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The Games That Weren't Book (featuring Deathwatch)


JaggingUK

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The Bitmap Books people that do amazing quality books have a new one coming out that looks like it will have some things of interest in it for us Atari fans. It is all about the most famous games that were never made and features 80 games and is over 600 pages. I can swear for the quality of these guys books as their Atari 2600/7800 book is a thing of beauty so there is no reason to think that this one will not be amazing too. It mentions on the promo page that some of the games covered are:

 

Deathwatch (Atari Jaguar)

Green Lantern (Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, SEGA Mega Drive and Super Nintendo)

Solar Jetman (Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga 500 and ZX Spectrum 128K)

Rolling Thunder (Atari Lynx)

 

and if you look inside the promo pages for the book there is even more Atari stuff in their too.

 

I have no affiliation with the guys who make these books but just thought it may be of interest to some of us on here. They really do the most amazing quality books, I bought the Atari 2600/7800 one and am hoping this one will be equally as good when I have the spare money to order one once I am back at work.

 

https://www.bitmapbooks.co.uk/products/the-games-that-werent?mc_cid=5d7195898b&mc_eid=877f041afd

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3 hours ago, JaggingUK said:

The Bitmap Books people that do amazing quality books have a new one coming out that looks like it will have some things of interest in it for us Atari fans. It is all about the most famous games that were never made and features 80 games and is over 600 pages. I can swear for the quality of these guys books as their Atari 2600/7800 book is a thing of beauty so there is no reason to think that this one will not be amazing too. It mentions on the promo page that some of the games covered are:

 

Deathwatch (Atari Jaguar)

Green Lantern (Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, SEGA Mega Drive and Super Nintendo)

Solar Jetman (Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga 500 and ZX Spectrum 128K)

Rolling Thunder (Atari Lynx)

 

and if you look inside the promo pages for the book there is even more Atari stuff in their too.

 

I have no affiliation with the guys who make these books but just thought it may be of interest to some of us on here. They really do the most amazing quality books, I bought the Atari 2600/7800 one and am hoping this one will be equally as good when I have the spare money to order one once I am back at work.

 

https://www.bitmapbooks.co.uk/products/the-games-that-werent?mc_cid=5d7195898b&mc_eid=877f041afd

WHOA! I knew Green Lantern was planned for both SNES and Sega Genesis but it was also planned for the Amiga and Atari ST as well!? I guess you learn new things everyday...

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On 8/14/2020 at 10:44 PM, JaggingUK said:

The Bitmap Books people that do amazing quality books have a new one coming out that looks like it will have some things of interest in it for us Atari fans. It is all about the most famous games that were never made and features 80 games and is over 600 pages. I can swear for the quality of these guys books as their Atari 2600/7800 book is a thing of beauty so there is no reason to think that this one will not be amazing too. It mentions on the promo page that some of the games covered are:

 

Deathwatch (Atari Jaguar)

Green Lantern (Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, SEGA Mega Drive and Super Nintendo)

Solar Jetman (Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga 500 and ZX Spectrum 128K)

Rolling Thunder (Atari Lynx)

 

and if you look inside the promo pages for the book there is even more Atari stuff in their too.

 

I have no affiliation with the guys who make these books but just thought it may be of interest to some of us on here. They really do the most amazing quality books, I bought the Atari 2600/7800 one and am hoping this one will be equally as good when I have the spare money to order one once I am back at work.

 

https://www.bitmapbooks.co.uk/products/the-games-that-werent?mc_cid=5d7195898b&mc_eid=877f041afd

Bitmap Books produce exceptionally high quality publications and Frank Gasking does painstaking research.. 

 

A match made in heaven. 

 

 

We've Scott Stilphen to thank for the Lynx coverage, Vindicators is the other title. 

 

He passed internal Atari documents onto myself, I in turn passed them onto Frank as he could make far better use of them than I.. 

 

Frank then conducted lengthy interviews with the games coders. 

 

 

I can't wait to see what new info comes to light on Jaguar Deathwatch, let alone any ST titles he covers. 

