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 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 video game history since 1999.

Please Browse our archive and discover the many entries that we host for many different platforms.

Latest News and Posts

Star Control III

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1996 Accolade

Platforms: Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation

A short entry for now on what sadly was to be an abandoned conversion of Star Control III for both the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation platforms. The game was eventually released on the PC and Mac. There is a pretty decent article about the game at http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/star-control-3/

There was some brief press at the time talking about the conversions, and here are some scans for now from Sega Pro magazine (August 1996) that talk about the conversion to the Saturn (thanks to Ross Sillifant). Continue reading →

Posted in: PlayStation, Reviews, Saturn | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Ray Trace VS The Megadeath Aliens

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

We had a request from contributor Robin Gravel, who has spent some years looking for this Mastertronic/Virgin game that was advertised for PC back in 1988 called Ray Trace VS the Megadeath Aliens.

Ray Trace VS The Megadeath Aliens

It was described as an arcade action game in a town with a different attitude. Proclaimed to be the first ever game to display 16 colours with CGA.

Was it ever released?  Nothing has yet surfaced of the game, so we have no idea at this stage. Please get in touch if you know anything more or even have a copy!

Posted in: News, PC, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

GTW64 update for August 2020

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

Another month and another GTW64 update with a number of new entries and various page updates that have been added over the past month. Enjoy!

11 new entries added

Ball Breaker, Black Tiger V1, Bushfire, Counting Bees, Eskape, Fighting Survivor, Humpy64, Nuclear War, Spin Out, The Last Commando, The Magic Garden Talking Book Series

33 updates added

A Chance In Hell, Argonautica, Barbarian 3, Batman Returns, Blast, C64GS cartridge titles, Cyclone, Danger! High Voltage, Dragon Slayer, Dragon’s Lair 2: Timewarp, Eye Of The Beholder, Infer, Inspector Gadget, Joe Blade 3, Joust, Mega Games, Mega Moto, Mishun, Molar Madness, Move Out, Nodule, Orcus, Outrun 2, Paperboy 2, Penguin Tower, Penguin Tower V2, Phantom Rider, Scooby Doo V1, Space Ace, Tusari 2, Warrior Of Darkness, Your Computer Software Exchange, Zolo

Posted in: Commodore 64, GTW64 news | Leave a comment

Universal Monsters

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1993 Ocean Software

Platforms: Commodore Amiga and Atari ST

A short post to share various screens from the pretty much complete but unreleased Universal Monsters that was due for release on the Amiga and Atari ST platforms. Sadly hitting development and design issues which would ultimately see it cancelled.

Continue reading →

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

The Heist – Released on Atari / IBM PC * jr?

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

A quick post after receiving an email today from a Robin Gravel who has highlighted the classic title “The Heist” – a title I remember well on the Commodore 64.

In the advert which you can see here, the game is additionally advertised for the Atari and IBM PC + jr platforms. However, neither of those versions seem to be out there at all.

So the question is, were these two ever released at all? Or did they just sneak out in limited numbers?  Let us know if you know anything more and thanks to Robin for flagging this one up.

Posted in: Atari, PC, Reviews | Tagged: | 1 Comment

Commando War

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1990 Titus Software

Platform: Commodore Amiga, Atari ST and PC

Commando War was to be a very ambitious title from Titus Software back in 1990, a sort of cross between Populous and Cannon Fodder. But what was particularly ambitious was that the game was introduction of a concept called Action Concept. More on that in a bit.

comwar2

This particular game would allow you to play a squad leader in control of up to 10 commandos, or you and a friend could control 5 each on the same side. There would be a series of missions that you could take part in across different maps, in a flip-screen style mode (at least that is what the Zero article suggests – no scrolling). Continue reading →

Posted in: Amiga, Atari, PC | Tagged: | 2 Comments

Ocean C64 assets

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

Just a quick post to share some odd Ocean related C64 assets I found as I was tidying through some archived disks from Dawn Hollywood (Nee Drake) and Paul Hughes when backing up some old CDs:

These “Time Out” and “Game Over” screens I don’t recognise from anywhere and they were on an unlabelled disk, recovered as deleted files. Not fully sure what format they are, so its possible they may have colour data not showing.

UPDATE: Contributor Hank (see comments) has confirmed that the screens are from Pang! Added how it should look to the above gallery. Mystery solved, though they are slightly different overall, so earlier screens or possibly even from another build.

Then on one of Dawn’s disks is an unfinished/unused loading screen for Vindicators, which attempts to do some hires colouring. In the end it was kept to just a monochrome screen for the final release.

A set of curiosities which we hope you find interesting. Hopefully we’ll find out soon what the Timeout and Game Over graphics were intended for.

Download disk

Posted in: Commodore 64, GTW64 news, Unused materials | Tagged: | 3 Comments

Space Junk

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1993-1994 Imagitec

Platforms: Atari Falcon and Jaguar, Sega Mega CD, Amiga CD 32 and PC

As we moved into the 1990s, games were becoming far bigger and bolder – especially with emerging new data storage options for consoles and computers. Space Junk was to be an ambitious title by Imagitec, who were asked by Atari to produce a space adventure game for their new Falcon platform. We pull together information from various press sources from the time about the game and try to piece together a little of what it was about, and what happened in the end.

Due originally for release back in June 1993, the game was to feature over 200 locations with digitised backdrops, between 60-100 fully animated characters and each complete with speech samples. What made this game quite uncommon at the time was the use of puppets/masks to create the characters and animations – giving an almost life-like feel to the game. Certainly the digitisation would require some decent storage capacity, meaning it had to be CD for storage – otherwise the Falcon version would require a mega-ton of floppy disks or at least a cut down edition produced.

Although it seemed to be lined up initially as an exclusive for the Falcon, Imagitec decided to hedge their bets on more than one platform (which would turn out to be wise). They would add the new Sega Mega CD to the line up early on when discussing the game with Sega Force magazine in 1993.

Dawn Whitehead-Binns working on the sculptures, as Nick looks on wearing the mask of main protagonist Randolf.

Continue reading →

Posted in: Amiga, Atari, Mega CD, PC | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Starfighter Ace

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1993 Maelstrom / Mirage

Platform: PC

The next entry to go into the archive is a title which has been in my blurred memories for many years. I always recall sitting down and watching an episode of Gamesmaster on Channel 4 in the UK and seeing a 3D special, where contestants played a cool looking Star Fox style game. The contestants (and viewers at home) would need to wear a pair of classic 3D glasses to view the game properly.

Thanks to the power of the internet and all the magazine archives out there, I was discover that it was a title called Starfighter Ace. Planned for release by Mirage back in 1993 on PC only. What was surprising was that the title was being developed by Maelstrom, the Liverpool based team which had Mike Singleton at the helm.

Continue reading →

Posted in: PC, Reviews | Tagged: | 1 Comment