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.

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Mega Twins

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1991 U.S. Gold

Platforms: Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC

Mega Twins (known as Chiki Chiki Boys in Japan) was a sickly cute platformer produced by Capcom in the early 90’s, a slight sideways turn from the likes of Strider, Final Fight and Ghouls n Ghosts, no doubt to tap into the younger players and their 10 pence pieces. Many of us probably would have vomited at the sight of it and went back to kicking several barrels of crap out of bad guys in Final Fight.

scan mega twins ad scan
U.S. Gold’s slightly thuggish take on Capcom’s “cute” platformer.

The game consisted of you controlling two twins who carry swords and had to cross various platform levels to kill the dragon which killed their Father and find the Dragon Blue Eyes stone and save their world. The game was predominantly a sideways scrolling platformer, but with some vertical scrolling portions and a later castle level, where you would climb vertically to mix things up a bit. Large guardians would feature throughout as well to provide a fair challenge to even the most hardened of gamers. Continue reading →

Posted in: Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, GTW64 news, Reviews, ZX Spectrum | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Claws of the Devil

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1998 Titan Computers

Platform: Amiga 1200

Claws of the Devil is a late Amiga title that was in development back in 1998, and was a first person action game for platforms with expanded memory, additional graphics cards and PPC turbo cards according to Amiga Computer Studio.

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However, other magazines would state that the game was to be more like Tomb Raider, with a 3rd person camera viewpoint and controlling a female protagonist called Teri Fletcher across 13 large levels.

Continue reading →

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

Xenon 2

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1991 Mirrorsoft

Platform: ZX Spectrum 128k

Back in 1991, C64 developer and musician Dave Spicer decided to put together a technical demo for a potential conversion of Xenon 2 for the ZX Spectrum.

xenon2 640 1

What was produced was pretty stunning – with a 25 fps scrolling demo that was full-screen and featured some very nice graphics by Jason Brashill.  Even though they were quite minimal to give a feel of the game, they still looked amazing at that early stage. Continue reading →

Posted in: Reviews, ZX Spectrum | Tagged: | 2 Comments

Cyber Fight

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1991 Electronic Arts

Platforms: PC and Commodore Amiga

You could say that our next entry was quite ahead of its time when due for release back in 1991. Cyber Fight was to build on the recent success of Street Fighter 2 and produce a fighting game within a 3D environment and first person view, heavily inspired it seems by the 1989 film Robot Jox.

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The game’s author (Michael Powell) was no stranger to 3D titles, having previously developed the impressive Powerdrome a few years earlier for Electronic Arts. This time you were the pilot of a large robot within a hi-tech arena, who has to smash your opponent’s droid to pieces. Continue reading →

Posted in: Amiga, PC, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Galleon

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1997-2004 Confounding Factor

Platforms: PC, Sony PlayStation, Sony PlayStation 2, Sega Dreamcast, Nintendo GameCube

A short entry on a title that was being created by Confounding Factor, a company founded in 1997 by former Core Design’s Toby Gard and Paul Douglas.

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Galleon hit a number of development issues overall, including seeing Interplay cancel the title at one stage, and was being developed for a number of different platforms over the years. However, only the Xbox edition of the game would ever see release in 2004. Continue reading →

Posted in: Dreamcast, GameCube, PC, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

The Big End

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1994 The Hidden

Platforms: Commodore Amiga 1200 and CD32 (later A500)

I’ve always been a fan of racing games on 8-bit and 16-bit platforms, especially Slicks on the C64 and Micro Machines on the NES. So when Darren Gurney highlighted this long lost Amiga title, I was quite excited when I saw the screenshots.

Amiga CD32 Gamer Vol 006

The Big End (or The Big Engine, as it was known before that) was due for release on the Commodore Amiga around late 1994, mid 1995. Developed by The Hidden (who had created Donk! The Samurai Duck amongst others) and to be published by Supervision. Continue reading →

Posted in: Amiga, Amiga CD32, Reviews | Tagged: | 3 Comments

Wrecked: A Psychedelic Adventure

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1994 Healthwise

Platforms: PC and Commodore Amiga

Wrecked: A Psychedelic Adventure was an Amiga and PC platformer, developed by KKOS and was apparently published by Healthwise. However, at present – only a shareware demo of the PC version currently exists.

Richard Cobbett covered the game within his Crapshoot column, where he talked about the strange edutainment game that had once appeared on PC Zone’s January 1995 covermount as a demo. It isn’t a particularly great game by any stretch of the imagination, but it is the content and story behind the game that inspires trying to find it in its final form.

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The full game was described in the demo readme (re-quoted from Richard’s article) as consisting of “5 levels, 12 drugs and hours of Stoned action!!!!!!!“. The aim ultimately was to get as “high” as you can to be able to win and progress in the game. Continue reading →

Posted in: Amiga, PC, Reviews | Tagged: | 1 Comment

GTW64 July 2021 update

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

Slightly slower month as the days get hotter, but here is another GTW64 update for the month. This month we take a look at an Alternative Software game that never was, but has been out there for some time. Details of a strange planned reworking of S.T.U.N Runner with a Duck protagonist that was found lurking around in the code of Dreamraider. An obscure early German adventure game that is missing from GB64 and much more. Enjoy!

4 new entries added

Domain, Jungle Adventure, Unicorn Software titles, Zanga-duck and the gribblies

ratsdomain3

17 updates added

Accilatem, Adam Caveman, Ah Type, Alvin and The Chipmunks, Aquablast, Astrodome, Astromine, Aurum, Buffalo Roundup V1, Dune 2, Murder!, Pang V1, Plotting, Questerious, Quo Vadis, Rigor, Spy vs Spy 4

Posted in: GTW64 news | Leave a comment

Tomahawk (incorrect title)

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1991 Tomahawk (Coktel)

Platform: Amiga 500 (Actually released), Amstrad GX4000 (Unreleased)

UPDATE: Case solved – this was released as Cougar Force. See below!

Our next entry is not to be confused with the Digital Integration game of the same name, but was a completely different 3D shoot-em-up that was split into eight different stages and style of gameplay.

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The basic storyline suggested that as a chief secret agent, you have infiltrated a series of small islands which are acting as the base for an infamous group of international felons. Lurking somewhere on these islands are the leaders of the organisation, and it is these that you must locate and assassinate. The levels would consist of a number of different styles, such as beat-em-ups, driving scenes and 3D piloting. Continue reading →

Posted in: Amiga, Reviews | Tagged: | 4 Comments

Construxion

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1995 The Hidden

Platform: Amiga 500, 600 and 1200

Our next entry into the archives is an unreleased platform game called Construxion, which was being developed by a team called The Hidden back in 1995. Some sources suggest it was also called Construction and Constructor at some stage too.

Construxion 1

It was described as a Tetris-y platformer, but inspired perhaps by titles such as The Lost Vikings and Devious Designs where the goal was to fill in designated areas with blocks – so you could build bridges and other structures. You would control one of three building contractors with different personalities and abilities, so cooperation is therefore key to solve some of the puzzles. Continue reading →

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