Preserving Cancelled & Unreleased Video Game History Since 1999
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.
Shadowgate was a very popular point and click adventure from 1987 on the Apple II, Mac, PC, Amiga and ST, and was released later in 1989 on the NES.
Contributor Luca Bertoldi however found that a C64 version was on the cards too – thanks to a Mindscape catalogue advert. And we don’t believe it is a red herring, as the developer ICOM Simulations have had C64 titles released, including Deja Vu and Uninvited from that same era (which are also mentioned in the advert as some of their titles).
So what happened exactly? We’re not quite sure just yet. The C64 was still popular in the US at the time, so it seems odd that Shadowgate was cancelled.
We believe that the game was very likely to have been in production by Fred Allen & Joe Gaucher – who did Deja Vu (and likely Uninvited too).
So the hunt begins! Can you help us recover the C64 version of this classic game?
Amazon Tales was to be something a little different from two game creators – Richard Bayliss and Alf Yngve. Richard was firstly doing a side ways scrolling game with a running man as a main character. Alf on the other hand was branching away from SEUCK on the C64 for the first time.
The 16kb cartridge competition ran by RGCD was coming up, and Richard decided to write a new game based on Jungle Story (and building on the Bionic Granny Returns game). As time went on, the idea blossomed into a completely different type of game where you play the vet from a tribe who accidentally has released an elephant from its pen into the jungle. You have to go and find it and bring it back to safety.
The game was a sideways scrolling game, and Alf produced all the graphics in SEUCK – which Richard later ported over to Charpad and into a completely new engine coded by Richard. The graphics produced were fantastic as usual by Alf.
However, sadly the game still very much felt like a SEUCK game that had been enhanced due to not quite getting to the stage of completion as planned, and as a result the game didn’t score greatly at the competition. It had some problems unfortunately with a few compilation problems, but Richard just about managed to get it submitted in time.
After the competition and at a 75% complete state – Richard was due to go back to the game and add features such as falling boulders, monkeys dropping coconuts and adding in collectible objects. Free time was limited though, and mixed in with a dipping motivation or enthusiasm for the game, Richard decided to call it a day on the game.
Richard has kindly passed on all the remaining resources on the game for us to add. It is pretty much a final version and completable, but we have still listed it as a preview, as there was certainly more to come for the game over time.
Then for Christmas 2019, Richard decided to actually finish off the game once and for all – so we’re pleased to add it here and also close the case. Creator Speaks has been updated to include details from Richard about his work!
Our next game is a title which was due for release in 2010 by Richard Bayliss. Richard as you know is a prolific game creator, and Ultimate Stunt Boat Challenge was to add to the impressive list of game titles under Richard’s belt.
The game was to build on the ruins of the Real Speed We Need title, which had graphics by myself, making use of the boat sprites in particular and moving from road to sea.
The idea was that you were involved in an action film and are a professional stunt man. You would have to jump over ramps and shoot bad guys in a typical sort of James Bond ‘esq title. It sort of had shades of Super Stuntman or Sky High Stuntman by Codemasters.
Whilst making good progress, Richard hit disaster and lost a load of work from his PC. He would have to start from scratch pretty much (only having a very early set of source files backed up), but before that – he went onto several other projects first. When coming back to the game – the mess of the code at the time was problematic for Richard to go back to. Feeling completely lost, Richard decided to put the game to sea.
Here you can download a preview of the game which is very early and features RWSN’s graphics lifted and plonked straight in. It feels a little rushed so far, and there is little to interact with, but it gives an indication of the direction where the game was going.
It is likely that Richard would have added to my original graphics and gone from there, as I had no involvement in the game directly.
Check out another piece of C64 gaming preservation…. preserved….
Thanks to Witold Bryndza for the heads up for our next entry, which was to be a stylish Hangman game produced for Eagleware International in 1995 by Faith Design
The game was to feature some very polished intros and graphics throughout to give the ultimate game of hangman on the C64 (trouncing no doubt the version that came with the Introduction to Basic pack!)
Unfortunately for reasons as yet unknown, the game was never completely finished off – with only a preview surfacing of the game in its early’ish stages.
Recently, the game’s author Marcin Guzik had put up a YouTube video showing the game with some more advanced intros and screens.
Is it possible that we may get to see these later versions of the game? For now, check out the preview and soon we hope to find out more about the plans for the game and what happened to it.
In 2020, Marcin mentioned that the intro was finished and published on CSDB. This has now been added to the site.
Device for Alien Destruction (D.A.D) was to be a game produced by a company called Dynamic Developments back in the late 80’s. Dynamic Developments were the same team who were looking to publish Bobby Bounce Back, but went under before it could be released. We believe Dynamic Developments had Richard (Players) Jones involved too
It seems that sadly the same fate befell D.A.D.
