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

Welcome to Fabrizio Bartoloni!

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

I say “welcome”, but Fabrizio is already a very well known face to Games That Weren’t, and has been for many years now.

When looking at our team page and doing some tidy-ups, I realised that we have a number of regular contributors who should be recognised better for all their help. Fabrizio is the first, and one of the most prolific contributors our project has had.

Fabrizio loves all things to do with unreleased games, and has a very keen eye for any new items that surface via other sites and forums. If you check many pages within the archive, you’ll no doubt spot Fabrizio’s name credited somewhere.

Thanks Fabrizio for all your help over the years, and for also becoming part of the GTW family.

Posted in: News | Leave a comment

System IIII game catalogue

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1986-1990 Ghislain de Blois

Platform: Commodore VIC-20

A short entry to highlight a series of previously unreleased VIC 20 games from Ghislain de Blois that you may have missed and was posted originally in 2015:

Eight previously unreleased games for the VIC-20: THE SYSTEM IIII GAME CATALOG 1986-1990

system4 1986 1990

There is a wide variety of games to check out, including a Pac-man clone, boxing games and a RPG title – all showcasing the early talents of Ghislain before he went on to produce stunners such as Realms of Quest.

Enjoy!

With thanks to Fabrizio Bartoloni for flagging up and highlighting.

Posted in: Commodore VIC-20, Reviews | Tagged: | 1 Comment

Drop Soldier

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1991 Image Works

Platforms: Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, PC

Drop Soldier was a RPG that put you in the shoes of a 1st rank soldier, where you are set a number of night and day missions.

You could do missions by yourself or command a platoon and issue orders, plan attacks. One of the exciting aspects was where CU Amiga talked about being able to connect up to 16 Amigas together via modem or RS232 to play as a team.

dropsoldier1

The missions would range from destroying various enemy bases, to delivering objects to certain locations. The drop soldiers themselves would be equipped with power suits to enable them to jump and run much faster than standard soldiers. Continue reading →

Posted in: Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, PC, Reviews | Tagged: | 2 Comments

GTW64 November 2021 update

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

A bit back to normality this month, with a lot more new unreleased game entries and updates in our penultimate GTW64 update before the end of 2021. We hope you enjoy it!

8 new entries added

lostworld

Anna, Core, Gape, Pixie and Dixie, Popeye V1, The Lost World, Unknown SEU, Unnamed game

25 updates added

Allo Allo, Alvin and The Chipmunks, Bloid Bros, Chopperman, Clod Jumper, Commodore Juicer, Dimension X, Dungeons, Amethysts, Alchemists ‘n Everythin’, Force Of Four, Fungus 2, Future Bike Simulator V1, Hex-Bert, Huckleberry Hound in Hollywood Capers, Lethal 2, Lord Mc Sun, Paranoid Pete, People from Sirius, Qrazy Qber, Razzmatazz, Sooty And Sweep 2, Spy vs Spy III – Arctic Antics V1, Tears of Rage, Thomas The Tank Engine 2, Typhoon Thompson, Undead

Posted in: Commodore 64 (C64), GTW64 news, News | Leave a comment

Cool Herders

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

2007 HarmlessLion (Previously Alten 8)

Platform: Nintendo DS

Cool Herders is a neat unofficial and independently created commercial title for the SEGA Dreamcast that was published around 2005. A Nintendo DS version was put into production, but was sadly never to see a proper commercial release.

The basic premise of the game is that you have to try and save the most sheep in a series of rounds, either by grabbing them or by stealing your opponent’s sheep. The game came with a story mode, and also a multiplayer option where you could fight against 3 other opponents. It could be described as a sort of mixture of Chu Chu Rocket and Bomberman.

coolherders large

After the success of the Dreamcast release, it was decided to build a Nintendo DS edition in 2007 with a whole new adventure attached to it. Developer Mike Brent had basically been looking to find a modern platform to move the development to, and initially started experimenting with getting the game running on the Gameboy Advance platform. He succeeded and then then looked for a publisher to take the game on. Continue reading →

Posted in: Nintendo DS, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Whole Brain Spelling preserved!

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

A quick post to highlight another C64 title preserved, thanks to the efforts of Allan Pinkerton, who has been slowly helping to recover a large number of unpreserved educational titles for the platform.

Today we see the release of Whole Brain Spelling – General Word List, which was an educational title from Sublogic.

wholespelling

We believe there may be others out there to preserve by the company, so we are adding a single entry in GTW64 to try and hunt for these. Here are the links for Whole Brain Spelling:

Posted in: Commodore 64 (C64), GTW64 news, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Perplexus Diodomin

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

2002 James Boulton

Platform: Game Boy Advance

Perplexus Diodomin was a Game Boy Advance title that was in development back in 2002 by James Boulton (code), with graphics done by James (tile graphics), James Barnard (tile graphics and music) and Jamie Bamborough (character sprites).

per4 large

James Boulton was (and still is!) a huge fan of Puzznic, enjoying the title form its release on the Atari ST back in the day. He had started writing a version of the game on the Atari ST originally when he was 15, but didn’t get very far. He always had the idea of doing a Puzznic style game in the back of his mind though. Continue reading →

Posted in: Game Boy Advance, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Super Skweek

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1991 Loriciel

Platform: PC (DOS)

A short entry for now for a PC conversion of the Amstrad CPC, Amiga, Atari ST and Atari Lynx puzzler sequel. Highlighted to GTW by contributor EAD.

Plans for the PC seem to be on very solid grounding, as the manuals feature loading instructions for that version of the game, and the original was released for DOS just over a year before. However, it seems to have never surfaced. Continue reading →

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

Frak!

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1991 Nick Pelling

Platform: Commodore Amiga

Frak! is an absolute classic on the BBC Micro, starring caveman Trogg as you navigated across various trecharous levels with your trusty yo-yo.

frak3

It is no surprise then to learn that there had been plans to bring Trogg to 16-bit platforms at some stage, and Commodore User magazine would report this back in August 1991. Continue reading →

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