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 since 1999.

Please Browse our archive and discover the many entries that we host for many different platforms.

Latest News and Posts

Inferno: The Odyssey Continues

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1994 Ocean Software

Platform: Amiga CD32

As Commodore were desperately holding on towards the mid-1990s, the Amiga CD32 was also desperate for an injection of new and exciting titles to try and help keep everything afloat. Ocean and Digital Image Design (D.I.D) would answer the call with plans to release both T.F.X and Inferno: The Odyssey Continues on the platform.

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Inferno was billed as the sequel to Epic by some magazines – even though developer Charles Wallace would later tell CD32 gamer magazine that it wasn’t really the case). It was reportedly set 90 years after the events of Epic, where you are a top pilot who has to battle the forces of good and evil.

D.I.D were looking to create an ambitious space simulator with complex and detailed 3D environments, with seven planets and three moons to explore and around 130 missions to complete (Charles later quoted 700 missions). Many magazines described it as being T.F.X (a typical jet fighter simulator) set in space, which is unsurprising considering it would be using essentially the same 3D graphics engine. Continue reading →

Posted in: Amiga CD32, Reviews | Tagged: | 3 Comments

GTW64 July 2023 updates

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

The months are flying fast, and now its time for our July 2023 update for the GTW64 archives with two new additions, including an unnamed Andrew Braybrook game and a potential title where music was composed by Tim/Geoff Follin. We also have 16 pre-existing entries which have been updated too. Enjoy, and happy summer everyone!

2 new entries added

Footloose, Unnamed Andrew Braybrook game

16 updates added

A Fi$tful of Buck$, Albedo, Alloyrun, Big Run, Braindeath, EastEnders, Fantastic Voyage, Flonk, Graham Gooch World Class Cricket, Power Prick, Rockus, Sankara Stone, Sapiens, Save Those Janitors, Stratos, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Posted in: GTW64 news | Leave a comment

Danny Duster’s Dirty Deeds

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1992 Flashsoft

Platform: ZX Spectrum

Our next entry into the archives should have maybe been posted in April, as Danny Duster’s Dirty Deeds is a game that wasn’t, but also never existed in the first place.

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Crash magazine in issue 98 pulled off an elaborate April Fools prank, by printing a 3 page fake review of a made up game, complete with some reasonably convincing screenshots to depict a flick screen adventure game – not too dissimilar to the Wally Week games in style. Continue reading →

Posted in: Reviews, ZX Spectrum | Tagged: | 3 Comments

Where to find us

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Just a reminder that we have various social media outlets, where we also do regular news updates and posts from the site (as well as other prototype and unreleased games communities). If you use one of the following, then please feel free to give us a follow:

Posted in: GTW64 news, News | 2 Comments

Mercenary II – Damocles

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Just a very short post (and so not to replicate other’s hard work) to flag up a wonderful website which contains details on an unreleased PC conversion of Damocles.

http://mercenarysite.free.fr/pcpics.htm

If the website ever disappears, then we’ll try and see if we can host the content here instead to ensure it is safe. The site contains a number of images and video regarding the PC version that never saw release, as well as various details about the game.

The game is preserved, but the owner of the prototype does not wish to release to the community. Hopefully this situation may change in the future.

With thanks to Fever for highlighting the game on the Lemon64 forums.

Posted in: PC, Reviews | Tagged: | 2 Comments

Creatures

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1991 Thalamus

Platform: ZX Spectrum

Following on from our recent post about a long lost conversion of Creatures 2 for the Amiga, we now take a look at a planned ZX Spectrum conversion – and one which seemed to get relatively far… Perhaps!

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A rather good looking Creatures on the ZX Spectrum – but was it running?

Creatures took advantage of the C64’s strong graphical capabilities, and was pretty much made for the machine. It became an iconic series for the C64, with a main character that almost felt like the platform’s very own “mascot” of sorts, when SEGA had Sonic, and Nintendo having Mario. Continue reading →

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

Dino Worlds

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1993 Millennium

Platforms: Commodore Amiga, Super Nintendo, SEGA Mega CD, SEGA Mega Drive

Due for release back in September 1993, Dino Worlds was a puzzle/strategy game, with a touch of adventure according to programmer Kevin Mullard.

dinoworlds3

In the game, you control a lone Tyrannosaurus Rex, who is trying to escape the slowly-approaching ice age. To do this, you must trek northwards through various terrains that are populated by all kinds of dinosaur, each with their own aims and attitudes. Friendly dinosaurs can be recruited and can help you in your quest to reach safety. Continue reading →

Posted in: Commodore Amiga, Mega Drive / Genesis, Reviews, SEGA Mega CD, Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Cataball – An early Wonderboy?

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Chatting with team member Gary Spence the other day, Gary wondered if he had perhaps an over-active imagination when looking at Elite’s Cataball game one evening. A game that was released on one of their Hit-Paks, but then spruced up a year later with different levels and released at full price as Hoppin’ Mad.

cata1

Gary highlighted that Cataball seemed to have graphics very similar to Wonderboy in places – especially on the very first level with the forest, and with the rock formation at the bottom of the game. Could Cataball really have started out as a Wonderboy conversion for Elite? Continue reading →

Posted in: Commodore 64 (C64), Prototype, Unused materials | Tagged: | Leave a comment

GTW64 June 2023 updates

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Another month gone already, and now as we enter into Summer, here is another GTW64 update with 7 new entries into the archive, including a title which oddly doesn’t seem to have had a UK release by Ocean and another which is based on a popular UK soap.

7 new entries added

A Fi$tful of Buck$, EastEnders, Picnic Paranoia, Power Prick, Return of the Things, Taxar, Turbo Towers

11 updates added

Babies of the Dirt, Chess, Denny’s Quest 2, Escape from London, Fire & Forget, Ninja Grannies, Putty, Rockus, Show Crazy, Total Recall V1, Wreckers

Posted in: GTW64 news | Leave a comment