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

Super Barbarian

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1992 Palace Software

Platforms: Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, PC, C64, Amstrad CPC

Note: This is heavily based on the original C64 archive entry.

Originally starting off and named as Barbarian 3, this was originally to be a straightforward sequel to Barbarian 2, following a very similar structure. This was an early period of development when both Steve Brown and Richard Leinfellner were involved in the development.

Basically whilst the sequel was in development, Steve had already decided that the game would benefit being turned into a trilogy. So the once planned ending to number 2 was changed so that Drax escaped through a mirror at the end of the game to leave it open for a 3rd title.

The main major change was that the 3rd game would now scroll instead of being flick screen based. When an action sequence occurred, then the game would switch to a larger and zoomed in fight view for the 16-bit editions. The C64 would keep the characters the same size throughout.

Continue reading →

Posted in: Atari ST, Commodore 64 (C64), Commodore Amiga, GTW64 news, PC, Reviews | Tagged: | 3 Comments

Pursuit Of The Pink Panther

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1983 Roklan Corporation / Probe 2000

Platforms: Atari 800 and Commodore Vic 20

One of the holy grail titles for the Atari 2600, Pursuit Of The Pink Panther was also due for release on the Atari 800 and the Commodore Vic 20. Being converted by Roklan Corporation at the time.

Preservationist and collector Ken Van Mersbergen (known to many as Dutchman2000) found a very early prototype of the Vic 20 title within the archive of a retired programmer who used to work for Roklan. Ken released the title late last year in 2019 on the AtariAge forums after dumping the eproms.

Before you get too excited, the prototype is extremely early, and just showcases a one screen demo. It sadly isn’t playable and nothing moves, and just seems to be testing out the graphic display at this stage. A shame, as the Atari game was an interesting looking title that could have translated well. At this stage, we are not sure if the game ever progressed any further than the demo you can see here.

However, it is yet another important piece of gaming history preserved, and wonderful to see a Vic 20 title added to the site as well. Below is a short gallery, showing the game and prototype cartridge (thanks to Ken) and also a download too.

We’ve also added an extra scan, thanks to Karl Kuras – which gives a bit more detail about the Atari 2600 game and confirms about the game being taken over by Probe 2000. We assume they would have been releasing the VIC 20 edition

Hopefully some day we will learn more about the development and from those behind it.

With thanks to Ken Van Mersbergen for the preservation work and Karl Kuras for the additional scan highlight (via archive.org).

Download link:

Preview_PinkPanther

Gallery
Posted in: Atari 400/800/XL, Commodore, Commodore VIC-20 | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Joust full game released today after over 30 years

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Games That Weren’t is proud to present the long lost AtariSoft conversion of Joust, which was due for release back in 1984. You can now download and play the game as originally intended.

It is with massive thanks to Ken Van Mersbergen for the amazing discovery of the source code and compiling the game into a form that can be played. Originally Ken had planned to first show the game at the VCFMW event in September, but unfortunately it has been cancelled – hence the earlier release on Games That Weren’t today. You can read more about how Ken came to find the game and preserve everything within the main page itself:

Enjoy!

https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/joust/

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

GTW64 update for July 2020

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

This year has certainly flown already (and the sooner its over the better), and it is time for another GTW64 update with a number of new entries and various page updates that have been added over the past month. Enjoy!

6 new entries added

Apocalypse, Early Days, Mad Mission, Mirage, Molar Madness, Sidewinder

28 updates added

Advanced Soccer Simulator, Alliance, C64GS cartridge titles, Catacombs, Circuit Man, Earth Mover, Escape From Colditz, Findit, Forestland, Habitat, Iron Hand, Living Dead, Make My Day, Mastertronic Loader 3, Mega Games, MegatanoÁ¯, Miner Willy Meets The Taxman, Mishun, Nighthunter, Orpheus in the Underworld, PHM Pegasus – Advanced Battle Disk, Race Drivin’, Rainbow Educational Software, Red Arrows, Shoot Out!, Slap Fighter, Thunder Hawk, Unknown Tony Crowther game

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

Yves Grolet Amiga archives released

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Yves Grolet, programmer on Amiga classics such as Agony and Unreal (so not the Epic game!) has recently archived and released remains of his Amiga hard drive and various floppy disks to the public domain.

These include the full sources for Agony and various other prototypes, and bits and pieces. People are free to do whatever they like with the sources, as long as it isn’t for commercial use.

A fantastic treasure trove which you should definitely check out:
https://m.facebook.com/yves.grolet/posts/1022286895865594

Thanks to @AmigaL0ve and Fabrizio Bartoloni for flagging up the release.

Posted in: Commodore Amiga, News | Leave a comment

Vectrex: another lost redesign

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Whilst doing research into one of the Vectrex titles covered in the Games That Weren’t book, there was a surprise in store when Gary Bergmann (Senior Electronic Project Engineer at Milton Bradley) put us in touch with Tom McDonald. Tom used to work in the model shop at Milton Bradley at the time of the Vectrex, working on models for the likes of Dark Tower and more.

The Vectrex had other redesign attempts to try and continue the platform’s life-span, but sadly didn’t make it. These included a Colour Vectrex, but also a Mini Vectrex – which the National Video Game museum famously acquired a prototype of back in 2018. There was even talk of a handheld colour Vectrex in the late 80’s that would sadly never materialise.

However, Gary mentioned that Tom had worked on yet another Vectrex redesign which would never see the light of day. A new casing intended to replace the classic dark grey shell that we all know and love.

Continue reading →

Posted in: Bonus, Features, Prototype, Vectrex | 2 Comments

Make My Day game fully recovered

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Following on from the release of Mirage, we are pleased to announce the preservation and recovery of yet another title in the form of Make My Day. A full diagonal scrolling Western game which was intended for Power House back in 1988.

After providing a copy of Mirage for the site, Mark Clements very kindly sent a copy of Make My Day down via post the other day. Thankfully the disk preserved first time without any issues at all.

The additional bonus of the recovery is the inclusion of a previously unheard Matt Gray tune on the title screen. Enjoy!

https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/make-my-day-2/

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

Cold Steel

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1992 Ocean Software

Platform: Super Nintendo

Brian Flanagan has been in the games industry for over 30 years, working on well over 40 shipped titles. He once worked at Ocean Software for around 10 years, working (uncredited) on Operation Wolf and then infamously on the first version of Operation Thunderbolt on the Commodore 64, which saying was a bit of a mess is a slight understatement.

We chat with Brian (with some added input from Dawn Hollywood) regarding an intriguing SNES platformer called Cold Steel. Not really covered in any depth or detail as far as we know, apart from the odd mention online and in the press. Developed back in 1992, and which could have been one of Ocean’s early SNES releases following the likes of The Addams Family, had it been completed. Continue reading →

Posted in: Interviews, Reviews, Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) | Tagged: | Leave a comment