Preserving Cancelled & Unreleased Video Game History Since 1999
Welcome to Games That Weren't!
We are a 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.
More GameBoy Color Prototypes for you, with two for Road Rash which was released in 2000 by Electronic Arts. These two builds are from the 7th and 10th August, around 2 months or so before the final release.
However, there seems to be very little different compared to the final version – the main difference we spotted was with the opening credit screen, with a large Nintendo logo compared to the final version which is just text.
The rest of the game seems to be the same, but we assume that there are a few bugs and minor glitches present which would have been ironed out in the final game. If you spot anything which is majorly different between these and the final game, please let us know.
After more than 40 years lost to time, Stairway to the Stars (the third game in Mike Taylor’s Magic Mirror Commodore VIC-20 adventure series) has finally been saved! And it’s been a long journey…
Stairway to the Stars – finally saved!
Back in 2009, Mike found a tape of his lost works and passed it over to Games That Weren’t in the hope it could all be recovered. Two of the games were saved (thanks to combined efforts of Mat Allen, Luigi Di Fraia and Bo Goeran Kvamme), but Stairway to the Stars was sadly thought to be unrecoverable due to severe tape degradation. After several attempts, it was eventually passed to Tom Roger Skauen around 2020 — whose initial recovery efforts also hit a brick wall.
But after a few years’ break and one last shot, the impossible has finally happened. This long-lost title has now been rescued thanks to the phenomenal work of both Tommi Lempinen and Tom Roger Skauen.
Mike himself hasn’t seen the game since the early ’80s (intended for release by Terminal Software) – and now, for the first time in over four decades, it’s playable again. We hope to hear more from Mike soon, once he’s had time to become reacquainted with his lost creation.
Read the full detailed story about the lost Magic Mirror series — and download all the games (now including Stairway to the Stars) here:
A very short entry for a set of extremely early NES Lion King prototypes that we found lurking within the Enigma Variations archives. They aren’t playable, but you can see the early structure for the game including test graphics throughout.
The first prototype seems to be built over the top of Populous’ codebase as a starting point and even features some corrupted graphics from the game. Starting the title, you just get three test sprites and you can move around the mansion from Pugsley’s Scavenger Hunt. Continue reading →
We’re today adding a NES prototype of Disney’s Aladdin, which was released by Virgin Games in 1994. This is a build recovered and dated 23-08-94 and seems to be very close to final, though there are a number of glitches present.
Throughout the menus and the game itself, there are sprites not quite shaded properly, and with sprite glitches. We didn’t notice anything else at this stage, though if you spot anything majorly different, please do let us know. In particular, there could be content further in the game which isn’t quite finished. Continue reading →
Our seventh update of the year is a special one, as July featured one of our holy grail titles finally being found with the release of Nigel Mansell World Championship. There were also seven new entries added to the archives, including the full recovery of The Mystic Zone graphic adventure and the sad inclusion of the very promising Moonspire 2.
Then to conclude, we have 12 existing entries updated, including confirmation that Runestone was the work of Sensible Software, and that Special Agent 2 sadly was merely vapourware. See you all next month!
The Mystic Zone full graphic adventure (Hungarian) recovered!
Thanks to the amazing recovery work of team member Csaba Virag, yet another full game has been recovered – this time a complete Hungarian graphic adventure game called The Mystic Zone.
Posted separately during July – we recovered and released the full remains of the long lost Gremlin racer that many of us had been waiting for since 1992
Our next entry into the archives is something very interesting, which is sort of a set of prototypes of a game pack that was released, but then could be a cancelled attempt of some kind. Back in 2000, DC Studios helped produce a compilation for ToyMax in 2000, which was released and later re-released by JAKKS Pacific.
Within the Enigma Variations archives, we could a series of different builds from 2000, for surprisingly the Super Nintendo. It seems the games were being developed on that platform, and the console on a chip was essentially to be a SNES of some kind. However, when you look at videos of the final product, the menu is very different and looks almost NES-like. So, was this SNES development canned and made way for a NES version? Continue reading →
Thanks to the amazing recovery work of team member Csaba Virag, yet another full game has been recovered for the Commodore 64 – this time a complete Hungarian graphic adventure game called The Mystic Zone.
Next into the GTW archives are two earlier builds of Kick Off 3 for the SNES, following on from the recent Gameboy original recoveries. Both builds are from March and May 1994, though the dates don’t seem to correlate and as a result are likely inaccurate.
The 10-05-94 build actually seems to be much earlier, with a different unused logo and where it jumps straight into a match between Argentina and Brazil with no sound, missing score areas and various other differences compared to the final game. It seems to be mostly playable, but with some glitches and where players can get stuck. Once the game finishes, it loops.
KungFuFurby has confirmed that this build is indeed the earliest of them all, and includes sound assets which are not used (utilizing David Whittaker’s sound driver). Nothing is done with the sounds at all after loading. SFX present is different to what is used in the Beta version already out there.
A passionate fan is on a mission to track down all international versions of the 1997 edutainment game JumpStart Spanish – originally developed by FunnyBone Interactive and published by Knowledge Adventure for PC platforms.
The game was adapted to teach various languages across different countries, each with unique changes in voice acting, vocabulary, and packaging. Known versions exist from the US, UK, France, Sweden, Norway, and Finland, under names like JumpAhead French, Coup de Pouce Anglais, Flygande Start, and more. Some variants are now extremely obscure or lost to time.
Siph is currently trying to locate and preserve the following missing versions:
Sweden: Flygande Start Franska, Flygande Start Spanska, Flygande Start Tyska
1) Do you own or have access to any of these rare versions not yet on Archive.org? 2) Can you search second-hand/local listings in your country? 3) Are you willing to assist with obtaining and sharing ISO copies?
If you can help at all, please reach out to Siph via the page below:
I lost many hours with Re-Volt back in 1999 – a fun title where you controlled various different radio-controlled cars around the likes of Supermarkets and Museums. Towards the end of 1999, DC Studios would get the go ahead to produce a Game Boy Color edition of the game for Acclaim Studios.
Of course, the Game Boy Color couldn’t replicate the 3D approach of the PC and N64 editions, so they took on a Micro Machines top-down viewpoint – so a sort of de-make if you like which was not uncommon at the time with the popularity of the hand-held. 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.
Games That Weren't® is the registered trademark of Frank Gasking.
