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Games That Weren’t: Preserving Cancelled and Unreleased Video Game History
Welcome to Games That Weren’t!
We are an 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
Alien 3 C64 prototype recovered
Thanks to Sailor of Triad, a rare prototype of Alien 3 for the Commodore 64 has just been discovered recently. This was a demo that was seemingly produced for producer Joe Bonar to take a look at back in the day to see progress with the project.
It is possible that it could have been also passed onto magazines for screenshots – which makes it a shame that it wasn’t included as a demo on the likes of Commodore Force or Format at the time. Continue reading →
Canadian Tire: Carts of Fury flash game preserved
Carts of Fury is a 2007 Canadian Tire Flash-based advergame that was once available online, and then even given out as physical CD-ROM copies about a year later. It is no longer available today (not currently on Flashpoint Archive) and was yet to be preserved until now.
Thanks to a contributor who wishes to remain anonymous, a physical copy was acquired and digitally preserved, and we have now uploaded everything here and to Archive.org. Details about the game are thanks to them: Continue reading →
Dr. Franken 3
1993 Enigma Variations
Platform: Gameboy Original
Also known as: The Adventures of Dr. Franken: Part 3
Our next entry into the GTW archives is a surprise 3rd title in the Dr. Franken series which was being developed on the Nintendo Gameboy by Enigma Variations. However, when you look at the prototype we have recovered, you wouldn’t think it was the same series.
The 3rd game it seems was to take a very different direction, and had Dr. Franken heading off into space and travelling around to different planets to carry out certain puzzles to then escape to the next planet, and so on. We’re not sure exactly what the story-line was at this stage. Continue reading →
Legacy of the Fallen
1999 Anarchy Arts
Platform: PC
Also known as: Shogo: Mobile Armor Division Expansion Pack – Legacy of the Fallen
Legacy of the Fallen was an ambitious add-on pack developed by Anarchy Arts as an expansion for the 1998 first-person shooter Shogo: Mobile Armor Division. The project began in late 1998 after Monolith Productions, the creators of Shogo, approached Anarchy Arts with an offer to develop the add-on. For the relatively young and unknown studio, this was an exciting opportunity to make a name and earn revenue, so they accepted.
Anarchy Arts operated initially as a virtual company with team members scattered worldwide, but the scale of the project led them to consolidate in Salt Lake City, Utah. There, the core team of about ten people, including programmers, level designers, and artists lived and worked intensely for seven months in a cramped three bedroom apartment, putting in long hours to bring Legacy of the Fallen to life. The development was powered by Monolith’s LithTech engine, which the team praised for its flexibility despite some early challenges. Continue reading →
The Last Stuntman
Posted: , last updated: by Frank Gasking
1989 Actual Screenshots
Platform: Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64 (GTW64 entry)
The Last Stuntman was a game that was due for release from one of CRL’s sub-labels in the late 1980s via Actual Screenshots. Little is known at this stage apart from that the game was split into 6 parts in total – mini-games essentially that were developed by different developers.
Alan Botwright worked on the Commodore 64 edition, which is where we first heard of it – however, thanks to Brendan Phoenix, a rare screenshot from the 16-bit editions was located in Amiga Action issue 1. This shows the last level where you must jump from a plane and fight for a parachute in mid-air. Continue reading →
World Class Rugby SNES Prototype
Today we add a very different and early prototype of World Class Rugby for the Super Nintendo, dated from July 1992, and some time before the final release. The engine seems quite different from the final version, with completely different sprites and a different pace about the game.
When starting the prototype, it begins with a 2.5D viewpoint and kicks off a demo game, but pressing start on the control pad will flip you to a Mode 7 tilted viewpoint to play the game. You can control the blue set of players, kick the ball and take part in scrum and other actions within the game. Continue reading →
Sorcerer
1999 Chris Pigas
Platform: Game Boy
Our next entry into the archives is a title that was being created by Chris Pigas called Sorcerer. An early and simple platformer, featuring a protagonist looking rather like Miner Willy from Manic Miner, where you can roam freely around a single level and fight with enemies.
Within the game, you can advance your magic levels and increase your experience, mana or health by picking up bonuses left after the destruction of enemies. Picking items – an important feature of the game play – is not implemented at this stage. As a result, harder enemies are not placed into this build. Transition from level to level is also not implemented, nor has different element firing. Continue reading →
Gilbert Goodmate
1998 Crystal Interactive
Platform: Commodore Amiga
Also known as: Gilbert Goodmate and the Mushroom of Phungoria
Our next entry is for a Monkey Island inspired graphic adventure game called Gilbert Goodmate which was eventually released on PC, but was due to have a release on the Amiga too. The game started out originally as a hobby project in 1996. It got picked up originally by Alive Mediasoft, before being picked up by Crystal Interactive with plans for release in 1998.
It seems that this was another casualty of a fading Amiga market at the time, and so the focus was switched to the PC edition – which eventually saw release in 2001, published by FastTrak Software. Continue reading →
Ifigonia
1985 Quickly
Platforms: ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 (GTW64 entry)
Our next entry into the GTW archives is a slightly controversial title due to its rather risqué advertisement that featured in the Italian press at the time. Ifigonia was an erotic/adult themed text adventure, with graphics created by artist Mauro Mazza. The game was based on a poem from 1928.
After a few adverts for the ZX Spectrum, C64 and Amstrad CPC – the game disappeared without a trace, and some even wondered if it was a hoax of some kind. One magazine (Sperimentare) showed a rather different looking cover-art case and talked about the game. We don’t think they actually review it, as the details about the title are quite vague. It is mentioned though that the graphics would be a mixture of comic-like graphics and animations throughout. Continue reading →
Podcast appearance with Mamemeister
I had the pleasure of being a guest on the “Nice and Nasty Gaming Podcast” with Mamemeister recently! We chatted about Games That Weren’t, how I first got into gaming, and picked out three games I’d take to a desert island… and three I’d happily launch into the sun!
DISCLAIMER: We are a non-profit digitisation project, aiming to digitally preserve software and history which would otherwise be lost for good. If for any reason there is anything that you do not wish to be on the website, please contact us for removal.
Games That Weren’t® is the registered trademark of Frank Gasking.
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