Games That Weren't^®

Prime Time was an Amiga and MS DOS release by First Row software back in 1988 and it seems was due a C64 release as well.

Three Rivers Software was the team involved, who had also worked on a Moses game (of which the C64 version is also missing), and this strange early preview seems to be the result of that so far.

Just seems to be a short introduction sequence, and then goes to a screen where you can start a game – but it then crashes out before you can do anything. Not entirely sure how this snuck out, but perhaps it was leaked by a member of the team when the game was cancelled?

There is evidence that a C64 version was being done in the press too, with a mention in RUN magazine back in November 1988 (see scans).

A story to tell here, and one we can hopefully do in the future if we find members of the team that worked on this seemingly abandoned conversion.

Our next title reminds me of the classic Frosty the Snowman that was released several times by Your Commodore at its various incarnations.

The game has a split screen view where you must travel the furthest distance in the quickest time.  The main character seems to have been inspired heavily by the pumpkin in Cauldron 2 as well.

Although not much to look at, the game is quite fun at this early stage, and as with any game that has been cancelled or abandoned, it is sad to see this join the pile.

The game was developed long ago in 1994 and we don’t believe anything more happened with it, though we would love to be surprised with a complete version some day. If you know anything more about this one, please do get in touch.

A neat little title from Simon Quernhorst, which is themed on Chess, but has a much more simplistic aim in this logical game.

Although starting to take shape back in 2014, the game was abandoned due to other projects and was released in its final form by Laxity.

There is not likely to be anything else of the game to salvage, and unlikely that the game will be picked up and finished off.

Thankfully Simon was kind enough for the final state of the game to be released, so you can get a glimpse at what could have been.

A strange release this one, where there are two releases of the title – another is named as Game 2, which just seems to be a corrupted version of this game.

There isn’t much to it, apart from controlling your space ship at the left of the screen and shooting enemies coming from the right.  Very simple, and almost like it is a coding exercise rather than an attempt at a proper game release.

We think there was nothing ever more of the game and it was just that – a coding exercise. If you know anything more about it, please let us know.

Another more recent C64 title which may have been abandoned after an initial preview release.

The Fallen is quite a neat defence game where you control an archer who must pick off an advancing army of knights. It is simple, but addictive and it would be great to see more of this one.

Sadly nothing more has occurred by the looks of things since the 2017 preview release. Hopefully it will get picked up again and resumed.

Not much to say about our next game, as it is at a very early stage.

Cyclone Blower is a standard single screen shooter with various attack waves, but doesn’t seem to be playable at this early stage – even though there are enemy ships you can shoot at.

The game was being developed way back in 1988 and seems it was completely abandoned with no further releases or work done on it.

Not much else is known about it at this stage, but if you know anything more – please do get in touch.

When we couldn’t get Super Mario Bros on the C64, we instead had Great Giana Sisters or Terry’s Big Adventure, and they were lovely attempts at getting something similar. Of course, now we actually have a proper conversion of SMB on the C64, but none-the-less, its still great to look at the clones that were attempted.

Crazy Carson Cousins is yet another attempt, done back in 2015 and although being nothing like Super Mario Bros, and more like Hunchback in its gameplay – it has that familiar look/feel to it (albeit in a more simplistic way).

It’s quite a fun little game which seems to be fairly advanced, but nothing more has happened with it since. It is lacking proper sound and bosses, which the coder was to add in the future – but hasn’t got round to it yet.

Interestingly the game was written in C and compiled for the C64, and there is also a sequel which you can see at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxZnkGEj3Zw and also seems to have been abandoned sadly.

Hopefully both games will be finished off and released in the future.

Cold Devil is a very early platformer, which is more of a technical demo at this stage – with a a few platforms and a single enemy that you can’t interact with.

It moves well and you want to see more as a result, but this is pretty much it. We’re not sure if the developer did anything more than this and if there are plans for more to be done. Unfortunately we’ve not heard anything more about it since 2017.

Hopefully its just in a temporary hiatus and will be resumed some day in the future.

Boost is a neat little title which has different segments, kicking off with a very simple sideways scroller and then going onto further screens where you control a space man.

Although it is very simple and basic to look at, it has a certain charm about it that I like and I was intrigued to see what was beyond that initial space shooter (and was surprised to find the new screen with the ship).

There could be more tucked away inside this, so let us know if you find anything more. It would be great to learn if more was done to the game and what the plans were for it.

Well, Lars Sneftrup got in touch via the comments, and explained that he was one of two developers on the game. This was their first ever game made in 1986, and was sent to a couple of publishers – but no one picked it up.

This as a result is very likely as far as the game got, with nothing more to find.   If you know anything more about it – please do get in touch.

Not too much to say about our next title which was being developed back in 2010.

Avoiditic was a very simple title where you must control a pumpkin and avoid the other pumpkins on the screen. At this stage there is nothing else to it.

Was this a proper development that was to be a lot more?  Or was it merely a technical demo to try something out with no intention to finish and release?

We hope to learn more soon, but into the GTW vault it goes for now after seemingly being abandoned.