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
Matchmaker: Grammar disk preserved
A quick post thanks to Bertrand / Atari Frog, to highlight the recent recovery of an unpreserved educational title for the C64 called Matchmaker: Grammar. Released in 1983 by American Educational Computer.
The disk was preserved by SoulBuster on the AtariAge forums, who has prolifically been preserving many a Atari 400/800 title. With Matchmaker, there was an Atari version one side, and C64 the other. The download can be found below.
Download
Matchmaker Grammar (1983)(American Educational Computer)(US)[disk]
GTW64 January 2024 update
A new year, and to hit the ground running we have had a large amount of updates to the Commodore 64 archive this month. Here goes:
3 games recovered – Metal Piramid, The Spirit and Jump People
In case you missed it, this month thanks to Csaba Virag, we added two lost full games and a preview, one of which is a neat little platformer.
Metal Piramid, Jump People, The Spirit
Further Adventures of Alice in Videoland
A bit of a strange one, where this odd sequel to Alice in Videoland was released by Bug Byte on budget, but was incomplete. A game where there is much more to find!
Further Adventures of Alice in Videoland
6 other new entries added
As well as the above, we have 6 other new entries added – some of which might be titles that are out there and just need preserving.
Chemistry Tutorial, Global Conquest, Gumby, Heckle and Jeckle, Istar Crossword Jr., Morgol
17 further entries updated
Then almost last but not least, we have 17 entry updates, with new information, scans and more – including a number of missing titles that have been preserved under the likes of the Dynacomp catalog, Orbyte Software titles and Sunburst Communications thanks to Allan Pinkerton!
19 Boot Camp – Part 2, 2400 A.D., Bomb, Car Game, Derek Bell’s Le Mans, Dynacomp catalog titles, Grubz, Infection, Jaceman, Laser Disc to C64 interface, Mad Planets, Murder!, Orbyte Software titles, People from Sirius, Sunburst Communications titles, The Ronin, Undead
Chevy Tech 1987 disk preservation
And finally we have preservation of a vehicle advertisement/catalogue disk from Allan Pinkerton which we have shared on the site.
Enjoy and see you next month!
Educational and bible titles preserved
Contributor Allan Pinkerton is on fire at the moment with his preservation work, and he has preserved a large bundle of educational titles from Kidware and also Bible research files for the Commodore 64.
There is also a Quiz Minder title which Allan has tried to dump, but has been having issues with so far. We’ve added what Allan has preserved so far.
We haven’t created GTW entries, as these titles were actually released – but we are sharing the preservation work that Allan has done, so here you go and please feel free to add to any digital archives:
- BibleConcordance
- Kidware_Games
- KJV-3-2-BibleSearch
- KJV-GospelDemo
- NewTestamentGame
- NIV3-2-Biblesearch
- QuizMinder (currently broken)
In March 2024, Marco Das then preserved some more Kidware titles, which you can find links to below:
Missing Train Simulations
1984-1995 Ashley Greenup/Dee-Kay Systems
Platforms: BBC Micro, C64, ZX Spectrum and Amiga
It is thanks to Ivan S that it has come to light that a series of Train games created by Ashley Greenup/Dee-Kay Systems are currently missing and not yet preserved. Many of the ones preserved you can find on the likes of CPC-Power, Gamebase64 and Hall of Light.
In February 2024 – all the Amiga titles that were missing were found and recovered thanks to Belgarath from the EAB forums. Thanks to Ivan S for flagging this up and passing on the files.
Chevy Tech 1987 disk
A slightly obscure title now for the archive in the form of a Chevrolet advertisement disk, which has a series of prices and specifications for different Chevrolet vehicles.
8-Bit Show and Tell have previously covered the disk and its various formats, and look at an 1986 edition of the disk, which even contains a game called Depreciation Derby. This particular disk seems to be a 1987 edition with a different loading screen and music.
It is with huge thanks to Allan Pinkerton for preserving, so that we can make it available. It’s an interesting curiosity, and at the very least another SID tune for HVSC :-)
With thanks to Allan Pinkerton for preserving and sharing!
Download
Gallery
Kayleth unused title screen?
We had a recent submission from Baracuda of a screen which is potentially related to the game Kayleth by U.S. Gold on the C64 in 1987. The question is whether it was intended for the game, or just a tribute image?
We personally think its just a tribute image done for somewhere like Compunet (by a DRR) in 1986, and based off the book (as it was a year before the U.S. Gold release). Thanks to BugJam, it seems DRR might be this person.
If anyone knows – please do get in touch or leave a comment.
GTW64 Christmas update 2023
Only feels like yesterday when I was doing the last Christmas update for GTW64, but here we are and we have a bumper update as always for you, including some very special prototypes from the disks of the late Archer Maclean, who sadly passed away last December.
We also have a series of commercial titles that have been preserved thanks to the efforts of Allan Pinkerton and a series of lost Hungarian titles dug out by Csaba Virag. This and a number of new entries added to the archive and a load of updates too for pre-existing entries. We hope you enjoy! Continue reading
Archer Maclean materials
1984-198? Archer Maclean
Platforms: Commodore 64
Whilst going through Archer’s work disks, we found a few bits and pieces lurking on the disks, which might be unseen artwork or work that Archer has done. We’ll add to this page over time as more comes to light.
First up we have a series of Doodle pictures found on Quicksilver’s Doodle disk that were saved, including oddly work stages for New Generation Software’s Escape. But also a set of train images, which we are wondering if they are linked to 3D Tunnel at all. There’s an unfinished Sceptre picture too. Did Archer know the artist, and was he given the disk?
According to correspondence from Archer – Quicksilva were in talks with Archer about potentially publishing Dropzone (before U.S. Gold took it on). Maybe they provided Archer with a copy during the time he was speaking with them? Continue reading
International Karate prototypes
1986 Archer Maclean / System 3
Platform: Commodore 64 (Atari to come)
In late 2023, Games That Weren’t was tasked with trying to preserve all of the late Archer Maclean’s work disks – including Atari and C64 formatted disks. At the time of writing, work is still ongoing, though we have been given permission by Chris Wilkins (Fusion Retro Books) to add any executable/early prototypes to show you that we find along the way.
First up are a small selection of prototypes from the first International Karate game, including a non-playable demo with two fighters interacting, and with no score panels or sound. There is a more advanced second prototype with the same kind of thing, with music and no sound effects.
IK+ prototypes
1987 Archer Maclean / System 3 / Activision
Platform: Commodore 64
In late 2023, Games That Weren’t was tasked with trying to preserve all of the late Archer Maclean’s work disks – including Atari and C64 formatted disks. At the time of writing, work is still ongoing, though we have been given permission by Chris Wilkins (Fusion Retro Books) to add any executable/early prototypes to show you that we find along the way.
Next up are a selection of prototypes from International Karate + (aka IK+), which show how Archer’s early idea for creating a 3rd fighter would start to blossom and build up into the IK+ game that we all know and love. If you haven’t already, we recommend checking out this great documentary on how both IK and IK+ were created: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRFZS9wzt7s
