What kind of activities do you specifically do with "Video Game History Foundation", a non-profit organization that tackles the movement to preserve the history of lost games?

Most of the movies produced until about 1930 are lost due to war and fire, and most of them are no longer to be seen now, as the study of the film history before World War II progresses There is also no cause. Invented in 1912 "L. Ahedoresca"Computer games also have a history of over 100 years. Therefore, a nonprofit founded to preserve games that are academically and historically valuable and their materials so that they are not lost is "Video Game History Foundation"is. It is game related mediaWaypointAn interview to the founders of Video Game History Foundation byViceIt is open to the channel of.

Meet the Man Trying to Save Lost Video Games - YouTube


Frank Cifaldi who established "Video Game History Foundation".


In early childhood of Cifaldi, it is a North American version family computerNintendo Entertainment System(NES) was booming all over the country, everyone was crazy and playing.


In 1998, Cifaldi got his computer and began to access the Internet. There were many people who were playing crazy about NES as well as Mr. Cifaldi in the net, some of them were extracting only data from game software and there were people who kept cassettes in a safe place about.


Regardless of the game disappearing from the memory of the people, if you look at the game magazines published at the time, Cifaldi says that you can clearly understand the country and era where the game was released.


Not only magazines are important. For example, a Japanese version poster of "Rockman" ... ...


"Punch out" magazine advertisement. Cifaldi is also participating in the community of collectors who store a lot of items related to such games.


In the movie, Mr. Cifaldi visited Mike Mika, Cifaldi's old friend. Mika is one who agreed with Cifaldi's idea early on that "I will positively preserve games and their data being lost."


I get down to the guided basement ... ...


Among them are items related to games.


Numerous game controllers are suspended on the walls, and "Street Fighter II"North American arcade machines and so on are also in line.


On the shelfAtari 2600From the game over 40 years ago etc ... ....


You can also see titles of relatively recent games such as PlayStation and Dreamcast and Japanese version of software.


While saying "This is what comes out of the landfill", Mika's got in the bag that was taken out is a game that happened in 1982Atari shockIt can also be said as a symbol ofAtari 2600 software "E.T."is. In response to Cifaldi 's question that "Does this really smell of landfill?"


Mika says, "Yes, I could not get a smell from my nose for two weeks" while taking a distance from the bag containing the E.T. cassette. However, regardless of Mika's advice, Mr. Cifaldi sniffs the smell in the bag.


"Oh ... ... I do not mind, but it smells moldy," Cifaldi tells the impression of the smell with a serious looking face.


"The attitude of Frank (Mr. Cifaldi) who thoroughly studies things concerning games and games is wonderful.When the preservation activity of the game by our Video Game History Foundation progresses, various problems about the game I will solve it and it has great significance for me, "Mika says.


Cefaldi has gathered game magazines and projects since 2003. Materials valuable for research on these game histories are said to have little to be seen from collectors. There are people who are collecting magazines in an avid collector, but there are few people who collect them as materials for research like Cifaldi.


Cefaldi's enthusiastic research has re-discovered games that are about to disappear from history. For example, this "Where in North Dakota Is Carmen Sandiego?"The game for Apple II is an educational program" Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? "Kaito Carmen San Diego) Into a video game "Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego?"North Dakota version, there are only three existing games in the world.


The game screen looks something like this. "Where in North Dakota Is Carmen Sandiego?" Is a school educational software developed in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of North Dakota State, which was seldom marketed, and those who remember playing at the time Little little known until recently.


So Cifaldi quickly jumped to North Dakota and thoroughly searched for teaching materials such as "North Dakota Yearbook" that was set up with not only games but also projects and games of photos and development companies. And at last it was able to secure three of "Where in North Dakota Is Carmen Sandiego?" Which was left as a stock for mail order at the game shop in North Dakota.


The copied copy from the obtained floppy disk was saved in a state that it is accessible online. And Cifaldi saved unopened items at hand among the three "Where in North Dakota Is Carmen Sandiego?" You got. One of the "Where in North Dakota Is Carmen Sandiego?" Is one example that saved a game that seems to disappear from history by the activity of Video Game History Foundation.


In response to the question of why historical materials on games must be gathered, why "Super Mario Bros." is a revolutionary and wonderful game can not be evaluated unless we know the situation at the time of its release, Cifaldi I assert.


By reading the game magazine at that time, by seeing what kind of opinion those people at that time were saying, you can understand the era background and public opinion at the time the game was released.


This is a magazine advertisement of Atari 2600 which was the latest game machine of 1978. From the copy "Tonight you can not watch TV. Let's play on TV!" You can see that the concept of "playing with video games" has already been generally understood 40 years ago.


"The game is also an artistic means of expression and can be thought of as a subject not only to be played but also to be studied as part of a cultural heritage," How did the company sell games? "" We need to know what it is like 'what is it?', Cifaldi says.


Activities of the Video Game History Foundation are to secure game material to convey the history of old-fashioned video games, and to make everyone access the material.




Since the Video Game History Foundation is a non-profit organization, it is operated by volunteer activities, and Cifaldi himself also has no salary, of course, and he is involved in full-time operation to contribute to the development of game culture. "I do not work because I want money, so I am saving the game that is going to disappear now, and since I think the task of protecting the history of the game is very important, I continue to work." Cifaldi says that the movie is over.