Welcome to Games That Weren't 64!
We cover Cancelled & Unreleased Video games for the Commodore 64 computer. A non-profit large archive dedicated to preserving lost games that were never released to the public, as well as prototypes and the odd preservation of released titles. Our aim to share 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 and have saved over the years.
Latest News and Posts
Time Capsule
1987 Keypunch Software
Platforms: Atari ST, Commodore 64, Atari 400/800, Apple II and PC
A very short entry for a title that was advertised within the manual of Aliants at the very end. Time Capsule was listed as “Coming Soon” and was a strategy action game.
Nothing else is known at this stage, and no version seems to have surfaced for any other platform. If you know anything more – please do get in touch.
With thanks to Michael Huth for highlighting.
Gallery
Early Paradroid screens added
Thanks to Andrew Braybrook, rare prototype Paradroid screens on the Commodore 64 (including early unused “fishbone” designs) were preserved for the excellent Graftgold book by Retro Fusion Books. Many didn’t make it inside, but thanks to Ste Day, here is a glimpse of them all in full.
All the screens can also be viewed in full glory on our prototype page on the game at: https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/paradroid-v1/
To order the Graftgold book, please visit: https://fusionretrobooks.com/products/graftgold
(NOTE: Copies are running out fast!)
Stargate (C64) saved after 40 years!
Following on swiftly from the amazing recovery of Monster Muncher on the VIC-20, we now have the Commodore 64 edition of Stargate by Atarisoft for you. A long lost development by Tom Griner which has been part of our search for many years now.
It is all thanks to the brilliant Ken Van Mersbergen for his preservation efforts and saving the title for Games That Weren’t to add to its archives. It is another case pretty much closed!
More details at:
https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/stargate/
Quick YouTube video of the gameplay:
Various C64 preservations
As well as preserving unreleased games, we also try and preserve titles which are known to be released, but are not yet digitally preserved. We have another two Commodore 64 games for you today, as well as some extras which are unfortunately not working. Click each title to download.
A previously unpreserved SEUCK sequel by Outlaw-Emix Software in 1991 which has been found and recovered by Csaba Virag on some old disks that were very kindly donated by Zsolt Tarczali (who had sent Csaba hundreds of disks for free). When prompted with “:”, enter “VARAZSOL” (without the quotes).
A currently unpreserved 1984 educational title from Kerian software. It’s listed on Retrocollector.org with some scans, but there is currently no TAP image and its not in Gamebase 64. This was found in a bundle of games (without an inlay sadly) at Level Up Games in Canterbury.
Unknown BASIC files (Not working)
Along with Heli-Maths, I found a few blank cassettes that had some recordings on. They seem to be BASIC programs that were saved – possibly experiments or type-ins from a magazine. Unfortunately, after numerous attempts to try and load – I didn’t have any joy. The above download are a set of DMP files I created on my DC2N and the outputted TAP files. If you can get anything going, please do get in touch.
With thanks to Csaba Virag, Zsolt Tarczali and Level Up Games (Canterbury) for their help with seeing these items preserved.
GTW64 August 2024 update
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
