space Invader style and have to shoot a certain amount of enemies to get to the next part.
Most of Alf’s games which were mentioned were indeed completed beforehand, and mainly just needed updating. Due to the lack of support with the later flow of games in the C64’s life, many games were cancelled and eventually Psytronik ceased to be.
Well, in 2013 – Psytronik released the Ultimate Cops compilation which had all of the Cops games and a brand new Cops 4 – The Final Chapter game, replacing this game as the fourth title. However, Cops Fight Back was included as a bonus file in the pack and if you purchase the game from here, you can grab it for yourself!
Case closed after many years! :-)
Mentioned in issue 15 of Zzap 64, Cops and Robbers is a working title of a game which CRL were going to be releasing in August 1986, but never quite did. (Check out the feature on CRL here). Thanks to Gurt from the Lemon64 forum for highlighting this one!
The game is not the Atlantis based game of the game name either. The game was being developed by Jeff Lee, designing the graphics as well as writing the game itself. The game consists of you controlling a burglar robbing a range of houses, ranging from derelict and semi-detatched, and eventually the Police Commissioner’s mansion – the ultimate in burglary.
Within the game would be a lengthy scrolling street which scrolls left and right, and any of the buildings can be entered at any time. Once inside a building, the view changes to that of the room you are about to burgle. Here you grab all the various rich pickings, but must avoid the heavy protection in some properties with various security traps and systems.
To bypass certain security, you need to obtain good equipment to do so – this is done by selling your gains and purchasing new tools.
What quite happened to this game is beyond me – apart from that, there doesn’t seem to be any other mention of the game or screenshots anywhere. No Spectrum version seemed to get out either.
Clem Chambers spoke to GTW64 and suggested that this was probably nothing more than a concept that didn’t get much further. Cops and Robbers wasn’t the sort of name they would commonly give, and would have been a working title. This does not however completely rule out that nothing was ever started.
Main thing as well is that we have a coder to track down and find out more about the game, but for now do you know any more about this one?
Can you help with this entry?
Another game, and another title which seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth.
Cop Out was one of the last games to be released by Mikro-Gen, with the advert showing the last incarnation of the logo. The game actually did get a release on the Spectrum and Amstrad thanks to the work of the great Raffaele Cecco… http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0001063
The game is little more than a cross between Kane and Cabel, where you control a Cop who must clear 9 levels of thugs and various baddies (Even including a bi-plane!). It wasn’t a bad game, but recieved average marks in the various magazines.
Normally, Raffaele’s games were converted to the C64 by the great Nick Jones, so maybe Nick was working on this one before Mikrogen went under?…. Nick confirms that he had no involvement on the conversion, which suggests that this title may have been pushed externally – but to who?
Apart from the advert which states the game was going to be released for the C64, we know little about the C64 version. As far as we know, there were no C64 based screenshots in any of the magazines of the time.. We don’t know who was behind the C64 game or how far it got. A heck of a lot of research is required for this game.
Let the search begin…
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