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

MARSOC: US Marine Corps Special Ops

2010 Zombie Studios

Platforms: Microsoft Xbox 360, PC and Sony PlayStation 3

As part of the launch and release of The Games That Weren’t book, we are adding assets and content that didn’t make it to print as bonus DLC content to share with you.

Within the book is an in-depth and detailed 16 page story about the ambitious MARSOC development by Zombie Studios. A game inspired by titles such as Gears of War and Call of Duty, the title would set you within the lawless port of Massawa, Eritrea – hunting down a dangerous warlord called Limbano.

marsoc video shot 1

We talk to Zombie Studios founder Mark Long, senior level designer Erik Bretz, producer John Williamson about the promising development, which at one point had been picked up by SEGA for publication. You can read the full story about the development in the Games That Weren’t book.

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Posted in: Bonus, PC, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360 | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Nightbreed RPG

1990 Ocean Software

Platforms: Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, PC and Commodore 64

This was to be the last of a trilogy of Nightbreed games produced by Ocean Software in 1990 and produced by Imagitec, overseen by David Wightman. The game would utilize essentially the same engine as Times of Lore, which they developed on the Amiga. This means it is likely that Adrian Waterhouse and Julian Gardner were the developers, with Nigel Cook on graphics duty.

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Posted in: Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, PC, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Rotator

1991 Rainbow Arts

Platforms: Atari ST, Commodore Amiga and PC

Not to be confused with the recent Psytronik release of the same name, Rotator was a one/two player tank game, where you would have to link a number of generators together to boost their flagging power. This is due to an alien invasion which is disrupting the world’s energy systems, and has thrown civilisation into chaos.

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Posted in: Amiga, Atari ST, PC, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Tork

2003 Realism Studios

Platform: Nintendo Game Boy Advance

As part of the launch and release of The Games That Weren’t book, we are  adding assets and content that didn’t make it to print as bonus DLC content to share with you.

Within the book is an in-depth and detailed 10 page story about the Game Boy Advance conversion of Tork. We talk to head of Realism Studios, Andy Onions, developer Neil Millstone and artist Michael Smith about the development, which at one stage overtook the XBox development due to the efficiency of the Realism team.

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

Fire and Ice early screens

Thanks to Grzegorz Antosiewicz and Hall of Light, here are a number of early screens from Fire and Ice on the Commodore Amiga showing a few assets that didn’t make the final cut.

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Grzegorz found early screenshots in various magazines (ACE, CU Amiga, Generation 4 (1991 October), Power Play (1991 issue 4), The One (1992 April).)), showing the game before the main protagonist was set in stone. Continue reading

Posted in: Amiga, Unused materials | Tagged: | 1 Comment

AAA

1990 Palace Software

Platforms: Commodore Amiga and Atari ST

A short entry for a title that was previewed in Generation 4 magazine, issue 19 from 1990 – thanks to Grzegorz Antosiewicz for the heads up. The game was called AAA for the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST. The magazine snippet was brief, but said the following:

“AAA is a fabulous arcade / strategy game, with awe-inspiring graphics and animations. Suffice to say that we will talk to you about it soon! The game will be released on Amiga and ST during 1990.”

joined screen

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Posted in: Amiga, Atari ST, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Dizzy Returns

2013 Blitz Games

Platforms: Microsoft Xbox 360, Mobile, Nintendo Wii U, PC and Sony PlayStation 3

As part of the launch and release of The Games That Weren’t book, we are  adding assets and content that didn’t make it to print as bonus DLC content to share with you.

Dizzy and associated characters and images are © The Oliver Twins and Codemasters. “Dizzy” is a trademark of Codemasters. (c) 1986 – 2020.

Within the book is an in-depth and detailed 12 page story of the Dizzy Returns project, and what should have been Dizzy’s triumphant return for both new and audiences back in 2013, but was just not to be. We talk to creators Andrew and Philip Oliver and artists Duncan (Dunk) Nimmo and Nick Myles about their vision for the game and the failed Kickstarter which prevented the game from being fully started.

Dizzy Env02
Location concept for the game.

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Posted in: Bonus, Mobile, PC, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Wii U, Xbox 360 | Tagged: | 1 Comment

Ultimate Soccer Manager 2000

1998-1999 Impressions

Platform: PC

Thanks to Niklas Lindholm, we learn of yet another lost football management game, this time with a game in the Ultimate Soccer Manager series, with the 2000 edition. Niklas has produced a brilliant video about the series, where he also talks about the cancelled edition here:

Trouble had started when some of the old team decided to leave Impressions due to various reasons undisclosed, and the code was too messy/complicated for the new crew to be able to pick up and resume in an effective way. They decided to restart development, and had a promising and playable alpha coming together after a short space of time.

The problem was (according to an unnamed developer on the project), Sierra were incredibly impatient, and were frustrated at the delays caused. They wanted the game for a Christmas 2000 release, and were not willing to give the team more time beyond that. The friction caused by this saw productivity fall as morale dropped. When it was realised that the Christmas 2000 deadline would not be met, Sierra decided to cancel the game.

At present, all that remains are a series of adverts and screenshots – but it is hoped that something of the cancelled development will surface in the future. Maybe one of the developers still has something tucked away that they could share. For now, check out a few additional items provided by Niklas from his research.

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Putty Squad

1994-2013 System 3

Platforms: Apple iOS, Commodore Amiga 1200, Nintendo Game Boy Color, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii U, PC (DOS + Windows), SEGA Mega Drive, Sony PlayStation 2 and Sony PlayStation Portable

As part of the launch and release of The Games That Weren’t book, we are  adding assets and content that didn’t make it to print as bonus DLC content to share with you.

Within the book is an in-depth and detailed 14 page story about various conversions of Putty Squad across almost 20 years that never quite made it, including of course the famous Amiga 1200 edition. We discuss the various developments with Phil Thornton (Putty Squad designer), Andy Roberts (PS2, CGB project leader), Jon Wells (CGB developer), Galahad (A1200 version saviour), John Twiddy (A1200 developer + other various conversions), Michael Smith (CGB artist) and Nick Lee (A1200, Mega Drive and PS2 artist).

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PS2 title screen

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Posted in: Amiga, Bonus, DS, Game Boy Color, iOS, Mega Drive, Nintendo, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Reviews | Tagged: , | Leave a comment