Preserving Cancelled, Unreleased and Lost Video Game History Since 1999
Total results: 62
Csaba Virag is tireless with his efforts for preserving Hungarian gaming history at the moment, and he’s here again with a SEUCK effort that hasn’t seen the light of day (at least digitally) until now called Cyborg Mission. Continue reading
One of our next Christmas updates is the release of two late Dropzone prototypes for the Nintendo Game Boy original. These were recovered from the archive of the late Archer Maclean and found within a set of backup disks. Continue reading
Having a break now after a long year. Time to slow down a little, play some games and read some books.
Thank you to everyone for the kindness, encouragement and support this year – it genuinely means more than you know. If you’d like to help the project recover even more lost pieces of history, simply spreading the word really helps.
Take care, and all the very best for 2026!
Frank.
PS. If you want to look back at our updates for this Christmas, please take a look at https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/tag/xmas2025/ Continue reading
During the late 1980’s, text adventures were losing their popularity – so to survive, Level 9 would create HUGE, which stood for wHoley Universal Game Engine. A few games managed to make use of the engine, though there would be a casualty with a few – including Grange Murders.
Grange Murders was once known as Nine Lives and Nine Green Murders (likely a reference to the company name), and was to the be first game to properly utilize and demonstrate the engine and
conceived as an ambitious animated detective adventure by Level 9. Continue reading
GTW Highlight No.01: Last December, we recovered very early remains of Cult on the #PC. A third person zombie game due for release in 1997 by Argonaut Games that aimed to showcase the new Voodoo 1 3DFX card and BRender engine at the time. Continue reading
GTW Highlight No.02: Last December, we released Team SAS prototype for the original #Xbox. 1st person arcade shooter with 4 different characters and several levels to check out. Due for release in 2003, it didn’t make it after issues with the PS2 edition. Continue reading
GTW Highlight No.03: Not unreleased, but we took a look last December at rare, never seen IK+ development documents from the late Archer Maclean’s archive, including ideas + graphical concepts that led to creation of the famous fighting game. Continue reading
GTW Highlight No.04: Last year’s Commodore 64 Christmas update saw the recovery of the unreleased Wacky Races V1, Aladdin’s Cave, Apprentice and 666 games and a lot more. More is on the way for this year’s update – so watch this space! Continue reading
GTW Highlight No.05: Also in December, we revealed early prototypes of Jimmy White’s Whirlwind Snooker, including early PC tests, Atari ST protos. Also showcasing concept artwork + icons from the game – created by the late and great Archer Maclean: Continue reading
GTW Highlight No.06: One of our final December updates saw unseen screens from the lost Dropzone 2 on the Atari + Commodore64, along with a strange Arcade edition of Dropzone. Also various International Karate protos and IK+ graphical assets too:
https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2024/12/archer-maclean-a8-prototypes-and-unused-assets/ Continue reading
GTW Highlight No.07: In February, we were honoured to give a talk at Retro Collective about Games That Weren’t and 25 years of uncovering unreleased, cancelled, and forgotten games. Here is a link to the full talk: Continue reading
GTW Highlight No.08: A huge surprise in March, when we recovered a previously unknown #NES conversion of Sensible Soccer. A complete conversion that had been missing for 32 years, and which you can now finally play. Go be a goal-scoring superstar hero! ⚽
https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2025/03/sensible-soccer/ Continue reading
GTW Highlight No.09: In March, we also had a massive discovery with the release of the long-lost god sim Populous for the #NES. A full conversion lost for 33 years – which now you can finally play.
https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2025/03/populous/ Continue reading
GTW Highlight No.10: No April Fools when we recovered a full game for a console that never was. Magician’s Apprentice (1993) was for the mythic Multi-System 2 (successor to the Konix Multi-system), and is now emulated + playable thanks to SavourySnaX !
https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2025/04/magicians-apprentice/ Continue reading
GTW Highlight No.11: Switching focus to the #SNES in April, we preserved the unfinished Mechanoids 2: The Final Conflict. An early side-scrolling mech fighter planned for 1993. We recovered two prototype builds you can check out and play:
https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2025/04/mechanoids-2-the-final-conflict/ Continue reading
GTW Highlight No.12: By April/May, we had recovery and release of Anco’s Tip-Off for #NES + #SNES. You can now experience early developments of the game, and also hear the long-lost David Whittaker NES music, compiled from source.
https://gamesthatwerent.com/2025/04/tip-off/
https://gamesthatwerent.com/2025/05/tip-off-2/ Continue reading
GTW Highlight No.13: In May, we took a deep dive look at the SEGA Master System development of Tintin on the Moon. It nearly made it in 1992 but was sadly cancelled. Now after 32 years, lost Matt Furniss music & SFX intended was also recovered!
https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2025/05/tintin-on-the-moon/ Continue reading
GTW Highlight No.14: In May, we uncovered a PC DOS-era prototype called ShelShock from Finlay Munro. Possibly a pitch for a game or just its engine. Think Damocles, but with mouse interaction and a village to explore. Now preserved at Games That Weren’t:
https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2025/05/shelshock/ Continue reading
GTW Highlight No.15: In May, we were honoured to give a talk at Zzap! Live about Games That Weren’t and 25 years of uncovering unreleased, cancelled, and forgotten games with a C64 focus. Here is a link to the full talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlOGKwrN7uk Continue reading
GTW Highlight No.16: In May, we uncovered 7 NES prototype builds of The Addams Family: Pugsley’s Scavenger Hunt (1993 Ocean)- including an early version with cut content and different room layouts. A fascinating glimpse at the game in development.
https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2025/05/the-addams-family-pugsleys-scavenger-hunt-nes-prototypes/ Continue reading
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