My Collection Of Unreleased Video Games
A short conversation with Frank Gasking, who has been hunting down and preserving unreleased video games the world was never meant to see since 1993.
Frank Gasking is a software/web developer based in the UK. He runs Games That Weren’t, a digital archive of unreleased or cancelled video games that never made it to shelves because companies went bust, projects were abandoned, or disputes got in the way. But Frank keeps these games alive. One of the archive’s biggest recoveries so far is Daffy Duck – And the Great Paint Caper, a cancelled Commodore 64 game Frank first read about as a kid and spent eighteen years tracking down.
Follow Frank and his digital collection at Games That Weren’t and on Instagram.
What do you collect?
Frank: I currently collect and preserve unreleased video games, as well as prototypes and earlier builds of released games for my digital archive called Games That Weren't. Rather than collecting physical copies to keep, I am often loaned materials which I digitally back up and preserve, and make available through the archive (with the original materials then returned to their owner).
Promotional footage from the cancelled SIN CITY game by Australian development team IR Gurus in late 2007.
Frank reconstructed the final build of Resident Evil on Gameboy Color.
How did it begin?
Frank: For me it started around 1993 when I read a gaming magazine article about unreleased games for the Commodore 64. I was fascinated, as there were a number of great looking games, but I wasn't meant to play them. The games never got released due to companies going bust, the game not being finished, or various other reasons. The whole thing intrigued me, and because I wasn't meant to play them, the more I was drawn to wanting to play them.
What’s the first thing you remember collecting?
Frank: One particular game stood out for me from that article - a clone of Super Mario Bros called The Great Giana Sisters. This game had a very limited shelf life before it was pulled from shelves due to a dispute with Nintendo. I felt I had a chance of finding it, and the idea of playing a game I wasn't meant to was very exciting. Eventually, I got a copy from a friend (and later found an original), and this was the very first cancelled game that I had got my hands on. It was incredibly exciting being able to play something I wasn't meant to.
A scan of The Great Giana Sisters cover. What first inspired your love of collecting?
Frank: When I was given a copy of The Great Giana Sisters, my friend also included a few others from the article, along with some unreleased games I had never heard of. It was then I realised there was likely so much more out there. Because I had such a huge buzz from playing these unreleased or unfinished games, it inspired me to start looking for more. And so began a passion which has now been going for over 30 years.
Magazine advertisement for the unreleased Starring Charlie Chaplin game, based on cover art. 
A gameplay mockup of the unreleased game Starring Charlie Chaplin from the Atari ST version. Where do you usually find the things you collect?
Frank: For unreleased games that are already preserved, these days I check the internet and various archives (such as Archive.org, CSDB.dk or Gamebase64.com). For materials not yet preserved, I get in touch with developers, artists and producers to see if they still have anything. This might be to include material in the archive, or to help preserve items from old obsolete media. Often, people involved with unreleased games get in touch with me directly and offer to have their lost work preserved. Occasionally, I also find materials on eBay or through forum members who have prototypes they are willing to part with.
A typical collection of disks that are loaned to Frank. Daffy Duck – And The Great Paint Caper was eventually recovered from these disks. How far have you gone to add to the collection?
Frank: I have never paid out a huge amount of money to obtain a prototype to preserve. I could set up donations like some preservation communities, but I don't personally feel comfortable taking other people's money. That said, I have occasionally paid £100-200 for tapes, disks or prototypes to ensure they are preserved where possible. Most recently this was for a set of prototype VIC-20 games, which I later gifted to a collector friend who had helped a lot by loaning hardware for preservation work.
I have, however, travelled quite far. In many cases I have gone to other parts of the country to pick up suitcases or boxes of old floppy disks and materials. A couple of years ago I preserved many disks from the late Archer Maclean, and last year I worked through a suitcase full of disks from Enigma Variations following a London meetup with Mark Greenshields.What’s your favorite piece in the collection right now?
Frank: My favourite unreleased or unfinished game overall is a title called Spellcast on the Commodore 64. It was just a single level demo, and it was probably the first cancelled game I ever played without realising. It was given away on a magazine cover tape, and I completely fell in love with it. It is a real shame it was never finished.
In terms of something I have personally recovered, it has to be Daffy Duck: In the Great Paint Caper on the Commodore 64. I remember reading about it as a kid, only to find it never appeared in shops. The company had gone bust just as it was about to be released. An 18-year search followed, and in 2015 we finally recovered all of the source code from the original developer and artist. After a long trip and bringing back a suitcase of materials, the game was reconstructed. It was one of our holy grails finally found.
Scan of the poster art from Daffy Duck – And The Great Paint Caper. 
Screenshot from Daffy Duck – And The Great Paint Caper. 
Screenshot from Daffy Duck – And The Great Paint Caper. What’s something that you’ll never part with?
Frank: It is a tricky one, as my collection is not really physical. However, I do have an original tape copy of The Great Giana Sisters on the Commodore 64 that was taken off the shelves quickly. I would never part with that. I also have a very rare disk copy of Gauntlet 3 on the Commodore 64, which had an extremely limited release through a software catalogue. That is not going anywhere either.
What’s the one thing you dream about finding? Tell me about your holy grail.
Frank: Although Daffy Duck was recovered and considered a holy grail, there are still others. One is a game called Murder! by U.S. Gold. It was released on PC, Amiga and Atari ST, and a Commodore 64 version was fully reviewed in magazines and received good scores. However, for some reason it was never actually released. We have tried everything to recover it, but it feels like it may be the one that got away. Another is a cancelled Batman Returns game for the Commodore 64. It was abandoned as the platform began to decline, but there is believed to be a half-finished version out there. There is still hope that one day we might recover what remains.
If someone looked at your collection, what would they learn about you?
Frank: If someone looked at the archive, they might think I am slightly crazy for taking on something like this. It is a collection with no real end, you can never complete it, even if you focus on just one platform like the Commodore 64. I would hope, though, that people see the amount of effort and care that goes into it. Everything is done in spare time, without funding, and with a genuine passion for preserving lost history. And hopefully, if they have something to share, they might even get in touch.
It has been around 26 years running the archive so far, and I hope I can keep it going for many more.
