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.
A highlighted review from the http://www.gtw64.co.uk archives
1988 Firebird/Maelstrom
Had it found its way onto the 8-bit market, Whirligig would have been that rare thing for the time, a game released on all the major gaming markets, the 8-bit, 16-bit and the PC. However, although it was released on the ST and the Amiga, and then later the PC, the 8-bit versions never saw the light of day. Continue reading
A highlighted review from the http://www.gtw64.co.uk archives
1988 Gremlin Graphics
Combining comedy and, er, cycling, Tour De Force was due for release by Gremlin Graphics in 1988 yet never materialised on the C64, despite being released on the Spectrum and CPC.
Your objective is to cycle through various locations around the world, in an attempt to win the coveted yellow jersey. Various drinks are scattered across the road that you can pick up to keep your rider hydrated, (go easy on the wine though!), whilst sumo wrestlers, thugs, snakes and other riders will try to get in your way and stop you winning the race. Continue reading
A highlighted review from the http://www.gtw64.co.uk archives
1988 Skyslip
Sabian Island seems to be yet another game that was advertised to buy through mail order from a software company, without actually having ever being released. I dont know how many games were released as such in the 1980s but it certainly provides Games That Werent a rich vein of material to search through!
A highlighted review from the http://www.gtw64.co.uk archives
1987 Games Designers Workshop
Rommel: Battles for Torbruk by Games Designers Workshop (GDW) was planned to be a war strategy game, based around four battles fought between the WWII German commander Rommel and the British in North Africa.
Our evidence for the game comes from a full-page advert by the games designers, who give a detailed description of the game and the combat system used, detailing features such as hidden movement, tactical and strategic maps and details of your armies morale. An in-game screenshot is also present, suggesting the game at least reached a playable level.
A highlighted review from the http://www.gtw64.co.uk archives
1989 Microstyle
Due to come out on the C64 in 1989, International Soccer Challenge was one of several games due for release by Microstyle in the 1989/90. ISC was also released on the Amiga, Atari ST and PC platforms, but the C64 version never came out why?
The game itself seems rather odd in presentation; the viewing screen of the game is a giant stadium screen, with information dotted around it on smaller screens. While an innovative attempt to stand out from the rest of the genre, it does seem to unnecessarily limit the screen space dedicated to actual game play. Continue reading
A highlighted review from the http://www.gtw64.co.uk archives
1985 Artic Computing
Rugby sims have always been underrepresented in the computer gaming market. Football sims have dominated Europe, while in the USA its American Football that has dominated. It doesnt help that the rules of rugby are awkward to translate fluently to a computer whilst retaining the fast pace of the game. Continue reading
A highlighted review from the http://www.gtw64.co.uk archives
19xx Personal Software Services
Quark was due to be released by PSS (Personal Software Services) but for some reason it doesnt seem to have ever been released. Usually in these incidences you can look at the release list for a company and see that perhaps they were quite small and disappeared as quickly as they appeared, or that the game fell outside the boundaries of their usual released, but PSS released nearly two dozen games between 1983 and 1988 and although their main area of expertise seems to have been war strategy games, they released several arcade games, such as the famous Macadam Bumper, Hyper Biker and the brilliantly titled Bath Time. Continue reading
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.
