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.

Latest news and posts

GTW64 September 2023 updates

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

Well, seems like summer doesn’t want to end and if anything it feels hotter than August! Whilst we melt away, the updates continue within the GTW64 archives with the following additions and updates:

7 new entries added

As well as a strange (early?) version of Poltergeist, we have a number of previously unpreserved Hungarian games thanks to Csaba Virag and also some new titles highlighted by Baracuda:

Poltergeist V1, Raceday, Sakkozo Elefant, Strike Back, Szigethy Quest, The Stock Exchange, Time Quest

19 updates added

As well as the usual updates, tucked away is the recovery of Monkeybuilder and Bible Baseball and joining the dots for Ash and Dave’s car game – Switchblade (nothing to do with the Gremlin game!):

Anty Up, Bible Baseball, Bomb, Brain Death, Combat Chess, Deadhead, Diskovery titles, Donkey Kong Jr, EastEnders, Matterhorn, Money Minefield, Monkeybuilder, Murder!, Pharaoh’s Pyramid, Phoenix Lair, Switchblade, Typo Attack, Vanguard, Vapour

Posted in: GTW64 news, News | Leave a comment

Survivor Run

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1983 Creative Software

Platform: Commodore VIC-20

Survivor Run is an original game that Creative Software were due to release back in 1983 – an original creation by Steven Yaeger that he had sold to the company.

survivor1 fix

The aim of the game was to travel down several screens to beam up a survivor trapped at the bottom of a crater on a remote planet. To do so, you would have to carefully burn through the floor using your thrusters, or use one of your limited bombs. Continue reading →

Posted in: Reviews, Vic 20 | Tagged: | 12 Comments

Gamebase64 needs you!

Posted: by fgasking

Gamebase64 has been a hugely important digital archive for the Commodore 64 for over 25 years now, bringing together all of the games that have made the platform so special.

Webmaster and developer Steven Feurer tragically passed away suddenly in July 2023 which has hit the team incredibly hard. Steve was a great friend to all the team and was the glue that kept everything together and running for so long. Without Steve, there is no web presence – which is important to promote the site and encourage submissions/corrections.

Leaving the team without a web developer and maintainer has now put the project at huge risk of losing its online presence. Michael Plate (Database project leader, creator and maintainer of the collection) has put out a plea via the Lemon64 forums for any help to keep this great project going.

I wish personally that I could step in to help, but we have too much going on at the moment with preservation work and Games That Weren’t.

If you feel you might be able to help, or know someone who could, please do get in touch via the forum at: https://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=83094 and help save this amazing digital archive.

Posted in: GTW64 news, News | 3 Comments

The Fall Guy

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1983/84 Fox Video Games

Platforms: Atari 2600 and ColecoVision

Our next entry is nothing to do with the Elite licence that came later on the Commodore 64, though that too had an unreleased version of some kind that you can read about here. No, this is an entry which covers two cancelled editions of the game that were being done for the Atari 2600 and ColecoVision, and released under a 20th Century Fox label.

fall guy the 1983 0000

At the time, Sirius were working on a new game called Squish ‘Em on the Atari 2600, when Fox Video Games made a deal with them to take a number of their games and tie in various TV shows or just release in their original form. Squish ‘Em was to become The Fall Guy, on the Atari 2600 at least. Continue reading →

Posted in: Atari 2600 / Atari VCS, ColecoVision, Reviews | Tagged: | 2 Comments

O.F.A Adventures

Posted: by fgasking

1985 O.F.A

Platform: Atari 400/800 series

A short collective entry for a series of Atari 400/800 adventures that are currently missing and were advertised for a long period of time in Computer Shopper magazine in 1986. Flagged up by Bertrand / Atari Frog.

These were three all new adventure-survival games with a twist and were called:

  • The Island
  • Nuclear Blast
  • The Jungle

The twist was that if you made it to the end, you will find a secret number – which you could send to O.F.A and they will issue a verified survival certificate. Did anyone order them and can you help us preserve the titles.

Commodore 64 editions are also missing, which we are separately posted about.

With thanks to Bertrand / Atari Frog for highlighting and archive.org for the scan.

Gallery

Posted in: Atari 400/800, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Mountain Valley Software unreleased C64 games

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

A bonus post to finish the week. Recently Fabrizio Bartoloni flagged up someone called BloodyCactus looking at an unreleased C64 adventure game called The Mermaid and the Crown.

Whilst looking into details to try and add entries onto the site, via the CASA Solution Archive we found that there were about 5 other adventure titles by Mountain Valley Software that were also never completed and released.

So, here are entries for all six of the titles overall, in case you hadn’t seen them before:

With thanks to Fabrizio Bartoloni, BloodyCactus and CASA Solution Archive.

Posted in: GTW64 news, News | Leave a comment

Fatal Mission

Posted: , last updated: by fgasking

1993 Ola Zandelin and Robert Hennings

Platform: Commodore Amiga

As the archive continues to grow, so does the sadness to see that there have been so many games started and never finished over the decades of the games industry. Here is yet another tragic loss, with this neat action game that was due back in 1993 for the Commodore Amiga.

fatal mission6

Fatal Mission was an ambitious title that was being created by Ola Zandelin and Robert Hennings, where they wanted to create a new cinematic style adventure that would take cues from the classic Another World. Continue reading →

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

Thrust

Posted: by fgasking

1988 Firebird Software

Platform: PC DOS

Thrust was a brilliant budget title from the mind of the late Jeremy Smith back in 1986, developed first for the BBC Micro (released via Superior Software), then converted to a large number of platforms by Firebird Software to great acclaim from all magazines.

Oddly (as a side note), according to Richard Hewison who worked at TelecomSoft, the Firebird C64 version got released before the BBC version by a matter of months. Although it looked very simple, the game was an extremely playable gravity-based title, and still holds up very well today!

thrustpage 1

The game even later saw an unofficial conversion to the Atari 2600 in later years. However, PC users were lacking a conversion for their platform … or were they? Continue reading →

Posted in: PC, Reviews | Tagged: | 6 Comments

Riftwar Saga

Posted: by fgasking

1992 Kid’s Source

Platform: PC Engine

A short entry for now on a currently missing PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 title called Riftwar Saga, which was a 1/2-player hack and slash title that was due for release in 1992 from a company called Kid’s Source.

The game was an action adventure title which was set in a fantasy world of Midkemia (the fantasy world of Raymond E. Feist, a very well known fantasy author – thanks Alex and Dane!), and EGM magazine’s brief preview of the game promised non-stop action combined with a strong storyline and creative problem solving.

rift1

Overall the game would consist of around nine levels in total, with bosses at the end of each level to defeat. Sadly, the game disappeared without a trace and would become a game of mystery to many, including ParanoiaDragon, who first highlighted the title to us via Twitter.

Later in 1993, Betrayal at Krondor was released on the PC, an RPG title which shows that the brand was clearly trying its best to get into the computer game realm at the time.

Continue reading →

Posted in: PC Engine, Reviews | Tagged: | 6 Comments