Welcome to Games That Weren't!

We are an 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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Mind Bender

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1993 Tom Larrow

Platform: PC DOS

A very short entry for a title that was released in a very limited form, but is currently missing in action and yet to be preserved (we think!). Mind Bender (or Mindbender) was a Mastermind clone written by Tom Larrow, and was submitted to BBS sites in 1993.

It was also included in some Shareware compilations back in the day, as one of the registrations made for the game was from a disk purchased at a mall kiosk. It seems that thanks to DOS Games, it was distributed on a Software of the Month Club CD in July 1994, so could anyone still have a copy of that?

The game itself was written in GW Basic, and was likely compiled into an EXE that was around 40-50Kb in size. Our searches at the time have only found a Windows version of the game by someone else. Within this particular game is Tom’s full name, and an address of Norwalk, OH where he lived at the time as a nag screen.

Do you have a copy of Tom’s game at all? And if so, can you help us re-unite him with his long lost game?

With thanks to Marc Schulder for highlighting, DOS Games for helping with the search and Tom Larrow for further information.

Posted in: PC, Preservation | Tagged: | 2 Comments

HiWar

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1997 Virtual Design

Platform: Commodore Amiga 1200

HiWar was a Red Alert style game being developed on the Amiga 1200 by Virtual Design, and set to be published by Vulcan Software around 1997 time. The game was started by the company Optimus Nexus originally under the title of “High Worlds”. According to an interview with Artur Bardowski, one of the graphic designers, the game was canned due to the shrinking market.

hiwar4

A demo was created and sent to publishers by Mariusz Zieliński (coder), Artur Bardowski (artwork) and Maciej Chomicz (audio), where Vulcan Software took a particular interest – but that was about it sadly. A PC version was however being developed in parallel was eventually released as Tridonis in 1998 and published by LK Avalon. Continue reading →

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

Mechanoids 2 – The Final Conflict

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1993 Enigma Variations

Platform: Super Nintendo

Our next entry into the Games That Weren’t archives is a very early and neat side-scrolling mech fighter called Mechanoids 2 – The Final Conflict. We’re not aware of there being a prequal though!

mech large

During some preservation work, we were asked to keep an eye out for the title for the SNES by Darren Melbourne, and a few nights later we managed to find two builds that had been compiled up and which worked right away in SNES 9X. Continue reading →

Posted in: Reviews, Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Hannibal the Conqueror

Posted: , last updated: by Yassine Bakrim

2008 Volatile Games

Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC (+ potentially others)

Volatile Games was a division of Blitz Games, created with one goal in mind: to make games for a mature audience. Their first real step into this world was Reservoir Dogs, a video game adaptation of Quentin Tarantino’s cult classic. While it didn’t set the world on fire, it proved that Volatile Games could handle darker, more violent themes. It was their way of dipping a toe into deeper waters.

hannibal3

After Reservoir Dogs, they set their sights on something bigger – Possession, a zombie apocalypse game. Unfortunately, after months of production, that project never saw the light of day. But tucked away in their history is another title that has gone largely undocumented : Hannibal the Conqueror. Continue reading →

Posted in: Microsoft Xbox 360, PC, Reviews, Sony PlayStation 3 | Tagged: | Leave a comment

The Few

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1990 New Deal Productions

Platforms: Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, PC

The Few was a wargame that aimed to faithfully recreate the Battle of Britain in its entirety. It could be played solo or with a second player, either via Minitel, a serial cable connecting an Atari ST, Amiga, or PC, or on the same computer in a local two-player mode.

thefew5

In two-player mode, one player controls the British forces while the other commands the Germans. In single-player mode, you take full control of the British forces against the AI. At the start of the game, you were to choose between two modes: Historical, which allows you to experience the entire Battle of Britain from beginning to end, or Standard, where the battle is divided into three distinct phases. Continue reading →

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

Time Warden

Posted: by Frank Gasking

1982 Simon Wadsworth

Platform: ZX81

Simon Wadsworth had previously published a text adventure called The Scepter through Bug-Byte Software, which he’d written as a fifth-year student as an O-level project. However, he was about to unleash a new text adventure called Time Warden and had these recollections on his old archived web page:

“This was my second full adventure. I submitted it to Bug-Byte, as I had done with The Scepter, but it was never published. It was written using the same source code structure. I’d forgotten all about this game until sorting through a pile of old cassette tapes looking for my copy of The Scepter.

