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

Brian the Lion early assets

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1994 Reflections

Platform: Amiga

Just a short post thanks to Grzegorz Antosiewicz, who has highlighted some screenshots showing assets that never appeared in the final game.

Firstly, Amiga Format and Amiga Joker magazines both showed earlier versions of the title screen, which you can compare to the eventual one:

In early version on the left, you can see lion claws and each word is written in a different colour and font (blue for “Brian”, white for “the” and yellow for “Lion”). The finished version has nice animated effects, such as rotation, scaling and pixelization etc. Continue reading →

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

Fire Fighter

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1994 Teeny Weeny Games

Platform: Commodore Amiga

Released on the Game Boy in 1992, Fire Fighter was to see an update 2 years later on the Amiga 1200 from Teeny Weeny Games.

firefighter 640 1

The plot would have you controlling a Firefighter who has to rescue a number of people and animals. The start of the game has you inside a house that is burning, where you must find the family hidden in the house and use your hose pipe to dowse the fire as you go. Continue reading →

Posted in: Commodore Amiga, Reviews | Tagged: | 3 Comments

Free D.C!

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1991 U.S. Gold

Platform: Commodore Amiga

A short entry for now on what was to be an Amiga conversion of a DOS title from back in 1991 from Cineplay Interactive.

Set on Earth, where robots are now in control and where all remaining humans are kept in a Zoo. The game was a mystery solving title, where you have to solve a series of killings that have been happening.  It’s an adventure game, where you must have conversations with other characters to obtain clues. Continue reading →

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

Illuminatus

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1989 MikroBitti Magazine

Platform: Atari ST

A slightly unusual post now, for a title that wasn’t really a game – but then almost turned into one!

Illuminatus was news to me, until I heard from contributor Janne Sirén, who highlighted this fictional game that was once reviewed as an April Fools joke for Finland’s gaming magazine Mikrobitti in 1989. It was perhaps similar to what Zzap!64 did with Mindsmear.

ill cropped1

Janne has essentially provided most of the text and information which you will read here, which has been invaluable for putting this page together.

Illuminatus was an Elite style trading game, which caused quite a bit of a stir back in the day, because for many weeks/months – people felt the game was real. It even appeared in printed mail order advertisements in later issues of MikroBitti (where traders even fell for it). Distributors would call the magazine, asking how to get hold of the game and many readers were desperate to find a copy in the shops. Continue reading →

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

GTW64 October 2022 update

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Autumn has well and truly drawn in, and the updates for Games That Weren’t 64 continue where possible. This time we present 7 new entries, and 9 updates overall to various titles.

A big chunk of additions include many titles that were planned for the Commodore MAX platform – which was the precursor to the C64. If the titles can ever be found, then they should be adaptable to work on the C64. There’s also the finding of a more complete demo of Lemmings V1.

Enjoy, and see you all next month hopefully!

7 new entries added

Air Battle, Challenger, Cosmax, Go Sets Go, Greenhouse (MAX edition), Pirate Attack, Sub Hunt

9 updates added

3 Days In Carpathia, 9 Lives Of Fritz The Cat, Arcadian, Armalyte 2, Exorcist, Gem-X 2, Jimmy’s Grand Prix, Lemmings V1, Pushover64

Posted in: GTW64 news, News | Leave a comment

George A Sisyphean Drama

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1992 Marcus Hamilton

Platforms: Commodore Amiga, PC and Atari ST

A bizarre name for an intriguing puzzle game that was due for release on the Amiga, ST and PC platforms back in 1992. Not much is currently known about the game, and it was only seemingly previewed in Joystick magazine in October 1992.

Clipboard02 640

In the magazine article, the story goes that Sisyphus, who offended the Gods, was condemned for eternity eternity to roll stones up a mountain just to see them tumble and to start over and over again (a very severe punishment! ). Millennia have passed and men have forgotten Sisyphus and the warning he exemplified. The Gods are therefore again very angry and decide to appoint a new Sisyphus. Continue reading →

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

Return of the Tiger

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1992 Gremlin

Platforms: Commodore Amiga, Nintendo Game Boy (+ potentially others)

Tucked away in a news page in Commodore User magazine was a snippet that talks about Gremlin being set to update an old 8-bit classic – The Way Of The Tiger. Once again casting the player as a fighting hero who must participate in a number of events.

Nothing else was really mentioned and the line went dead at this point. Continue reading →

Posted in: Commodore Amiga, Nintendo Game Boy, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Hatchbacks of Doom

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

2001 Delsyd Software

Platform: AmigaOne

Initially there were big plans with Delsyd Software, with a team of 8 people, a hope to develop a host of new software for the Commodore Amiga during some dark days. When the team moved onto pastures new, Chris Kelley was left to try and keep things going himself.

In February 2001, Chris started rewriting a 3D engine he had been working on, and repurposed with creating a vehicular combat game. Chris and his friends were big Twisted Metal fans, and so Hatchbacks of Doom was born. The target platform was the AmigaOne.

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By April 2001, the engine was about half finished, and Chris was interviewed about the game in Amiga Active in May 2001. Here he tells readers that Hatchbacks of Doom was set in the very near future (scarily probably set today!), where there is a problem with cities are expanding all over the world and downtown areas are dying. Continue reading →

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

Impossible Mission 2025

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1994 Microprose

Platforms: Super Nintendo, SEGA Mega Drive

Also known as “Impossible Mission: The 90s Remix”, Impossible Mission 2025 was to be an enhanced version of the classic 1984 Commodore 64 platformer from Epyx. Not only featuring a whole new game, but the entire 8-bit original as a bonus extra.

feature image1

The new version would however feature the ability to select from 3 different characters, have power ups, multiple sub-games, end-of-level baddies and cut scenes. Continue reading →

Posted in: Mega Drive / Genesis, Reviews, Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) | Tagged: | 4 Comments

Walker unused assets

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

A very short post to flag up some unused assets that were intended for the Psygnosis classic – Walker,  thanks to Karl Kuras for highlighting.

Tucked away in a Work In Progress feature within The One magazine (issue 47), screens are shown from the upcoming game that we all know and love. However, a number of screens show scenes where you actually leave the Walker cockpit and descend underground into the enemies’ secret base.

Walkershot2

Continue reading →

Posted in: Commodore Amiga, Unused materials | Tagged: | 1 Comment