Games That Weren't^®

1996 Frontier Software

Platforms: Atari ST, Atari Falcon, Commodore Amiga and PC

Our next entry in the archives is a puzzler that was due for release on Commodore Amiga and Atari ST platforms, then later Atari Falcon and PC. The game was due for a late release for back in 1996 when the ST/Amiga platforms were practically gone commercially.

The game was a clone of the classic Puzzle Bobble with 100 levels, and featuring a similar graphic style to Gem-X that was released by Demonware some years before. It looked pretty decent and was said to be not that far away from completion.

Previewed in magazines such as Amiga Dream, ST Format and ST Magazine – as with many games that feature on GTW, it just disappeared without a trace. Certainly there was nothing preserved of the game online.

After a period of time within our archives, in January 2024 – one of the developers Michel Savariradjalou, got in touch via the comments to confirm that the game existed at some point as a fairly advanced stage on the Atari ST, and plans were already in motion to convert to the Amiga at a later date.

Unfortunately, as predicted – the market HAD dried up, so the work was moved across to the Atari Falcon and PC/DOS. These versions were also sadly not completed, though Michel suggests that the PC edition could have been easily completed, but they had never managed to land a deal or get proper funding to finish and release the game. In retrospect, Michel feels they should have finished it and released via Shareware or distribute themselves, but that they lacked experience.

Michel still had a prototype of the PC DOS version, and has very kindly allowed us to add to the archives, so that you can see just how polished and fun the game was overall. It is indeed a great clone of Puzzle Bobble, and would have no doubt have gone down well with gamers had it been finished.

As for the Atari ST/Falcon editions (the Amiga version was sadly never started), all the assets were given to the demo group Reservoir Gods, and they were intending to complete the game and release it – but sadly it never happened. This was back in 2006. We guess there is still a chance that it could eventually surface and be finished on those platforms – we will let you know if anything comes to light.

For now – check out the PC demo for yourself and we hope you enjoy it! With thanks to Grzegorz Antosiewicz for the heads up and for the scans, and Michel Savariradjalou for the information about what happened, assets and the PC demo.

Downloads

• Preview_BattleBowls
• assets

Gallery