Games That Weren't^®

Our next GTW entry is yet another arcade conversion that never was, this time in the shape of a SNK arcade conversion of a game called Beast Busters. The game was described by magazines such as YC (issue 73) as truely the most violent and bad taste coin-op of them all. The game is very much like Op Wolf, but you wander around killing zomibies and other assorted undead.

The conversion was listed in the likes of Commodore Format and YC, but it never quite surfaced – although it did come out on the Amiga/ST…
However the conversion wasn’t that great, so maybe we didn’t really miss out *that* much?

We know very little about the C64 conversion, if it ever got started, who would have done it etc. Activision pretty much dried up on their 8-bit output by 1990, so really it could be the true reason why we never saw the game. But this doesn’t mean that something wasn’t started – and so we will try and find out what we can and see if something was started. Could it have been as good as Ocean’s Space Gun?

We hope to find out more about this one soon!…

Another unreleased game which was a planned conversion by Storm for the C64.

The game was mentioned from various sources, including Commodore Power, issue 1, page 9 – saying…

"Mindscape have finally given the Battletoads (NES’s superheroes) a home. After starting life at Storm, battles have been fought, and now they’re part of the Mindscape empire. Expect the C64 version sometime next year, but as of yet we don’t know who will be programming it"

Rob Whitaker (who did a lot of graphical work for Storm) does not recall this game being worked on for the C64, so the game could have been done externally for Storm by someone like Software Creations (Who did Solar Jetman). Chances of us finding something along the scale of Solar Jetman proportions is unlikely.

We do not know much about the conversion apart from its brief news mention in Zzap 64 and Commodore Power. We hope that maybe someone from those days will come forward with some information.

The NES game was quite good, so a C64 version would have been no doubt welcomed.

Recently, Richard Hewison came forward and mentioned that he did a fair bit of work for Mindscape, and saw production of the Amiga version (They said it would be better than sliced bread, but it didn’t quite turn out that way!). Richard is fairly sure that there was no C64 version being planned as the system wasn’t commercially viable at that time. However, Mindscape were planning Paperboy 2 and Captain Planet at the time, so there is always the remote possibility. Maybe it was an external team if any?

There is a final suggestion from Richard that overall it could be just the magazines trying to hype up the dying 8-bit platforms by saying the games were coming soon. This is probably most certainly the case with the likes of Commodore Power, but with mentions also from Zzap 64 – we don’t know.

More research needed, but the memory of its plans are preserved…

Battlestorm was a fair multiscrolling shooter in the style of Xenon and Time Pilot 84 and was released on the Amiga in the early 90’s.

It seems that a C64 version was on the cards for Disk and Tape, which is confirmed by the release schedule list from 1990 for the C64 on Tape and Disk.

However, it never surfaced for reasons unknown, and so we have the game as an entry into the GTW vaults. It’s still very early days yet, but maybe you know something about the game?

Thanks to Fabrizio Bartoloni, we learn that the adverts for the game include the C64 version, but also potential for a C64GS conversion too.

Do you know anything more about this title?

Lucasfilm released this flight simulator on the Amiga, ST and PC in 1988 and it was well received, earning an Action Game of the Year award from Computer Gaming World magazine.

The player took control of aircraft fighting in four of the major conflicts in the Pacific during World War 2 – the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Battle of Midway, Battle of the Eastern Solomons and the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. All of these took place during 1942, hence the title. Interestingly, the player could also play on both sides of the conflict in different scenarios – flying Japanese Zeros or American Wildcats, for example. Missions would involve attacking a particular target such as an enemy ship, but with only one torpedo or bomb it was often a difficult task. Medals and promotions were earned on completion of the mission.

One major surprise for Amiga and ST owners was that the game only supported mouse control; the PC version did support joysticks. The game used a sprite-based 3D engine which made things appear blocky in close-up but ran fast.

All we have to go on for the existence of a C64 version is a comment in an issue of The Games Machine that it was "coming soon". While other games around at the time – like F-16 Combat Pilot and Fighter Bomber – proved the C64 could handle complex flight simulators, Lucasfilm were producing very few 8-bit games at the time. Until we find more evidence, this is a "maybe".

Battlefield Germany was part of the Wargamers series by PSS and was advertised in their catalogues, but the C64 version has never surfaced by the looks of things. The Spectrum version did however, so we know something exists ( http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0000469 )

The game was your typical RPG and pretty much followed the same routine as previous PSS games.

We’d like to try and find the C64 version, even if it was released and get it preserved. However, we have no current leads so this will be a tough challenge.

Can you help us?

Battlecars was advertised in various magazines, and was released on the Spectrum, but also had a Commodore 64 advertised to be coming soon. This was never to be, and the game remains unreleased.

The game involved you building up your car with various armour and going into a battle arena against other people. The game was also split screen two player, so the action promised a lot.

Just how far the C64 conversion got is unknown. The advert was all that ever existed really of the C64 conversion, just the mention.

Without credits to give or anything, it will be hard to find this game… It would be by pure chance if we find anything of the conversion, or any more news. Unless someone knows the people behind the games division of Games Workshop?

Well, in 2023, an ex-employee of Games Workshop revealed that they had discovered a box of old disks and tapes, which contained disks which had “Battlecars” written on – which were either BBC Micro or C64 formatted.

Unfortunately he revealed that GW would be very unlikely to share anything for preservation, though we have made attempts to see anyway.