Unreleased & Cancelled Video Games across many platforms.
We are an Unreleased and Cancelled 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.
Thanks to Dan Warren, here is yet another pre-release screen, this time from Palace Software’s 1988 Troll game.
There are some very minor graphic differences compared to the final version, including the score being on the opposite side and some slight differences in the main area. Scan courtesy of Stephen (Mort) Stuttard.
Thanks to Dan Warren, here are some pre-release screens from Ocean’s “V – The Game”.
Very small differences overall, just showing an earlier score panel. The game graphics seem to be at this point pretty solid. Scans courtesy of Stephen (Mort) Stuttard.
A few more updates to the site, which includes a number of new entries and various updates. Batman Returns in particular has been tidied up a bit, and i’ve added some much better and high quality screenshot scans, thanks to the amazing Stephen Stuttard.
There are some concept sketches from Ned Langman too for a few entries and details about yet another Lemmings conversion that was intended. Full updates are below:
Catch’em, Lordlings of Yore, Reader’s Digest Software, Underland
Batman Returns, Big Top, Civilization, Elevator, Enemy, Exodus, Labyrinth, Legendary Deed, Lemmings V1, Nuker, Pet Person, Quest for Eternity, Star Force Seven, Stellar 7, Warcraft 64, Worms
Thanks to Dasse Evertsson for the heads up, but at the end of the fantastic Amiga game Traps ‘n Treasures, there is a little hint of a sequel with “Redbeard’s Revenge”.
Due for release it seems in 1996, we are guessing that Starbyte had left the Amiga scene by that point. The last Amiga games from the company were in 1995.
@DillyDylan on Twitter commented that there was a Super Nintendo version of the game planned and was being programmed by Simon J. Francis. Below is a magazine article, but showing a screenshot from the Amiga version unfortunately:
Developer of the Amiga game Roman Werner was not aware of any SNES materials existing, and wasn’t involved directly. When asked about the sequel, Roman suggests the sequel was more of a “good will” mention rather than actual plans. They had ideas and graphics left over that couldn’t be implemented in the 1993 game, so there was potential for a sequel. Sadly though, it never happened and nothing was ever started.
Case closed!
Flicking through the last issue of Zzap!64 back in late 1992, I rediscovered an early screenshot and the first to be shown of the Commodore 64 version of Lemmings. It would be a year until the final game saw release.
Looking at the constructed screenshot, it seems this was a test level, as I think there are more lemmings on the screen than the C64 version eventually allowed, plus usually you only get the floater icon on this level. Also at this stage the shading is quite simple, and the graphics may have been quickly wired at this stage from the Amiga. Or is it even just a quick mock up?
Contributor Mathew Chakko flagged up that “The Sporting News Baseball” game by Epyx Software in 1988 was advertised with a panel area that had a number of differences compared to the final game. Here it is:
Now compare to the screenshot from Gamebase64:
There is a MPH meter and also what seems to be a wind direction line too? Very minor differences from what was probably just a slightly earlier build used to screenshot. Interesting though to see :) Continue reading
Another month and another update at GTW64, with a number of new entries and updates that we’ve been adding since the last. Hope everyone is well, and keep safe in these strange times.
Bugs in buggyland, Civilization, Elevator, King Of The Air, Labyrinth, Milliways: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Sagan om ringen, Warcraft 64
3 Days In Carpathia, Andromeda 3, Anteater, Beavers, Bomber Clot, Cargo run, Catch 23, Chelsea of the South Sea, Club Jr’s, Dr Who and the Warlord, Dragonstone 2, Dune Buggy, Gauntlet 3, Ground Zero, Hard Drivin’ V1, Lauren of the 25th Century, Old Scores, Pony Express, Populous, Quest for Eternity, Snow Bros, Super Scramble, The Greedy Dwarf, The Search For Sharla, The Tripods, Toby’s Rescue, White Feather Cloak, Worms
Thanks to Ross Sillifant for the heads up, a short clip of what seems to be the unreleased PlayStation version of Aliens vs Predator can be found in this fascinating video of the E3 show back in 1997: https://youtu.be/W1iDYImB2Zw?t=7529
It should start at the right place, but if for any reason it doesn’t – skip to 2:05:29. Ross also found an archive link where Jason Kingsley talks about the project in a development diary – with some fascinating details.
The entire video (which has been online for a few years) is worth checking out, as it features a number of unreleased titles within. The game was also planned for release on the Sega Saturn, which also saw cancellation. The PC version was delayed and eventually released in 1999.
In April 2023, contributor Molasar fed back a number of other links showing parts of the PlayStation edition and various scans. Here are the resources:
More gameplay from E3 1997:
Scanned screenshots from Micromania Spanish magazine:
Scans:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/p0q5qkclxhcsy23/avpshots.zip/file
Scan from Next Generation 34 Oct 1997 with 3D characters:
https://ia600202.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/0/items/NextGeneration34Oct1997/Next_Generation_34_Oct_1997.cbr&file=NEXT_34_Oct_1997_page_00118.jpg
Scan from PC Zone 54 (September 1997):
https://ia803209.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/5/items/PC_Zone_54_September_1997/PC_Zone_54_September_1997_jp2.zip&file=PC_Zone_54_September_1997_jp2%2FPC_Zone_54_September_1997_0012.jp2&ext=jpg
Scan from Playstation Plus Vol #2 Issue #11:
https://ia802905.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/17/items/playstationplusvol2issue11/Playstation%20Plus%20Vol%20%232%20Issue%20%2311_jp2.zip&file=Playstation%20Plus%20Vol%20%232%20Issue%20%2311_jp2%2FPlaystation%20Plus%20Vol%20%232%20Issue%20%2311_0024.jp2&ext=jpg
Then in August 2023, Molasar dug out a conversation about the development from a recent podcast:
https://www.avpgalaxy.net/2023/07/30/its-an-avp-extinction-extravaganza-avp-galaxy-podcasts-167-168/
https://www.avpgalaxy.net/website/interviews/zono-avp-extinction/
Aaron: While we’re here to primarily talk AvP Extinction, I know Mike you used to work at Fox Interactive and had some hand in the development of AvP Classic. Now it’d be criminal of me not to ask you about it while we’re on here and we’ve got you. So, tell us about that experience working on that game?
