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
Blockie: C64 game finished and released
Richard Bayliss has been working hard the past few months to finish off an abandoned Columns clone which was infamously released into PD and onto Commodore Format’s covertape in an incomplete form around 30 years ago.
This has now been fully completed and you can download a playable version of the game, with proper scoring and with the ability for the game to end.
Check it out at: https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/blockie/
GTW64 finds and more
Thanks to the brilliant preservation work of Paladin of Genesis Project, and kindly passing his work over – we are proud to present a large list of educational game recoveries and preservations.
Some titles are listed within our GTW64 archives as missing, and others were not on anyone’s radar. Here is the complete list:
- Alphabet Zoo (Floppy Disk Version)(Spinnaker) – Paladin found the floppy disk version which includes 2 other games not available on any other versions found online, including the version on GB64 (because those versions are cartridge dumps).
- Dragon Games (Daybreak)
- Math Baseball (Daybreak)
- Keyboard Crazy (Waveform Corporation) – This one seems to require the Colortone keyboard or a keyboard overlay
- Mastertype Training Grounds – The version on GB64 isn’t cracked and is a g64 so Genesis Project have cracked this one for the site.
- Puzzle Mania (Readers Digest)
- The Factory (Sunburst) – Differs from the HESWARE version on GB64 and has been listed on our wanted list.
The full archive can be downloaded below, and we will quickly update the relevant entries to point to this post. A huge thank you to Paladin of Genesis Project for recovering these titles and allowing them to be crossed off the preservation list.
Download
GTW64 January 2023 update
Just missed posting in January I know, but we’ve been busy the past month or so just tidying up some of our pages and adding a few quick updates along the way. No new entries, but plenty of updates instead and hopefully highlighting some titles that you may not have read about before. Enjoy!
Rare C64 Screenshots added for The Black Onyx
44 other updates added
Arena, Armalyte V1, Billy Boulder, Bod Squad 2, The, Car Game, Chainsaw Warrior, Combat 2004, Delphian, Dungeons Of Death, Force Of The Vulcan, Gamma Strike, Gotcha Maths, Halloween, International Soccer Challenge, Italian pirated games, Kid Saviour, Kobayashi Naru 1994, Light Cycles 2004, Make My Day, Manhatten Dealers, Mutant Zone, Nimitz, Paranoid Pete, Pegasus, Populous, Primary Maths Tutor, Project Sparkk, Quark, Shard of Inovar 1994, Spellcast, Star Maze, Star of Africa, Starglider 2, The Godfather, The Seven Gates Of Jambala, Toddler Tutor, Tour De Force, Toyota Rally, Trailrunner, Viaje Al Centro, Video Images game, War Of The Worlds, Worron, Zorakk
The Legend of Billy Boulder
1990 U.S. Gold
Platform: C64, Atari 400/800, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST and PC
Our next entry into the archives was thought to have been both a C64 and Atari 800/400 development for Databyte back in the 1980s. Billy Boulder was flagged up to us by developer Ron Rosen in late 2022, a game that was in fact seemingly due for release on Amiga, ST and PC – but in a bizarre twist, it was indeed also an 8-bit title too after all.
The game was known in full as The Legend of Billy Boulder, and had artwork created by Art Huff, who worked on a number of Atari 8-bit and C64 titles during the 1980s. Previously, Art had worked on a game called Adam Caveman, which was also never released. Continue reading
GTW64 Christmas update 2022
Time has come round quickly once more, with our yearly Christmas update – and as always, we have something for you in the shape of a previously unseen and unreleased C64 game (lost for 38 years), some recovered C128 titles and important new information on some key GTW entries.
Lordsfire – full game recovered after 38 years
Lordsfire – entry and download
Ron Rosen confirms as developer of two long mysterious titles + a new one
Adam Caveman, Billy Boulder, Mumbles – Super Spy
Mike Lyons sheds light on more important GTWs
We finally speak to the developer of Total Recall V1 about what happened + chances of recovery, along with input on a number of other titles he worked on. Two surprises as you will notice:
19 Boot Camp – Part 2, Total Recall V1, Whirligig, Wreckers
2 C128 titles digitally preserved
Thanks to Csaba Virag, here are two German C128 titles that have been digitally preserved.
B-1 Bomber and Spukschloss – page and download
9 brand new entries added
A number of other new entries have also been added to the site:
Aerial Arithmetic, Asteroids, Campaigns of Napoleon, Commando V1, Garden Wars, Spider Snare, Syntax tape, The Battle of the Bulge, Zany Golf
33 other entries also updated
Then finally a whole raft of other existing entries in the archive have been updated. Details of each update can be found in the “History” tab for each page.
