
Members of Square Enix recently made a remarkable discovery upon opening an old storage container at work that had been shut for close to 20 years: a cache of pristine, retro games that includes titles released for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Atari ST, DOS computers, N-Gage, Nintendo Wii, and Amstrad CPC, among other platforms.
Lee Singleton, the head of studio at Square Enix External Studios revealed the discovery on LinkedIn, sharing a quick 30-second clip of the remarkable stash that had been uncovered from an off-site storage facility from "days of old".
Looking at this video, it seems that the majority of these games were either made or published back in the day by Domark Limited or its successor Eidos Interactive — companies that were acquired by Square Enix in 2009.
For instance, we can make out a bunch of old Domark games, like Klax, Hard Drivin, Badlands, S.T.U.N Runner, and the licensed James Bond tie-in The Living Daylights. That's in addition to Eidos games and merchandise like a Tomb Raider action figurine, a copy of Crystal Dynamics' action-adventure title Akuji The Heartless, a PC version of Quantic Dream's The Nomad Soul (otherwise known as Omikron: The Nomad Soul in North America), and the Nintendo Wii version of Backbone Entertainment's Death Jr: Root of Evil.
According to Singleton, "employees have been invited to take whatever they want", but he also seems to be in conversation with the BGI / National Videogame Museum in Sheffield, after it was suggested in the comments that the site may be interested in the materials as a donation.
John O'Shea, the co-creator and CEO of the museum, described the find as "interesting for all sorts of reasons" in a comment on the social media site and seems keen to help Square Enix find the perfect home for the items.
You can view the full video here.
[source linkedin.com]
Comments 16
Can’t go wrong with Amiga or ST version of Shufflepuck Cafe! The older stuff is all late 80’s/early 90’s Domark, who were generally OK in terms of quality. Doubt there’s much exciting in there, maybe if they have some SAM Coupe games, or Prince of Persia.
My first thought is I'd love him to put it for sale instead of just giving it all to a museum for free. Having said that I really think Square Enix if they care about their history should be keeping a copy of every title here for their archive. Domark and Edios stuff is part of their history.
>The discovery was shared on LinkedIn
What, no Reddit post? 😏 This is like the corporate version of the almost daily "Look what I found in my grandma's attic!!!11!1!ONEONE!!" post. 🤣👌
According to Singleton, "employees have been invited to take whatever they want"
Appearing on ebay/auction sites and grading emporiums near you very soon!
Just take whatever they want? Wow, that's crazy! Great day for the employees!
Not long after reading the headline I had already realized, it's not really Square-Enix, is it, but Eidos, or D()MARK?
I see VHS tapes. Any word on what those were?
Might contain lost footage.
@Sketcz The label appears to say Sky News. I assume some story covering the company. I kinda doubt it was game specific.
@cawley1 shuffle puck cafe was SOLID, those damn aliens knew they had the advantage when they seen that tank mouse 😑
@KingMike Eidos took over domark group and simis around 95 through a reverse takeover, then SCI bought over Eidos in 2005 but they ultimately were bought out in 2009 by SquareEnix.
"employees have been invited to take whatever they want"
No doubt coming to an ebay auction soon
I wonder if any prototypes or unreleased games are in there...
That’s a blast from the past! The Living Daylights was my very first video game, packed in with the ZX Spectrum +2 James Bond pack.
It wasn’t very good…😂
Copies of Hard Drivin'?
Most disappointing retro find this century!
Stun runner! Siiiick. Absolutely loved being able to play that again at arcade club in bury. Even though getting on the cabinet was akin to doing a commander Riker....
Imagine making a video like that, and thinking "I know where the best place to post this will be - LinkedIn".
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