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byuu, creator of the cycle-accurate SNES emulator higan and behind a preservation project for SNES games, has killed the project after a loss of 100 PAL games during shipping. While he still plans to dump the Japanese games that he bought, the hopes of getting a complete PAL set are gone.

On January 5th, a package containing 100 PAL games were sent to me to dump. The United States Postal Service has either stolen or lost this package. Most likely the former.

Do not tell me to wait longer. I don't want to fucking hear it. The package is gone and nobody can help. I don't want to ride on some platitude that "HERP DERP MAYBE ONE DAY THEY'LL SHOW UP!" They won't. There is no point in false hope, that's cruel to both me and the donor, and it will just delay reimbursement.

The next step is to try and obtain the insurance claim, and then I'm going to start making payments each paycheck to try and reimburse the sender until he is able to repuchase all 100 games locally. Or if he prefers, he can just keep the money that's equivalent to the value of the cartridges. I won't be purchasing the carts to be delievered to me, because I don't want to risk shipping them back.

I also want to be clear, the donor never asked for reimbursement upon loss. It was my decision and it's going to happen, because I can't live with myself if it doesn't.

Regardless, this much is certain: the SNES preservation project is officially and permanently dead.

This is a great loss to the emulation scene and its attempt at preserving the original systems accurately. Some people are suggesting byuu to set up a Patreon/GoFundMe and he seems okay with the idea if he can fully pay back for what was lost this time.

Source
byuu's overview


EDIT: Feb 23

It appears that the games have been recovered! The $10,000 collection of rare Super Nintendo games are no longer missing. According to the USPS, the games were actually lost, due to the label ripping off, rather than the rumors of package theft that had been floating around. Byuu, the person behind the project now says the SNES Preservation Project is no longer dead. In the linked blog post below, Byuu writes that had the media not covered this incident, these games would have sat in a facility for months, before ultimately winding up in an auction. There was a clear address on the box, even after the label had been damaged. He says while the project will continue on in the years to come, but he will never trust the postal service with larger shipments due to this issue.

My package was sitting in Atlanta, GA for well over a month with my address clearly visible right on the box. Had this case not been escalated to the media, it likely would have gone up for auction in a bin with other electronics sometime in March. As absolutely thrilled as I am to have these games finally delivered, I do still believe the entire experience reflects poorly on the capabilities of the USPS. I hope that they will improve, but ... I'm guessing that's not likely.

If you donated to his Patreon to help recover the cost of the lost games, Byuu is offering a full refund.

SOURCE

 

[Saiyan Lusitano]

Read the news on Twitter. Man, I sure am glad they made their back to the address they were sent because it would have been a complete trainwreck if someone (or a group) had really stolen that huge batch. SNES PAL games take a lot of time to find good deals though, they're always on eBay but cost more than they should.

 

[lincruste]

I also immediatly thought the gamepacks were stolen.
I've been reading byuu's blog for years and yes, he looks like a quite ...eeeeeer passionate guy.
A few years, ago he suddenly decided to stop bsnes/Higan development in order to learn Japanese, just like that. Then he changed his mind and came back to improve it. He sometimes takes drastic decisions, but he also makes great things. Take a moment to read his blog, it is an incredible source of technical knowledge.

 

[migles]

I also immediatly thought the gamepacks were stolen.
I've been reading byuu's blog for years and yes, he looks like a quite ...eeeeeer passionate guy.
A few years, ago he suddenly decided to stop bsnes/Higan development in order to learn Japanese, just like that. Then he changed his mind and came back to improve it. He sometimes takes drastic decisions, but he also makes great things. Take a moment to read his blog, it is an incredible source of technical knowledge.

This situation just make me think he is kinda childish.. The dramatic "I am mad, project dead forever, there is no solution *rage quit*" and then thing gets solved "back to normal, project is going"

Heh at least we got good things... There are some weird miss understood genius people that are assholes to normal society

Edit: I forgot to say, he didn't apologize for his reactions, didn't tried to excuse and ask sorry for his angry mess, just carried on like normal...
I bet there is loats of people who
Would send games to contribute to the project... And several who didn't mind paying for shipping.. He just had to wait for it..

 

[WiiUBricker]

Edit: I forgot to say, he didn't apologize for his reactions, didn't tried to excuse and ask sorry for his angry mess, just carried on like normal...
I bet there is loats of people who
Would send games to contribute to the project... And several who didn't mind paying for shipping.. He just had to wait for it..

Yes he did. Read his blog post.

 

[VashTS]

this was awesome, i saw it in my google feed. great job usps. but it does show you how incompetent they really are sometimes. you need media coverage to help some dude find his package?!? that should just happen under normal circumstance...

 

[Deboog]

Plot twist: He was planning on stealing the games himself and blaming USPS, but after seeing how disappointed everyone was he had a change of heart.

