Last updated on August 27th, 2023 at 10:06 am
This page lists Best Titles for Sinclair ZX Spectrum games that weren’t, were unpublished or games which only got as far as the prototype stage or storyboard!
You may find interesting this document!
Death Pit by Durell advertised in late 1984 including the December 1984 issue of Personal Computer Games, this game never saw the light of day, among Saboteur III , 2 images at the top.
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The Punisher advertised for various formats including the Spectrum, it was released on other platforms but the Spectrum version didn’t appear. The end of game screen displayed in Darius+ mentions both XMen and The Punisher as being developed by the same team behind Darius+.
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The Vindicator – 128k although the game was released under the name Vindicator, the original artwork had the game billed as the sequel to the arcade hit Green Beret.
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Scooby Doo after a few months of advertising and some preview screens being published in Crash, it became apparent that the original game design (A Dragon’s Lair type game) couldn’t be achieved on the ZX Spectrum. In order to get a game in the shops with the Scooby Doo licence, the work was given to Gargoyle and a platform game was subsequently published towards the end of 1986.
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The Master (Software Projects) The Master (Bug-Byte) The Master (Mastertronic) The Master advertised for the Spectrum in an issue of Personal Computer Games, the screenshots look like they are from a C-64 version. I’ve been informed that the game was completed but never published by Software Projects, the rights were acquired by Artic who did later publish the game.
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Tibet or Where Time Stood Still preview appeared in an issue of Sinclair User covering 128k games after the launch of the +3. A small part of the feature covered a game called Tibet which was billed as the sequel to “The Great Escape”. Tibet was later released as Where Time Stood Still.
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Toki after being previewed in the July 1991 issue of Crash and several other magazines later, the game remains unpublished.
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Total Recall by Mark Jones who completed some sprites and mockup screens for version 1 of Total Recall which was eventually scrapped. The mockups and partial loading screen can be downloaded using the link above.
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Trojan developed by Clive Townsend, the game is a flick screen clone of the game Trojan by Capcom. After being developed, the game was never published and has only surfaced after Clive generously loaned the tzx vault preservation team the only known copy that existed on microdrive cartridge.
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Troll (Kixx) Troll previewed in the February 1988 (#72) issue of Sinclair User and then advertised in the March 1988 (#73) issue of Sinclair User was all we ever saw of this game which was being developed by Denton Design until it was released on the budget Kixx label. The game was published by Outlaw for the C64, see the inlay scan below.
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Vigilante Demos Vigilante Demo 121288 – Vigilante Demo 090189
These demo’s were unearthed amongst a number of Tiertex development disks. Thanks go to David Powell, who rescued them from a local car car boot sale in Sheffield!!
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Conan : the loading screen was recovered from some recently discovered Microdrives belonging to Mark Jones. The game was completed for the C64, it looks like only the loading screen was completed for the Spectrum.
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Gyruss – Prototype back in 1984, Parker Brothers announced that they were going to release conversions of several arcade games including Gyruss and Star Wars as interface 2 cartridges priced at £19.95. The releases were shelved however, when the interface 2 sold in poor numbers.
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Inspector Gadget And The Circus Of Fear Inspector Gadget And The Circus Of Fear
Inspector Gadget and the Circus of Fear from Melbourne House was completed but was not judged good enough for release by Mastertronic when they bought Melbourne House in 1987, see The Games Time Forgot in the November 1987 issue of Sinclair User.
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The Last Ninja previewed in the November 1987 (#68) issue of Sinclair User, it seems that due to development difficulties the sequel was finished first so the original game was shelved!! The C64 version is available above.
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The Great Giana Sisters was reviewed in Crash receiving a Crash Smash award, although it has been reported that the game only made it to beta stage. After Nintendo threatened legal action due to the game being too similar to Super Mario Bros., the game was withdrawn.
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And..
Advertised for the C64 which quoted the Spectrum and Amstrad versions as “Coming soon”, but the Spectrum version never did!
Beyond Software has first refusal on games developed by First Star Software, with Superman being advertised on their Five Boys advert. The game was originally advertised for the C64, Atari 400/800/XL, Amstrad and Spectrum, however only the C64 version was eventually published by Beyond. It was around this time that Beyond was bought out by British Telecom and after lengthy delays, Superman was eventually published by Prism Leisure.
Unpublished sequel to the 1985 arcade hit “One Man And His Droid”, this game was only recently re-discovered and released by the author Clive Brooker.
Was advertised and previewed in magazines around 1987 but never came to light for the Spectrum. A version for the C64 was released, see above.
Advertised in 1984, the C64 version which is available above was released but the Spectrum version never saw the light of day.
A conversion of the Sega coin-op, it was advertised for the C64 and Spectrum alongside Up ‘n Down, but only the C64 version surfaced.
