Welcome to Games That Weren't
Games That Weren't is a long-running archive dedicated to cancelled and unreleased video games, prototypes and lost gaming history. Since 1999, we have been preserving rare information, assets and developer stories from across all eras of gaming.
Explore a vast collection of cancelled video game projects, unseen prototypes and behind-the-scenes development history from consoles and computers past and present. Our non-profit work aims to document and preserve titles that were never released to the public, before they are lost forever.
Browse the archive and discover thousands of lost and unreleased games across multiple platforms.
2012 RingZero Game Studios
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo Wii
Founded in 1997, RingZero Game Studios is a game development company based in Thailand . The studio is often known for making casual and family-friendly games on iOS, the Wii, and the PSP. Back in the PS3 era, however, they attempted to break away from their usual mould by thinking bigger. That opportunity arose when they began work on a mysterious game known as Shutter Jack.
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Information about this game is scarce, but from what exists online, we can learn the following:
“You are working as a freelance reporter for a company producing a popular magazine. Your main objective is to make as much money as possible by selling your best shots. You will also be able to build your own photo album, see your photos in magazines, and become popular. Your boss will give you missions that become more and more challenging as you progress. With the money earned, you can buy new photography accessories.”
Continue reading →
Thanks to MalcSeventyFour firstly we are very happy to share 15 previously (or what seems to be) unpreserved Commodore 64 educational titles from Grolier / Mindflight – which includes the long lost Miss Mouse and Rhyme Land titles that we have been searching for recently.
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The titles recovered can be found below within a large list of 32 titles that MalcSeventyFour extracted from a folder which came with the disks. Unless specified, Commodore 64 and Apple 2 versions may be missing: Continue reading →
2009 Gravity-i / DSi Games / Zoo Digital Publishing
Platform: Nintendo Wii
Most people will be familiar with the Nintendo DS adaptation of Garfield Gets Real, released in 2009 and based on the animated film of the same name. What is less well known is that a Wii version was also planned, but never saw release.
[画像:GarfieldArt][画像:GarfieldArt]
Very little is currently known about the cancelled conversion. A single music track from the game, titled “Studio”, has surfaced online, but no prototype builds, screenshots or gameplay footage are presently known to exist. Although a Wii cover image circulates online, the available sources identify it as fan-made rather than official. Continue reading →
1987 Ariolasoft
Platform: Amstrad CPC
Now many of you will know that Ocean released a game based on the licence of Madballs in 1987, though what you might not know is that another version was in development for Ariolasoft before Ocean had got the licence confirmed. What is even better is that you can now check it out for yourself!
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Developed by Ian Munro whilst at Millside Software, this particular take of the licence was very different to the final Ocean Software design, and took a pinball game approach. Oddly, there is no actual Madballs branding at all in the game at this stage either. Continue reading →
News of another fantastic preservation story to share, this time for the Atari 5200. Thanks to a collaborative effort between several members of the Atari community, two long-lost prototypes by prolific Atari programmer Frank Cohen have been recovered from original source code.
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While examining Frank Cohen’s archive, John Hardie discovered a disk case simply marked “5200”. After preserving the disks, he found source code for two previously unseen games: Mail Boy and Topsy Turvee. The source was then passed to Ken Van Mersbergen (Dutchman2000), who successfully compiled both projects into working Atari 5200 ROMs before going back to Frank to learn more about their history. Continue reading →
1988 Simulmondo
Platform: Commodore Amiga
Before Simulmondo became famous for sports titles, comic book licences and adventures, the company had grander ambitions for its debut line-up. One of the earliest announced projects was Rimini, Mare Azzurro (also referred to as Rimini, Blue Sea), a graphic adventure that unfortunately never progressed beyond planning stages.
[画像:Rimini2][画像:Rimini2]
The title appeared in previews during 1988, including MC Microcomputer issue 73, where it was presented alongside several of Simulmondo’s other forthcoming projects. At the time, the game was described as being well underway, featuring digitised graphics in the style of Déjà Vu and taking place in the Italian seaside resort of Rimini during the 1950s. The intention was to create a murder mystery or thriller with a distinctly Italian setting, something quite unusual for the period. Continue reading →
As predicted, a bit quieter this month, but we still have an advanced preview recovery, a pre-release of Eye of Horus, 1 new entry in the Commodore 64 archive and 17 various updates to existing entries to check out (see “History” tab for changes). We’ll have more again for you next month! Thanks to @2SlyGuy for link fix!
Trigger Happy advanced preview added
Earlier this month we added a more advanced preview of Trigger Happy, the Delta clone which was recovered by Genesis Project.
Trigger Happy
Eye of Horus pre-release disk added
We also added a pre-release disk version of Eye of Horus, which may have very minor differences compared to the final retail release.
Eye of Horus Pre-release
1 new entry added
Inertia
17 updates added
Ala Software, Arcade Wizzard, Australian Games, Epsilon, Mewilo, Nightflight, Pride & Prejudice, Quantarallax, Reel Fishing, Rhesus, Space Vegetables Corp, Spindizzy V1, Steam Powered Computer Company titles, The Sanctuary, Void, Who Dares Wins, Zambeezi
1993 Zsolt Asztalos and Robert Horvath
Platform: Commodore Plus 4
Today we have a new recovery for the Commodore Plus 4, and a long lost Hungarian game called S.O.S, created in 1993 by Zsolt Asztalos and Robert Horvath. The recovery is thanks to GTW’s Csaba Virág, who has been very busy preserving disks of late.
[画像:sos full new][画像:sos full new]
The game is a sort of mixture of classic Snake, with something like Professional Speedboat Simulator by Codemasters (it has that kind of feel about it). You have to drive a boat and rotate whilst moving constantly to pick up drowning people and then drive them back to the gate in the middle bottom of the screen. Continue reading →
1996 Yavor / Metropolis
Platforms: PC and Commodore Amiga
One of the most ambitious Polish role playing games of the 1990s. Tower of the World was a huge fantasy RPG that had been quietly evolving for a number of years before eventually being taken under the wing of Metropolis, creators of TeenAgent and Tajemnica Statuetki.
[画像:TOW Large1][画像:TOW Large1]
The project originated with programmer Jarosław Chrostowski and acclaimed Polish science fiction author Wiktor Żwikiewicz, who set out to create what they hoped would be a completely new kind of role-playing game. Work reportedly began around 1990, initially targeting the Commodore Amiga before later expanding to the PC. As development continued, the game was repeatedly redesigned to take advantage of higher resolutions, protected mode memory and more powerful processors, whilst the storyline and interface also grew considerably. Continue reading →