In this adventure you play the Time Warden. While you have been away on vacation and the Key of Time has been lost on the planet Syrius 5. You have 250 turns to recover the key before the end of the Universe.”

This rare ZX81 game was flagged up to us thanks to contributor Michael Hart, who learned about the game over at the Renga In Blue blog, where you can see screenshots and discussion about the gameplay.

timewarden1 Continue reading →

Posted in: Reviews, ZX81 | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Magician’s Apprentice

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1993 Dark Technologies

Platform: Multi-System 2 (successor to the Konix Multi-system)

A rather special entry here for what is thought to be one of the only completed titles for the hardware that evolved from the failed Konix Multi-System, a game called Magician’s Apprentice which was being produced by Dark Techologies in 1993.

magi2

The Multi-system 2 wasn’t an official product name, nor was it a standalone, branded console like the original Konix Multi-system was intended to be. Instead, the term is a bit of a myth or shorthand used informally (like in Edge magazine and Retro Gamer) to describe a new system based on an evolved version of the Slipstream chipset, created after Konix had folded. Continue reading →

Posted in: Konix MultiSystem, Multi-System 2, Reviews | Tagged: | 2 Comments

WWE Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain V1

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

One thing we like to do at Games That Weren’t is to highlight changes made with released games. WWE Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain for the PlayStation 2 was one particular title that underwent significant roster changes before its final release.

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Among the most notable removals were The Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan, who were originally included but were taken out before launch – likely due to licensing issues. However, their move sets remained intact within the game’s Create A Wrestler mode. Continue reading →

Posted in: Prototype, Sony PlayStation 2, Unused materials | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Huge recovery for what was the Konix Multisystem!

Posted: by Frank Gasking

Some huge news from Games That Weren’t, where we believe the first complete game for the MSU-era multisystem (evolved from the unreleased Konix Multisystem) has been preserved. However, the amazing Konix Multisystem emulator by Lee Hammerton has been built around the code currently recovered – so the game we’ve found does not run.

Lee this weekend (Saturday 12-4pm GMT) is going to do a live Twitch stream to try and get the game up and running for the first time (fingers crossed!). Be sure to check in via the link below:

www.twitch.tv/savoury_snax

Just to note: the amazing Konix Slipstream emulator has previously enabled us all to see Jeff Minter’s AMC’89 running for the very first time. It’s a phenomenal effort building an emulator for a console that was never released and this recovery will hopefully help to further develop it.

All of this recovery has been made possible thanks to Mark Greenshields and Darren Melbourne, who have allowed us to process their archives. Thank you!!

For more details about the Konix itself and the emulator, please visit the amazing konixmultisystem.co.uk

Posted in: Konix MultiSystem, News | 1 Comment

Alien Olympics

Posted: by Frank Gasking

1994 Ocean Software

Platform: SEGA Game Gear

A new week brings another exciting recovery at Games That Weren’t! Today, we’re unveiling a previously unknown SEGA Game Gear conversion of Alien Olympics – a game we had no idea existed until just last week and has been lost for 31 years.

alien large

Originally set for release in 1994 by Ocean Software, this version never saw the light of day for reasons still unknown. Only the Game Boy and PC editions made it to market, and we suspect the Game Gear version may have been scrapped due to the platform’s declining popularity at the time. With a larger user base, the Game Boy likely took priority. Continue reading →

Posted in: Reviews, SEGA Game Gear | Tagged: | Leave a comment