Platform: PC

Abattoir in Cosmos was an unreleased shoot-em’-up game developed around 2000 by the Russian shareware game company AxySoft (known for creating the relatively popular 3D Qix/Xonix clone AirXonix).

According to the game’s page on an older capture of AxySoft’s website, the plot went as follows:

“In a distant future all countries on the planet Earth have united, appeared the colonies on the planets of the Solar system, arose trade. There were few people, who did not want to live peacefully, they started to rob trade space ships. They are cosmic pirates. Abattoir In Cosmos – this is an amazing arcade game, in which you operate space warship made on high technology. You are sent by the Earth government. Your target – to attack and destroy all pirates that will get on your way. High detailed graphics, classical plot, and charming dynamics will shock your imagination.

Now, commander, is the time to introduce you weapons, enemies and objects, which you can meet in the game Abattoir In Cosmos Part I.”

(^ Note that the game is referred to as “Abattoir in Cosmos Part I”, which implies that there were plans for the game to be a full multi-part series)

After that, a description of the game follows (with detailed descriptions of every element of the game afterwards):

“Your warship is high efficient flying device attacking targets quickly and smashing. It is equipped with powerful turbines allowing you to overtake your enemy as fast, as you want. Splendid steering unit lets you easy to maneuver the warship between asteroids. An enormous choice of weapons lets you find the best way to your victory. Of course, warship can not carry all kinds of weapon simultaneously, so you need to find and to catch another weapon during the game. Your warship may carry two cannons (or blasters, …) and one type of missiles. When you start the game, warship is equipped with the simplest weapon. During the game your warship may take some damage from enemy shot or missile, this will decrease the power shield energy. When energy became very low, next shot will blow up your warship and you will lose it. At the beginning, you have a few ones. But during the game you can catch the energy and new warships as weapons.”

According to the oldest capture of the “News” page on AxySoft’s old website, Abattoir in Cosmos was started in September 2000 and was planned to release in the same month, but this date would later be mentioned as October 2000 in the page for the game itself, and then any mentions of a release date would later be removed from the site entirely. It would be assumed that development on the game was silently halted not long after.

Currently, the only source of information on the game is its page on the older version of AxySoft’s website. If you happen to know more about what happened behind the scenes (or maybe even have a working prototype build of the game), please let us know!

Sources

• AxySoft – News
• website-overview

Gallery

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.

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.”

The game was listed on RingZero’s official website as an in-development project for a few months, but after 2012, it was removed from the site. It turns out RingZero was unable to secure a publisher. Today, all that remains of the game are a few screenshots and a trailer.

Video

Gallery

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:

• All About Colours — Commodore 64 version recovered by MalcSeventyFour!
• Adjective Puzzlers
• Canada and U.S.A.
• Chopper Canada
• Compuquiz
• Compusearch
• Get Ready for Math — Commodore 64 version recovered by MalcSeventyFour!
• Graph Magic
• Know Your Numbers
• Learn to Add — Commodore 64 version recovered by MalcSeventyFour!
• Learn to Count — Commodore 64 version recovered by MalcSeventyFour!
• Learn to Subtract — Commodore 64 version recovered by MalcSeventyFour!
• Mark-it Place
• Me and Others — Commodore 64 version recovered by MalcSeventyFour!
• Moon Bingo — Commodore 64 version recovered by MalcSeventyFour!
• Nations and Cities
• Newtown
• Noun Puzzlers — Commodore 64 version recovered by MalcSeventyFour!
• Phonics One — Commodore 64 version recovered by MalcSeventyFour!
• Phonics Two — Commodore 64 version recovered by MalcSeventyFour!
• Rhyme-a-Line — Commodore 64 version recovered by MalcSeventyFour!
• Rhyme Land — Commodore 64 version recovered by MalcSeventyFour!
• Rhymo’s Falling Star
• Story of Miss Mouse, The — Commodore 64 version recovered by MalcSeventyFour!
• Tarawanda
• Testmaker
• Verb Puzzlers
• Weather, The — Commodore 64 version recovered by MalcSeventyFour!
• What is an Adjective?
• What is an Adverb?
• What is a Noun? — Commodore 64 version recovered by MalcSeventyFour!
• What is a Verb?

We hope that others can later be located and gradually this list can be crossed off completely. If you have any of the titles and can help preserve, please do get in touch!

With a huge thank you to MalcSeventyFour for the brilliant preservation work and sharing with Games That Weren’t!

Download

• 15-preserved-titles-from-MalcSeventyFour

Gallery

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.

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.

The reasons behind the cancellation remain unclear. Various online sources have suggested that the poor reception of the Nintendo DS version may have contributed, although no official confirmation has yet surfaced.

For now, this remains one of the more obscure cancelled Garfield projects. Hopefully further materials or information may emerge in the future to reveal just how far the Wii version progressed.

With thanks to Aggevaloz for highlighting the title.

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!

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.

Ian was working on the game, and got a few tables created and some basic gameplay before it was found that Ariolasoft had either lost or failed to secure the licencing rights. As a result, work was stopped and due to a lack of funds – Ian got a different job and moved on from Millside Software.

Thankfully, Ian had still kept the final demo of the game at the point of cancellation, and transferred it to PC. Nicholas Campbell got in touch with us to share the demo, but also a tidied up version in DSK format that you can load up.

Nicholas reached out to Ian, and he has given permission for the demo to be added to the archives, and so here it is for you to check out!

With a huge thank you to Nicholas Campbell for all the information and tidying up of the prototype and to Ian Munro for originally preserving and giving permission to add to the archives.

Download

• Preview_Madballs

Video

Gallery

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.

