Welcome to Games That Weren't 64!
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.
Please Browse our archive and discover the many entries that we host and have saved over the years.
Latest News and Posts
Magnum Force – “lost” Codemasters title found!
Right under our noses all along! The long “lost” Commodore 64 Codemasters game Magnum Force has finally been fully preserved today thanks to Nostalgia, after being hidden on the Codemasters CD compilation and undetected for over 30 years.
Check it out at: https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/magnum-force/
GTW64 February 2025 update
Our second update of the year has more Commodore 64 goodness in the form of 7 new entries and 11 pre-existing entries updated (check ‘history’ tab for details of changes).
See you next month!
7 new entries added
Dino Time, Hårsfjärden, Mickey’s Crossword Puzzle Maker, Moonshadow 2, Nova 9: The Revenge of Raf Torin, Skyfox 2 – missing missions, Torpedo
11 updates added
Back in the USSR, Computer Theater, Deathbringer, Donkey Kong Jr, Messiah 3, MicroLeague Sports titles, Piper Software games, Thunderhawk, Transmuter, UFO Robo Dangar, Unknown K-Byte game
A talk at Retro Collective
Just had the most fantastic weekend at Retro Collective with my wife, Tasha, giving a talk on Games That Weren’t and the digital preservation of unreleased games over the past 25 years or so. A huge thank you to Neil and the team for inviting me – I was completely blown away by how many people had paid to come along (some from quite far, including the Netherlands!) just to hear me ramble on for just over an hour. It was especially great to see my friends Paul Drury and Paul Savage, who had travelled a long way – mostly to heckle me!
I was incredibly nervous at first, especially with a few hours to wait before my 2 PM talk and the challenge of cramming everything into an hour. But Neil and the whole Retro Collective team made us feel so welcome, and the crowd was fantastic – laughing at the embarrassing photos and bad jokes, asking loads of questions, and generally making it an interactive and fun experience. I even managed to sneak in some audience participation to give them a breather from my voice! Afterwards, there was a book signing and some great chats with people who had come along. I couldn’t believe it when Neil told me that all the copies had sold out! Continue reading
Commodore Cracker scans added
Not quite unreleased games today, but some preservation work with the full set of the Commodore 64 fanzine: Commodore Cracker added to Internet Archive. It should be pretty much the full set, though some extras are unfortunately still missing.
GTW64 January 2025 update
It’s a new year and our first Games That Weren’t Commodore 64 digest update. We have 6 brand new entries into the archive, including a lost Robin Hood game and what seems to be a lost Ocean game too (but thankfully is out there!). Then we have another 6 that have seen various updates.
See you next month!
6 new entries added
Eskimo Eddie, Jetbrix, Life, Robin Hood, Robot*Link, Senir
6 updates added
Complex, Computer Theater, Klartz and the Dark Forces, Multi-pack, Nigel Mansell F1 Racing, The Omnicron Conspiracy
Robin Hood
1985 Spinnaker Software/Windham Classics
Platforms: Commodore 64 (GTW64 entry), Apple II and possibly DOS
A short entry for a title highlighted by contributor Ricky Derocher, and which was due for release back in 1985 by Windham Classics – the same team that created classics such as Below the Root and Wizard of Oz.
In a catalogue that came with Swiss Family Robinson, there is a very small advert for a Robin Hood game that is coming soon, along with Wizard of Oz and to be available in the spring of 1985.
Of course, sadly the game was never to arrive, leaving us wondering what type of game it may have been. Our guess is that it would have been a graphic text adventure in the same format as The Wizard of Oz or Swiss Family Robinson – so potential candidates of people involved could include: Howard Boles (Musician), John Pierard (Graphics), Michael P. Meyer (Code), Daniel J. Mydlack (Graphics) and Seth Godin (Code). Continue reading
Archer Maclean A8 prototypes and unused assets
Our next Christmas 2024 update sees Games That Weren’t take a look at a series of early concepts and prototypes from the late Archer Maclean’s disks. This includes the first ever look at concepts for an abandoned Atari/Commodore sequel to Dropzone, a special A8 Arcade version of Dropzone, early pre-release Dropzone materials, International Karate A8 prototypes + assets and various IK+ graphical assets.
You can also catch our YouTube video of the various bits and pieces, with commentary. Lets kick things off:
Dropzone 2 concepts
Archer had previously spoken about working on a sequel to Dropzone, where the main character would drop into a cavern environment and go underground. Perhaps he was inspired by Atari’s Major Havoc?
We found nothing playable, but we did find a series of graphic files where Archer was playing with the idea, and you can see all of these concepts below in the gallery for the very first time. Continue reading
GTW64 Christmas Update 2024
Our final update of 2024 for the Commodore 64 archive. This year has gone in a flash as always, as we pass our 25th year of Games That Weren’t. We hope to finish with a bit of a bang, and have some surprise findings for you. We hope you enjoy them – here goes:
Wacky Races V1 recovered!
