Cancelled & Unreleased Video Games for the Commodore 64 Since 1999
We cover Cancelled & Unreleased Video games for the Commodore 64 computer. A non-profit large archive dedicated to preserving lost games that were never released to the public, as well as prototypes and the odd preservation of released titles. Our aim to share history and stories from the developers, assets and more before it is too late. GTW has been preserving lost video game history since 1999, and long before that offline.
Please Browse our archive and discover the many entries that we host and have saved over the years.
Short post to highlight and early development screen for Elite’s Last Battle on the Commodore 64 thanks to Martin Inter. This was found on the back of the cover and has a character block for Alyssa strangely used for the boss section.
It seems that the plan was to have the profile images used for the character dialogue, like in the SEGA Mega Drive edition, but these were dropped. In the final dialogue sections, the character images are not used (see screenshots). Continue reading
Short post to highlight and early development screen for Ghosts n Goblins on the Commodore 64 thanks to Martin Inter. This was found on the back of the cover and has very little different – apart from the score panel being missing at this stage.
If any other early screens come to light (or you know of any), please get in touch and we’ll add to this page. Continue reading
Back in the day, my Commodore Format magazine used to have an ‘Early Warning Scanner’ with games that were coming soon for the C64. On there for a while was Thomas The Tank Engine 2, but it never really moved and nothing more was shown in magazines. I assumed it was vapourware.
“The games were written in 1990 when Clockwize had moved to an ‘office’ in the town.” explained Dean. “It was really just one big long room that had once been a dance studio. The Alternative budget titles that we did were usually just based around a title that was given to us such as ‘Punch And Judy’ and the design was up to us. Thomas 2 though needed to be based on the book ‘The Race’ where Thomas races Bertie the bus. Both games needed to be fairly simple for younger children to play. Thomas 2 would turn out to be the least problematic.” Continue reading
Back in the day, my Commodore Format magazine used to have an ‘Early Warning Scanner’ with games that were coming soon for the C64. On there for a while was Sooty and Sweep 2, but it never really moved and nothing more was shown in magazines. I assumed it was vapourware.
Roughly around 2009, Dean Hickingbottom got in touch to reveal that Clockwize were the team working on both Sooty 2 and Thomas 2 for Alternative. Neither got released due to a dispute with Alternative, even though bizarrely they were both finished for C64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad and Atari. Inlays were even produced too. Continue reading
It is that time of the year again, and it has been one with many ups and downs. We finish the year as we always aim to, with a set of new releases and recoveries for you to enjoy. Hopefully you will enjoy what we have in store for you:
Out of the blue and straight off the bat, we have the complete version of Sooty and Sweep 2 which was due for release by Alternative Software in 1991/92. But not one version, but two! A completely different build was made, and we have that here for you as well to check out:
Putting to bed yet another lost Alternative Software game, we also have Thomas The Tank Engine 2 that was due out at the same time. I once thought this was vapourware after seeing it for so long on Commodore Format’s Early Warning scanner – but its here, and complete!
Thomas the Tank Engine 2: The Race
We also have a big surprise (and something we weren’t expecting) with a fully playable and advanced preview of Sales Curve’s unreleased and incomplete Paddle Mania conversion. Written by Mark Greenshields and which was looking pretty solid. Now you can see the promise for yourself:
Whilst preserving Mark Greenshield’s disks, we were asked to look out for ‘Rooster Booster’ – the original game which eventually became ‘Bombo’. Thankfully we found a playable build which is mostly complete, but just lacking music. There’s different sprites and titles and possibly map differences for you to check out:
Another surprise lurking within Mark Greenshield’s disks, marked “Spindizzy Preview”, this is a very early build of the game with unfinished score panels, missing sprites, missing colour schemes and unrefined controls. There could be some unused screens waiting to be discovered:
Again, within Mark’s disks was another early build – this time for Kick Off 2, showcasing very different graphical menus compared to the disk version (tape was plain text) and a different score panel:
Then right at the death, Csaba Virag got in touch to say that he had preserved a lost Hungarian SEUCK effort called Cyborg Mission – so we’ve added it to the update just in time for you:
Then we have a set of other new entries to the archive to check out:
Fogd a Penzt, Infiltrator 3, Insectivore, Shadow Force, Unknown body defence game
Finally, 20 existing entries have been updated with various scans, new information and more. Check out the history tab for each title for details of what has been added.
Abyss Zone, Albyon, Charlie Chaplin, Crackdown V1, Cyberdyne Warrior Intro, Cyberworm, Dr Bongo’s Safari Park, Eelona – The Warrior Princess, First Strike, Knights of Legend Expansion Packs, My Day On The Highway, Pegasus And The Trials Of Perseus, Phantasm, Shadowkeep, Skateball, The Liquidator, The Stock Exchange, Trick Ramp Crazy, Warp One, Welcome to hell
And with that, apart from an update this afternoon and tomorrow for other platforms – this is it on the Commodore 64 side of things until next year. We wish you all a great holiday break and thank you everyone for your kind support and input in 2025!
Until next year!…
As a bonus Christmas update, we first up have the very rare ZX81 edition of Mugsy, which many of you will remember as a popular release from Melbourne House. This is the original idea and design which Melbourne House would base their game off, created by Collins Computing.
The game has been out there for sometime, though this is a newly preserved version by Steve Brown of the TZXVault, complete with inlay and tape scans (which are currently missing on Spectrum Computing/World of Spectrum). If you want to see more rare releases, be sure to check out TZXVault and their new Patreon. Continue reading
Hill 19 was to be a strategic action-shooter game, very similar to Ikari Warriors/Commando, but with more strategy involved. The player would control a team of characters (believed to be about 3), including Radio and Gunner. Sadly it was never to be though!
You would move turn-based through a vertically scrolling environment (progressing “up the hill”), with foxholes, trenches and terrain that would offer cover and tactical options. Each person would also have a special ability. For example, the Radio Operator could call in airstrikes or medics.
Che Guevara John would mainly work on the Commodore 64 version, whilst Lance Abson would work on the Amstrad CPC edition. Someone called “Cooky” would work on the graphics for both versions. Continue reading
Things have mostly paused with updates and preservation work for Games That Weren’t due to the recent loss of my mum. Today though, I’m finally able to share some positive news: a Polish edition of the Games That Weren’t book is now available for pre-order: https://gknb.pl/
When I was told this was happening, I was genuinely blown away. Never in a million years did I imagine seeing a translated edition of my work. It must have taken an incredible amount of effort, and I can’t wait to see a copy in the flesh.
A smaller update this month, with a new entry on a cancelled Rocky Memphis game and then updates on 5 pre-existing entries in the archive. We should have a lot more C64 content for you very soon – including some big findings!
Rocky Memphis and the Temple of Ophuxoff
1944, Cyberworm, Eelona – The Warrior Princess, Hill 19, Money Minefield
Recovery work today for the Commodore 64 with a long lost Gremlin Graphics game named ‘Hill 19’ (Later known as Shell Shock). Sadly nothing playable, but plenty of assets recovered. Also – we have recovered lost graphics for the unreleased Piranha game ‘Coven’:
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