The two games provide an amazing glimpse into Cohen’s early work on the Atari 5200. Mail Boy is an early precursor to the Atari 8-bit release Cohen’s Towers, while Topsy Turvee is an experimental original concept that never progressed beyond an early demonstration.

Following the recovery, the ROMs were sent to Matt Reichert at AtariProtos, who has carried out an in depth analysis of both prototypes, documenting their gameplay and development history. The pages are well worth a read if you’d like to learn more about them both.

You can read the full write-ups here:

• Mail Boy: https://www.atariprotos.com/5200/software/mailboy/mailboy.htm
• Topsy Turvee: https://www.atariprotos.com/5200/software/topsy/topsy.htm

With huge thanks to John Hardie for preserving the original disks, Ken Van Mersbergen (Dutchman2000) for compiling the recovered source into working ROMs, Frank Cohen for providing additional information about the games, Peter Rittwage for download heads up, John Hardie and Ross Sillifant for the heads up and Matt Reichert at AtariProtos for the excellent analysis and borrowed screenshots.

Download mirror

• Mail Boy (5-28-83)
• Topsy Turvee (5-8-82)

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.

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.

Behind the scenes, the situation was rather different. In a detailed retrospective on Simulmondo’s history, Genesis Temple uncovered through interviews with former staff that the game had little more than a title and a loose premise. Federico Croci, who was handling public relations and contributing to the storyline, recalled that many of Francesco Carlà’s early game ideas existed only as rough concepts discussed over dinner or scribbled onto napkins before being announced to the press.

Rimini, Mare Azzurro was one such project, promoted enthusiastically despite barely having entered development. A later academic study on Simulmondo’s history also revealed that the project formed part of the company’s earliest editorial plans, discussed around the time of the first Simulmondo Party in 1988, where developers were assigned projects from Carlà’s growing list of ideas.

The Genesis Temple interviews also revealed that development duties were intended to fall to brothers Giuseppe and Gianluca Orofino after they responded to one of Simulmondo’s recruitment adverts published in MC Microcomputer. The pair submitted a demonstration of their own fantasy adventure, Mystere, which impressed Francesco Carlà enough that they were asked to adapt its interface for the new project instead.

According to Giuseppe Orofino, there was no completed game design to work from, merely a title and a vague crime or thriller setting. Gianluca Orofino later joked that, in search of inspiration, they even rented the comedy film Rimini Rimini in the hope of finding scenery that could be digitised into the game, despite neither brother having ever visited the Adriatic coast themselves.

Interestingly, the interviews also revealed that the screenshots published in MC Microcomputer did not originate from the Orofino brothers’ work. This suggests that the images shown to readers were either mock-ups or came from an earlier internal concept, further demonstrating how little of the project had actually been created at the time.

Eventually the brothers abandoned the project altogether, with Mystere later resurfacing in 1990 under rival Italian publisher Genias. According to Ivan Venturi, Rimini, Mare Azzurro was one of around fifteen projects proposed during Simulmondo’s early planning, but like many of the company’s more ambitious concepts, it proved too technically ambitious to realise at the time.

In a later interview with Retrogaming Planet, Francesco Carlà reflected on Rimini, Mare Azzurro as one of Simulmondo’s very first planned titles. He explained that he ultimately chose to concentrate the company’s efforts on sports games instead, believing they represented a stronger commercial opportunity than an Amiga-exclusive graphic adventure in the Italian market.

During this early period, work had even begun on a revised Simulmondo logo for the project, based on an original sketch by renowned Italian designer Massimo Iosa Ghini. Carlà also recalled that although Rimini, Mare Azzurro never progressed, elements of its concept later influenced Italian Night, particularly the desire to set an adventure in an Italian city rather than the more familiar locations of New York or Los Angeles. The decision led directly to Simulmondo’s early releases such as Bocce, Simulgolf and Italy ’90 Soccer, while Rimini, Mare Azzurro quietly disappeared.

Sadly, nothing playable is known to survive today. It was not alone either, with other ambitious concepts from the same period such as Mussolini Age and Francy Frigo also failing to progress beyond the planning stage. As several former Simulmondo developers have reflected over the years, many of these ideas were simply ahead of what was technically or commercially practical for the studio. Hopefully something from these intriguing projects may yet surface one day, as strange things can happen.

With thanks to Fabrizio Bartoloni for highlighting the game, and to Damiano Gerli at The Genesis Temple and Robert Grechi at Retrogaming Planet for their extensive research and interviews documenting the early history of Simulmondo.

Sources

• http://fondazione.cinetecadibologna.it/files/archivi/videoludico/tesi/Cirica_Simulmondo.pdf
• https://genesistemple.com/it/la-storia-di-simulmondo-la-prima-software-house-italiana-parte-1
• https://www.retrogamingplanet.it/intervista-a-francesco-carla-una-vita-per-il-simulmondo/

Gallery

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

Allan Pinkerton has been busy once more, preserving World Geography 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993 editions which you can check out with full scans here:

https://archive.org/search?tab=all&query=commodore+bobco&sort=-publicdate

These are the English editions, and there are other language versions out there that need preserving. Allan has also flagged that 1986 and 1989 are missing, so please get in touch if you can help with those!

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.

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.

It comes with some nice intro screens and what seems to be digi covers of famous C64 tracks. To get past them and to the game itself, you must carry out a soft reset each time.

NOTE: Most of the time, the game will get stuck in a hi-res mode. If you notice the game doesn’t look like the above screen, then try soft-resetting and then it will give you a screen asking you to press ESC to go back to the game.  This usually fixes it.

It is a nice simple and fun game, and another piece of Plus 4 history saved, and we hope that there will be more to come in the future. Check it out for yourselves!

With a huge thank you to Csaba Virág for preserving and providing to Games That Weren’t to add to the archives.

Download

• Game_SOS

Video

Gallery