Welcome to Games That Weren't!

We are a 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

Pocket Panic GBC Prototype

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Pocket Panic is a great homebrew title by Steve Jones that was released in 1999 for the Game Boy Color as part of the Bung Coding competition. It is a neat modern mix of Loder Runner and Panic Planet, and with possible inspirations from other games.

pocket large

Today we’re adding what might be a later prototype of the game which was being tidied up/adjusted for Graphic State in 1999. It features a different start intro, but also very different sprite graphics – with a Jetman main character and shaded in enemies, baby and bomb sprites. Continue reading →

Posted in: Game Boy Color, Prototype, Unused materials | Tagged: | 2 Comments

Kick Off SNES prototype

Posted: by Frank Gasking

Another prototype from the Enigma Variations archives, with the SNES version of Kick Off. Just the one prototype this time, with a PAL edition dated the 24th July 1992.

kickoff large

This seems to be an extremely late build of the game, and is very close to the final version and likely to have just very minor differences tucked away. We couldn’t see anything obviously different – and it could be a case of small bug fixes being missing. Continue reading →

Posted in: Prototype, Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Unused materials | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Adventure prototype recovered for the Commodore 64

Posted: by Frank Gasking

A huge Commodore 64 surprise to kick off the week with Games That Weren’t adding the sadly cancelled playable prototype of the Indiana Jones 3 adventure. An unofficial conversion of the great Lucasfilm Games title with bags of promise, but wasn’t to be. Check it out here:

https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/indiana-jones-and-the-last-crusade-adventure/

Posted in: Commodore 64 (C64), GTW64 news, News | 1 Comment

The Amazing Spiderman

Posted: , last updated: by Patrick Furlong

1991 Empire Software

Platforms: Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum

Empire wasn’t a label one would normally associate with the Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum, with just a handful of titles (Pipe Mania, Dr Doom’s Revenge, Gazza’s Super Soccer, Gazza 2) and a compilation (Soccer Stars) under it’s belt.

spider cpc1

Following the success of their Captain America and Spiderman crossover game Dr Doom’s Revenge, Empire picked up the licence to produce a stand alone game featuring Spiderman. Continue reading →

Posted in: Amstrad CPC, Reviews, ZX Spectrum | Tagged: | 2 Comments

Amiga PD disk preservation (September 2025)

Posted: by Frank Gasking

It’s not just games that we preserve at Games That Weren’t, but we try and preserve a variety of software which hasn’t yet been digitized or made available online. Thanks to the sterling efforts of Aaron White, we have a set of 9 Amiga Public Domain disks that had yet to be preserved (until now!).

D 004

These contain a set of music demos, and also PD library catalogues which feature music, images and introduction sequences created especially. Hopefully these will be eventually redistributed into various Amiga archives. Continue reading →

Posted in: Commodore Amiga, Preservation | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Dream Hunter

Posted: by Frank Gasking

1999 Unknown

Platform: Nintendo Game Boy Color

Our next title into the archives is a very early platform game for the Game Boy Color, and was developed around 1999. It is unknown currently what the origins are for it, if it was for an official development or part of a development competition (we weren’t able to spot on our initial searches). It was found within some development archives of Mark Greenshields, but this wasn’t one of their titles.

dream1

There isn’t much to the preview at this stage, and is more of an engine test with a decent main character who walks along a really nicely drawn level map with platform blocks (including musical blocks) and water hazards. Continue reading →

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

Kevin Keegan’s Player Manager SNES prototypes

Posted: by Frank Gasking

More prototypes from the Enigma Variations archives, with three for the SNES with Kevin Keegan’s Player Manager. These prototypes are dated from the 18th June to the 20th October 1993.

kevin large

The most interesting of the prototypes if the earliest, with a non-playable demo where you see two computer teams playing against each other. There are some graphical differences, including in particular with the billboards on the side. Continue reading →

Posted in: Reviews, Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Unused materials | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Shoot (Working title)

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1999 Unknown

Platform: Nintendo Game Boy Color

Our next title into the archives is a very early platform shooter game for the Game Boy Color, and was developed around 1999. It is unknown currently what the origins are for it, if it was for an official development or part of a development competition (we weren’t able to spot on our initial searches). It was found within some development archives of Mark Greenshields, but this wasn’t one of their titles.

shoot2

There isn’t much to the preview at this stage, and is more of an engine test with a decent main character that shoots a rapid machine gun and can scroll from left to right, jumping over crates and holes in the ground. If you fall down a hole, that’s it – and you’ll have to restart the prototype. Continue reading →

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

Break Show

Posted: by Yassine Bakrim

199X UPL Company Limited

Platform: Unknown

UPL Company Limited was a Japanese game developer best known for titles like Kōtetsu Yōsai Strahl, Vandyke, and Black Heart. These games later received modern re-releases, introducing them to a new generation of players – myself included, as I might never have discovered Vandyke without these ports.

cropped large

Shortly after releasing Kōtetsu Yōsai Strahl and Mahjong Haōden: Kaiser’s Quest, UPL went out of business. However, before its closure, the company was secretly developing a shoot-’em-up titled Breakshow. Continue reading →

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

GTW64 August 2025 update

Posted: by Frank Gasking

2025 is going past in a flash as we enter into August, and GTW64 is continuing to evolve and grow too. This month we have added 6 new entries, including the great looking Indy 3 adventure game homebrew that sadly was cancelled, an early development of Skateball and lots more.

We then have 9 updates for you, which includes the recent recovery of Bryan Robson’s Super League, not only for the C64, but ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. See you all next month!

5 new entries added

Competition Karate 2, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Adventure), Infinite Inferno, Programmerings-Tävling entries, Skateball

9 updates added

Bryan Robson’s Super League, C64GS cartridge titles, Footy game, Gem-X 2, Graham Gooch World Class Cricket, Hollywood Poker, Sword of Sodan, Xtron, Zolo

Posted in: GTW64 news, News | 2 Comments