Games That Weren't^®

A short entry for a title that has been highlighted by Peter Weighill as one which is currently missing.

A quiz game for 2 players or more, and billed as a “Terrific Party Game” and “No typing required”. Over 20 hours of play with no questions repeating and dozens of subjects available. Later on you would also be able to add your very own questions too.

Sadly nothing more is known about the game and if it was ever actually sold at all. Can you help us find and preserve it?

A short entry for a title that has been highlighted by Peter Weighill as one which is currently missing.

A small compilation of games including Tic Tac Toe, Slot Machine and 2 versions of Blackjack”‹. It is likely to be a compilation that was written in BASIC and sold only via mail order.

Sadly nothing more is known about the compilation and if it was ever actually sold at all. Can you help us find and preserve it?

A short entry for a title that has been highlighted by Peter Weighill as one which is currently missing.

As you might have guessed from the title, the game is a Craps simulation that was developed after years of actual casino play. Designed so that beginners can join in and challenge the most seasoned players too. There is the ability to play alone or against a computer player, with full colour and sound used throughout. It is likely that the game was coded in BASIC and only ever sold via mail-order.

Sadly nothing more is known about the game and if it was ever actually sold at all. Can you help us find and preserve it?

A short entry for a title that has been highlighted by Peter Weighill as one which is currently missing.

Described as an “Incredible Sailing Simulation”, the game supports up to two players as well. Martin/Stadium 64 has highlighted that there was a “Cup Challenge” game which seems to fit the description, and also includes a Kangaroo image on the loading screen, which features also in the Am-Cup advert. It could be just a co-incidence, and might be a logo from a famous Australian team perhaps – but its from the same era and could well be the same game:

http://stadium64.com/gameinfos/cupchallenge/cupchallenge.htm

Contributor Marc Walters has confirmed that the game is indeed the very same game as Cup Challenge. He had the following to say:

“Yes, this is the Australian game “Cup Challenge”. Andrew Farrell was editor, and later owner, of the newsstand magazine “Australian Commodore & Amiga Review”.
The “PA” in the copyright notice is short for Prime Artifax, which was Farrell’s publishing business. Farrell also wrote “Forest Raiders” and “Typing Tutor”, which was a pack-in software title for the Commodore Australia’s Commodore 16 Family Pack.
However, don’t mistake it for the other Australian America’s Cup sailing game from Microforte, called “Arnie’s America’s Cup Challenge”. That game was published in Europe as “America’s Cup Challenge” and by Activision in the USA as “The Official America’s Cup Sailing Simulation”.”

So it seems the game was picked up for US based release. Not sure exactly how different it would have been to the original game, but probably not much.

A short entry for a title that has been highlighted by Peter Weighill as one which is currently missing.

A game that was apparently two years in the making and described in the advert as follows:

“Have you ever wanted to pilot your own starship? Well commander, GALAXY PATROL will challenge you to the edge of the universe. You will encounter black holes, relentless Zugorian warriors, and mighty Zugorian warships, all displayed with up-to-date graphics. Great skill will be needed to land on planets. This one-player game also allows you to communicate with the enemy during combat. The future of free planets is in your hands!”

It seems that it may have been a kind of Elite/Star Raiders style game, which sounds pretty interesting.

Sadly nothing more is known about the game and if it was ever actually sold at all. Can you help us find and preserve it?

A short entry for a title that has been highlighted by Peter Weighill as one which is currently missing.

It seems to be an arcade game where you have to stop a ship from sinking. The advert described the game as follows:

“Sailor Joe has volunteered to stay behind and keep the ship afloat until his crew members are rescued. Can he make it or will he have to abandon ship? Patch the holes and seal off hopeless rooms while fighting invading sea creatures.”

Another advert details that it is a hi-res arcade style game that requires strategy and joystick skills. There are a total of 52 rooms in total within the HMS Black, including The Bridge, Engine Room, Armory and supply room.

Sadly nothing more is known about the game and if it was ever actually sold at all. Can you help us find and preserve it?

A short entry for a game that you can currently play, but not in its originally intended form.

Strider 2 was a poor sequel released for various 8-bit and 16-bit platforms by US Gold and developed by Tiertex. Originally the game started off as a game called “TOR”, which stood for Transforming Overland Robot.

According to artist Wayne Billingham (who was asked to tidy up the Strider 2 artwork), the original game was so bad that they decided to just stick Strider graphics into the game to try and sell it.

We assume that the main character was originally some kind of robot that you controlled, with the potential to transform into different vehicles. Elements of this seem to be still present in Strider 2, where you can transform into a limited moving robot. It is therefore likely that the game’s backgrounds and sprites survived and were used in the Strider game, but much could well have been chopped/changed.

Paul has mentioned previously that he no longer has anything of his C64 work, so its likely that the original work is lost for good. But who knows – maybe some day an early demo will surface via strange means.