informa
/
1 MIN READ
News

Preservationists find and acquire rare Kirby Satellaview games

Video game preservationists have reportedly acquired a handful of never-before-archived (that we know of) Kirby minigames that were distributed solely via Nintendo's Super Famicom Satellaview system.

A group of video game preservationists have reportedly acquired a handful of never-before-archived (that we know of) Kirby minigames that were distributed solely via Nintendo's Super Famicom Satellaview system.

Satellaview games are especially challenging to preserve because, as video game historian and developer (and onetime Gamasutra editor) Frank Cifaldi pointed out on Twitter, they were typically downloaded (via satellite!) onto a special rewriteabe Super Famicom cartridge that could only hold one game's data at a time.

Cifaldi, Matthew Callis and Steve Lin were among the video game archivists who banded together yesterday to raise money in an attempt acquire the Kirby minigames (part of a 10-minigame collection known as Kirby no Omocha Hako) from an unnamed auctioneer.

They were ultimately successful, and Kotaku now reports they wound up paying $813.08 for the auctioneer's entire lot of 4 games. Prior to this only 3 of the 10 Kirby minigames were easily accessible to the public, and Cifaldi told Kotaku he and his compatriots intend to preserve their newly-acquired game ROMs (via emulation) when they receive them.

For a bit more insight into emulation and its value to the game preservation effort, check out Cifaldi's GDC 2016 talk on the topic

Latest Jobs

Treyarch

Vancouver, BC, Canada
5.8.23
Producer

Bladework games

Remote (United States)
5.18.23
Senior Gameplay Engineer

University of Canterbury

Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
5.17.23
Academic in Game Arts and Animation

Fred Rogers Productions

Hybrid (424 South 27th Street, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
5.19.23
Producer - Games & Websites
More Jobs   

CONNECT WITH US

Explore the
Advertise with
Follow us

Game Developer Job Board

Game Developer

@gamedevdotcom

Explore the

Game Developer Job Board

Browse open positions across the game industry or recruit new talent for your studio

Browse
Advertise with

Game Developer

Engage game professionals and drive sales using an array of Game Developer media solutions to meet your objectives.

Learn More
Follow us

@gamedevdotcom

Follow us @gamedevdotcom to stay up-to-date with the latest news & insider information about events & more