Games That Weren't^®

Our next entry into the GTW64 vault is a very bizarre title that was leaked back in 1988 by Phoenix (PHX). This is a title which is based on James Herbert’s relatively less known sequel to The Rats, of which the C64 had already seen a strategy game released. In the sequel, London is suddenly nuked by 5 bombs (which corrolates to the start sequence in this game).

What is slightly odd is that the cracker refers to the game being published by Alternative Software. This is the first time that we have heard about the game or any such licence at all. It certainly doesn’t seem to have been released either.

Compared to the title that was released, this is an arcade adventure game where you run around picking up items to then further progress within London and the different rooms and areas.

It’s quite glitchy overall at this stage, and there’s a untidy overlap of the character on the game window before the screen changes. Thanks to Dan Warren, it’s been confirmed that it is a complete game. Here is a play through: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFrM7U9wWCE

There are no credits or details within the game to give any clues as to who the developer was, though the music is clearly by David Dunn in their indistinguishable style. That could well be a possible lead to find out where exactly this game came from, as well as seeing if Alternative Software recall anything too.

Professor Chaos also suggests that the game could have been earlier than 1988, even 1986 – with the year referenced on the introduction screen as “London 1986” and David Dunn’s music routine lacking a few effects that would appear in titles such as Trapdoor (released in late 1986). This does seem a solid theory, so i’ve changed the year for now.

Interestingly as well, Professor Chaos spotted that the font is very similar to the small font used in the C64 conversion of Outrun that was released in 1986. Almost identical apart from some minor pixel differences on some of the characters. Co-incidence?

If you know anything more – please do get in touch, but for now – check out this obscure oddity for yourself.

Another combination entry for what might possibly be just a hunt for titles that are yet to be preserved. Thanks to Allan Pinkerton, its been highlighted that a number of Unicorn Software educational titles are still at large.

Check out the PDF of the catalogue below, but there are titles such as the following which still need to be found:

• 10 Little Robots (Found) <= PRESERVED!
• Funbunch – College Board Preparatory
• Funbunch – Elementary
• Funbunch – Intermediate
• Race Car ‘Rithmetic (Found) <= PRESERVED!
• Ships Ahoy (Found) <= PRESERVED!  Thanks to Onslaught and Genesis Project – See downloads!
• Jumble Jet
• Animal Kingdom (Found) <= PRESERVED!  Thanks to Onslaught and Genesis Project – See downloads!

We feel that the games were all released, and got to completion (hence the screenshots in the catalogue), but they were sold in such limited numbers that they are hard to find currently.

Can you help recover and preserve the other games?

A very short entry for now, for a simple text adventure game that has been recovered by GTW64 regular Csaba Virag and which doesn’t seem to be in Gamebase or elsewhere just yet.

It is a German language text adventure, which may or may not have been released. We know little apart from that it was by “Sargmacher Soft”. Do you know anything more about them and if this was a commercial release?

Professor Chaos has confirmed that the game was created in 1988, and there isn’t a huge amount to it. Under additional info, we’ve added unnecessary commands and walkthrough provided with thanks to Professor Chaos.

For now, check it out for yourself and good to see another game preserved.

Our next entry was flagged up by Gamebase64, as we’re not actually sure if the game ever saw a full release or not. Maybe you can help us?

The game has been within the digital archives since its supposed release in 1989 by Players Premier, but there seems to be no trace of a released copy or inlay at all. So was it ever released or did something happen to prevent its release? Maybe it was cracked like with Plotting before its release?

Warren Pilkington spotted that the game did see a release of sorts in Italy under the name of “Speedy“. There was quite a big thing with games being pirated and renamed in Italy, and this is indeed another. Question is whether it was from a leaked copy or from a commercial Players release of Roadburner.

It is certainly a strange one, as the game is pretty good for a budget title and reasonably playable. Check it out for now, but if you know more or have a proper copy – please let us know!

When Keith Purkiss got in touch to confirm that he was the developer of Apprentice for Rainbow Arts, he also revealed that he had been involved on a Commodore 64 conversion of Artic Computing’s Alladin’s Cave.

This was a single screen arcade platformer, similar in ways to Manic Miner and also Tales of the Arabian Nights. Ironic really, as Keith’s team also worked on the Spectrum and CPC versions of that game for Interceptor.

This could well be the reason why the game never saw release. Interceptor had complained to Artic that it was a lot like Tales of the Arabian Nights at the time. Keith could not 100% recall, but believed that they had converted the Spectrum graphics and code across, so it was essentially a Spectrum port.

When we first added this entry, Keith felt he no longer had anything of the game. But then in 2024, Keith found all of his work disks, including a full copy of Alladin’s Cave. Games That Weren’t has now fully preserved it, and you can finally play this long lost and complete conversion!

It is very similar to the Spectrum version, but features more colours and a tune that gets quite annoying quickly. You can see why Interceptor were a little miffed too! This game allows you to explore, rather than have to collect all objects and it is a nice early C64 platformer overall.

A lovely surprise to end 2024 and yet another lost game fully recovered. Hopefully in the future we’ll learn why the game was never actually released compared to the ZX Spectrum version.

A recent recovery in 2021 and lost for well over 30 years, The Mad Scientist was sent to several major software houses at the time in the 80’s, such as Kele Line – who seemed most likely to publish. Unfortunately, when Kele Line went bankrupt, the game disappeared with them.

Thanks to the graphics artist Jens Christian Thomsen, the game was preserved from an old tape and released via CSDB. The game itself is a neat split screen helicopter game, which feels a heck of a lot like Elite’s Airwolf, and surely must have been inspired by it.

We hope to learn more about the title from the team in the future, but for now, check out the game for yourself and see a title that could have been a lot of fun with two players. Though of course with as much hair pulling as with Elite’s Airwolf!