Welcome to Games That Weren't!

We are an 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.

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Spellbound Dizzy Lite

Posted: by Frank Gasking

1991 Codemasters

Platform: ZX Spectrum 128k

Also known as Diz564, our next entry isn’t technically an ‘unreleased game’ – but an ‘unreleased cut down version of a released game’.

Spellbound Dizzy Lite
The Commodore 64 version of Spellbound Dizzy Lite

Spellbound Dizzy was one of Dizzy’s last adventures on the ZX Spectrum back in 1991 (with Crystal Kingdom Dizzy still to appear) – first released through the Dizzy’s Excellent Adventures pack (which is how I first played the game in January 1992). Unfortunately, Commodore 64 owners felt a little bit short changed when they finally got playing their copy… Continue reading →

Posted in: Prototype, Reviews, ZX Spectrum | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Donkey Kong Jnr.

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1984 Atarisoft

Platform: BBC Micro

The BBC Micro sadly hasn’t been graced with a huge number of official arcade conversions, but we have seen many different clones and even a Bubble Bobble conversion that never saw the light of day.

dkj scaled

Seemingly out there for sometime, there was also a Donkey Kong Jnr. conversion done officially for Atarisoft. What is intriguing is that the conversion was being carried out by none-other than Adrian Stephens, who had earlier produced Killer Gorilla for Micro Power. Continue reading →

Posted in: BBC Micro / Electron, Reviews | Tagged: | 2 Comments

NBA Jam Tournament Edition

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1995 Acclaim

Platforms: Commodore Amiga 1200, CD32

Yet another late Amiga conversion, which sadly seems to have fallen by the wayside due to the dwindling market at the time. NBA Jam Tournament Edition was a particularly high profile title which could have given supporters a huge boost, but it was just never to be.

nba2

According to Amiga Joker magazine, the game was being developed for the Commodore Amiga 1200, 4000 and CD32 platforms. It’s likely that something only existed on the A1200/A4000 overall – if at all! Continue reading →

Posted in: Amiga CD32, Commodore Amiga, Reviews | Tagged: | 1 Comment

Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

2008 BigBig Studios

Platform: Sony PlayStation 2

Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice was released back in late 2007/early 2008 on the Sony PlayStation Portable to mixed reviews. However, also in production was a PS2 edition which would sadly never see the light of day.

PursuitForce (14)

Research carried out by Francesco Vujicevic revealed that the PS2 edition was postponed several times with the last release date being set as the 10th September 2008. According to an unnamed artist who worked on the project, a PS2 edition was started after significant progress had been made on the PSP edition. Continue reading →

Posted in: Reviews, Sony PlayStation 2 | Tagged: | 2 Comments

Bushido Warrior

Posted: by Frank Gasking

1988 Ariolasoft / U.S. Gold

Platform: Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, PC, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64

Bushido Warrior (or potentially just Bushido) was a new oriental themed Gauntlet clone that was due out for a wide number of platforms, published by Ariolasoft/U.S. Gold. The Commodore 64 edition is already well documented via our GTW64 page.

bushido2
A very rare screenshot of the Atari ST edition of the game. Sadly still at large!

Although a Gauntlet clone, it was more than just a clone – and it seems that the entire 16-bit editions may have been based off the Gauntlet conversion codebase. Computer and Video Games magazine spoke with the ST developers, Graham Lilley and Teoman Irmak in August 1987. Continue reading →

Posted in: Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64 (C64), Commodore Amiga, PC, Reviews, ZX Spectrum | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Skitchin’

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1994 Ocean Software

Platforms: Commodore Amiga 500, 600 and 1200

Yet another Ocean Software title goes into the GTW archive, and this time a conversion of Electronic Arts’ Skitchin’, which had been released on the SEGA Megadrive the same year, and was a sort of Road Rash on skates.

skitching boxart

Ocean had been converting a number of Electronic Arts titles already, so this was just another in a line of titles being done at the time for the Amiga. Continue reading →

Posted in: Commodore Amiga, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Into The Shadows

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1996 Scavenger / Frozen Moose Entertainment

Platforms: PC DOS, Sony PlayStation and SEGA Saturn

Into the Shadows (ITS) was a 3D fighting game, originally scheduled for release in 1995, and was being programmed by Magnus Högdahl and Fredrik Huss, with graphics by Mikko Tähtinen and music by Magnus Högdahl.

ITSPIC01

The game originally came from the Swedish demo group Triton, who then were contracted by Scavenger to further develop the game. The basic plot according to this old webpage, was that an evil Wizard has kidnapped a baby and you must save them by killing the wizard, freeing the child, and saving the world. Continue reading →

Posted in: PC, Reviews, SEGA Saturn, Sony PlayStation | Tagged: | 1 Comment

Peter Pan’s Daring Escape

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1984 Roklan / Walt Disney / Atari

Platform: Atari 400/800

Our next title was confusingly referred to under a number of different titles, including Captain Hook’s Revenge and Peter Pan’s Daring Journey. In a CES 1983 show, it was reported by Popular Computing Weekly (January 1984) that Atari that they had linked up with Walt Disney to produce a two-part game.

Portland Atari Club newsletter in October 1983 revealed that the game was to be an educational title, but little else about the game was really known about. Various sources online linked the game to Roklan as the developer. Continue reading →

Posted in: Atari 400/800/XL, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Adventure of the MummyHead

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1991 Taito

Platform: PC Engine

Adventures of the MummyHead is a neat looking platformer that was due for release by Taito in 1991 for the PC Engine.

MummyHeadLarge

By the looks of things, you were in control of a body with a detachable mummy head, which has very strong vibes of Magical Hat no Buttobi Tābo! Daibōken (or Decap Attack as it was known in Europe) for the SEGA Mega Drive. Continue reading →

Posted in: PC Engine, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Unnamed Psygnosis Soccer game

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1993 Psygnosis

Platform: Super Nintendo

Sometimes Games That Weren’t get tagged in social media onto certain posts where others highlight unreleased games, and this was the case with our next entry – an unnamed Psygnosis Soccer game for the Super Nintendo.

soccer shot1

Nintendo Magazine System gave what seemed to be an exclusive preview in issue 14 of their magazine in November 1993, showing screenshots of the game running. The game seems to be played from a side-on viewpoint, but using Mode-7 to give a tilted 3D perspective and have the camera move up and down with the players.

At this point, there was no name given to the game, and according to the preview the game was still a little rough around the edges and nowhere near complete. However, it was reported to be very fast and playing rather smart and the magazine suggested that it could be one to watch for. Continue reading →

Posted in: Reviews, Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) | Tagged: | 2 Comments