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.

Latest News and Posts

Darkland

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1990 New Deal Productions

Platform: Commodore Amiga

Darkland is a very neat looking action game that was in production for the Commodore Amiga back in 1990 by New Deal Productions. It seems the company released a few titles, but then disappeared around 1990 with no further developments.

darkland1

The game was reported to have 1 MB of graphics and around 250 screens in total – an “overscan game with differential scrolling”. Generation 4 magazine were impressed with the graphics shown, but hadn’t played anything by the sounds of it. It was reported that they hoped to have a playable version the next month and that the game was due for release around October 1990. Continue reading →

Posted in: Commodore Amiga, Reviews | Tagged: | 4 Comments

Bar National

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1986 Jens and Mattias Thorsen

Platform: Sinclair QL

Our first ever Sinclair QL title into the unreleased games archive which is Games That Weren’t, and thanks to Anonymous Contributor for the heads up. Much of the following is based from their contribution.

Bar National was an 1980s club-life simulator that was created by Swedish brothers Jens and Mattias Thorsen.  Jens eventually went on to make his mark during the mid-1990s, as the main person behind the hugely successful Backpacker series of games in Sweden.

Jens had done some programming in the early 1980s, and it wasn’t until the mid-1980s when Jens was a student at a technical college in Sweden, and the computer bug really bit. Together with his brother Mattias, he created “Bar National” on the Sinclair QL. Continue reading →

Posted in: Reviews, Sinclair Quantum Leap (QL) | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Robin Hood

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

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 →

Posted in: Apple II, Commodore 64 (C64), PC, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Adidas Golden Shoe

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1989 Ocean Software France

Platforms: Commodore Amiga and Atari ST

Adidas Golden Shoe is not to be confused with Adidas Championship Football, but then perhaps it should be? (see below). The team and the graphics are completely different for both games – and as contributor Hoagie flags up, Michèle Bacqué’s graphic style can be recognised too.

GoldenShoe1

This particular strange development was being designed and developed by Ocean France at the same time that Beach Volley was being created. Continue reading →

Posted in: Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, Reviews | Tagged: | 1 Comment

Joy of Killing

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1996 Mirage Software / S-Crew

Platform: Commodore Amiga 500

Sadly with the decline of the Amiga in later years, it resulted in many titles being thrown onto the scrapheap. Joy of Killing was yet another casualty from all of this, a shoot-em-up title by Polish development team S-Crew, and set to be published by Mirage Software.

joyshotjpg

The game was developed by Jarosław Wetoszka (Charon/Mystic) with graphics by Paweł Wojciechowski (Yoga/United Artists) and audio by Szymon Kosecki (Spiryt/Euphoria) and was relatively advanced and mentioned in a number of magazines back in 1996, where software was beginning to dry up. Continue reading →

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

Battlezone 2000

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1994 Atari

Platform: Atari Jaguar

Battlezone 2000 was one of the early planned titles for the Atari Jaguar and mentioned in various magazines over a period of time, but it was never to surface – or did it in some form at least?

bz2000 2

It is suggested that Battlezone 2000 was later reworked into Hover Strike, a futuristic tank battle game – which certainly matches up. However, Leonard Tramiel has claimed that both games were entirely separate, which has caused some conflict of information.

There is a suggestion that both games were even advertised side by side – was that the case? (we weren’t able to find an advert showing both together at the time of writing). If so, does it mean that an original Battlezone development was scrapped and replaced by a separate and unrelated development that was Hover Strike? Continue reading →

Posted in: Atari Jaguar, Reviews | Tagged: | 3 Comments

Elemental Force

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1990 Exponentia

Platform: Commodore Amiga

Elemental Force tells the story of a once-thriving city protected by a gem that ensured peace and stability. However, when a malevolent figure steals the gem and hides it across four elemental worlds (water, fire, air, and earth), the city falls into decline. The people choose a hero to retrieve the gem and defeat its thief in a climactic battle.

elemental4

According to magazine previews at the time, the game consists of two phases. The first phase involves a series of tests to determine the player’s suitability for the quest. Once deemed worthy, the player selects one of the four worlds to explore, with the order of selection influencing the game’s difficulty. Continue reading →

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

Chopper Attack

Posted: by Frank Gasking

1994 Origin

Platforms: PC and 3DO
Also known as: Chopper Assault

In a winter CES feature in a 1994 issue of Power Play, a new game by Origin was reported as being in development. Chopper Attack was being developed by Andy Hollis (of Gunship fame), who had recently joined Origin. This apparently was to be an action oriented helicopter game released on both PC and 3DO.

Eventually the game was reworked and released as Jane’s Longbow, a more hardcore simulation. But what happened to the original planned incarnation, and especially a 3DO development? Continue reading →

Posted in: 3DO, PC, Reviews | Tagged: | 4 Comments

Thank you!

Posted: by Frank Gasking

And that is a wrap for 2024. Merry Xmas and happy holidays to everyone! Thank you all for your kind support in what has been a tough year and hope you have enjoyed the archive this year. Having a well needed break now, so see you all in 2025!

If you want to check through all of our updates for the Christmas period, then please see: https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/tag/xmas2024/

Posted in: News | 5 Comments

Bonus Atari ST recoveries

Posted: by Frank Gasking

Whilst processing Archer’s Atari ST disks, we found a few bits of software and prototypes which are believed to be missing, or are at least marked as so at our friends at https://www.atarimania.com/

First up is a strange prototype of Karate Kid 2 that was found lurking, containing a slideshow of some images, but pressing F5 will bring up the main character:

KarateKid2 demo 00001

Download

KarateKid2-demo

Continue reading →

Posted in: Atari ST, Preservation, Prototype | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments