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

Cyberdyne Warrior

Posted: by Frank Gasking

1988 Apex Computer Productions / Hewson

Platform: BBC Micro

This may come as something of a shock, but there was a BBC Micro edition of the classic Commodore 64 title Cyberdyne Warrior in development at the same time as that development by the Rowlands brothers.

After working on Scorpius, their next title took the decision to go with a flick screen approach, rather than use scrolling. This was mainly due to the fact that the game was being developed on both platforms, and the BBC Micro didn’t naturally scroll well. Had the Commodore 64 version been the only development, it may well have scrolled! Continue reading →

Posted in: BBC Micro / Electron, Reviews | Leave a comment

Rise of the Robots

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1995 Acclaim Entertainment

Platform: SEGA Master System

A very short entry for now on a Master System conversion of Rise of the Robots that never was – or was it? The game itself is famous for looking amazing, but not playing particularly great.

When you boiled down the graphics onto 8-bit platforms, then you were really in trouble. However, developer Clive Townsend would give it his best shot, but he was really up against it with a poor design to implement.

Rise of the Robots
Palette fixed version of the GG options screen in Master System mode, thanks to Clive Townsend!

Not only was Clive working on the Game Gear edition, but simultaneously he would be developing the game for the Master System too. The only real differences were with the palettes and the screen layouts to adjust for the different size screens. Continue reading →

Posted in: Reviews, SEGA Master System | Tagged: | 4 Comments

GTW64 August 2024 update

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

Well, after a bit of a break there was quite some backlog to clear. Thank you for all the submissions and also kind words about my Dad. This month we have a slightly larger GTW64 update with the following below – which includes many Novotrade concept titles:

19 new entries added

Altair’s Adventures, Butterflies, Chase on Wheels, Countdown 64, Flight Simulator, Hunting with the Columbia, In Search of the Aurora, Mandragore (Spanish edition), Nightmare around the Falklands, The Astronaut Eater, The Flintstones V1, The Blob, Unknown Chinese puzzle game, Unknown boat game, Unknown four-part game, Which one out of Seven, Whuppie Tale, Windsurf, Zoids 2

19 updates added

A stack of updated entries too to keep you busy, and with hopefully some findings around the corner:

Apprentice, Arthur, Ball Breaker, Black Bandit, Born In Space, Centurion Software titles, Cyber Cop, Freewheel Burning, Gremlins: Part 2, Memory Man, Metal Army, Moreta – Dragonlady Of Pern, Ooze, Quark, Software House, Splish Splash, Telmar’s Gold, Unnamed Star Trek game, Zzap Italia homebrew

Posted in: GTW64 news, News | Leave a comment

Apprentice early screens

Posted: by Frank Gasking

A short post to highlight an early Apprentice (Rainbow Arts) screen that was shown in ACE magazine issue 27 on page 110.

Apprentice Difference

Here you can see a screenshot with a different dashboard, without text and as Anonymous Contributor suggests, perhaps an early attempt to get away from localization issues.

Let us know if you find any other early screens for the game and we’ll add them here.

With thanks to Anonymous Contributor for the suggestion and Stephen Stuttard for the high-res scan.

Posted in: Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, Prototype, Unused materials | Tagged: | Leave a comment

ZuckNet

Posted: by Frank Gasking

199? Mark Zuckerberg

Platform: Atari 400/800

Something a little bit different, highlighted thanks to Bertrand / Atari Mania. This was an early utility that was created by Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook/Meta fame.

It was a communications/radio/electronics utility which may have only been used at home. However, it is currently missing and not yet digitally preserved.

Mark had apparently created the utility when he was just 12 years old on his Atari 800, and it was used by his family around the house and within his Dad’s dental surgery.

Its very unlikely, but if you have a copy and are able to share to help preserve, then please do get in touch! With thanks to Bertrand/Atari Mania for highlighting.

