Documenting unreleased, cancelled and prototype video games.
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.
You will have likely seen news in October 2022 of the new discovery of a port of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for the failed Tiger Game.com platform courtesy of Time Extension and Hidden Palace.
Webmaster of The End of Game.com, Brandon Cobb got in touch not long afterwards to provide some screenshots and pieces to add an entry into the GTW archives and with the request to help spread the word of this amazing finding. Continue reading
Many of you may recall this neat platformer that saw release on the SEGA Mega Drive and PC back in the day – but what of its long lost Amiga version? This was a game that got mixed reviews across the board, but looked pretty neat from its screenshots.
You must navigate through six auto-scrolling levels in total with 1-2 players, consisting of areas such as Gadget Bay, Zeppelin Attack, The Lost City, Sub Attack, The Crystal Lake and Thump’s world. There is plenty of colour and cuteness on show, shops to purchase power ups and some heavy bosses to take on too. Continue reading
Just a short post thanks to Grzegorz Antosiewicz, who has highlighted some screenshots showing assets that never appeared in the final game.
Firstly, Amiga Format and Amiga Joker magazines both showed earlier versions of the title screen, which you can compare to the eventual one:
In early version on the left, you can see lion claws and each word is written in a different colour and font (blue for “Brian”, white for “the” and yellow for “Lion”). The finished version has nice animated effects, such as rotation, scaling and pixelization etc. Continue reading
Released on the Game Boy in 1992, Fire Fighter was to see an update 2 years later on the Amiga 1200 from Teeny Weeny Games.
The plot would have you controlling a Firefighter who has to rescue a number of people and animals. The start of the game has you inside a house that is burning, where you must find the family hidden in the house and use your hose pipe to dowse the fire as you go. Continue reading
A short entry for now on what was to be an Amiga conversion of a DOS title from back in 1991 from Cineplay Interactive.
Set on Earth, where robots are now in control and where all remaining humans are kept in a Zoo. The game was a mystery solving title, where you have to solve a series of killings that have been happening. It’s an adventure game, where you must have conversations with other characters to obtain clues. Continue reading
A slightly unusual post now, for a title that wasn’t really a game – but then almost turned into one!
Illuminatus was news to me, until I heard from contributor Janne Sirén, who highlighted this fictional game that was once reviewed as an April Fools joke for Finland’s gaming magazine Mikrobitti in 1989. It was perhaps similar to what Zzap!64 did with Mindsmear.
Janne has essentially provided most of the text and information which you will read here, which has been invaluable for putting this page together.
Illuminatus was an Elite style trading game, which caused quite a bit of a stir back in the day, because for many weeks/months – people felt the game was real. It even appeared in printed mail order advertisements in later issues of MikroBitti (where traders even fell for it). Distributors would call the magazine, asking how to get hold of the game and many readers were desperate to find a copy in the shops. Continue reading
Autumn has well and truly drawn in, and the updates for Games That Weren’t 64 continue where possible. This time we present 7 new entries, and 9 updates overall to various titles.
A big chunk of additions include many titles that were planned for the Commodore MAX platform – which was the precursor to the C64. If the titles can ever be found, then they should be adaptable to work on the C64. There’s also the finding of a more complete demo of Lemmings V1.
Enjoy, and see you all next month hopefully!
Air Battle, Challenger, Cosmax, Go Sets Go, Greenhouse (MAX edition), Pirate Attack, Sub Hunt
3 Days In Carpathia, 9 Lives Of Fritz The Cat, Arcadian, Armalyte 2, Exorcist, Gem-X 2, Jimmy’s Grand Prix, Lemmings V1, Pushover64
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.
