Welcome to Games That Weren't!

We are a 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 online since 1999, and long before that offline.

Please Browse our archive and discover the many entries that we host for many different platforms.

Latest News and Posts

Igor: Objetivo Uikokahonia (Enhanced)

Posted: by Frank Gasking

1995-1996 Infogrames

Platform: PC

While Igor: Objetivo Uikokahonia is best known for its 1994 Spanish release and a later English version published in the US by Optik Software – Pendulo Studios had once begun work on a far more ambitious follow-up version of the game for French publisher Infogrames. This project was ultimately cancelled, but its technology would go on to form the foundations of Hollywood Monsters.

igor remake1

The existence of this unreleased Infogrames version was confirmed in an extensive interview with Pendulo founders Rafael Latiegui, Ramón Hernáez and Felipe Gómez, originally published by Macedonia Magazine and now preserved via the Internet Archive. Reflecting on the period following Igor’s release, Latiegui explained:

“It’s true that there were many meetings with Infogrames, and in fact, an agreement was reached for its distribution. However, due to their internal problems, they ultimately had to abandon several projects, including Igor.”

Continue reading →

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

Legacy of the Necromancer

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1992 Virgin

Platforms: Commodore Amiga and PC MS-DOS

Not to be confused with the text adventure trilogy of the same name, Legacy of the Necromancer was a planned dungeon crawling RPG in the style of Dungeon Master. It was to be developed by a team at Virgin, and not Westwood (as it was incorrectly reported by press at the time). The title was even shown at the Winter CES that year on Virgin’s stand, but it never saw release.

legacy shot1

The game’s storyline was a familiar but ambitious fantasy setup with a story as follows:

Two centuries earlier, a necromancer had unleashed an age of darkness and cold as punishment for mankind’s attempt to kill him. His curse rebounded however and he ended up imprisoned in a frozen temple beneath a dungeon near the player’s village. With geothermal heat melting the ice and threatening his escape, the necromancer was once again close to regaining his powers. As the chosen hero, players were tasked by the village elders to descend into the necromancer’s lair – overcoming deadly traps, puzzles and monsters to destroy him once and for all. Continue reading →

Posted in: Commodore Amiga, PC, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Amiga Addict – Dick Special article

Posted: by Frank Gasking

In the latest Amiga Addict magazine, we have contributed an article on the unreleased Dick Special series, which talks about not only Sandy White’s original development – but also the Activision and Miracle Games versions that followed afterwards.

For more details, including ordering – please check out the link below:

https://www.addict.media/amiga-addict/amiga-addict-magazine

Posted in: Commodore Amiga, News, Press | Leave a comment

Search for Calculated Risk! (Apple II game)

Posted: by Frank Gasking

We’ve had a request from the grandson-in-law of the developer of “Calculated Risk!” for the Apple II to try and help find a clean dump of the game that works in an emulator.

Unfortunately the two versions on Archive.org (Link 1) (Link 2) don’t seem to work properly, giving an “illegal quantity error” when flipping to side 2. I’ve not tried myself, but it could be a corrupted version of the game or something that needs to be done in the emulator.

If anyone knows of a clean dump of the game or has a way of getting the game going, please reply in the comments and i’ll ask Nathan to keep an eye on the page.

Posted in: Apple II, Preservation | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Enigma Variations preservation article in Retro Gamer

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

A little bit behind at the moment, but just to share that work at Games That Weren’t has been highlighted in a new Retro Gamer article on Enigma Variations in issue 280. The feature in particular takes a look at many games that were never released by the development studio, many of which were preserved by us last year. Quick photos below, but text blurred out.

Posted in: News, Press | Leave a comment

Tiny Troops

Posted: by Frank Gasking

1995 Mindscape

Platforms: PC DOS and Amiga CD32

Amiga fans may recall a late release in the Amiga calendar in the shape of Tiny Troops back in 1997 from Vulcan Software and then later Amiga Future in 1999. A real-time strategy game with elements of Cannon Fodder at times, and where you could have up to 2 players in a split-screen mode.

