Topic: Games that will never get re-released

Crystal Chronicles for gamecube. A game that managed to take a Final Fantasy world and make it into some of the most fun cooperative dungeon crawling I've ever played, while also trying its hardest to make sure as few people as possible would be able to experience it. Even emulating it is an annoying hassle

@MisterPi I will still never figure out why Nintendo didn't push to have Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles updated for Wii U along with Pac-Man Verus. Both of those games were perfect examples of the concept they were trying to sell with the gamepad, and being able to play FF:CC online with friends and have the dual screen experience just made a ton of sense.

But then, they seemed to be determined to bury even the games that they made that used the Wii U gamepad (Fatal Frame) in a meaningful way, and skip on their own IP that would have made perfect sense (Pokemon Snap for example).

@the_shpydar They work for now, but they wont work forever and I think people wonder when we might start seeing mass failure simply due to age. These devices weren't really designed to last decades.

@the_shpydar Wasn't using EEPROM more common in Atari days? Those were supposed to last 25 years at most (leading to people wondering if undumped NES prototypes were at risk of being lost forever).

I do think some early third-party Famicom cartridges used them as well (I believe Irem used them in early prints, maybe Namco as well but I'm not sure.) Don't know if it was necessary, but I do have a couple Zippy Races. One earlier cart with an LED that may or may not be EEPROM, and a later no-LED cart that it looks like should be a non-EEPROM cart. (I've not seen anyone mention how to open the various licensed third-party FC carts without damaging them. The most I've heard mention is Nintendo carts which are supposedly held together by clips. I'm guessing using a small flat screwdriver is the way to pry them open without damage?)

I've always wanted to replay Mystical Ninja on the N64, I had a blast with it as a kid but I didn't get very far, and now my copy stopped working. But isn't there some sort of problem with emulating that game? I can't remember exactly what was wrong, but I remember looking for a ROM of the game a few years ago and found that none existed because of some sort of issue.

I'm sure dumping the ROM itself probably isn't the problem but N64 emulation has progressed rather sporadically over the years. One of those consoles where it sounds like only a relatively small number of people have had the knowledge and desire to contribute to the task. The Saturn being in a similar state, seems like the PS1 was the only console that generation to get much attention from the emulation communities.

@KingMike
Some (maybe most, i'm not sure) Atari games used EEPROM, but not all. The 25-year limit is/was basically an informal "quality control" timeframe — it was thought that was possibly a max limit, but over time determined to be not that accurate.

Add to that the fact that how EEPROM-based games are stored — such as keeping them out of exposure to UV light (such as sunlight) — dramatically extends the lifespan caused by the potential issue of draining charge that is the main "bit rot" concern for EEPROMs.

Of course nothing lasts forever, but my main point is that the "bit rot" concerns are drastically overstated by a lot of people who don't understand the specifics (and i'm far from an expert, but have looked into it enough to get that people freaked out that stuff is going to disappear relatively quickly are just wrong).

More to the point of this thread though, with game preservation being what it is at this point, the likelihood of many games being lost to time isn't realistic either. The amount of potential "lost" games is very remote compared with other media, especially if we compare to say early TV or film, many of which are legitimately gone forever (but that's an entirely different thing).

there are a handful of games with unique hardware that we may never be able to play at some point in the far future. Boktai for GBA comes to mind.

Then there are the games that will never ever get a reissue and will rely on underground emulation to keep alive. Everyone lists Goldeneye 64 as being stuck in licensing hell, but the games I really want but know I’ll never see are the THPS games.

One thing I have wondered is how GBA and on which used EEPROM or FlashROM or whatever for saves (if not the game ROM itself). Will those at some point cease working due to write limits? (and probably be a more difficult fix than replacing batteries on older consoles)
I'm looking at something like the Fire Emblems which auto-save every move (making the Suspend menu option completely redundant). That has got to be especially a killer on chips with limited write capability.

@ReaderRagfish They have made updates such as THPS HD, that had some of the level from THPS 1&2, some of the skaters/boards/etc. and some of the music. But nothing with the whole package