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This is a list of cancelled games for the VIC-20, Commodore 64, Amiga, and CD32. Some of these games were never released on any platform, while others had at least one release but were never ported or remade for the platform they were planned for.
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This is a list of cancelled games for the VIC-20, Commodore 64, Amiga, and CD32. Some of these games were never released on any platform, while others had at least one release but were never ported or remade for the platform they were planned for.
| Title(s) | Cancellation date | Developer | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cubic Critters | 1982 [1] [2] | Commodore International | Commodore International |
| Hungry Horace | 1983 | Beam Software | Melbourne House |
| Monster Muncher | 1983 | Spectrum Games Limited | |
| Pursuit of the Pink Panther | 1983 | Roklan Corporation | |
| Space Vultures | 1982 [2] | Commodore International | Commodore International |
| Trivia UK | 1985 | Anirog | |
| Q-Bert Qubes | Parker Brothers |
| Title(s) | Cancellation date | Developer | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bomberman | 1991 [3] [4] | Hudson Soft | Ubisoft |
| Bubbler | 1987 [5] | Ultimate Play the Game | Lynsoft |
| Devious Designs | 1991 [4] | Image Works | Image Works |
| Hooray for Henrietta | 1991 | Scetlander | Scetlander |
| King Arthur's Quest | 1985 [6] | Hill MacGibbon | |
| Solar Jetman | 1991 [4] | Rare | Tradewest |
| Throne of Fire | 1987 [7] | Consult Computer Systems | Melbourne House |
| Warriors | 1988 [4] | Rainbow Arts |
| Title(s) | Cancellation date | Developer | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pussies Galore | 1995 [8] | Amber Developments | Team17 |
| Thalimar: Land of Chaos | 1999 [9] | Paweł 'Zombie' Ząbek |
| Title(s) | Cancellation date | Developer | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pussies Galore | 1995 [8] | Amber Developments | Team17 |
Commodore International Corporation was a Bahamian home computer and electronics manufacturer with executive offices in the United States founded by Jack Tramiel and Irving Gould. Commodore International (CI), along with its subsidiary Commodore Business Machines (CBM), was a significant participant in the development of the home computer industry in the 1970s to early 1990s. In 1982, the company developed and marketed the world's second-best selling computer, the Commodore 64, and released its Amiga computer line in July 1985. Commodore was one of the world's largest personal computer manufacturers, with sales peaking in the last quarter of 1983 at $49 million.
Jeff Minter is an English video game designer and programmer who often goes by the name Yak. He is the founder of software house Llamasoft and has created dozens of games during his career, which began in 1981 with games for the ZX80. Minter's games are shoot 'em ups which contain titular or in-game references demonstrating his fondness of ruminants. Many of his programs also feature something of a psychedelic element, as in some of the earliest "light synthesizer" programs including Trip-a-Tron.
Ashby Computers and Graphics Limited, trading as Ultimate Play the Game, was a British video game developer and publisher, founded in 1982, by ex-arcade video game developers Tim and Chris Stamper. Ultimate released a series of successful games for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, MSX and Commodore 64 computers from 1983 until 1987. Ultimate are perhaps best remembered for the big-selling titles Jetpac and Sabre Wulf, each of which sold over 300,000 copies in 1983 and 1984 respectively, and their groundbreaking series of isometric arcade adventures using a technique termed Filmation. Knight Lore, the first of the Filmation games, has been retrospectively described in the press as "seminal ... revolutionary" (GamesTM), "one of the most successful and influential games of all time" (X360), and "probably ... the greatest single advance in the history of computer games" (Edge).
Arkanoid is a 1986 block breaker arcade game developed and published by Taito. In North America, it was published by Romstar. Controlling a paddle-like craft known as the Vaus, the player is tasked with clearing a formation of colorful blocks by deflecting a ball towards it without letting the ball leave the bottom edge of the playfield. Some blocks contain power-ups that have various effects, such as increasing the length of the Vaus, creating several additional balls, or equipping the Vaus with cannons. Other blocks may be indestructible or require multiple hits to break.
Manic Miner is a platform game written for the ZX Spectrum by Matthew Smith. It was published by Bug-Byte in 1983, then later the same year by Software Projects. The first game in the Miner Willy series, the design was inspired by Miner 2049er (1982) for the Atari 8-bit computers. Retro Gamer called Manic Miner one of the most influential platform games of all time, and it has been ported to numerous home computers, video game consoles, and mobile phones.
Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship is a multi-directional shooter video game developed by Zippo Games and Rare and published by Tradewest in North America and by Nintendo in Europe. It was released in North America on 14 October 1990 and in Europe on 26 September 1991 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The game is the third installment of the Jetman series and was later re-released by Nintendo for their NES-based PlayChoice-10 arcade system in the United States in 1990.
Paradroid is a Commodore 64 computer game written by Andrew Braybrook and published by Hewson Consultants in 1985. It is a shoot 'em up with puzzle elements and was critically praised at release. The objective is to clear a fleet of spaceships of hostile robots by destroying them or taking them over via a mini-game. It was later remade as Paradroid 90 for the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST home computers and as Paradroid 2000 for the Acorn Archimedes. There exist several fan-made remakes for modern PCs. In 2004 the Commodore 64 version was re-released as a built-in game on the C64 Direct-to-TV, and in 2008 for the Wii Virtual Console in Europe.
Paperboy is an arcade action game developed and published by Atari Games, and released in 1985. The player takes the role of a paperboy who delivers a fictional newspaper called The Daily Sun along a street on his bicycle. The arcade version of the game featured bike handlebars as the controller.
Thalamus Ltd was a British computer game developer that published titles for a number of 8-bit and 16-bit platforms during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Stunt Car Racer is a racing video game developed by Geoff Crammond. It was published in 1989 by MicroProse, under their MicroStyle and MicroPlay labels in the United Kingdom and in the United States, respectively. The game pits two racers on an elevated track on which they race in a head-to-head competition, with ramps they must correctly drive off as the main obstacle.
Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior is a 1987 video game developed and published by Palace Software for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum. The game was ported to many other systems and was licensed to Epyx who published it as Death Sword in the United States.
Ocean Software Ltd was a British software development company that became one of the biggest European video game developers and publishers of the 1980s and 1990s.
Impossible Mission is a video game originally written for the Commodore 64 by Dennis Caswell and published by Epyx in 1984. The game features a variety of gameplay mechanics from platform and adventure games, and includes digitized speech. Impossible Mission, which casts the player in the role of a secret agent infiltrating an enemy stronghold, is widely considered one of the best games for several platforms.
Double Dragon is a 1987 beat 'em up video game developed by Technōs Japan and distributed by Taito for arcades across Asia, North America and Europe. It is the first title in the Double Dragon franchise. The game's development was led by Yoshihisa Kishimoto, and it is a spiritual and technological successor to Technos' earlier beat 'em up, Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun (1986), released outside of Japan by Taito as Renegade; Kishimoto originally envisioned it as a direct sequel and part of the Kunio-kun series, before making it a new game with a different cast and setting.
Spindizzy is an isometric video game released for several 8-bit home computers in 1986 by Electric Dreams Software. It combines action and puzzle video game elements. Players must navigate a series of screens to explore a landscape suspended in a three-dimensional space. Development was headed by Paul Shirley, who drew inspiration from Ultimate Play the Game games that feature an isometric projection.
Kingsoft GmbH was a German video game company based in Aachen. The company was founded in 1982 by Fritz Schäfer out of his parents' house in Mulartshütte (Roetgen) to sell his chess simulation game Boss, which he developed the year before. Kingsoft expanded into third-party publishing in 1983, starting with Galaxy by Henrik Wening. Most of their games were released for computers developed by Commodore International, predominantly the Commodore 64, Commodore 16 and later Amiga, and were usually based on other company's titles for different platforms. Kingsoft moved to Aachen in 1987 and established a distribution service before ceasing publishing in favour of distribution in 1993. The company was acquired in March 1995 by Electronic Arts, who retired the Kingsoft name later that year.
The United Kingdom has the largest video game sector in Europe. By revenue, the UK had the second-largest video game market in Europe in 2022 after Germany, and the sixth-largest globally. By sales, it is Europe's largest market, having overtaken Germany in 2022. The UK video game market was worth £7.16 billion in 2021, a 2% increase over the previous year.
Magnetic Fields was a British game development company founded in February 1982 and best known for developers Shaun Southern and Andrew Morris. The company was originally named "Mr Chip Software" but renamed "Magnetic Fields Ltd." usually simply referred to as "Magnetic Fields", in 1988.
Casual Arts, formerly known as Flair Software, is a British video game developer and publisher of the 1990s that developed and published games for the Amiga, Amiga CD32, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, PlayStation, Sega Saturn and SNES. It was set up by Colin Courtney in 1990 after his previous company, Tynesoft, went bankrupt. It retained Tynesoft's MicroValue brand and published Elvira: The Arcade Game which had originally been scheduled for publication by Tynesoft.