We got to know about the game thanks to Mark Wilson, who was asked to produce music for the game by the head of Dynamic Developments – Stuart Robb. He produced a series of tunes which featured cool samples.
There was no recollection about what the game was about – so this may require some further digging to get the full details. Was it a standard SEU type affair?
In the meantime, as part of Mark sifting through his work disks – he discovered the tunes he produced, and has kindly allowed GTW to release them here. Ian Coog also provided a rip of the tunes in SID format, which you can also download.
Now the hunt begins for those involved in the development of the game itself. Is this something you can help us with?
Outpost was to be a new game from a new software house called Frontier Games.
The game was briefly mentioned in a news item by ACE magazine for issue 16 in 1989. The preview shows a screenshot, which could very well be the C64 version itself.
The game’s main format was the C64 – and was to follow on the other formats at a later date. The game in the news snippet was described as a tactical game, where the aim would be to move four marine units and infiltrate a guarded enemy outpost.
Detailed characterization was promised, along with six interlocked missions per game. Here you would have to plan your strategy, polish up your tactics, make the moves and then sit back and watch the outcome in an arcade style animated sequence.
Unfortunately nothing was ever seen of the game, and it disappeared without trace. Initial searching didn’t find anything regarding the other versions or about the game itself. It was like ACE was the only magazine to ever hear about the game!
Flight Deck 2 was a cool flight sim game which was released by Aackosoft back in 1986 on the MSX. However, a C64 version was clearly planned, maybe even completed, as the C64 is clearly labelled on the MSX’s packaging.
Aackosoft was a dutch company which actually released a few titles on the C64, though stopped from about 1985 onwards. The first Flight Deck game was actually released on the C64 and was developed by Bytebusters – who did Dawn Patrol as well.
So was Bytebusters also behind the C64 conversion of Flight Deck 2? It would have made perfect sense had they done. They seem to have done Dawn Patrol a year afterwards for Aackosoft.
The hunt begins – we have taken the Bytebuster guys as temporary credits and as a starting point. Can the game itself be found? Was it ever completed?
There is a suggestion that Flight Deck 1 on the C64 was actually the conversion of Flight Deck 2 (which was just an enhanced version of the first game really). Contributor Jeroen confirms that the game was just an enhanced version of the game, so we know what it should be like… but can this improved version be found?
A very small entry for a title which we are not entirely sure as of yet if a C64 version was ever on the cards.
The Light Corridor was a first person puzzle game released by Infogrames on the Spectrum, Amiga, Amstrad, ST and MSX. However there was never a mention of it for the C64 it seems.
Moby games and Wikipedia though list the game as C64 based – so until we find out more confirmation, we’re including an entry. It would seem odd that Infogrames never covered the C64 as a potential platform, especially after seeing North and South released.
Gravity was strangely to be a game about Graffiti – but you wouldn’t have guessed it from the title! It was a title written by John Vanderaart – but are not sure who for!
The game was described by Dutch Magazine “Dossier Commodore” in early 1987 to be a graphic text-adventure which played in the future – where all walls are covered by Grafitti. You were a wandering spray which was hunting for the last piece of clean wall.
However, Ralph Egas confirmed to GTW64 that the game was not a text-adventure, but an arcade game – more akin to games like “Endless” and “Dr J” which John had written. Ralph however had never seen the game, but just heard about it from John.
Sadly John no longer has any of his C64 disks – so trying to find anything of the game could be very tricky. Ralph suggests that this game was never actually completed by John. We believe the title was never finished due to John deciding to leave the C64 market.
We hope to find out more soon, but this could be a tricky one to find! Can you help us?
Smakeloos (translating as “Tasteless”) was to be a new game by John Vanderaart – following the theme of Endless, Hopeless and Radeloos.
It was to be another graphic text adventure game where you were a lost backpacker in Texas – according to Dutch Magazine “Dossier Commodore” from early 1987. You basically want to go for a drink at a small farm, but then all hell breaks loose. A Farm-girl with a butcher knife, a crazy ranger with a chainsaw etc comes after you. You flee to a gas-station to call your mother – where you are covered in gasoline and torched.
The aim of the game was to try and stay alive basically – a horror adventure.
The title would feature graphics by Ralph Egas, who got the job after contacting John by finding his telephone number tucked away in one of his games.
Ralph confirmed that sadly John never finished the game (for reasons currently unknown), and had created many pictures for the title. The game had different locations which came with 3 images each. Ralph gives more detail about what he did in the Creator Speaks section.
Sadly Ralph no longer has any of his work, so this could well be a title which has been lost forever. But you never know what might show up some day!
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