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

Mike (Kernal) Berry collection

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Following on from the Jonathan Kendall collection, Mike Berry recently came forward with the offer of making available the editor he created to generate levels for Reckless Rufus.

rufus1

With the possibility of more to come, I have set up a general page to add any interesting tools and bits and bobs (not quite GTW specific, but not previously seen) from Mike’s collection.

So as a starting point, here is the Reckless Rufus level editor tool – which is labelled Awesome Dude, which was the original name for the game before Alternative Software asked for the rename at the death.

rufus2

Here it is, and hopefully there will be more to add in the future…

Reckless Rufus editor

Posted in: Commodore 64, GTW64 news, Prototype | Tagged: | Leave a comment

GTW64 at Play Expo 2013

Posted: by Frank Gasking

GTW64 was on display recently at the Play Expo 2013 in Manchester at Event City. It was a great weekend, where we got to chat to many developers – including Steve Wahid regarding his Streethawk work.

100_1509

Below you can find some photos from the event, as well as a link to a podcast interview (starting from around 43:32).

We hope to do similar stands at other shows in the future!

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

Flying Shark (ZX Spectrum) and Rampage (CPC)

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

A very small post to just share a previously unseen Flying Shark asset from the original game before it was handed over to Dominic Robinson and John Cummings at Graftgold Ltd. Yes, that is right – Bob Pape within his recent book on R-Type had disclosed that there was an earlier version of Flying Shark in development at Catalyst.

There was also an earlier Rampage development under way at Catalyst by a chap called Stephen Waldie. When Stephen found out he wouldn’t be paid until the end, he walked as he could not afford to live without a regular income stream.

Unfortunately, the Flying Shark coder was not quite up to the project and walked out after only a few weeks. Both projects were moved onto other developers before being finished off and released.

Flying Shark

 

Thanks to Bob Pape, we can at least share part of the Flying Shark V1 remains which he found on a development disk. It just contains an unused side panel which would have gone into the Catalyst version of the game. Maybe some day more will be recovered, but we doubt either game got very far at all.

Posted in: Amstrad CPC, Prototype, Unused materials, ZX Spectrum | Tagged: , | 1 Comment

Yet more updates for GTW64

Posted: by Frank Gasking

More this week, mostly in the way of new entries and a series of updates with scanned items added. No new games to play this time unfortunately, but we hope to have more soon. Enjoy!

30 new entries added

Benny Hill, Bloody Kids, Boxing and Galactica 1 pack, Bryan Robson’s Super League, Castle Fear, Delphian, Demolator, Espionage, Flame Island, Golden Path, Grand Slam Tennis, Grimblood, Gunboat, Hagar The Horrible, Main Event, Minder, Nifty Lifty, Orel Hershiser’s Strike Zone, Oriental Games, Pengi, Plexar, Q8 Team Ford Rally Simulation, Quadrillion, Rainbow, Sarge, Star Fighter, The Sweeney, Think!, Warlord, Xenodrome

24 updates added

Aviatak, Bamboo, Battlestorm, Crossbow, Deep Star, Gladiator, Heavy Barrel, International Soccer Challenge, King Of Chicago, Kobayashi Naru 1994, Liverpool FC, Lock On, Lord Of The Rings, Lords Of The Rising Sun, Miami Vice, Murder!, Operation Thunderbolt V1, Pulsator, Rebelstar, SDI, The Omnicron Conspiracy, Total Recall V1, Tour De Force, Trick Ramp Crazy

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

Large update and findings for GTW64

Posted: by Frank Gasking

Well, following on from the release of Fun School Special, we have a special update this time with not one new finding – but 7 previously unseen and unreleased games/previews – thanks to the efforts of Duncan Kershaw, who has been digging through his work disks for GTW64. This includes three full games, and the rest are quite meaty previews plus a sadly corrupted title (which we hope may get saved some day). But there also some other promising developments which you can find out more about below:

Duncan Kershaw recoveries released

A large amount of titles – most intended for Players Software recovered and preserved:

Codename Desert Storm (full game), Charlie (full game), Deep Star (preview), Harrier Strike (full game), Liberator (preview), Locomotive (preview), Space Hop (full game)

Firehawk (Codemasters) Level 1 map assets found

Firehawk

Dinnamic Donkey Duo and Elusive game remains recovered

Dinnamic Donkey Duo, Elusive

New Graham Gooch World Class Cricket review found and added

Graham Gooch World Class Cricket

More on R-Type V1 from Bob Pape

R-Type V1

16 additional new entries added

Demigod 1994, Hi-Tec educational titles, Kobyashi Naru 1994, Majik 1994, Micro Driv’in, Nightwing 1994, Shard of Inovar 1994, , The Darkest Road 1994, The Magus 1994, Unknown Ikari Warriors clone, Unnamed Karate game, Venom 1994, Wanted: Dead or Alive, World Boxing Champ, Zombies

And finally… 44 updates added

24th Amaranth GP, Adam Caveman, Axels Magic Hammer, Batman Returns, Brides Of Dracula, CJ’s 4th Adventure, City Bomber, Cops Fight Back, Dune Buggy, Escape From Colditz, Everwar, Fighting Cops, Final Eclipse, Firefighter, Flubble And Squij, Germ Alert, Habitat, Key to Success, Laser Disc to C64 interface, Leaving Teramis, Lethal Xcess, Mumbles – Superspy, Nuclear Nick, Olli & Lissa II: Halloween, Penguin Tower, Pipe Mania, Save The Hippy, Scooter, Se-Kaa of Assiah 1994, Solar Jetman, Sooty And Sweep 2, Space Ace, Spikey and the search for Rip, Spooky, Starburst, Super Pac Twins, The Seven Gates Of Jambala, Time Scanner V1, Trojahn, Unknown Ole Mogensen game, Venturia, Warriors

Posted in: GTW64 news, News | Leave a comment

A slightly different Pitfighter (C64)

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Another one for the collection, but spotted in an issue of Your Commodore was a preview of Pitfighter with a slight difference in the game area.

pitfighter-v1

The difference is merely the inclusion of a yellow trousered main character for Kato (who in the final game is either blue or red).

Here is a shot from the released game to compare:

Pit-Fighter

 

Posted in: Commodore 64, GTW64 news, Prototype | Tagged: | 1 Comment

Battle of the Eras released – PC (DOS)

Posted: by Frank Gasking

Brandon Cobb of superfighter.com has been in touch to announce the finding and availability of a long lost PC (DOS) fighting game called Battle of the Eras.

While a demo of the game was circulated via the BBS’ of the time, not one person stepped up and purchased a copy of the full version. As a result, the full version was never made available … until now.

Check out the link below for a full interview with the developer and a free download of both the demo and the registered version of the game. Thanks to Brandon and his team, people can now experience the complete game for the first time.

http://www.oldergames.com/beras/

Posted in: News, PC | Leave a comment