4 Games, 48 Hours, 64 Tape Computing – Issue 14, Abandon Ship S.O.S., Arcadian, Cosmax, Diskovery titles, Double Dragon V1, Dungeons Of Death, Eye Of The Beholder, Flyspy, Fuzzy Wuzzy, Gamma Strike, Gem-X 2, Greenhouse (MAX edition), Heartbreaker, Lost Robot 2, M45, Magic, Nuclear Nick, Outrun Europe, Proteus, Race Drivin’, Scooter, Stratos, Sturmtruppen, Sword Of The Samurai, Terminus 2, The Magic Roundabout, Undead, Xane, Xermaid, Xoanon
We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year and wish you all the best into 2023!
GTW64 October 2022 update
Autumn has well and truly drawn in, and the updates for Games That Weren’t 64 continue where possible. This time we present 7 new entries, and 9 updates overall to various titles.
A big chunk of additions include many titles that were planned for the Commodore MAX platform – which was the precursor to the C64. If the titles can ever be found, then they should be adaptable to work on the C64. There’s also the finding of a more complete demo of Lemmings V1.
Enjoy, and see you all next month hopefully!
7 new entries added
Air Battle, Challenger, Cosmax, Go Sets Go, Greenhouse (MAX edition), Pirate Attack, Sub Hunt
9 updates added
3 Days In Carpathia, 9 Lives Of Fritz The Cat, Arcadian, Armalyte 2, Exorcist, Gem-X 2, Jimmy’s Grand Prix, Lemmings V1, Pushover64
GTW64 September 2022 update
As the summer draws to a close, we present 4 new entries, and 17 updates overall to various titles. We’ve added a new entry for Visualize’s Kung-Fu Warrior, which oddly we haven’t added until now. A strange C64 conversion of a C16 classic that had limited release in Spain and a number of tidy ups for many titles.
4 new entries added
Amphora of the Star God, Exorcist, Kung-Fu Warrior, Pepe’s Garden
17 updates added
Absolute Beginning, Andy Rixon Game, Aquablast, Autoguard, BrainBreak, Ice Age, Lethal Xcess, Liberation, Little Beau, Liverpool V1, Nigel Mansell’s Grand Prix, Quo Vadis, Quondam, Rastan V1, The Magic Roundabout, Tunes n Trivia, Xybots
GTW64 August 2022 Update
Well and truly back up to speed this month with 6 new entries, and 18 updates overall to various titles. There is the new mystery of a U.S. Gold release that seemingly never was in most parts of Europe, details about early versions of Knuckle Buster, great progress being made with Firebird’s Ice Age, and much more!
6 new entries added
Australian Games, Baldor’s Castle, Galactic Software titles, Knuckle Buster V1, Triz, X-Men
18 updates added
Beauty And The Beast, Captain Courageous, Diabolik, Enduro Racer V2, Galaxy Patrol, Ice Age, Lunar Jetman, Mission Jupiter, Necronom, R-Type V1, Savage Platforms, Snow Bros, Stellar Manager, Stratos, Sturmtruppen, Sunburst Communications titles, Zaxon, Zero-X
GTW64 July 2022 update
A bit more up to speed this month, with 5 more new entries, including a large catalogue listing to try and find a bunch of software that may not yet be preserved and a homebrew title that hasn’t seen the light of day since 1991. Then a nice 16 updates to existing archive titles with some tidy ups and new information in places.
5 new entries added
BrainBreak, Blockie, Dynacomp catalog titles, Megváltó, Operation Neptune
16 updates added
Catch 23, Dungeons Of Death, Enduro Racer V2, English Invaders, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade V1, Jonny Quest and the Splinter of Heaven, Mega Games, Mindbending Aliens From Hyperspace, Murder!, Nefarious, Pulsator, R-Type V1, Scooby Doo, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Wilberforce
The Mind Possessing Aliens from Hyperspace
1991 Demonware
Platforms: Commodore Amiga, C64 (see link below) and PC
Originally we knew of this game thanks to its appearance in an Early Warning scanner in Commodore Format magazine. This was for the C64 edition, which we have covered already under the C64 GTW archive site. Our focus for this page is for the Amiga and PC editions which are also currently missing.
The basic story line was of a Mad Doctor Von Stal discovering a way to send people into hyperspace, but hasn’t worked out how to get them back. But also how to stop the flood of monsters coming through the opening he’s created and are taking over people’s minds.
Continue reading