In the small but persistent world of video game preservation, a long-lost Japanese RPG has resurfaced after more than 30 years. A previously lost 90s JRPG called Indy The Magical Kid has resurfaced in the form of newly shared gameplay footage and a fresh effort to turn its scattered scraps into a concept book.
Indy was being developed by Graphic Research for the NES and set for a 1993 release via IGS. Contemporary sources from the era suggested the project was around 90 percent complete, with promotional flyers and marketing assets already in circulation. Then, for reasons that remain buried somewhere between corporate indifference and unexplained disappearance, the game simply vanished. Aside from a few promotional stills and one tiny TV show clip that floated around in niche corners of the internet, almost nothing was publicly available.
The game’s prototype ROM briefly appeared on Yahoo! Auctions in 2019, fetching over a million yen (about $9,600), but the anonymous buyer vowed to keep it out of circulation. For all practical purposes, among fans of lost media, Indy The Magical Kid has remained unplayable and unknowable.
Now, a seven-minute YouTube video has emerged showing gameplay footage from the prototype. It’s raw, grainy VHS captures from when the game was under development, and it lacks things like title screens and story context, but it’s actual gameplay footage, which is nothing short of miraculous.
What’s more, the group behind the upload says they have permission from the original development team to release this content and compile a book featuring concept art, interviews, design sheets, soundtrack tapes, and even staff-made doujinshi. The eventual goal is to fund and publish that book, effectively rescuing Indy from oblivion in printed form.
Source: Game*Spark via Automaton Media
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It’s cool that we can see a look at this. I absolutely detest “collectors” who hoard lost media like this and prevent things from being properly archived and preserved. For all we know the dude is dead in his apartment and the ROM will never come out. Hopefully one day it’ll release, but in the meantime, it’s admirable that the devs themselves are trying to help with getting info about the game out there.