Around 70 rare Japanese video games have surfaced online after being leaked from a private file-sharing directory.
As reported by Motherboard, the lost titles were found on a chunky 67GB folder of ROMs being hidden away by a private collector.
The cache includes rarities like Labyrinthe, a puzzler developed by Caravan Interactive that some feared had been lost forever, along with other obscure titles such as Cookie’s Bustle, Yellow Brick Road, and Link Devicer 2074.
The games were apparently being stored in a folder called ‘Do Not Upload’, but despite that rather blatant warning someone with access decided to go public.
It’s a move that puts the collection’s future at risk, with the folder’s owner having already threatened to take down the entire collection and stop uploading games in the event of a leak.
Speaking to Motherboard, librarian and digital archivist Phil Salvador has suggested the peculiar situation shows how preservationists often struggle to maintain a truce with private collectors.
“It’s weird because this really is not a great way to be preserving games, just collecting things that leak out,” he said. “Ideally we should be collaborating with collectors to share games like these. But unfortunately a lot of game collecting and preservation happens in the margins like this.”
If your interest is piqued, be sure to head on down to Motherboard for the full story. It’s a fascinating read.