Posted in: Atari 400/800/XL | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Orion

Posted: by Frank Gasking

1985 Protocom

Platform: Atari 400/800

Apologies to Bertrand / Atari Mania, we’re a little late reporting news of this finding that was made back in March by Philsan / Filippo Santellocco.

orion 2

In 1985 Raph Koster programmed his first ever game – Orion, an Atari Basic game which consisted of five two-players games loaded in succession. He kindly gave Philsan the permission to share the game.

More details about the finding can be found here, and you can also find the Atari Mania entry here with a download too. Continue reading →

Posted in: Atari 400/800/XL | Tagged: | Leave a comment

MetalMorphis

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1992 SEGA

Platform: SEGA Mega Drive

MetalMorphis was to be an off road racing game with a difference, where you would compete in the ultimate rally sport on the SEGA Mega Drive.

The game came to light after Original Video Game Art found the intended box art by John Taylor Dismukes in a 1993 Moore & Price Design calendar – suggesting the game may have been developed into late 1992 at least.

One or two players would compete to make a cross country journey in vehicles of their own design, which are then capable of transforming into gigantic monster trucks. Your vehicles must then fend off assaults from ground based and airborne attackers, and you can also transform into a killer machine and crush all your opponents. Continue reading →

Posted in: Mega Drive / Genesis, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Dinosaurs

Posted: by Frank Gasking

1983 Eastern Micro Electronics

Platform: Arcade

Our next title Dinosaurs is entered into the archives, but was seemingly released in very limited numbers, and therefore is still at large. Currently you cannot play the game in the likes of MAME, and its a shame – as the game looks like it could be a lot of fun.

dinoshot1

It feels almost like a clone of Dig Dug or Mr. Do when you look at the grainy screenshots, though according to one article in Video Games magazine, it is a bit more original than that.

However, Eastern Micro Electronics were offering Mr Do kits and were licenced by Universal to aid in marketing Mr Do! on the East Coast. When you compare the grid size of both Mr Do! and Dinosaurs, they are almost the same (Dinosaurs is about 1 row smaller). Could Dinosaurs have been using the same chipset? Continue reading →

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

Zoids 2

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1986 Martech

Platforms: Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum

This is a short stub entry for now which is thanks to Patrick Furlong. At the end of the first game on the ZX Spectrum, there is mention of a Zoids 2 game coming soon.

Was this true, or was it perhaps something tongue-in-cheek from the developer? Considering that the C64 ending doesn’t have a similar message, then it could well be the case.

However, for now we have added a short entry and hope to learn more soon. We have also created a short entry for the C64 too in the archive.

Ross Sillifant also highlights that there was a rumour about an Atari 8-bit version of the first game being in production. If we get further confirmation, then we’ll add a separate entry for this.

With thanks to Patrick Furlong for the heads up and Ross Sillifant about details of an Atari version of the first game.

Posted in: Reviews, ZX Spectrum | Tagged: | 2 Comments

Monster Truck Wars

Posted: by Alex Ross-Shaw

1994 Acclaim

Platform: SEGA Mega Drive

Please note that this is just a quick placeholder post, where we have split up an old post which flagged up 3 entries. The original text that follows is from our old team member Alex Ross-Shaw in 2012. No doubt there have been further discoveries since. We’ll try and update this page with any links to resources at a later date – or please feel free to leave any suggestions in the comments and we’ll update as we go.

Monster Truck Wars was actually released back in the 1990s…for the Game Gear and Game Boy. A Mega Drive version was planned and indeed we even know the person who did it. Mike Crandall has his own website and among the list of games he worked on he reveals that he developed the Sega Genesis version of Monster Truck Wars. We’ve contacted him but sadly got no reply.

This isn’t a plea for you to pester the poor guy, he’s probably got a life, unlike us. But unless we can find out more info from anyone else who worked on the game then we’re at a dead end in trying to find out how much of the game was made and why it got cancelled.

With thanks to Fever for the suggestion of breaking up into a separate entry.

Posted in: Mega Drive / Genesis, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment