Preserving Cancelled & Unreleased Video Game History Since 1999
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 since 1999.
Please Browse our archive and discover the many entries that we host for many different platforms.
Whilst working and researching on the write up for Virtua Hamster for the Games That Weren’t book, we were loaned a bunch of assets from David A Palmer for the book and later website. Part of the archive was a SEGA product catalogue which advertised Virtua Hamster.
It’s possible that it has already been digitally preserved, but we have scanned it just in case and have made it available here – showing a glimpse of many titles from SEGA for a variety of platforms, including Game Gear, Saturn, 32X and Mega Drive – even Pico too. There are likely a few other unreleased titles listed within the pages too. Enjoy!
PLEASE NOTE: If you use these images, all we ask is if you can please credit the source. Unfortunately these scans have been compiled into PDF’s and hosted elsewhere online without any credit at all. A lot of hard and unpaid work goes into this archive, and credit should be due where credit is due.
As part of the launch and release of The Games That Weren’t book, we are adding assets and content that didn’t make it to print as bonus DLC content to share with you. Images are (c) David A. Palmer and used with permission. With thanks to Eric Quakenbush for the additional scans provided.
Within the book is an in-depth and detailed 16 page story about the unreleased Virtua Hamster by Peakstar/SEGA for the 32X and Saturn platforms. We overall speak to designer Eric Quakenbush, producer David A Palmer, lead developer Nick Kimberley, associate producer/artist Ben Palmer, artist Roddy McMillan and musician Paul Tankard – getting their recollections about the project.
Within the book is an in-depth and detailed 8 page story about the unreleased Spitfire Fury by The Fourth Dimension for the Acorn Archimedes. A title where very little light has been shed until now. We speak to lead developer Andrew Hutchings, polygon creator Mark Ferguson and loading screen artist Stephen Scott. The book contains a number of specially re-pixelled screenshots by Trevor Storey from grainy screens shown in the game’s magazine advert.
1st extracted screenshot showing the main Spitfire.
A quick entry post for a football management game that was due for release by non other than Team 17 back around 1997/98 time – thanks to Niklas Lindholm for the heads up.
The game was to be released for PC, Mac and Amiga and was to be an an online/play by mail football management game, and was even beta tested by Niklas at the time. It was possibly one of the first online football management games that was developed alongside Soccer Nation that we recently covered.
It just seems to have completely disappeared though and its unsure if it evolved into something else. We’re hoping to get hold of someone from Team 17 to clarify exactly what happened. All that exists at the moment are remnants from the old website, which Wayback machine sadly didn’t capture images from. There are also some news items about the game, where we’ve managed to grab some screens. See below.
Within the book is an in-depth and detailed 16 page story about the unreleased Dick Special by Rainbird for the Commodore Amiga (and briefly Atari ST). However, the story extends beyond the Rainbird title, and covers further developments for Activision and Miracle Games over a 5 year time span. A complex timeline of events which has been untangled and carefully put together. The book includes a number of specially re-pixelled screenshots based on those shown in the magazines of the time.
A slightly rarer screenshot and a different outdoor scene from ACE magazine, issue 2. (c) Future Publishing.
Within the book is an in-depth and detailed 16 page story about the unreleased Deathwatch by Data Design Interactive for the Atari Jaguar platform. A title where very little light has been shed until now. We speak to second lead developer Ben Whitlock, designer John Court, artist Richard Priest, musician Darren Wood, producer Eamonn Barr and also include input from Dale Johnstone, Stewart Green and Simeon Hankins.
The game originally had a working title of “Bug” and was a multi-directional 2D platformer with beautifully painted and scanned backgrounds – sort of like Rayman, but with inspirations from run and gun titles such as Midnight Resistance and Super Contra. It was a concept from the brains of designer John Court, and which DDI took a real shine too from his sketch book concepts.
An early mock up with the main character on a painted and scanned background.
As well as the complete timeline of events and quotes from the developers, the book includes a series of specially re-pixelled screens from grainy screenshots and utilizing sprites that were recovered during research into the game. We were fortunate to have been provided with a series of art assets from the game, including concept sketches thanks to the combined efforts of John Court, Richard Priest and Ben Whitlock. Many of which there wasn’t space to include in the book, so here they are for you now and previously unseen.
As part of the launch and release of The Games That Weren’t book, we are adding assets and content that didn’t make it to print as bonus content to share with you.
