We spoke with the man behind Games That Weren’t.
We at spillhistorie.no have always been big fans of gamesthatwerent.com. The project has been able to uncover numerous hidden gems shedding light on game development history for several decades. We have contributed to the Commodore 64 version of Twintis, discovered while we worked on the origins of Twintris, and also a Commodore 64 Ice Fishing game from our story on Pro Pillki 2, among others. So we decided to find out more about the project and the man who started it all. Here is our interview with Frank Gasking:
Who are you and why did you start gamesthatwerent?
Hi there, I’m Frank Gasking. By day I’m a software and web developer, and by night a digital preservationist and retro gaming historian (and sometimes an artist if I have a bit of spare time). I’m 43 years old and have been fascinated by video games since childhood, starting with an Atari 2600, then moving on to a Commodore VIC-20 and finally a Commodore 64. These machines played a huge part in my life, and I especially loved collecting computer magazines like Zzap!64 and Commodore Format, eagerly waiting for each new issue and its cover tape.
I started Games That Weren’t after being inspired by an article in Commodore Force magazine back in 1993, which highlighted a handful of Commodore 64 games that were never released. As an 11-year-old, I was captivated by the idea of these «lost» games – what they were like, why they weren’t finished, and whether any still survived.
That curiosity soon led me to start searching for them myself: contacting people in the C64 scene, digging through old magazines, and tracking down unreleased and unfinished games that had leaked out. I quickly realised that the original article had only scratched the surface – there were far more games out there that never saw the light of day.
By the late 1990s I began writing about my findings in Commodore Zone magazine, which grew into the idea of creating a dedicated website. In 1999, Games That Weren’t was launched to share discoveries, preserve what could be found, and tell the stories of games that might otherwise have been forgotten. What started as a small C64 archive has since grown into a multi-platform preservation project, still driven by the same curiosity and passion that first inspired me as a child.
What exactly is gamesthatwerent.com?
Games That Weren’t (GTW) is a non-profit digital archive dedicated to preserving and documenting lost, unreleased, and unfinished video games across a wide variety of platforms. Originally it was just the magazine article inspired by the Commodore Force article, but grew into a website that allowed me to initially share our findings and downloads. Over the years, GTW has expanded to cover multiple platforms, including Amiga, PC, NES, Game Gear, Mega Drive and more, and after running for over 25 years, it’s one of the longest-running projects of its kind.
The archive includes recovered games, previews, screenshots, and detailed information about titles that were abandoned, cancelled, or lost. It also preserves developer assets, work disks, and other materials to ensure that gaming history is not forgotten. We not only cover unreleased games, but earlier builds of titles that were released, showing earlier cut content and differences. GTW has grown through collaboration with developers, collectors, and enthusiasts worldwide, and it continues to actively recover, document, and share games while maintaining a database-driven website for easier access and discovery.
In addition to the website, GTW produced a book detailing the stories behind unreleased games, has contributed to magazines, and participated in gaming exhibitions with displays and talks over the years. Its mission is driven purely by passion for video game preservation, with all content freely accessible to the public and supported by community contributions and collaborations, as well as important contributions by the GTW team.
What game are you most proud to present on your site?
The game we’re most proud to present on Games That Weren’t is Daffy Duck: Starring In The Great Paint Caper on the Commodore 64. Originally set to be one of Hi-Tec’s first Premier Range titles, it promised bigger, better gameplay, amazing graphics, and true-to-cartoon charm across multiple platforms – but despite rave previews and a record-breaking 94% Zzap 64 score (for a Hi-Tec title), it never made it to the shops due to the collapse of the company.
What makes Daffy Duck truly legendary isn’t just the game itself, but the 18-year hunt to find it. We chased every lead: developers, magazine archives, competition winners – even false claims and fake auctions. Time and again, it seemed the game had vanished forever. Then, out of nowhere, a forgotten stash of disks turned up from the artist, with complete source code from the original developer! After painstaking work reconstructing levels, graphics, and sequences, the game finally ran again, almost 25 years after it was lost.