TinyTroopsFull

In the game, you would control foot soldier, grenadiers, armoured tanks, dune buggies, paragliders and more bug types across 5 worlds and 65 levels in strategic warfare to defeat the enemy, avoiding land mines and dodging enemy guns along the way.

The game got mostly average scores, but a decent 88% from Amiga Format. However, the game was actually intended for release much earlier by Mindscape in 1995, and not only for Amiga – but also PC DOS and Amiga CD32 platforms. Around the same time, Mindscape were to release Alien Olympics, but pulled out from releasing both Alien Olympics and Tiny Troops due to financial struggles at the time and other issues going on behind the scenes. Continue reading →

Posted in: Commodore Amiga CD32, PC, Reviews | Tagged: , | Leave a comment

Thunderjaws

Posted: by Patrick Furlong

1991 Domark / Tengen

Platform: ZX Spectrum

ThunderJaws was a 1990 arcade machine from Atari that saw you and/or a friend fighting the underwater forces of Madam Q. Domark picked up the licence for the Tengen range, and it was released on the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga and Atari ST… but no Spectrum version.

TJaws Screen large

The game was previewed in Crash (Issue 88, May 1991, page 24) and Your Sinclair (Issue 66, June 1991, page 54). Crash also gave away a demo of the entire first level – each level was split into two stages: an underwater stage and an interior stage – on their Issue 91 cover tape (August 1991), and that is all Speccy users ever got to see of the game. Computer and Video Games also previewed the game in Issue 115 (June 1991, page 128), showing a Speccy screenshot alongside an Amiga or ST shot. Continue reading →

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

C.L.E.I.A.

Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking

1990 Ubi Soft

Platforms: Atari ST and Commodore Amiga

C.L.E.I.A. (or Complex Logic of the Autonomous Computer Entity … or to match the French acronym: Complexe Logique de l’Entite Informatique Autonom) is a cancelled game from Ubi Soft that was being developed back in 1990. Very little is known about the development, though the game bears resemblance to titles such as Explora and Chrono Quest.

cleia large

According to a preview in Generation4 magazine, the game’s premise centred on escaping the bubble city of Cleia before a gigantic meteor strikes, threatening total destruction. The action takes place in the Solistis dimension, featuring 40 levels and 655 celestial bodies. Continue reading →

Posted in: Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, Reviews | Tagged: | Leave a comment

Help Needed: Lost Amiga CD32 Demo Disc?

Posted: by Frank Gasking

Fellow preservationist, Stone Oakvalley Studios, is searching for evidence of an earlier, undocumented version of the Amiga CD32 Demo Disc (v1.0), believed to have shipped with some of the very first CD32 consoles in mid-1993.

demodisk

Research based on manufacturing dates, CD metadata, Commodore “CATS” source code references, and contemporary magazine coverage suggests this early disc may have included CDXL videos and demos later removed from the known v1.1 and v2.0 releases – including material referenced but no longer accessible.

If you own an early Amiga CD32 or still have its original demo CD, you may be holding a missing piece of Amiga history that needs preserving. If you can help, please check out the full investigation and get in touch via the link below:

https://www.stone-oakvalley-studios.com/post.php?id=000924122025104245

Posted in: Commodore Amiga, Commodore Amiga CD32, News, Preservation | Leave a comment

Last Battle early C64 screens

Posted: by Frank Gasking

Short post to highlight and early development screen for Elite’s Last Battle on the Commodore 64 thanks to Martin Inter. This was found on the back of the cover and has a character block for Alyssa strangely used for the boss section.

last panel

It seems that the plan was to have the profile images used for the character dialogue, like in the SEGA Mega Drive edition, but these were dropped. In the final dialogue sections, the character images are not used (see screenshots). Continue reading →

Posted in: Commodore 64 (C64), Prototype, Unused materials | Tagged: | Leave a comment