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 lost 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 lost video game history online since 1999, and long before that offline.

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

Latest News and Posts

Cold Steel

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1992 Ocean Software

Platform: Super Nintendo

Brian Flanagan has been in the games industry for over 30 years, working on well over 40 shipped titles. He once worked at Ocean Software for around 10 years, working (uncredited) on Operation Wolf and then infamously on the first version of Operation Thunderbolt on the Commodore 64, which saying was a bit of a mess is a slight understatement.

We chat with Brian (with some added input from Dawn Hollywood) regarding an intriguing SNES platformer called Cold Steel. Not really covered in any depth or detail as far as we know, apart from the odd mention online and in the press. Developed back in 1992, and which could have been one of Ocean’s early SNES releases following the likes of The Addams Family, had it been completed. Continue reading →

Posted in: Interviews, Reviews, Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Unreleased Mirage (C64) added to the site

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

A surprise to kick off the weekend for you all, with the full and unreleased Mirage game that was never released by Mark Clements. Mark was better known for his Summer and Winter Camp music, but also did a lot of coding work too, including a few games.

Not seen for over 30 years, this is a neat single screen shooter with some cool end of game bosses to shoot.

Check it out at: https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/mirage/

Posted in: Commodore 64 (C64), GTW64 news, News | Leave a comment

GTW64 update for June 2020

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

It’s that time of the month again, and another update, including some artwork added by Stoo Fotheringham that has been under our noses for some time.

Heebie Jeebies loading screen found

Heebie Jeebies

8 new entries added

Crypt of the Dragon, Orpheus in the Underworld, PHM Pegasus – Advanced Battle Disk, Stoo Fotheringham art assets, The Guild C64 conversions, The Magician’s Ball, Zambeezi, Zenulas

11 updates added

Atic Atac, Bailiff, Battle Ball, C64GS cartridge titles, Escape From Colditz, Flimbos Quest 2, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade V1, Inspector Gadget, Joust, Rockball, Sonic the Hedgehog

Posted in: Commodore 64 (C64), GTW64 news | Leave a comment

Elric: The Almon’s Mission

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1995 Psygnosis

Platforms: PC and Sony PlayStation

Elric: The Almon’s Mission was an RPG title being developed by Psygnosis way back in 1995, based on the character by Michael Moorcock. The game was intended for release on both PC CD and Sony PlayStation, and was brought to light to Games That Weren’t by contributor J.M. Ratkos, who found details of the game from an old E3 press kit from Psygnosis.

Continue reading →

Posted in: News, PC, Sony PlayStation | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Tilt

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1993 Codemasters

Platform: Amiga

Many of you growing up with Codemaster’s 8-bit budget games may remember a quirky title called Tilt, where you control a 3D maze and rotate it in various directions to guide a ball to an exit point, whilst avoiding a range of obstacles.

Sounds very simple, but it was a deviously addictive title which scored well across the different formats it was released on. It even featured Commodore Format’s very own Roger Frames on the front cover, proudly declaring its “Corker” status from its 93% score. You can read more about the C64 game here: https://commodoreformatarchive.com/1-tilt-codemasters-version-93-issue-1/

tilt hires

Around a year or so after the release, it was oddly to be the turn of the 16-bits with the release of an Amiga budget conversion (it is unknown if an Atari ST version was ever planned/started).

Continue reading →

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

Good Old Games guest article

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Recently, we were kindly invited to write a guest article for www.GOG.com on some of the PC/Mac games that we have covered in the book, as well as talk about the work involved in the writing of the book.

You can check out the article Good Old Games That Weren’t over at:

https://www.gog.com/news/good_old_games_that_werent

Many thanks to Good Old Games and @m_traczyk!

Posted in: GTW64 news, News, PC | 2 Comments

GTW book pre-orders now open!

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

I’m pleased to announce that pre-orders for our Games That Weren’t book are now open at https://www.bitmapbooks.com/products/the-games-that-werent

To give a bit of background to regulars of the site (as well as new visitors). Primarily my aim was to produce something special to mark 20+ years of the Games That Weren’t archive. Originally I thought it may only take a year to write such a book way back in 2013, but I had completely underestimated. It was really important throughout the creation to try and make something special and enjoyable to others, and not just rush it out for the sake of it – so 7 years later here we are today. Continue reading →

Posted in: GTW64 news, News | Leave a comment

Joust (C64) found!

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Great news, but collector Ken Van Mersbergen (known to many as Dutchman2000) has found and preserved the long lost AtariSoft conversion of Joust, which we have had an entry on for some time here.

Ken got in touch with GTW yesterday and informed us that the game was recovered from the archive of a retired programmer who used to work for Roklan. It was found on an 8-inch CP/M disk that was labelled “Popeye” and had the full source code and hex image to be able to create a CRT image.

We learn that the game was coded by Joe Hellesen at Roklan Corporation, and Ken plans to show the game in public for the first time since 1984, at the VCFMW/ECCC show in September (if it goes ahead). The CRT will be released after the show, or earlier if the show doesn’t happen and will be added to the GTW64 site.

For now, enjoy the screenshots and a massive thank you to Ken for preserving another piece of gaming history.

Posted in: Commodore 64 (C64), Features, GTW64 news, News | 19 Comments

GTW64 update for May 2020

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Another month and another update, including some preservation work for some released titles and a number of new entries.

7 new entries added

Bailiff, Ophir, Raiders of the Valley of the Kings, Secrets of Science, Steam Powered Computer Company titles, Treasure Hunter, Vampyr Motel

13 updates added

Argonautica, Batman Returns, Breakdance 2, Devious Designs, Freddy Fish, G.I. Hero, Giana 2 – Arthur And Martha In Future World, Judge Death, Karnov V1, Legend Of Fairghad, Monster Museum, Piper Software games, Zone Of Darkness

Early version posts

V pre-release shots, Troll pre-release shot

Other general C64 presentation work

Various C64 preservations

Posted in: Commodore 64 (C64), GTW64 news | Leave a comment