Because of all the above, we were incredibly proud to finally surprise people with the game and there was a huge buzz at the time for a few weeks. It was one of our Holy Grail findings I would say.
Do you ever work with game publishers?
We’ve had a few instances over the years where we were refused permission to release certain games on the website. Because of this, there are a handful of titles we’ve recovered but can only show through screenshots or video clips. Hopefully, the situation may change in the future, but the important thing is that they’re at least preserved for now.
If any issues arise with content already on the site, we have a clear disclaimer that material will be taken down on request. So far, that’s rarely happened – the only recent case was when we were asked to temporarily remove a game because its recovery was so unexpected for the platform, and there was the possibility of it being included in a special retro gaming compilation.
In general, we tread very carefully depending on the age of the game, the company involved, and the circumstances. For example, we wouldn’t release modern PC or console prototypes from companies that are still active unless we had explicit clearance. There’s always the chance that a cancelled title might be resurrected and published later by another company. Instead, we usually focus on games that are long abandoned. On the Commodore 64 side, it’s a little different – new games are still being developed, and sometimes cancelled. In those cases, we always double-check that the project is truly cancelled and not just on pause, since many are created in people’s spare time.
What is your impression of their own work on preserving their older (released or unreleased) games?
We’ve worked with a handful of publishers over the years on collaboration and assistance, though nothing on the scale of Nintendo or EA – we’re very niche and hobbyist! :)
For some publishers, we’ve helped by recovering from old work disks, providing recovered source code, builds, or digital copies of older titles they didn’t previously have. A recent example is our work with the resurrected Argonaut Games, where we were able to return recovered materials to the company. Publishers have generally been very supportive of us hosting older, abandoned material, recognizing that our work preserves their history and maintains a respectful legacy.
From our experience, some publishers are proactive about preserving older games, but many have only recently started taking preservation seriously. There are countless stories of development teams discarding old machines, disks, and work files – often realizing their value only after they’re gone. As a result, preservation efforts like ours are critical for filling those gaps. While some companies have begun improving their processes for current projects, there’s still a long way to go to ensure that the next generation of games isn’t lost.
Tell us about the book « THE GAMES THAT WEREN’T» where did the idea come from and how did you decide the content
The idea for the book came from a mix of personal reflection and a desire to create something lasting. By 2013, I realised that much of my work building websites and preserving digital content had a limited shelf life. I wanted to produce a physical, tangible «magnum opus» that would outlive a website and serve as a mark of my work in case life took an unexpected turn. The subject naturally became unreleased and lost games, an area I had been deeply involved with since the late 1990s through the Games That Weren’t archive.
The content of the book was guided by a few key principles. First, it needed to go beyond simply reproducing what was already on the website. It had to offer fresh content, detailed research, and insights from the people who had worked on these games. I aimed to cover as many platforms as possible – not just the Commodore 64 – and key decades of the gaming industry, offering a broad and comprehensive view of unreleased titles across the decades.
We wanted to cover both well-known games and those that had been almost completely forgotten or never heard of before, bringing previously untold stories to light. This included exclusive content, like a previously unknown PC conversion of Ridge Racer.
For some better-known titles, we went deep – uncovering never-before-seen details through interviews and research. Dick Special, for example, involved multiple iterations and developers, and the book included a video clip of the game that had never been seen before. Of course, we couldn’t cover everything, and questions like «Why didn’t you include X game?» were inevitable. A second book will hopefully address some of those gaps, though there will always be more to uncover.
Ultimately the book is a mix of meticulous research, preservation work, interviews, and personal anecdotes – capturing the stories of unreleased games and the people behind them, along with some personal insights. The result was a 644-page book published by Bitmap Books in 2020, both a comprehensive reference and a celebration of gaming history. The response has been incredible, with the 3rd print run recently selling out and a 4th already underway – far more than I could have ever expected.
We’d like to thank Frank Gasking for anwering all our questions!
If you have other questions, you can ask Games That Weren’t on Bluesky