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.

Latest News and Posts

Cult of Speed

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1993 Electronic Arts

Platforms: Commodore Amiga and MS DOS

Cult of Speed was to be a new Games Workshop licence from Electronic Arts for Amiga and PC, after the success of Space Hulk. The name was reported by Commodore Amiga User and represents a sub-grouping of Orcs in the Warhammer Universe who are obsessed with anything on wheels.

cultofspeed3

Generation 4 magazine had an interview piece with a short segment on the game, where they revealed that you would engage in merciless races onboard completely psychedelic motorcycles. The goal would be simple: don’t be last in the race or finish first. Continue reading →

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

GTW64 January 2025 update

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

It’s a new year and our first Games That Weren’t Commodore 64 digest update. We have 6 brand new entries into the archive, including a lost Robin Hood game and what seems to be a lost Ocean game too (but thankfully is out there!). Then we have another 6 that have seen various updates.

See you next month!

6 new entries added

Eskimo Eddie, Jetbrix, Life, Robin Hood, Robot*Link, Senir

6 updates added

Complex, Computer Theater, Klartz and the Dark Forces, Multi-pack, Nigel Mansell F1 Racing, The Omnicron Conspiracy

Posted in: GTW64 news, News | Leave a comment

General Masters Corporation games saved

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Bertrand / Atarimania.com has been doing some amazing work recently, now recovering a large number of General Masters Corporation games for the Atari 8 bit platform. There’s a thread here over at AtariAge with more details and links:

https://forums.atariage.com/topic/379007-general-masters-corporation

NOTE – The post is being updated almost daily with new additions, so keep checking!!

Posted in: Atari 400/800/XL | Leave a comment

Darkland

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1990 New Deal Productions

Platform: Commodore Amiga

Darkland is a very neat looking action game that was in production for the Commodore Amiga back in 1990 by New Deal Productions. It seems the company released a few titles, but then disappeared around 1990 with no further developments.

darkland1

The game was reported to have 1 MB of graphics and around 250 screens in total – an “overscan game with differential scrolling”. Generation 4 magazine were impressed with the graphics shown, but hadn’t played anything by the sounds of it. It was reported that they hoped to have a playable version the next month and that the game was due for release around October 1990. Continue reading →

Posted in: Commodore Amiga, Reviews | Tagged: | 4 Comments

Bar National

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1986 Jens and Mattias Thorsen

Platform: Sinclair QL

Our first ever Sinclair QL title into the unreleased games archive which is Games That Weren’t, and thanks to Anonymous Contributor for the heads up. Much of the following is based from their contribution.

Bar National was an 1980s club-life simulator that was created by Swedish brothers Jens and Mattias Thorsen.  Jens eventually went on to make his mark during the mid-1990s, as the main person behind the hugely successful Backpacker series of games in Sweden.

Jens had done some programming in the early 1980s, and it wasn’t until the mid-1980s when Jens was a student at a technical college in Sweden, and the computer bug really bit. Together with his brother Mattias, he created “Bar National” on the Sinclair QL. Continue reading →

Posted in: Reviews, Sinclair Quantum Leap (QL) | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Robin Hood

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1985 Spinnaker Software/Windham Classics

Platforms: Commodore 64 (GTW64 entry), Apple II and possibly DOS

A short entry for a title highlighted by contributor Ricky Derocher, and which was due for release back in 1985 by Windham Classics – the same team that created classics such as Below the Root and Wizard of Oz.

In a catalogue that came with Swiss Family Robinson, there is a very small advert for a Robin Hood game that is coming soon, along with Wizard of Oz and to be available in the spring of 1985.

Of course, sadly the game was never to arrive, leaving us wondering what type of game it may have been. Our guess is that it would have been a graphic text adventure in the same format as The Wizard of Oz or Swiss Family Robinson – so potential candidates of people involved could include: Howard Boles (Musician), John Pierard (Graphics), Michael P. Meyer (Code), Daniel J. Mydlack (Graphics) and Seth Godin (Code). Continue reading →

Posted in: Apple II, Commodore 64 (C64), PC, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Adidas Golden Shoe

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1989 Ocean Software France

Platforms: Commodore Amiga and Atari ST

Adidas Golden Shoe is not to be confused with Adidas Championship Football, but then perhaps it should be? (see below). The team and the graphics are completely different for both games – and as contributor Hoagie flags up, Michèle Bacqué’s graphic style can be recognised too.

GoldenShoe1

This particular strange development was being designed and developed by Ocean France at the same time that Beach Volley was being created. Continue reading →

Posted in: Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, Reviews | Tagged: | 1 Comment

Joy of Killing

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1996 Mirage Software / S-Crew

Platform: Commodore Amiga 500

Sadly with the decline of the Amiga in later years, it resulted in many titles being thrown onto the scrapheap. Joy of Killing was yet another casualty from all of this, a shoot-em-up title by Polish development team S-Crew, and set to be published by Mirage Software.

joyshotjpg

The game was developed by Jarosław Wetoszka (Charon/Mystic) with graphics by Paweł Wojciechowski (Yoga/United Artists) and audio by Szymon Kosecki (Spiryt/Euphoria) and was relatively advanced and mentioned in a number of magazines back in 1996, where software was beginning to dry up. Continue reading →

Posted in: Commodore Amiga, Reviews | Tagged: | 1 Comment

Battlezone 2000

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1994 Atari

Platform: Atari Jaguar

Battlezone 2000 was one of the early planned titles for the Atari Jaguar and mentioned in various magazines over a period of time, but it was never to surface – or did it in some form at least?

bz2000 2

It is suggested that Battlezone 2000 was later reworked into Hover Strike, a futuristic tank battle game – which certainly matches up. However, Leonard Tramiel has claimed that both games were entirely separate, which has caused some conflict of information.

There is a suggestion that both games were even advertised side by side – was that the case? (we weren’t able to find an advert showing both together at the time of writing). If so, does it mean that an original Battlezone development was scrapped and replaced by a separate and unrelated development that was Hover Strike? Continue reading →

Posted in: Atari Jaguar, Reviews | Tagged: | 3 Comments