Japan's Game Preservation Crisis

99% of mobile/ online games really are disposable "junk" entertainment. Developers and/ or owners of multiplayer online games often themselves destroy old versions of their games with updates, usually irrevocably, until they make enough bad "improvements" that the whole game finally is destroyed.

It's very unfortunate, though, that the few gems such as some that are mentioned here have a very real danger of getting destroyed with the rest. Typically the gems are designed for a single-player experience.

What can be done to help?

Japan's Game Preservation Crisis
Me: This sounds bad
Mobile games
Me: Sigh, I was really worried for a bit there.

Making use of WAP

They need to make a Sarah McLachlan style commercial for preserving these games

Honestly I feel very few select titles on this and other similar services would be worth preserving and it would be like finding a needle in a haystack. But then again, you need the whole haystack to find the needle. Can't just let it caught fire or get blown by the wind

I have a sharp 3d phone with a few cool 3d games specific for that device should these be preserve there kinda insteresting.

Neat video! The state of game preservation is a tragic one.... Thanks for uploading this!

How do we dund a big project like this

Instead of translating games, why don’t all of you just learn Japanese?

Woke up this morning specifically to say FUCK SONY once again for forcing me to RENT games that I already own... Keep fighting the good fight.

haha I DON'T understand Japanese

The cancellation of MML3 still breaks my heart and does not feel like a decade ago...

Thank you for making this video, it's so unbelievably important. Just thinking back to the times of early silent films, and so much has been lost because people at the time didn't value preserving their movies for oncoming generations. Everything was seen as just making money in the moment and moving on that culture, history, influences, and so much more has been lost. Let's not repeat those mistakes if we can help it, this has been something I've been thinking about a long time and I'm happy that other people like this channel are bringing it to attention!

There was a Japan-exclusive sequel to the DSiWare game Crystal Monsters for old iPhones a while back, and it's completely lost media. It's heartbreaking, because now I can't catch those monsters even in emulation. It's a damn shame, because it had some pretty awesome creature design for a bald-faced ripoff of Pokémon.

I think the biggest issue with Japan's preservation issue is that their criminal justice system is WAY more uptight, and defendants have fewer rights. Their conviction rate is 99%. Pretty sure some guy got jail time recently for his pirated digital manga collection.

Come on guys we save history

Man…. This is sad.
Is there anything I can do to help?

This video makes me sad and hopeful. We already see that with us as well. My prime example is Zenonia. Its a mobile base series that has 2 games unplayable unless you emulate them or own an old phone and don’t update them.

That ni no Kuni game holds an incredible resemblance to Oddity it's insane

we need part 2 of this video

Epic Mickey had digital comics tie in for the game were only available on the ios app store. It is no longer available to download and now crashes randomly during use. Eventually nobody will have phones with the app and those comics will vanish. 😔

This is a major issue that a lot of people aren't thinking about. We are lucky to have emulators, but that's not truly enough to preserve video game history.

WAP was awful. Sure let me spend £2 to just look at a single pixelly image.

One way to secure funding from an investor that might not see the artistic merit would be to explain how the coding techniques and aesthetic elements could be analysed and repurposed for commercial use - it's kinda like how some pharma companies are contributing to rainforest preservation purely on the chance they can develop a new drug from something their researchers discover there.

Just a thought. Even crappy or mediocre games deserve to be saved and a government grant for a project like that wouldn't cover much even if you did get funding.

We also need to get fan translations of these in a more global language before we run out of Japanese people. lol

Before reaching the latter half of this episode I was just about to mention G-Mode, I’ve purchased a couple of games from them on the Japanese e-Shop.

There was also a Crash Bandicoot mobile game released exclusively in Japan mobile phones, but there isn't many info on it.

The idea of so many game experiences just becoming bittersweet memories makes my chest ache. What a horrible fate for all of those digital worlds.

gotta say though even as a history person, at least the games were pretty trash on the most part

Could barely care about games for Japan

I really want to play the Nino Kuni game.

Going for the hard sell there. I'd say focus on the IP with ties to major franchises. You're more likely to be able to find what you're looking for and there's a lot more market to appreciate them.

Let's hope there are more like G-Mode, and the sentiment will spread

What is the music in the video

The only thing I hate more as console exclusivity, is to hear region lock games, specially Japan only since I'm a weeabo 'n I like a lot of japanese games that I can't play on STEAM nor emulation if they don't have translation, I know its logic to not re-release on STEAM since most are so old or underrated that no one would buy, but still at least we could have translation, even if bad, to let me play it since I don't speak japanese

Even though I'm not a diehard gamer, I still think we should preserve as many games as we can so future generations can experience what gaming was like in the past.

I wonder why they region lock some games. Is there something that doesn't work here that doesn't work there.

I still hate Capcom for cancelling Mega Man Legends 3

The fact that, as of now, your only hope of recovering these lost games is purchasing used DoCoMo feature phones with games still intact on them BUT there is still no way to get to the game files within it and be able to dump it and play it in an emulator. Hopefully my comment will age poorly and we'll see big strides in i-mode preservation :D

Gaijin go home! You people don't care about Japanese video games you just want to subvert them. You're the ones attacking and trying to destroy them the most out of everyone.

Commenting just to increase metrics for this video because it does deserve it.

I just want to play Athena Full Throttle, I don't care if it controls like crap or not. It is an official sequel to the original, has cute art, and I heard it's ost is quite nice.

For anyone who finds this comment that can help, I'm looking for "Gain Ground Again"- released on i-mode and Yahoo! Keitai (Formerly known as Vodafone Live). I'd do anything for a chance to play it myself, given how unique the gameplay and mechanics are in comparison to the rest of its series. Not to mention, the amount of lore given via the in-game character bios is ENORMUS for a small series like Gain Ground. If you have a copy (emulated or otherwise), or know where to find one, I'd love to know.

And now the eShop for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS are being shuttered this year.

This is an emergency. Let's not let this happen

I hope a lot get safe