Penguin Tower on the Commodore 64 was recently finished off after almost 30 years. Developer Jani Hirvo has just informed Games That Weren’t that he has released all of the source code for the game on github!
Welcome to Games That Weren't!
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.
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Tier, Das: Die Rückkehr Des Bösen
1991 DMV
Platform: Commodore Amiga
One that we missed this year, but Jan / TCD found this unreleased German graphic text adventure whilst working on Hall of Light and which was uploaded for all to see.
We’re not 100% sure of the background to the title, apart from knowing that the game was developed and designed by Gregor Widuch, with graphics by Sonja Heil. Neither seem to have worked on any other games that are in the archives. Continue reading
The Ronin game recovered
Our friends at Atarimania.com have informed us of the recovery of an unreleased text adventure for the Atari 400/800 called The Ronin which has been missing for 39 years. A game that was intended for release eventually by Brøderbund Software, who had acquired Synapse Software at the time.
The game was found on a disk belonging to Bill Darrah (former Synapse Software programmer). It is thanks to the efforts of John Hardie of the National Videogame Museum who dumped the game, and for author David Alzofon for allowing the game to be made available.
http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-ronin_42345.html
Posted in: Atari 400/800, News Leave a comment
Penguin Tower
2000 Problemchild Productions
Platform: PC
Way back in 2000, Games That Weren’t had got in touch with Jani Hirvo regarding his lost Commodore 64 game – Penguin Tower. But did you know there was also a PC version?
You see – the game was reviewed in Commodore Format, scoring a decent percentage and was due for release by Visualize Software in the UK. Sadly, it never happened – but after almost 30 years, it finally got finished off and released.
At the time – Jani told GTW that the game was almost finished at the time and there wasn’t much to do, suggesting one day he could finish it. However, Jani was also working on a PC edition of the game which he was focusing on instead of the C64 game and provided us with a 10 level preview. Continue reading
Various C64 educational titles preserved
A huge thank you to Allan Pinkerton, who has preserved several educational titles from Micro Labs and Cymbal Software for the Commodore 64.
As they are not unreleased game entries, we have just made this post to make them available to all, and hopefully over time they will get integrated into various other digital archives, including Gamebase64.
Here are the links below and a huge thanks once more to Allan for all his hard work!
Downloads
Star Trek: A World For All Seasons
1994 Spectrum HoloByte
Platform: 3DO
Or as its full title: ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation – A World For All Seasons’. This early 3DO title was to be a ground-breaking interactive adventure game from Spectrum HoloByte, based on the famous franchise.
The game was a sort of “Choose-your-own-adventure” game, with many different options available that could lead you to other clues (or traps), with cinematic clips dropped in at various key points. A feature piece on the game in Electronic Gaming Monthly also indicates that there would have been real-time action sequences in space too. Continue reading
Dactyl Joust footage surfaces
With thanks to Ross Sillifant for the heads up (with KidGameR186496 flagging up on the AtariAge forums), new footage of Dactyl Joust’s intro from the Atari Jaguar has surfaced thanks to The Obscure Media Archive:
How was it found? The Obscure Media Archive reported that their dad was the VP of the art department at High Voltage, and the footage was found whilst clearing out the basement.
It’s a great finding, and hoped that more (including something of the game itself) can be found in the future.
Posted in: Atari Jaguar, News 1 Comment
Confuzion
1985 Incentive Software
Platform: Dragon 32
This is a short entry to extend our Dragon 32 entries into the Games That Weren’t archive, with what was to be a conversion of the popular C64 game – Confuzion.
The conversion was announced as being underway at the 6809 show and reported by Dragon User in April 1985.
It is unknown whether any development was ever started, as the Dragon port of the game was due to start once “The Ket Trilogy” had been completed.
It seems that sadly the conversion got caught up in the demise of the Dragon 32 commercially. Was it ever started though and could anything be found of it?
With thanks to Simon Hardy for highlighting.
Channel 8 Software games
1985 Channel 8 Software
Platform: Dragon 32
This is a short entry to extend our Dragon 32 entries into the Games That Weren’t archive, though for three titles which were announced, but there is no evidence at this stage that development was ever started on the Dragon 32 versions at least:
The titles in question were:
- After The Fire
- Beyond The Infinite
- Midwinter
All three games were being created by Brian Howarth, and were mentioned as about to be converted to the Dragon 32 by Dragon User magazine in January 1985 from their 6809 Show Highlights.
For After the Fire, CASA Solution archive has Brian mention that he came up with the title, along with any advertising synopsis associated, but never got any traction on the project. It was a similar story for Midwinter, and for Beyond the Infinite, nothing really more was heard about the game.
Was anything ever started for any of the Dragon 32 versions and does anything still exist today which could be saved and preserved?
With thanks to Simon Hardy for highlighting.
Questprobe 2 – Spiderman
1985 Adventure International
Platforms: Dragon 32, Commodore Plus 4
This is a short entry to extend our Dragon 32/Plus/4 entries into the Games That Weren’t archive, with what was suggested as being a new Adventure International title that was being released for the Dragon 32 and also Commodore Plus 4.
Questprobe 2 – Spiderman has been incorrectly listed as being available on the Dragon 32 by various websites, but there is no evidence according to Simon Hardy that the game was ever converted. A potential conversion was mentioned in the April 1985 issue of Dragon User magazine, but that was about it.
It is possible that a conversion was on the cards, but the dwindling Dragon 32 market was felt to be a reason to put the stops on one. Was anything ever started? Hopefully Scott Adams can shed more light in the near future.
As for the Plus/4 edition – Luca/FIRE from plus4world mentioned they also felt there could be a version for that platform too released as a secret b-side (which has been seen via Sharedata/Green Valley releases and has been seen for Questprobe 3: Fantastic Four. So was it the same for Spiderman too?
With thanks to Simon Hardy for highlighting and Luca/Fire for flagging about the potential Plus/4 edition.
