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

Time Bomb

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1977 Atari

Platform: Arcade

As part of the launch and release of The Games That Weren’t book, we are gradually adding assets and content that didn’t make it to print as bonus content to share with you. The book contains a detailed 6 page full story about the unreleased 1970’s Atari arcade, Time Bomb – talking to those involved in the development, with input from Chris Downend, Lyle Rains and John Ray. Check out our growing Bonus Content page for more materials added over time.

When discussing the game with John Ray, it was established that archivist Scott Evans was now the keeper of the prototype. Scott has created a video of the game in action, which you can see below. Special artist re-pixelled versions of the screens from the video shots were made and printed in the book. Continue reading →

Posted in: Arcade, Atari, Bonus, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

PFA Soccer Manager

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1998 Krisalis / Psygnosis / Eidos

Platform: PC

Contributor Niklas Lindholm has been trying to solve a mystery about a football management game that would just disappear completely without a trace.

Krisalis had already previously had released a title called PFA Player of the Year back in 1996, and tried to make extra use of the PFA licence by creating yet another management title called PFA Soccer Manager. This would be a management game built to run in Windows 95, making use of the codebase and interface style. However, they state that console versions were to be planned. Continue reading →

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

Sir Stanley Matthews

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Date unknown – Audiogenic

Platforms: Unknown

A short entry for now for a title flagged up by contributor Niklas Lindholm, which was a licenced game based on the legendary footballer Sir Stanley Matthews.

The game was mentioned by Audiogenic’s Peter Calver in an interview by Atari Compendium, where he is quoted as saying:

“I do miss having so many imaginative people around me, though, and I certainly regret never producing the 1930s football game we designed after signing up Sir Stanley Matthews.”

We got in touch with Peter, who confirmed that the game only ever got to a concept stage, when the project was put on hold. They didn’t get as far unfortunately as deciding what platforms the game was going to be on.

So sadly, the game was very much at the very early stages with nothing to find.

Case closed!

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

Oops!

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1979 Larry Rosenthal

Platform: Arcade

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

The book contains a detailed 8 page full story about the unreleased 1979 arcade, Oops – talking to Larry Rosenthal and Dan Sunday about the development, and how it evolved over time. As there were no gameplay screenshots to show at the time, the piece features artist impressions of how the game could have looked. Continue reading →

Posted in: Arcade, Bonus, Reviews | Tagged: | 3 Comments

Dreamland Chronicles: Freedom Ridge

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

2001 Mythos Games

Platforms: PC and Sony PlayStation 2

By the creators of UFO: Enemy Unknown and being led by Julian Gollop, and was a 3D evolution of the previous X-COM strategy games produced by Mythos Games. The press at the time were very excited about the game, and one even felt it could have been one of the greatest turn-based strategy games ever produced. Continue reading →

Posted in: PC, Reviews, Sony PlayStation 2 | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Various unreleased Amiga titles

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

A short post to highlight two Amiga titles that never were (thanks to Karl Kuras) which were mentioned in the pages of Commodore User magazine.

The Legend of Billy Boulder

This title was actually due for release on PC and Atari ST, as well as Amiga. Although fully reviewed by two magazines, it never surfaced for any platform it seems. The reviews were fairly poor, but when would that give U.S. Gold an excuse not to release a game? Continue reading →

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

GTW64 update for September 2020

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Pretty much the end of summer already and time of the month for another GTW64 update, with various updates and additions that were added over the past month.

2 new entries added

Elite 2, The Spelling Bee

31 updates added

A Chance In Hell, Arcade Wizzard, Astromine, Barbarian 3, Circus Fun!, Counting Bee, Dungeons Of Death, Dying High, Dynablaster, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade V1, Jimmy’s Grand Prix, Joust, Koshimo, Lemmings V1, Liverpool V1, Lunar Jetman, Maze Patrol, Megatree, Mindsmear, Miner Willy Meets The Taxman, Mumbles – Superspy, Operation Thunderbolt V1, Pipemania 2: Plumber’s World, Starglider 2, Sturmtruppen, The Final Matrix, Titus The Fox, Top Wrestling, Total Recall V1, Tujad, Zzap Italia homebrew

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

Turrican 3

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1994 Renegade

Platforms: PC and Acorn Archimedes

A short entry for a title due for release by Renegade on the PC and Acorn Archimedes (thanks to Kevin Tilley for flagging this one up to cover). This was to be a conversion of the 3rd game in the Turrican trilogy, which had already been released on the Amiga and other platforms. Continue reading →

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

S.U.B

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1993 Thalamus

Platforms: Commodore Amiga and PC

A short entry for a title due for release by Thalamus on the Amiga and PC late into the publisher’s life (thanks to Kevin Tilley for flagging this one up to cover). This was a cool looking strategy game set underwater, and had previews released for the Commodore Amiga that can be checked out. Continue reading →

Posted in: Commodore Amiga, Reviews | Tagged: | 2 Comments

The Last Starfighter

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1984 Atari

Platform: Arcade

As part of the launch and release of The Games That Weren’t book, we are gradually adding assets and content that didn’t make it to print as bonus content to share with you. Check out our growing Bonus Content page for more materials added over time.

Whilst covering Captain Seahawk, developer Mike Albaugh kindly shared a joke asset that was to be included in the cancelled Last Starfighter arcade that he was a part of, and which is one my favourite films of all time. Continue reading →

Posted in: Arcade, Atari, Bonus, Reviews | Tagged: | 7 Comments