Although the story of Daffy Duck is well documented on GTW for the Commodore 64, within the book is a detailed 12 page full story that covers all of the planned versions due. We speak to Ashley Routledge, Alan Benson, Ben Walshaw, Craig Wight, David A Palmer, David Saunders, Gary Antcliffe, Nigel Speight, Paul Tankard, Pete Frith and Richard Morton to tell as complete a story that we can about what happened to the game across all formats, not just the C64 edition.
Whilst doing research for the other versions, we were overwhelmed by the recovery of many assets for the Amiga version, thanks to graphic artist Richard Morton. However, it was the video footage of the Amiga version that was a big surprise in the absence of the game itself, recovered from an old VHS tape by David A Palmer.
As part of the launch and release of The Games That Weren’t book, we are adding assets and content that didn’t make it to print as bonus content to share with you.
Within the book is a detailed 6 page full story about the unreleased Heart of Yesod by Eldritch the Cat. We speak to developer Steve Wetherill and artist Colin Grunes about the very brief development. There are also two wonderful mock-up artist impressions of how the game could have looked, thanks to artist Trevor Storey.
Below is the complete original game pitch and details which were provided by Steve during our research, which outline the storyline to the game and other specifics. Part of the details were shown in the book, but these are all the pages. There are also some photos of the Eldritch the Cat team which didn’t quite make it to print, and which were provided with permission from Mark McCubbin.
Sadly the early prototype produced on the Atari ST has yet to be found, and could well be completely lost to time. If Steve/Colin manage to find it – then we will be sure to add it to the site and on this page in the future.
UPDATE: Steve has recently produced a blog post on the game, which you can check out at https://blog.stevewetherill.com/2022/01/heart-of-yesod-game-that-wasnt.html
Gallery
Outline document page 1
Outline document page 2
Outline document page 3
Photo 1 of the Eldritch The Cat team courtesy of Mark McCubbin. Left to Right: Dave Collins, Mark McCubbin, Stefan Walker, Marc Wilding and Steve Wetherill
Photo 2 of the Eldritch The Cat team courtesy of Mark McCubbin. Back row left to right: Steve Wetherill, Marc Wilding and Stefan Walker. Front row left to right: Mark McCubbin and Dave Collins
This is a smaller piece intended for inclusion in The Games That Weren’t book that didn’t make the final cut. As a result, please note that it hasn’t been professionally proof read compared to the published pieces in the book. As part of our Bonus material series, here is the full raw article for your enjoyment, as well as new downloads and extras.
The Commodore Vic 20 was a product of inspiration, following when Jack Tramiel first saw Sir Clive Sinclair’s drive and enthusiasm to make home computers more affordable to the general public in the United Kingdom with the release of the ZX80 in 1980. Unimpressed with the lack of colour and a proper keyboard, Jack pushed his team to produce a low cost computer with all of those features, and with the aim of making “computers for the masses, not the classes”.
Even though it came with a limited 5K of RAM (expandable via the cartridge slot), it proved an extremely successful and major hit for Commodore[1]. As with the Spectrum, it gave many the perfect opportunity to get involved with computers, but also in the creation of games. This in particular was the case for a young Mike Taylor in the early 1980’s.
“I started programming on a friend’s TRS-80. On that machine, I played Scott Adams’ Adventureland, and I was instantly in love.” he began. “When I was about thirteen years old, I started doing a milk round to earn the money to buy my own computer. By Christmas 1981, I’d accumulated about £140, and for Christmas my parents gave me the rest of the money that I needed to make it up to the list-price of the VIC-20 – a number engraved forever in my mind, £189.95.”
As with many early home computer adopters, it didn’t take long until Mike was busy writing his own programs. After creating a series of simple games in BASIC, the 3.5K was found to be insufficient for what Mike was ultimately trying to achieve. With a lack of funds available since his new acquirement, a friend of Mike constructed a homebrew memory expansion especially for him, constructed ingeniously inside a cassette case.
The custom memory expansion built for Mike to start producing his adventure games. (c) Mike Taylor
DISCLAIMER: We are a non-profit digitisation project, aiming to digitally preserve software and history which would otherwise be lost for good. If for any reason there is anything that you do not wish to be on the website, please contact us for removal.
Games That Weren't® is the registered trademark of Frank Gasking.
