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.

Latest news and posts

Wreckin Crew PC ECTS 1997 prototype

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

Bit of an odd one to kick off the week. Years ago my mum picked up a copy of Wreckin Crew by Telstar for the PC in a charity shop around 22 years ago, and I couldn’t get it working at the time. What was odd was that it looked like a pirated copy inside the box, with no instructions. So, I thought it was a dud and it was left to gather dust in my parents attic for many years.

Clearing out recently and finding the game again last week, I realised that all wasn’t what it seemed when I was a kid. The CD of course looked to be some kind of prototype burn of the game, so I quickly set about making a backup to ISO to run within Virtual Box and a copy of Windows XP.

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Posted in: PC, Prototype | Tagged: | 14 Comments

Cannon Fodder (Amiga) – Early screens

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

Following on from last week’s early screens from Beavers on the Amiga, Grzegorz Antosiewicz has dug out some early preview screens from Sensible Software’s brilliant Cannon Fodder.

These screenshots are from when it was in early development, taken from magazines such as Amiga Power (October 1992), Amiga Games (11/1993), TGM (issue 47), Generation4 (issue 46) and The One magazine.

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Some rather different looking frees and icon panels.

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Posted in: Amiga, Prototype, Unused materials | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Bazooka Sue

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1994 Starbyte

Platform: Commodore Amiga

Our next entry is thanks to Grzegorz Antosiewicz, and is of a title that was eventually released on PC for the German market in 1997, but was due an Amiga release much earlier.

Bazooka Sue (or Bazuka Sue as one magazine oddly referred to the game) was first mentioned way back in 1992 as being a new SCUMM style game with a protagonist described as a cross between Kim Basinger and Miss Piggy. Not an insult to the looks of the character, but the fact that they are oddly part human and part pig!

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What seems to be a cut-scene image from the Amiga title.

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Posted in: Amiga, Amiga CD32, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

The Living Daylights

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1987 Arcadia Systems / Domark

Platform: Arcade and Commodore Amiga

Following on from our recent post about the arcade version of Fire and Forget 2, comes yet another title that was being developed simultaneously whilst the home conversions were under way.  With The Living Daylights, it would have essentially been the Amiga game that users would have seen – well, had the Amiga version been released that is.

Arcadia Systems was set up by Mastertronic to try and break into the arcade market, and their business model was to essentially put an Amiga PCB with a game burned onto EPROMS, making for much more efficient development and a far easier way for arcade owners to swap games around. The plan would be for the home computer version to be made available 90 days after the arcade release. Continue reading →

Posted in: Amiga, Arcade, Reviews | Tagged: | 15 Comments

Scavenger

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1990 Hewson

Platforms: Atari ST and Commodore Amiga

John Phillips was a brilliant developer who created classics such as Nebulus and Eliminator, and was to extend his exciting catalog of games with a new title called Scavenger for Hewson software back in 1990.

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The idea of the game was to be a time travel title, and scrolled horizontally with a series of puzzles that had to be solved. Later though, it is documented that the game evolved into a sort of 3D version of Ghouls ‘n’ Ghosts, utilizing a sophisticated shadowing effect that was way ahead of its time. Continue reading →

Posted in: Amiga, Atari ST, Reviews | Tagged: | 2 Comments

Ted Bear’s Rainy Day Game preserved!

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

It’s been on the Gamebase64 and GTW64 missing list for many years now and was unknown if it was released or not. Well, it can be confirmed that the game was indeed released and has been fully preserved.

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The game is an educational game from 1987, and is yet another piece of C64 history now preserved.

Check it out at https://csdb.dk/release/?id=199870

With thanks to Chris Kraus and Simon Quernhorst for their preservation efforts!

Posted in: Commodore 64, GTW64 news | Tagged: | Leave a comment

GTW64 Jan/Feb 2021 update

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

First update of 2021, and hopefully first of many more this year with the following:

16 new entries added

After The Fire, Beyond the Infinite, Chinese Juggler V1, Daxis, Felix the Cat, Midwinter, Pyramids Of The Sun, Sorderon’s Shadow: The Legend of Elindor, Teacher Trouble, Terror Tunnels, The Legacy of Light, The Wooden Box, Trooper, Valley Of The Source, Winning Streak, Wrath of Magra

24 updates added

Bloo’s Magic Trip, Body Slam, C64GS cartridge titles, Chainsaw Warrior, CubeSim64, Dreamraider, Great Giana Sisters, Heavy Barrel, Italian pirated games, Katabatia, Mad Crash Racing, Magic Sword, Movie Monster, The, Mr. Pilic, Ooops Up, Operation Thunderbolt V1, Paku Paku, Restrictor, S.D.I, Space Hop, Spooky, The Reactor, The Soul Gem Of Martek, Touchlight

Posted in: Commodore 64, GTW64 news | Leave a comment

The Mindwarp

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1997 Maxis

Platform: PC

The Mindwarp was not your usual Sim game from Maxis, and should have been their first proper foray into the realm of action-based titles back in 1997. It should have also been simply called “Mindwarp”, had it not been for someone at Maxis’ main office accidently appending “The” to the front!

Developed by Maxis’ satellite office in Salt Lake City (originally the Virtual Arts group, which had been acquired by Maxis and turned into Maxis Labs), The Mindwarp was best described as a mixture of Descent and Microcosm, with organic-like structures throughout. One potentially exciting feature at the time was with the tunnels that reconfigured themselves, based on how well you are playing. It had been unclear for some time though about the actual story to the game, and what exactly you were meant to do. The press also seemed confused at the time.

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Going deeper into the rather organic tunnel structures of The Mindwarp.

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Posted in: PC, Reviews | Tagged: | 7 Comments

B.U.D

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1993 Atried Concept / Kalisto Entertainment

Platform: Amiga (likely PC and Atari ST too)

Also known as “Quick”, B.U.D was a neat looking platformer that was due for release at least on the Commodore Amiga back in 1993, and was previewed by French magazines such as Generation 4 and Tilt back in the day.

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You were to control a dinosaur named “B.U.D” (Bio-tech Universal Dinosaur), who lives within a tribe of dinosaurs who have survived extinction and have adapted to a new environment – The Amazon. The tribe has evolved, become smaller and have created new tools to be able to swim and climb within their new environment. Continue reading →

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

Ankhrapt

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1998 Deck Six

Platform: Amiga 1200

A space trading game that was due for release on the Amiga 1200 back in 1998, and was previewed in magazines such as Amiga Computer Studio in June of that year.

ACS described the game as being a mixture of Supremacy and Re-union, where you fight some aliens, build your own space fleet, colonies and travel to different planets to trade and use diplomacy. In addition to this, the game was to feature some small adventure parts to mix up the action.

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