We’ve all had the experience of wanting to play that treasured game from our youth, only to find that mum’s thrown it out or sold it at a garage sale. We look everywhere: eBay, Goodwill, ROM sites, and nothing.
Did this game even exist or was it a dream? One of Clarissa’s homebrews? Perhaps a fantasy amalgamation of weekend rentals, Saturday morning cartoons, and cereal box puzzles. Situations like this are unfortunately too common, as although it may seem there are as many remasters being released as there are new games it is believed that 87% of classic games are unavailable to modern game enjoyers, with many considered “critically endangered” and some potentially lost forever.
Noah’s Ark, a rare and almost forgotten PC point-and-click adventure from 1995, was recently found at an online auction, almost 30 years after its original release. It was only released in Japan, published by NEC for PC and Macintosh. Lost Media Wiki details the entire saga, of which we’re sharing a snippet below.
The Hunt for Noah’s Ark
Discovery
In 2021,a thread on /x board from 4chan started talking about Noah’s Ark. At the time, a Japanese and a English link of the Noah’s Ark website were only prove of existence. On July 15 2021, a lost media fan tussockythree68 would make a post on a Lost media wiki forums about the game, which would begin the search.
The Search
On February 9, 2021, saint posted 2 scans from a 1995 issue of Game Blast magazine to the Lost Media Wiki Forums. These articles contained previously unseen screenshots. According to a translation done by saint, the game was originally slated to release on October 5th, 1995.
On July 15, 2021, user peachykeen found a listing on a Japanese Yahoo Auction, which contained pictures of the box.
On December 31, 2021, a user on the lost media wiki forum called Saint posted the game’s trailer from the cover disc for a 1996 issue of the Japanese gaming magazine called “Digital Boy”.
On March 28, 2023, Lost Media Wiki Forum user TenaciousNyx Uploaded two scans from Issue 20 of Logon Magazine from October 1995. According to TenaciousNyx’s translation these scans include a brief walkthrough of some of the game’s puzzles as well as an overview of the game’s interface. The scan also has a bit of new info about the story, such as the fact that the player has an AI companion.
On November 23, 2024, beanstalk_redump/Saint uploaded the game online after obtaining a copy from a Japanese auction website.
Noah’s Ark is a fascinating example of a modern problem. There are just so many games — and media in general. We live in an age where we produce so much of something so special that we can take it for granted, forget it, and lose it. Obviously, not every game is a masterpiece, but most are in my opinion valuable in some small way. All games should be preserved, at least for future generations to study and learn from.
If there’s a game you love or at least find interesting, find it, save it, and share it. Hold them tight. And if you don’t have an interest in collecting the games yourself, you might consider donating or otherwise contributing to an organisation like the Video Game History Foundation.
Source: Lost Media Wiki
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