A surprise recovery for the GTW archives to kick things off, with a completely different and full version of Hi-Tec Software’s game (created by a completely different development team).
Rainbow Art’s Apprentice recovered!
The final prototype of Rainbow Art’s Apprentice on the Commodore 64 has also been saved. An early and promising glimpse of what could have been.
Aladdin’s Cave full game recovered!
The complete conversion of Artic Software’s Alladin’s Cave has finally been recovered in its final and complete form. Check out this neat clone of Tales of the Arabian Nights:
Alternative Software’s 666 – Number of the Beast recovered!
No, we had never heard of it either! A complete surprise and incomplete development by Keith Purkiss of a flick screen arcade adventure, similar in some ways to Feud. Very early, but a very large map for you to explore!
Bundesliga 2 game recovered
Thanks to Csaba Virag, a full football management game has been recovered and which doesn’t seem to have been preserved. Still much to learn about this one, but here it is for now:
Mario Bros hacks added – Insect Kill and Clean All
Thanks to Marcin ‘Tenchi’ Świętoniewski, two strange 1994 Polish hacks of Mario Bros have been saved, which contain different sprites and added music. An interesting set of curiosities!
Keith Purkiss archive page added
Keith has very kindly these past few months allowed us at Games That Weren’t to preserve all of his work disks that he recently found (which has resulted in our first four findings above). We have also preserved his master/work disks for the likes of Tiger Road, Rygar, Little Puff, Dragon Spirit, It’s a Knockout, Kenny Daglish Soccer, Lazer Tag, Last Mission, and Snoball in Hell:
Super Hang On entries added
We take a look at what seems to be an earlier build of Super Hang On which snuck out, and also a lost US edition of the game:
Super Hang-On V1, Super Hang On (US edition)
8 new entries added
We have also added a number of other new entries to the archive, including a strange Football game, a lost Goofy game and more:
Computer Theatre, Footy game, Gee Bee Air Rally – tape release, Goofy’s Word Factory, Grand National, Quest for Truth, Street Football, Test Drive 2 – scenery tapes
46 updates added
Then finally, we have been busy making a lot of updates to various entries already in the archive. Please refer to the “History” tab for each entry to see what has changed and been added:
Alloyrun, Armalyte 2, Back in the USSR, Boxing Champion, Colony, Custodian, Devious Designs, Diabolik, Eye Of The Moon, Fight Night V1, Fire & Forget, Force Of The Vulcan, Galactic Conqueror, Garden Wars, Gargantuan, Gauntlet 3, Giana 2 – Arthur And Martha In Future World, Great Giana Sisters, Illusions, Joan Of Arc: Siege And The Sword, Jonny Quest and the Splinter of Heaven, Judge Death, Katakis, Knight Force, Koshimo, Lasertrain, Mars Cops, Minder, Morgol, Off Shore Warrior, Parasol Stars, Parisian Knights, Picnic Paranoia, Pong Mini, Reach For The Moon, Roadwars V2, Scooby Doo, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Star Tech Games, , The Flintstones, The Jetsons, The Omnicron Conspiracy, Trojan, Undead, Unicorn Software titles, Virgin Atlantic Challenge
And that is it for 2024 for the Commodore 64 Games That Weren’t archive. Thank you everyone for all your help and support this year, in what has been a tough year for many reasons. I look forward to bringing you a lot more new discoveries in 2025!
Keith Purkiss C64 Archive
Keith Purkiss was a regular games creator on the Commodore 64 back in the mid-late 80’s and early 1990s, and also created a few games under the pseudonym of Pakman for titles like Dragon Spirit and Little Puff. During his Probe days, he worked on the likes of Tiger Road, Rygar and Lazer Tag which would be released by U.S. Gold / Go!
Although in touch for a few years now, Keith reached out in 2024 after digging out all of his work disks. These would contain unreleased titles such as 666 – Number of the Beast, Aladdin’s Cave, Apprentice and a completely different version of Wacky Races. The links for these pages go to the individual entries we have set up that talk in more detail about those titles. Continue reading
Insect Kill and Clean All
As part of our Christmas 2024 GTW64 update – our next post isn’t quite unreleased games material, but are a set of yet unpreserved Polish games that were released in 1994 and have been preserved thanks to Marcin ‘Tenchi’ Świętoniewski.
Insect Kill and Clean All are essentially strange hacks of Mario Bros by AtariSoft, with added music, different titles and sprites – but essentially the same gameplay.
Both were produced for the Polish market, and came with a strange copy protection where you had to attach a black box cartridge to be able to load the tapes (which is ironic considering that the games themselves are pirated). Continue reading
