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.

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The Godfather

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1991-1992 U.S. Gold

Platforms: SEGA Master System + Game Gear, SEGA Mega Drive, Commodore Amiga (Adventure), Atari ST (Adventure), PC (Adventure)

Recently, there has been a call to expand our SEGA Master System entries within the archive. Intrigued by a longstanding mystery, I set out to uncover details that might shed light on the unreleased version of The Godfather for that platform. Additionally, we explore the unreleased Mega Drive edition and the lost adventure games planned for 16-bit home computers of the era.

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A rare glimpse of The Godfather on the SEGA Master System.

During the production of the third and final film in The Godfather trilogy, U.S. Gold obtained the license to develop a game based on the series. They decided to pursue two separate game developments: an arcade action game and a graphic adventure game, aiming to fully capitalize on the franchise.
Continue reading →

Posted in: Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, Mega Drive / Genesis, PC, Reviews, SEGA Game Gear, SEGA Master System | Tagged: | 10 Comments

Dark Mission

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1994 GKS Design

Platforms: Commodore Amiga and PC

Dark Mission was to be the first offering from GKS Design, a new group dedicated to Amiga gaming and created back in 1994 by students Stephen Haunts and Chris Rundell. They were based within Milton Keynes and also had someone called Kevin Kennard involved, helping with sales and information.

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The game itself was an Aliens-style isometric adventure where you explore a hostile space-station, killing aliens and completing four missions in total. It seems you would move your character around the screen using a mouse, and be able to click and interact with different items within each room (similar to the SCUMM engine games).

In the game, you only control one person, and you have to solve a series of problems whilst avoiding/killing aliens along the way. Interestingly, your use of gun fire can destroy surrounding items and objects, so you’d need to be careful about destroying objects that would be usable to complete a puzzle. Continue reading →

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

Alien VS Predator: Nightmare on Ryushi

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1993 Activision

Platform: PC DOS (Possibly Amiga TBC)

Alien VS Predator has been somewhat of a mystery ever since its early announcements from Activision in the likes of Commodore Format and other magazines. We have long had a page regarding a possible C64 development, but this has only been because news featured in C64 format magazines.

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It wasn’t until a little while later that we saw a beat-em-up console release, with an unreleased Mega Drive edition. Then of course, Rebellion would eventually go on to do the famous Jaguar game of the same name (which had a Lynx version that never saw the light of day) and then Aliens Vs Predator, which saw PlayStation, Jaguar CD and Saturn versions never released.

But what of this very early Activision development, and did it ever get beyond initial announcements? Well, yes it did and it looks as if it got pretty far too. On the AVP Galaxy forums back in 2010, Shinigami1016 reported that he had found reference to the game in a small catalogue of Activision titles due for 1993, eventually digging out a scan to share. Continue reading →

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

Another World

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

199? Unknown

Platform: Atari 400/800/XE

Our next entry in the archives is for the Atari 8-bit home computer platform, and is the early start of a fairly impressive conversion of Delphine’s Another World – though not by Delphine!

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It is by no means an official conversion, and the 1992 date and credits on the title page are a little misleading – perhaps included to try and make things feel as authentic as possible. It was all infact created by a Polish programmer called Robert Drag. Continue reading →

Posted in: Atari 400/800/XL, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Outrun 2006

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

2006 Unknown

Platform: Mobile J2ME

A short entry for a Java Platform mobile de-make of Outrun 2006, a sequel to the classic SEGA game from 1986.

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In 2024, ex-Ocean Software artist Bill Harbison would provide Games That Weren’t with a series of mock-up screens that were produced to show how the game could look on the platform, depicting a very decent looking version of the game for a far more limited platform. Continue reading →

Posted in: J2ME, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Sergei – The Showdown (At the Isle of Belphegor)

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1989-1995 SideFX/Kimera Studios

Platform: Commodore Amiga

Our next title has come under various names over the years, Sergei, Sergei – the showdown and Sergei and the Isle of Belphegor. It sounds like a trio of games, but this was just one single development from Denmark that was being done between the period of 1989 and 1995.

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Over the years the game has had an internet presence and has since vanished, though thanks to archive.org – we are able to recover materials and details about the game. Continue reading →

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

Entropolis

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1994 Inter Zone

Platform: DOS

Our next short entry is for a strange psychedelic shooter for DOS that was due for release from a German company called Inter Zone.

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The only evidence of the game we have found so far is of a short website entry regarding its music (with no downloads) and a short news item within Power Play magazine from 1994, where some screenshots were shown. Continue reading →

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

Desert Moves

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1992 Dinamic Software

Platforms: Commodore Amiga, Atari ST and PC

Very short entry for now until we get more details, though it has been revealed thanks to JazzGhostrider and Lemon64 forum member ricky006 that by completing Arctic Moves on the PC, you are congratulated by a message that mentions Desert Moves as the next game.

There is also a mention in this article too, which may have come from the ending as well. Then the Spanish edition of Retro Gamer (issue 32) revealed in an article about Arctic Moves a bit more about the apparent sequel. Victor Ruiz (creator of the saga) would confirm details with the following:

“The Desert Moves thing at the end of the game was put in without much intention, to continue with the tradition, but without the idea of ​​making a new game. That said, It is clear that the idea was to make a trilogy that ended with Arctic Moves, although we will always have doubts.”

So, this unfortunately confirms that nothing was ever started in the end, and the only other sequel would be an unofficial sequel in the form of Space Moves (which you can see more details in the scans). Case closed!

With thanks to JazzGhostrider and ricky006 for flagging up and archive.org for the scans.

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

Atari Results Program

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1984 Archer Maclean

Platform: Atari 400/800

As our preservation work continues with the late Archer Maclean’s disks, we take a look at something a little different and unexpected that was found within his Atari 8-bit formatted disks.

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Archer’s program in action, and overlaid over the TV coverage – courtesy of Atari User magazine.

After developing his Defender and Stargate proof of concepts to get the attention of Atari UK, Archer had then done some freelance programming during 1983 to produce an Oil demonstration program, which was then repackaged up in 1984 for Atari to showcase how demonstrations could be produced with the hardware. Continue reading →

Posted in: Atari 400/800/XL, Reviews | Tagged: | 2 Comments

Popie

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1984 Simon Freeman and David Hayhoe

Platform: ZX Spectrum 48k

Our next entry is an interesting Popeye clone that was produced for the ZX Spectrum back in 1984. It was discovered on a set of tapes at Ocean by Mark R. Cobley-Jones, who was working at Ocean at the time as a graphic artist. He found the tape in 1988 within a load of rubbish and saved a copy to a Microdrive at Ocean. It was then forgotten about until around 2015, when Mark found it again and managed to salvage it.

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It seems that the clone was sent around to a number of companies at the time, including Ocean, and was never picked up – probably due to the copyright issues (there is even a drawing of Popeye on the loading screen!). The game was never advertised by anyone, but it was completely finished. Continue reading →

Posted in: Reviews, ZX Spectrum | Tagged: | Leave a comment