Preserving Cancelled & Unreleased Video Game History Since 1999
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.
GTW Highlight No.17: In September, we recovered and saved Matthew Smith’s long lost Commodore VIC-20 game Monster Muncher (missing 41 years). It was miraculously spotted in the Retro Computer Museum and was quite a recovery:
https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2024/09/monster-muncher/
A fixed version was then later done by Andy Hewitt, making the game fully playable as intended: https://hewco.itch.io/monster-muncher
GTW Highlight No.16: In September, we recovered and saved the last build of The Last Job (aka The Heist) on the Sony Play Station 2. Missing for 20 years, and due for release back in 2004 by Acclaim:
https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2024/09/the-last-job/
GTW Highlight No.15: In August, we took a look at Die Hard 2 on the #SegaMasterSystem that was canned. We shed light on this version, its developer + how far it got. Could it be found?
https://gamesthatwerent.com/2024/08/die-hard-2-die-harder/
GTW Highlight No.14: July saw us covering the lost PC prototype of The Ravaging by Pukka Games from 1999-2000, where you control an angel from hell in a 3rd person action-adventure. Check out the demo and video here:
https://gamesthatwerent.com/2024/07/the-ravaging/
GTW Highlight No.13: Again in June, we took a look at an ambitious Alien VS Predator game for PC (possibly Amiga too) in 1993, where you had essentially three different games in one. It was tragically canned after licence issues.
https://gamesthatwerent.com/2024/06/alien-vs-predator-nightmare-on-ryushi/
Atari Addict landed this weekend, and David Crookes has done an amazing job putting this #Atari special together with many different features across many platforms. We also had the honor of writing the unreleased games segment too!
To order, visit: https://pixel.addict.media/shop/atari-addict-magazine
GTW Highlight No.12: June was certainly busy, and we did a huge investigation into The Godfather on the Sega Master System + others. It vanished after a rough first cut that wasn’t up to scratch. We made some big breakthroughs in terms of who worked on it:
https://gamesthatwerent.com/2024/06/the-godfather/
GTW Highlight No.11: In May, we celebrated an incredible 25 years of Games That Weren’t, which was first born back in 1999. Covering the history of how the site first started and some of the key events and recoveries over the years leading up to 2024.
https://gamesthatwerent.com/2024/05/25-years-of-games-that-werent/
To accompany the page, we also did a video that talked through the early beginnings and some of the key findings from over the years.
GTW Highlight No.10: Again in April, another recovery was made – this time with Bushido Warrior on the Amstrad CPC. A neat oriental themed Gauntlet clone due for release in 1988.
https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2024/04/bushido-warrior/
GTW Highlight No.9: In April, we looked at Into The Shadows – an impressive 3D fantasy fighting game developed for Scavenger in 1996 for PC, PlayStation + Sega Saturn. Only a rolling demo currently exists, but something playable is hoped to be found.
https://gamesthatwerent.com/2024/04/into-the-shadows/
DISCLAIMER: We are a non-profit digitisation project, aiming to digitally preserve software and history which would otherwise be lost for good. If for any reason there is anything that you do not wish to be on the website, please contact us for removal.
Games That Weren't® is the registered trademark of Frank Gasking.
