Preserving Cancelled & Unreleased Video Game History Since 1999
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.
A short entry for a SSG title for the C64 that was advertised in its 1988-1989 catalog as coming soon. With thanks to Joseph Tsai for highlighting. Note, this is not to be confused with the game by Argus Press.
The game was also due for release for the Apple II and IBM/Tandy computers. The description for the title was as follows:
“On December 16th 1944, Hitler unleashed the last major attack on the Western Front. Germany’s last reserves of men and machines rolled over the thinly held Allied front line and set out to reach the Meuse River, 90 miles away. Bitter fighting erupted over an 85 mile front. Using an all new game system, Battle of the Bulge allows you to command entire armies as the whole battle is re-created on your screen.”
The game never surfaced in the end it seems, and is still at large. Was the game actually ever released or was it cancelled? SSG continued to run for many years afterwards, and there seemed to be no further mention of the game.
If you know anything more about this title – please do get in touch. In the meantime we’ll try and reach out to SSG to learn more.
A short entry for a SSG title for the C64 that was advertised in its 1988-1989 catalog as coming soon. With thanks to Joseph Tsai for highlighting.
The game was also due for release for the Apple II and IBM/Tandy computers. The description for the title was as follows:
“For the twenty years from 1796 to 1815, the little Corsican general dominated European politics as no one had before or since. His dynamic military genius revolutionized the face of battle as his Grande Armee carried all before it. You have the chance to command the finest army in European history and re-fight on a grand tactical scale the mighty battles which shaped the development of the modern world.”
The game never surfaced in the end it seems, and is still at large. Was the game actually ever released or was it cancelled? SSG continued to run for many years afterwards, and there seemed to be no further mention of the game.
If you know anything more about this title – please do get in touch. In the meantime we’ll try and reach out to SSG to learn more.
A very intriguing Pooyan style game, its origins are not quite known. Apparently the game was found on a bunch of disks purchased from someone in Finland.
When Polaventris was asked to preserve the game, it was sent to a forum member in 2012/13, but unfortunately this was the only copy and hasn’t since surfaced. It is a huge shame, and it is hoped this wasn’t the only copy left in existence.
We wonder if perhaps CBE was not a company, but refers to the initials of a developer behind the game. That score panel also looks quite similar to another too.
An anonymous contributor (thanks!) suggests that the logo letters on the presentation screen have the colours black, yellow and red – the same order as the Belgian flag. The house in the intro also looking like an Alps mountain hut – so is the game perhaps of mid-European origin?
We will try and do some more digging soon when we get more time, but if you have any more information in the meantime or any suggestions who CBE might be – please do get in touch.
This may not be an actual planned release, but contributor Dimitris F got in touch to share a scan from Greek magazine Pixel, who reviewed Zany Golf and listed the likes of C64, Spectrum and Amstrad as the release platforms for Electronic Art’s title.
Was it merely a printing error by the magazine, or did Pixel know something that many of us did not?
If you know anything more, please do get in touch – but we suspect that it was indeed a printing error.
A short entry for what is somewhat a bit of a mystery at the moment, being investigated by long-term C64 supporter Alex Aris.
Alex has been collecting all the issues, and has highlighted that issue 14 seems to be completely missing in action. The magazine ended its run on issue 15, but there seems to be no trace of 14, which was due for release in December 1985.
A short entry for a title that was being created by the developers of Jack Attack – Kevin Kieller and John Traynor.
This was a title for Commodore – an educational title to teach basic math concepts. Sadly Commodore were not interested, and so the game was never completed. After this point, John and Kevin moved onto more business focused software development.
We hope to learn more soon about the game, though it is believed to be completely lost now.
A short entry for a title that was being created by the developers of Jack Attack – Kevin Kieller and John Traynor.
This was a title for Commodore – a multi-level treasure hunting type of game, where the aim was to avoid being trapped by a spider (or a spider web) whilst gathering treasure and moving from level to level. It unfortunately was never completed.
We hope to learn more soon about the game, though it is believed to be completely lost now.
A short entry for a Commodore MAX title that was proposed, but never finished and released.
Air Battle would set you in air and space, pitting you against many different types of alien invaders. At each level, the player would be faced by 5 waves of 3 aliens, each which must be successfully destroyed in order to advance to the next level and increase rank.
The game was projected to be 4K in size. It isn’t known at this stage if the game was ever actually started or not. We do know that the game’s developer was to be John Stockman.
If you know anything more, please do get in touch!
A short entry for a Commodore MAX title that was proposed, but never finished and released. NOTE: This game was actually leaked on the C64, but it is the MAX edition which is still at large potentially.
Greenhouse has you having to try and grow as many flowers as tall as possible, without letting weeds take over the greenhouse or the bugs eating your flowers. You need to try and grow up to ten plants in total by turning sprinklers on and off at the top of the screen.
The game was projected to be 4K in size. It isn’t known at this stage if the game was ever actually started or not. Although the C64 edition was eventually leaked out onto the scene, and we assume that it is the same developer as the MAX edition.
Thanks to Anders Carlsson, we have been able to add additional credits, and it is felt that the game in the GB64 archives could well be identical to the MAX game. No one is sure how it managed to leak out though at present.
Thanks to Kate Willaert, we learn that the game was handed off for evaluation a few weeks after the 20th August 1982, but the game did not show up for the MAX launch in Japan.
Was the actual MAX version much different compared to the C64 edition that we know of? If you know anything more, please do get in touch!
A short entry for a Commodore MAX title that was proposed, but never finished and released.
Pirate Attack (a working title) would have you trying to destroy an attacking pirate ship before it destroys you. The game would start with two frigates in battle formation, with a white ship on the left being the player ship.
You would use a canon to reload and set elevation to try and hit the pirate ship before it hits you. You can just try to make the most damage compared to the pirate ship, or ideally sink it before the day passes (indicated by the position of the sun in the sky).
The game was projected to be 4K in size. It isn’t known at this stage if the game was ever actually started or not. We do know that the game’s developer was to be Eric M. Cotton, who programmed Gorf on the C64.
Thanks to Kate Willaert, we learn that Eric confirmed that development never got very far unfortunately. It isn’t known if anything has survived.
If you know anything more, please do get in touch!
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