Edited by Lost Dragon
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Just a few misc updates to the main GTW site which might be of interest:

 

 

 

Lynx, Mega Drive etc Hellraiser:

 

 

https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2020/08/hellraiser/

 

PC Blue Vault

 

https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2020/08/blue-vault/

 

 

 

Treasure Tails Mega Drive:

 

https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2020/08/treasure-tails/

 

Commando War ST and Amiga

 

https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2020/07/commando-war/

 

 

Alien Resurrection Playstation 

 

https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2020/08/alien-resurrection-screens-playstation/

 

 

Universal Monsters ST Amiga

 

https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2020/08/universal-monsters-amiga-and-st/

 

 

Space Junk Sega CD, Falcon, PC CD CD 32 and Jaguar CD

 

https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2020/07/space-junk/

 

 

Starfighter Ace PC 

 

https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2020/07/starfighter-ace-pc/

 

 

SuperHero Amiga

 

https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2020/07/superhero-amiga-various-screenshots/

 

Restrictor Amiga C64 ST

 

 

https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2020/07/restrictor/

 

Just a few examples of the type of fantastic work Frank does when it comes to covering games on all formats and what to expect from the book. 

Edited by Lost Dragon
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15 hours ago, Sauron said:

I assume this is a Kieren-free book?

You assume correctly. 

 

Whilst people like myself have passed on assets for Frank to pursue further and form basis for interview questions etc, this has been researched and written by him. 

 

This is partly the reasoning behind my posting links to recent articles on the GTW site, it's to underline that content is written and further researched by Frank Gasking, we as contributors, just provide him with raw materials and suggest the games in question might be worthy of further investigation. 

 

Frank then reaches out to the community, writes full articles up on what's been found and invites others to come forward with further info. 

 

It's the way it should be done. 

Edited by Lost Dragon
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  • 2 weeks later...

Going to have to call Frank Mr Atari now the book is out ?

 

Atari coverage includes :

 

Atari:cannonball 1976 Owen Rubin

 Time Bomb, 1977

2 page on Atari Brain Game 1978

8 pages on 2600 Boggle 1978

Boxer 1978

Captain Sea  Hawk 19786  page feature

MINI Golf 19780 

Wolf Pack 4 pages

Sebring 1979 8 page feature..
 Akka Arrh 1982

Keystone Kannonball 2600,Activision1983

 

Blaster Atari 5200 1984

Safire Scott Adam's A8 1984


Millipede 26001984


7800 Rescue on Fractalus and quotes from Lars Jensen


10 Pages on ST Charlie Chaplin US Gold
1988

Last Ninja ST and A8, plus other platforms 12 pages..

Heart Of Yesod ST etc 6 pages

Dick Special ST etc 16 pages
Solar Jetman ST and others 12 pages


Green Lantern ST etc 14 Pages

 

 Daffy Duck, Inc ST 12 Pages

 

 

LYNX Vindicators 10 pages
LYNX Rolling  Thunder 10 pages

 

Jaguar Deathwatch 16 pages. 

Edited by Lost Dragon
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3 hours ago, Lost Dragon said:

Going to have to call Frank Mr Atari now the book is out ?

 

Atari coverage includes :

 

Atari:cannonball 1976 Owen Rubin

 Time Bomb, 1977

2 page on Atari Brain Game 1978

8 pages on 2600 Boggle 1978

Boxer 1978

Captain Sea  Hawk 19786  page feature

MINI Golf 19780 

Wolf Pack 4 pages

Sebring 1979 8 page feature..
 Akka Arrh 1982

Keystone Kannonball 2600,Activision1983

 

Blaster Atari 5200 1984

Safire Scott Adam's A8 1984


Millipede 26001984


7800 Rescue on Fractalus and quotes from Lars Jensen


10 Pages on ST Charlie Chaplin US Gold
1988

Last Ninja ST and A8, plus other platforms 12 pages..

Heart Of Yesod ST etc 6 pages

Dick Special ST etc 16 pages
Solar Jetman ST and others 12 pages


Green Lantern ST etc 14 Pages

 

 Daffy Duck, Inc ST 12 Pages

 

 

LYNX Vindicators 10 pages
LYNX Rolling  Thunder 10 pages

 

Jaguar Deathwatch 16 pages. 

