Covering cancelled/unreleased video games and prototypes across a variety of consoles and home computers. Preserving unreleased video game history online since 1999, and longer offline.
Check out our archive and more at: https://www.gamesthatwerent.com
Games That Weren't
Third in our Commodore 64 update is an advanced preview of Paddle Mania, a SNK arcade conversion that was due for release by Sales Curve and replaced by Continental Circus. An impressive looking conversion that should have seen release back in the day:
www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/paddle... (4/7)
Event: www.retrocollective.co.uk/view-event.p...
It's a privilege to announce that our next guest speaker is Hermann Hauser on Sunday 5th July.
We recommend booking now as tickets are selling quickly for this one.
Psst. Watch my video about this and how they tried to do a Donkey Kong game before Activision Blizzard crushed them. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJlu...
Second in our Commodore 64 update is the full unreleased game of Thomas The Tank Engine 2: The Race by Alternative Software that was due for release in 1992. Never released due to a publishing dispute, but now you can finally play it:
www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/thomas... (3/7)
Bad Max was a unique 3D graphic adventure released by Transoft for Amstrad CPC in 1985, complete with 3D glasses. Magazine coverage also advertised Commodore 64 and Thomson MO5/TO7 versions, but no trace of them has surfaced so far. Can they be saved?
www.gamesthatwerent.com/2026/06/bad-...
Following recent coverage of Argonaut's cancelled PS2 edition, we take a look at an even earlier Æon Flux adaptation. Developed by Cryo Interactive in 1996, the PlayStation game never saw release, but a surviving prototype reveals what might have been.
www.gamesthatwerent.com/2026/06/aeon...
Image courtesy of www.senscritique.com/jeuvideo/bad...
Remember what we could have had, Crazy Twenty-Four-Seven.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0lf...
One collection in our library I'd love to see more people explore is the William Volk papers. Hundreds of spreadsheets and write-ups from the technology department at Activision in the early 90s, including:
- Trade show reports!
- SNES CD-ROM details!
- Data on unreleased games!
Reprints due 17th June 📚
💀I’m Too Young To Die: The Ultimate Guide to First-Person Shooters 1992-2002
🎮The GBA Pixel Book
🎨The Art of Point-and-Click Adventure Games
🧟♂️From Ants to Zombies: Six Decades of Video Game Horror
♟️50 Indie Games that Changed the World
🚮The Games That Weren’t
#booksky
Video
Bad Max was a rather unusual French graphic adventure by Transoft, released in 1985 for the Amstrad CPC. Inspired heavily by the Mad Max universe, the game attempted something quite ambitious for its ...
Bad Max est un jeu vidéo de Transoft et Transoft. Résumé · La planète dévastée par le nucléaire se limite à des kilomètres de macadam. Deux parties distinctes...