 

[anhminh]

Plot twist: He was planning on stealing the games himself and blaming USPS, but after seeing how disappointed everyone was he had a change of heart.

Further plot twist: He only continue it because the alien want those snes rom for their video game collections and they threat his family for it.

 

[The Catboy]

I like how they went from, "HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN TO ME?!?!" to, "it's cool now "

 

[Boured]

Welp, now is a good time as any to use this.

 

[enarky]

This situation just make me think he is kinda childish.. The dramatic "I am mad, project dead forever, there is no solution *rage quit*" and then thing gets solved "back to normal, project is going"

Heh at least we got good things... There are some weird miss understood genius people that are assholes to normal society

Edit: I forgot to say, he didn't apologize for his reactions, didn't tried to excuse and ask sorry for his angry mess, just carried on like normal...
I bet there is loats of people who
Would send games to contribute to the project... And several who didn't mind paying for shipping.. He just had to wait for it..

He quit it because he has lost 10000 USD worth in SNES games. Are you for real? These games weren't his, he borrowed them and lost them. This was the end of the project. Very few people have a complete PAL SNES collection and nobody will continue lending him games now that he lost a substantial amount. They resurfaced and he can at least continue dumping the ones he has already.

Do you have an idea how much time it takes to complete such a collection? I'm 130 games in a CIB GB/GBC collection and not only does that cost a lot of money, it costs time to hunt the games down you're missing. And I'm missing a lot right now.

The gall you have for demanding an apology from him!

 

[Retinal_FAILURE]

He quit it because he has lost 10000 USD worth in SNES games. Are you for real? These games weren't his, he borrowed them and lost them. This was the end of the project. Very few people have a complete PAL SNES collection and nobody will continue lending him games now that he lost a substantial amount. They resurfaced and he can at least continue dumping the ones he has already.

Do you have an idea how much time it takes to complete such a collection? I'm 130 games in a CIB GB/GBC collection and not only does that cost a lot of money, it costs time to hunt the games down you're missing. And I'm missing a lot right now.

The GALL you have for demanding an apology from him!

What's CIB?

 

[enarky]

What's CIB?

Complete in box.

 

[Haloman800]

why do i belive this?

Because it's true. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Express_Statutes

The government makes illegal for others what it makes legal for themselves. Printing money (counterfeiting) taxation (theft), forcing you to sell land and houses (eminent domain), murder (capital punishment) and the list continues.

Back on topic... I'm very happy these games were recovered. It definitely wouldn't have happened without the media coverage

 

[FAST6191]

Private enterprise and communities can print their own money, and have done for years. https://www.financial-dictionary.info/terms/local-money/
Company scrip/truck systems are often outlawed, though such things usually came about after serious abuse of such systems.

Taxation is hardly theft. It is a socio-political concept that has existed for thousands of years and has fairly clearly defined remits in the modern world. The can be unfair aspects of the system but as a general concept to call if theft is a hard sell. It is legally enforced because of the free rider problem.

Eminent domain is an odd one and certainly not without scope for abuse. That said I can see the value in having the option rather than having progress and public works held up by someone for no great reason other than they don't want to move.

I find capital punishment to be horribly distasteful, and probably ineffective to boot, but the very same concepts that allow killing in self defence would appear to provide the groundwork for capital punishment to be a thing.

 

[Maximilious]

Glad things came through for those guys. On the return shipment plaster 10 of the same shipping label all over that bad boy!

 

[Westwoodo]

Glad it's sorted.

 

[CaptainSodaPop]

This is great news, i'm happy both for the owner and byuu. And of course for the scene and outcome that games are gonna be properly preserved.

 

[PoppaDre]

haha the dudes such a child. "projects canceled!" classic millennial, doesn't want to wait for things and wants instant gratification then has a tantrum when he doesn't get it. "permanently dead" lololol

 

[Saiyan Lusitano]

haha the dudes such a child. "projects canceled!" classic millennial, doesn't want to wait for things and wants instant gratification then has a tantrum when he doesn't get it. "permanently dead" lololol

You're making light of the situation. If the package hadn't shown up he and the seller would have been at loss since the shipping company was being extremely incompetent in that they weren't being helpful to him but at least, in the end, he got it so both parties are satisfied. These shipping company employees are paid to do their job and still, even though there are many who work without time to catch a breath or under a deadline, they should never leave a package outside where anyone can very well steal or downright throw a package in which ends up being completely shattered to pieces.

I guess it's "cool" to bash millennials whenever possible but anyway, I hope you don't ever find yourself in his stressful situation.

 

[flame1234]

This situation just make me think he is kinda childish.. The dramatic "I am mad, project dead forever, there is no solution *rage quit*" and then thing gets solved "back to normal, project is going"

It worked though. There's no denying that.