Welcome to Games That Weren't!

We are an Unreleased and Cancelled 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 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 video game history since 1999.

Latest news and posts

Panic Button

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1984 First Star Software

Platform: Commodore VIC-20

An intriguing lost First Star Software game for the Commodore VIC-20, which did see a previously unreleased Commodore 64 edition saved some years ago.

The game was flagged up on Ward F. Shrake’s VIC 20 list as vapourware, and was reviewed in Compute! magazine in May 1984 along with the TRS-80 Color edition.

There is oddly no mention of a Commodore 64 conversion, so we wondered if there was a printing error in the magazine and if they meant to say Commodore 64 instead. Well, thanks to contributor Larry Cameron, it has been found that it isn’t vapourware at all.

An ebay auction with an 1983 advert, shows the game being advertised for both TRS-80 and the VIC-20. What’s even better is that the VIC-20 edition lists a coding credit to a Wayne Lam. We’ve added a photo from the auction of the advert below.

So what happened to the game, and could anything be found of the VIC-20 edition? Hopefully we’ll find Wayne at some point to learn more and see if anything may still exist after all this time.

With thanks to Fabrizio Bartoloni, Ward F. Shrake and Larry Cameron.

Gallery
Posted in: Reviews, Vic 20 | Tagged: | 3 Comments

Slime

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1983 HES / Synapse Software

Platform: Commodore VIC-20

A short entry for yet another Commodore VIC-20 title that was reported on the Vic-20 Cartridge Rarity list and may well be unreleased, or otherwise saw a very limited release.

We’re not sure exactly what the game was about, but it was listed in an advert in December 1983 of Compute! Gazette. With a bit of digging, it wasn’t long until we found a name in connection with the game.

The developer was Lawrence Holland, and it was their first ever development before working on games such as Star Wars: X-Wing and more. We hope to find out more from Lawrence soon about the title.

The game was also later renamed to Super Storm and was released on the Atari platforms, which apparently was also not released on the TI-99/4A, though a prototype has been since found.

It seems to suggest that this game may well have been released, but in limited numbers. We will update the page as soon as we learn anything more. If you know anything more, please let us know.

With thanks to Fabrizio Bartoloni and Ward F. Shrake.

Gallery
Posted in: Reviews, Vic 20 | Tagged: | Leave a comment

PlatterMania

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1982 Epyx

Platform: Commodore Vic 20
A short entry until we can confirm that there was indeed a Commodore VIC-20 conversion. PlatterMania was a plate spinning action game that was released by Epyx on the Atari 400/800 in 1982, some sites suggest that a VIC-20 edition was available or planned – but there is very little detail at present. Has it therefore just been incorrectly attributed as a platform? With thanks to Fabrizio Bartoloni and Ward F. Shrake.
Posted in: Reviews, Vic 20 | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Welcome to Fabrizio Bartoloni!

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

I say “welcome”, but Fabrizio is already a very well known face to Games That Weren’t, and has been for many years now.

When looking at our team page and doing some tidy-ups, I realised that we have a number of regular contributors who should be recognised better for all their help. Fabrizio is the first, and one of the most prolific contributors our project has had.

Fabrizio loves all things to do with unreleased games, and has a very keen eye for any new items that surface via other sites and forums. If you check many pages within the archive, you’ll no doubt spot Fabrizio’s name credited somewhere.

Thanks Fabrizio for all your help over the years, and for also becoming part of the GTW family.

Posted in: News | Leave a comment

System IIII game catalogue

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1986-1990 Ghislain de Blois

Platform: Commodore VIC-20

A short entry to highlight a series of previously unreleased VIC 20 games from Ghislain de Blois that you may have missed and was posted originally in 2015:

Eight previously unreleased games for the VIC-20: THE SYSTEM IIII GAME CATALOG 1986-1990

system4 1986 1990

There is a wide variety of games to check out, including a Pac-man clone, boxing games and a RPG title – all showcasing the early talents of Ghislain before he went on to produce stunners such as Realms of Quest.

Enjoy!

With thanks to Fabrizio Bartoloni for flagging up and highlighting.

Posted in: Reviews, Vic 20 | Tagged: | 1 Comment

Drop Soldier

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1991 Image Works

Platforms: Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, PC

Drop Soldier was a RPG that put you in the shoes of a 1st rank soldier, where you are set a number of night and day missions.

You could do missions by yourself or command a platoon and issue orders, plan attacks. One of the exciting aspects was where CU Amiga talked about being able to connect up to 16 Amigas together via modem or RS232 to play as a team.

dropsoldier1

The missions would range from destroying various enemy bases, to delivering objects to certain locations. The drop soldiers themselves would be equipped with power suits to enable them to jump and run much faster than standard soldiers. Continue reading →

Posted in: Amiga, Atari ST, PC, Reviews | Tagged: | 2 Comments

GTW64 November 2021 update

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

A bit back to normality this month, with a lot more new unreleased game entries and updates in our penultimate GTW64 update before the end of 2021. We hope you enjoy it!

8 new entries added

lostworld

Anna, Core, Gape, Pixie and Dixie, Popeye V1, The Lost World, Unknown SEU, Unnamed game

25 updates added

Allo Allo, Alvin and The Chipmunks, Bloid Bros, Chopperman, Clod Jumper, Commodore Juicer, Dimension X, Dungeons, Amethysts, Alchemists ‘n Everythin’, Force Of Four, Fungus 2, Future Bike Simulator V1, Hex-Bert, Huckleberry Hound in Hollywood Capers, Lethal 2, Lord Mc Sun, Paranoid Pete, People from Sirius, Qrazy Qber, Razzmatazz, Sooty And Sweep 2, Spy vs Spy III – Arctic Antics V1, Tears of Rage, Thomas The Tank Engine 2, Typhoon Thompson, Undead

Posted in: Commodore 64, GTW64 news, News | Leave a comment

Cool Herders

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

2007 HarmlessLion (Previously Alten 8)

Platform: Nintendo DS

Cool Herders is a neat unofficial and independently created commercial title for the SEGA Dreamcast that was published around 2005. A Nintendo DS version was put into production, but was sadly never to see a proper commercial release.

The basic premise of the game is that you have to try and save the most sheep in a series of rounds, either by grabbing them or by stealing your opponent’s sheep. The game came with a story mode, and also a multiplayer option where you could fight against 3 other opponents. It could be described as a sort of mixture of Chu Chu Rocket and Bomberman.

coolherders large

After the success of the Dreamcast release, it was decided to build a Nintendo DS edition in 2007 with a whole new adventure attached to it. Developer Mike Brent had basically been looking to find a modern platform to move the development to, and initially started experimenting with getting the game running on the Gameboy Advance platform. He succeeded and then then looked for a publisher to take the game on. Continue reading →

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

Whole Brain Spelling preserved!

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

A quick post to highlight another C64 title preserved, thanks to the efforts of Allan Pinkerton, who has been slowly helping to recover a large number of unpreserved educational titles for the platform.

Today we see the release of Whole Brain Spelling – General Word List, which was an educational title from Sublogic.

wholespelling

We believe there may be others out there to preserve by the company, so we are adding a single entry in GTW64 to try and hunt for these. Here are the links for Whole Brain Spelling:

Posted in: Commodore 64, GTW64 news, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment