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 since 1999.

Please Browse our archive and discover the many entries that we host for many different platforms.

Latest News and Posts

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

Perplexus Diodomin

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

2002 James Boulton

Platform: Game Boy Advance

Perplexus Diodomin was a Game Boy Advance title that was in development back in 2002 by James Boulton (code), with graphics done by James (tile graphics), James Barnard (tile graphics and music) and Jamie Bamborough (character sprites).

per4 large

James Boulton was (and still is!) a huge fan of Puzznic, enjoying the title form its release on the Atari ST back in the day. He had started writing a version of the game on the Atari ST originally when he was 15, but didn’t get very far. He always had the idea of doing a Puzznic style game in the back of his mind though. Continue reading →

Posted in: Game Boy Advance, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Super Skweek

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1991 Loriciel

Platform: PC (DOS)

A short entry for now for a PC conversion of the Amstrad CPC, Amiga, Atari ST and Atari Lynx puzzler sequel. Highlighted to GTW by contributor EAD.

Plans for the PC seem to be on very solid grounding, as the manuals feature loading instructions for that version of the game, and the original was released for DOS just over a year before. However, it seems to have never surfaced. Continue reading →

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

Frak!

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1991 Nick Pelling

Platform: Commodore Amiga

Frak! is an absolute classic on the BBC Micro, starring caveman Trogg as you navigated across various trecharous levels with your trusty yo-yo.

frak3

It is no surprise then to learn that there had been plans to bring Trogg to 16-bit platforms at some stage, and Commodore User magazine would report this back in August 1991. Continue reading →

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

Roll Call

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

2005 SCi

Platforms: Sony PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Xbox

A short entry to cover an earlier incarnation of Eidos Iteractive’s Urban Chaos: Riot Response. The game began life as a sequel to SWAT: Global Team Strike, before evolving into Roll Call.

SCi would rescue the project after the collapse of Argonaut and later be released under the above name. Thanks to Hidden Palace, there are already early prototypes of the game in its earlier incarnations which you can find here:

Recently in October 2021, we were provided with a Qualitative Game Evaluation on Roll Call dated June 2005. By this stage, SCi were involved. Check it out below:

The document aimed to review the current build and specifics of the title so far, plus the name of the game to come up with something more fitting. This was done by having four extended group discussions lasting two hours, with one-hour gameplay.

It is a fascinating look at the development process and how the game was viewed at that point in time, as well as the decisions that led to its eventual renaming to Urban Chaos: Riot Response.

This is pretty much why we have created this prototype entry so far, but if anything else relating to the game surfaces like this – then we will continue to add and update this page.

Posted in: PlayStation 2, Prototype, Xbox | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Super Productions Software games

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

Although the main purpose of Games That Weren’t is to preserve unreleased games, we occasionally try and share preservation efforts of ones which were actually released, but were extremely rare and yet to be preserved. Today we share preservation of a set of very rare Commodore Vic-20 games thanks to Vincent Procaccini.

case display

Vincent got in touch with GTW, as he was trying to find out more about an obscure set of Commodore Vic 20 games in his possession by Super Productions Software.

The only thing he could find out about the company was that they had the same address as “Album Globe Distribution”. So it seemed to be a company just trying to get in on the whole video game craze at the time, which I think K-Tel also did at one stage too with their double packs.

Continue reading →

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