No joke, when I was on Twitter, I was shocked when I saw pictures of Lynx Rolling Thunder on the book that were actually NEVER show in magazines (AFAIK)

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2 hours ago, KidGameR186496 said:

No joke, when I was on Twitter, I was shocked when I saw pictures of Lynx Rolling Thunder on the book that were actually NEVER show in magazines (AFAIK)

I believe some of the Deathwatch screens might also be new? 

 

Knew i made the right decision giving the Lynx Rolling Thunder and Vindicators documents from Scott, to Frank to investigate further. 

 

 

It's been a long journey, but Frank has delivered in spades here. 

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1 hour ago, Lost Dragon said:

I believe some of the Deathwatch screens might also be new? 

 

Knew i made the right decision giving the Lynx Rolling Thunder and Vindicators documents from Scott, to Frank to investigate further. 

 

 

It's been a long journey, but Frank has delivered in spades here. 

I haven't seen them yet but Bitmap Books now has another winner on their hands. This is, alongside their amazing Metal Slug book, one of the best ones I've seen from them. Let's hope there's another volume of "The Games That Weren't" book...

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9 minutes ago, KidGameR186496 said:

I haven't seen them yet but Bitmap Books now has another winner on their hands. This is, alongside their amazing Metal Slug book, one of the best ones I've seen from them. Let's hope there's another volume of "The Games That Weren't" book...

It's been a lifetime ambition project from Frank and years of work, i can still remember him, ahem casually asking what was known about systems like The Panther, games like ST Chaplin, Playstation Water World, 7800 Electrocop etc years ago and it was many months before he said he was doing a book ?

 

I remember twisting his arm to reveal what Jaguar project he was covering and when he said Deathwatch, I was a little cynical, as Luca on Unseen64 had covered it pretty well, Frank, in his traditional humble manner, just replied he was quietly confident he had some new info and screens. 

 

With his knowledge, writing ability and the exceptionally high production standards of Bitmap Books, he's something here to be very, very proud of. 

 

He's put in a phenomenal amount of work and taking something like Chaplin, you can see the amount of leads he followed up,he presents information very honestly. 

 

As soon as I flicked through and saw the Atari coin op coverage and Green Lantern feature, I knew this was something special. 

 

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2 hours ago, Lost Dragon said:

So, a playable prototype of Green Thang does exist but for the Amiga. At least it's reassuring to know the game wasn't completely lost forever. Looks pretty dope as a fan of run and gun games.

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1 hour ago, KidGameR186496 said:

Is there any way i can contact Frank Gasking to see if he's interested in unearthing anything in regards to The Dome Software Developments' Gotcha! on the Jaguar? I'm still friend with Jonathan Court (currently of Creative Assembly), who has various stuff from his past works...

https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/submit-news/

 

That's the site contact page. 

 

Drop Frank a line. 

 

I'm sure if he feels there's enough there for an article for bonus content on the site, he will be more than grateful for your assistance. 

 

That's how it's worked between him and myself over the years, we bounced suggestions, Frank looked into them and if there was enough material available for a write-up and another site hadn't already covered it in depth, he'd write a feature on it. 

 

 

From a personal viewpoint, that's a great suggestion and I am sure the community can appreciate you coming forward with the offer. 

 

Hope to see an article/bonus content feature on it in the coming weeks on the site. 

 

 

I only ever saw the smallest of Previews for the game from the Press back in the day, so anything you and Frank can add, would be fantastic. 

Edited by Lost Dragon
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Update from Frank

 

Chuck Ernst has confirmed this is the original attempt by Matt Markwalder (hence it has music) and the version magazines took images from. 

 

 

Not the later version done by Chuck, Joel Seider and Rob Mariani. 

 

 

Sprite sheet etc here:

 

 

 

https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2020/09/rolling-thunder/

 

 

Thanks once again to Frank, Scott and the YT poster for bringing us so much on Lynx Rolling Thunder. 

Edited by Lost Dragon
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