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
GTW64 June 2023 updates
Another month gone already, and now as we enter into Summer, here is another GTW64 update with 7 new entries into the archive, including a title which oddly doesn’t seem to have had a UK release by Ocean and another which is based on a popular UK soap.
7 new entries added
A Fi$tful of Buck$, EastEnders, Picnic Paranoia, Power Prick, Return of the Things, Taxar, Turbo Towers
11 updates added
Babies of the Dirt, Chess, Denny’s Quest 2, Escape from London, Fire & Forget, Ninja Grannies, Putty, Rockus, Show Crazy, Total Recall V1, Wreckers
Breakdown – lost loading screen
If you haven’t played Breakdown before, then you should check it out. It’s a fun and simple shooter/platformer/puzzler mix, which was generously given away on Zzap!64 issue 90’s covermount.
When flicking through the magazine the other day, I realized that the magazine shows a screenshot of a loading screen that I can’t recall seeing in the game at all:
Sure enough, checking the original tape image – there is no loader screen, but just a Novaload screen. I suspect that this was supplied as a separate thing to load in, but because it was on tape – it was just jettisoned. The screen seems to have been done by Jonas Holmsten (listed as “Jon”).
Well, in March 2024 – Icon / The Preservers got in touch, as he has been preserving Jonas’ disks. Found was a work stage version of the loading screen, but also a disk version of the game – complete with level editor, and the loading screen. So here is the screen that hasn’t been seen properly until now:
This is likely what was sent to Zzap-64 back in the day, but the loading screen was separate and not added to the tape loader.
Here is the download, so you can check it out for yourself and see the complete version of the game as originally intended.
Download
With thanks to Icon / The Preservers for saving!
Gallery
Target Renegade C64 early version
Not a massively early version as such, but contributor Bruce Coates has highlighted that the Commodore User review of Target Renegade seems to have the baseball bat as a weapon in the other levels in the game.
In the version released, it seems that you can only pick up a baseball bat on the first level – and such pick ups don’t exist from that point on. In the CU review, there is even suggestion of being able to pick up a stick as a dropped weapon. Continue reading
GTW64 May 2023 updates
OK, so not as big an update as last month, but still a sizable one none-the-less, and with two very important additions. A total of 14 completely new entries too to further increase the size of the C64 archive, along with 11 updates overall and two very special findings! Many of the new entries are for titles which may well be out there, just not yet preserved. Can you help us find them?
Total Recall V1 and Wreckers recovered!
The big news of the month was the recovery of both the long lost first version of Total Recall from Active Minds (missing for 33 years), and a surprise start of a conversion of Wreckers by Denton Designs. Download both for yourself!
This is then accompanied by the following updates on the site:
14 new entries added
Blood Bath at Orc’s Drift, Intellectual Software titles, Island Software titles, JMH Software titles, Micro-Ed, Inc titles, Micrograms, Inc titles, Microphys Programs Inc titles, Moses Engineering titles, Quality Input, Inc titles, Resource Software International titles, Right on Programs titles, Teacher’s Pet Software titles, The Enemy Within, The War of the Worlds
11 updates added
Arsenal FC, Battlecars, Boston Educational Computing, Inc titles, Cyberdyne Warrior Intro, Judge Death, Krell Software, Pharaoh’s Pyramid, R.I.S.K! V1, Rastan V1, Runestone, The War of the Worlds
A video look at Total Recall V1
Following on from the recent recovery of Total Recall V1 – we today take a detailed video look at the prototype, the story of its search and how it was found.
Including highlighting of differences from the original Zzap!64 preview screens.
Total Recall V1 found!
Lost for 33 years, we are pleased to announce the recovery of the original abandoned development of Total Recall for the Commodore 64!
So happy to finally see those old Zzap!64 screens in motion after years of searching!
Full story + download at: https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/total-recall-v1/
GTW64 April 2023 updates
A much larger update this month, as there was a lot of corrections and fixes done to some old posts, but we also have 7 completely new entries too to further increase the size of the C64 archive. Won’t be long until we hit 3000!
New entries include details of a City Connection conversion, a great looking and recent Ghostbusters tribute, a cool looking wresting game, an abandoned graphic text adventure, two missing games that could well be out there and a post on an early Pac-Man clone by Andrew Trott. Enjoy!
7 new entries added
City Connection, Code 3, Ghostbusters 2021, Nedime – The Caliph’s Daughter, Terragon, The Boring Hour, Unnamed Pac-Man clone
50 updates added
64 Tape Computing – Issue 14, Babylon, Ballisation, Bird Mother V1, Black Gold 2, Bobby Charlton Soccer, Bombzone, Buffalo Roundup V1, Butch – Hard Guy, CDU Games Disks, Danger! High Voltage, Dimension X, Drugbird, Dynaboys, Egy kis kiruccanás, Enforcer 2, Evil Garden, Fire & Forget, Flight Deck 2, Furry Knibble Girls 2, Gargantuan, Go Ape!, Hard Fire, Immensity, Imperium, Italian pirated games, Jumpy64, La Venganza del Toro, Mortal Kombat 2, Mythos, Panic Button, Proxima, Quark, Quark IX, Rex Hard, Sabian Island, Sankara Stone, Single Extreme Freedom, Squad One, Star of Africa, Sunburst Communications titles, Super C, Tank Battle Simulator, The Brainies, The Seven Gates Of Jambala, The Sixth Sense, The War of the Dragon, Toi Acid Game, Vietnam Gunboat, Xenodrome
GTW64 March 2023 updates
By complete fluke, we’ve matched last month’s tally of updates, with 1 new entry and 20 updates for the C64 GTW archive. This includes a rare screenshot from the C64 edition of D-Day and also an original TAP image preserved for Money Minefield.
Thanks to all our contributors for their help this month and see you again next month! Enjoy the updates!
1 new entry added
20 updates added
2Pac, Blockie, Bugs Bunny: Private Eye, D-Day, Lemmings V1, Mad Crash Racing, Moebius Strip, Money Minefield, Murder!, Necromancer 2, Nefarious, Neiw, New Clowns, New Pasqua, On Table, Panic Button, Parallax, Telekommando 2, The Attack of the Blue Bomber, Zuid
‘La Venganza del Toro’ C64 recovery
A new recovery thanks to Retroboy – an unfinished and early bullfighting game for the C64 called ‘La Venganza del Toro’.
This has been added today into the GTW64 archives, which you can now check out for yourselves at https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/la-venganza-del-toro/
Enjoy and Happy Friday!
GTW64 February 2023 update
A shorter month, so our monthly update to the GTW64 archives has come round fast. This month we have 1 new entry and a total of 20 entries updated overall. Thanks to our contributors for their help and enjoy!
1 new entry added
20 updates added
Balls Of The Scrolling Thunder, Black Knight 2, Blinky In America, Bod Squad 2, The, Bugs Bunny, Chainsaw Warrior, Daybreak Software titles, Dreadnought, Educational Activities, Inc. titles, Gauntlet 3, Imperial Bodyguard, Mad Crash Racing, On Table, Parasol Stars, Reader’s Digest Software, Solar Jetman, Star Maze, Sunburst Communications titles, The Attack of the Blue Bomber, Trantor 2