Mike: I had worked at Acclaim. That was my first job in the industry, and I worked on a lot of things. I feel like there was something Aliens – I think maybe it was being talked about when I was at Acclaim. Then I left Acclaim, I went to Sony and then about a year after I left to Acclaim, I ended up at Fox so it must have been that Alien Trilogy was being talked about when I was there. I got there and it was a license deal so we weren’t really involved but we were also basically like handling reviewing of all the licensed products right just for like video gameness. Because I had like a bad relationship with Acclaim. When they came for like the final approval of Alien Trilogy they said well why don’t you take care of this, like have a little fun and so I went into the room.
I was like “No you can’t ship this. It’s awful” and I have to thank whoever that was for letting me have that tiny, tiny iota of revenge but after that shipped, I was like “I really like these Aliens games. Like this is kind of fun. I want to do something like with AvP because we had this Jaguar game we’re playing. The Jaguar game – the thing that made it so cool was that they built models of all the Aliens and they photographed them from all the different angles and made sprites. So even though it was kind of janky that they looked really good because they were they were models instead of hand-painted and so I found those guys. It was Rebellion in the UK, and I was like “Hey look we want to do another AvP game. Can you just basically do like what you did before and do that on Playstation?”
And they were like “Yeah cool”, and it was like a really tough project. Like they were really small. It was like five or six people on the team and the model thing just wasn’t really working on Playstation and design wise, like the design wasn’t really there and they didn’t have a great plan. Luckily for me, I went to go work at Activision on Battlezone and as I was leaving, I handed the project to a guy named Dave Stalker who just comes back to the story like a few years later. I said to Dave “You’re a designer. This game really needs a lot of design now” So it turns out after I left, he basically spent like a year and a half at Rebellion working with them on the design of the game and it turned out to be a great game.
Oh, and like five minutes after I left, they were like “Hey we really don’t want to do this the model thing. Can we just make 3D models of everything” and Dave was like “Yeah sure.” They blamed me for that. They were like “Oh we asked him, and he wouldn’t let us do it.” At the time I was at Fox, we kept saying hey it’d be really cool to do like an AvP RTS and we talk about it at lunch all the time right. So a couple years later I was talking to Novak who’s one of the founders of Zono and he’s like “Yeah we’re doing this AvP RTS” and I was like “Ah that was a great idea. I’m glad they finally did that.” So, I guess that’s my history.
Adam: So, the game, there was a PS1 version in development that was dropped, and they just went with PC for that one, right?
Mike: Yeah it was it was PC, Playstation and Saturn and so Playstation was kind of like the lead SKU around the time that I left. I think what my understanding what had happened was like I said development was a little troublesome and I don’t think it was troublesome like that they couldn’t handle it. I think it was just they bit off more than they could shoot right. It was the amount of stuff they were trying to put into the game I think was more than a Playstation could handle and so I think after I left, they just pragmatically said “Let’s just drop this and stick with PC that can handle so much more memory, more power”.
—
Then finally, not quite related to the PS edition, here were some details about a CD update for the Jaguar version that were uncovered by Ross Sillifant:
With thanks to Ross Sillifant for the original video heads up and to Molasar for the resources.
Our publisher Bitmap Books have just released a bit more detail in their latest newsletter about the upcoming Games That Weren’t book, including a sneak peak at how its shaping up, so here is a bit of a preview for you:
Giving an illustrated snapshot of a wide range of unreleased games from 1975 to 2015, The Games That Weren’t includes titles across a variety of arcade, home computer, console, handheld and mobile platforms spread across 644 pages. Many games are expanded upon in detail, with those involved sharing their untold stories and recollections, as well as attempting to solve some mysteries along the way. Assets and screenshots are shown for most titles, some never seen until now. In the case of games that don’t have anything to show, there are specially created artist’s impressions, giving a unique visual interpretation of what could have been.
For more updates, you can subscribe to Bitmap Books’ newsletter here.
In hoping to bring back more regular updates now the book nears conclusion and publication in a few months, here is the first GTW update of 2020, including a new Vic 20 section. This update includes a bunch of new entries highlighted by Peter Weighill, which I had stupidly missed for the Christmas update.
Advanced Arcadeware 4 Pack, Anteater, Cargo run, Creepy Corridors, Double Dragon V1, Geister, Monkeybuilder, Phoenix Lair, Sphinx, Typo, Wheeler Dealers, “‹Stratos
Adam Caveman, Albedo, Amazon Tales, Capitaly, Escape From Colditz, Guardians Of Time, Hangman, Joust, Megatree, Mumbles – Superspy, Super Scramble, Unnamed helecopter game
Something i’ve wanted to do for a while, and got prompted again after a discussion with Mat Allen and seeing news that a Hungry Horace game existed for the Vic 20. Something that will hopefully grow into more in the future:
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