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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

 

[ScarletDreamz]

This sucks. if they really stole the games, hope that it can sue in someway those greedy bastards ;/

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

SEE! Told you USPS is awful. I been saying that for months.

PROOF OF MY CLAIM INTO THE FUTURE. click here

 

[ScarletDreamz]

SEE! Told you USPS is awful. I been saying that for months.

Been there with you buddy.... been there.....

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Been there with you buddy.... been there.....

https://gbatemp.net/entry/poor-service-very-dissatisfied-me-is-one-of-those-blog-entries.11876/

 

[Sliter]

and I'm thinking stuff like that only happens here in Brazil .. there's a year I got a 2DS shipped from UK and it never come :/
Not comparing my loss with his, but it's still not a nice thing to have our stuff lost

 

[J-Machine]

what if people donated the cartridges he needed? I'm unsure why the preservation project is ending because of a postal mistake. I understand he is buying the games so monetarily it's draining but I mean that shouldn't stop things if people simply send him carts without wanting anything for it or if a gofundme is initiated to help him pay the games off.

 

[matpower]

what if people donated the cartridges he needed? I'm unsure why the preservation project is ending because of a postal mistake. I understand he is buying the games so monetarily it's draining but I mean that shouldn't stop things if people simply send him carts without wanting anything for it or if a gofundme is initiated to help him pay the games off.

Basically, he feels guilty about asking someone to send him 10k dollars in games and losing it during shipping. Right now he's trying to track them down or at least claim insurance for the guy. It's mostly guilt that killed the project. Here's byuu's overview on his official webpage.

So what does this mean for your preservation project as a whole?
It has effectively stopped it dead in the water.

This donor actually has over 400 games he was planning to lend me. But now I have serious concerns about having any more of his games shipped to me.

I declared the project dead yesterday, because I had assumed the donor would be furious about the lost games (I know I would be), and wouldn't want to donate any more cartridges. But it seems he is willing to continue, just with smaller lots and higher insurance — provided that DHL pays out the insurance claim on the current package.

So right now, the project is effectively in limbo. Although I now have a grave fear of packages being lost in transit, which is going to make me a lot more hesitant in accepting loans of any valuable cartridges. So there's no doubt that the productivity of the project will have been hampered by this.

 

[mightymuffy]

what if people donated the cartridges he needed? I'm unsure why the preservation project is ending because of a postal mistake. I understand he is buying the games so monetarily it's draining but I mean that shouldn't stop things if people simply send him carts without wanting anything for it or if a gofundme is initiated to help him pay the games off.

Those 100 games were worth around $10k, and were basically lent to him... understandable why he's given up with that kind of figure. What I don't understand however is why the right level of insurance wasn't placed on the package, or perhaps better still, why byuu didn't fly over with the dumping equipment in the first place and do it that way - could've really gone about this in a better way (though that's hindsight for you)

 

[matpower]

Those 100 games were worth around $10k, and were basically lent to him... understandable why he's given up with that kind of figure. What I don't understand however is why the right level of insurance wasn't placed on the package, or perhaps better still, why byuu didn't fly over with the dumping equipment in the first place and do it that way - could've really gone about this in a better way (though that's hindsight for you)

He wrote an overview today about the incident, basically he didn't want to go to a foreign country alone where he can't understand the language, he also couldn't send the dumper itself as he's using a special one-of-its-kind setup.

 

[J-Machine]

Those 100 games were worth around $10k, and were basically lent to him... understandable why he's given up with that kind of figure. What I don't understand however is why the right level of insurance wasn't placed on the package, or perhaps better still, why byuu didn't fly over with the dumping equipment in the first place and do it that way - could've really gone about this in a better way (though that's hindsight for you)

what did the guy do? give him his rarest games first? I mean on average that means each game was $100. Sorry but that doesn't make sense to me but I will say it was still silly to do such large lots in the first place.

Hopefully the insurance goes through and everything can be put back on track (hopefully under a new shipping company)

 

[ScarletDreamz]

what did the guy do? give him his rarest games first? I mean on average that means each game was $100. Sorry but that doesn't make sense to me but I will say it was still silly to do such large lots in the first place.

Hopefully the insurance goes through and everything can be put back on track (hopefully under a new shipping company)

You do know the prices of semi rare games, right? also he said that the games he tries to dump, come with boxes, so he can scan the covers and labels.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Regardless of the reason he is claiming dead on the project, USPS needs something done about it, to think i signed a petition to keep my local post office open.

Sick of seeing stuff like this come up all over the place, back when i used to think fedex was bad, (throwing fragile packages over fences cause they either was too lazy to walk up to the front door, or just didn't wanna deal with a dog or some other excuse) Is irritating and wrong.

 

[the_randomizer]

I hope whoever is responsible gets a swift kick to the balls with a steel-toed boot. To hell with the one responsible for losing the package.

 

[DinohScene]

50 years from now on:
Byuu's grandson gets a package addressed to Byuu.
It's the 100 SNES games.

I've seen it happen before, people receiving packages and or mail that has been lost in the mail for decades.

It's a bummer none the less.

 

[ZeroX504]

I told a lot of people in my community, don't use US Postal Services if you don't want to get your stuff stolen. Long story short, I had proof of one of the USPS guys stealing some memory cards three years ago and as soon as I confronted the guy to question him ( WITH PROOF ON HAND ) he calls the police and I almost get arrested, I filed a complain and never got a favorable response on that matter. I truly hope they go bankrupt and disappear.
It sucks to see such a nice plan go to waste but I would totally support a Patreon/GoFundMe to get this thing going again.

 

[Urbanshadow]

I hope whoever is responsible gets a swift kick to the balls with a steel-toed boot. To hell with the one responsible for losing the package.

If the responsible knows what's doing, the carts are cooling off in containers on some harbor in china by now. Go track them.

 

[Xen0]

To put it simply, he's a guy wanting to dumb every game?

 

[the_randomizer]

To put it simply, he's a guy wanting to dumb every game?

Yes, he wants to dump as many games as he can. and then some dingus decided to "lose" the package.

 

[Sheimi]

Regardless of the reason he is claiming dead on the project, USPS needs something done about it, to think i signed a petition to keep my local post office open.

Sick of seeing stuff like this come up all over the place, back when i used to think fedex was bad, (throwing fragile packages over fences cause they either was too lazy to walk up to the front door, or just didn't wanna deal with a dog or some other excuse) Is irritating and wrong.

For sorting boxes, most of the time management/supervisors want it done in a certain time period. So, you end up throwing the boxes onto a pallet, line, whatever you use, thus breaks in the process. Tis why I never will buy a TV from work. Plus could come broken during shipment to store because Distribution fucked up. I don't know if that's the case with USPS, FedEx and UPS. I work in the back and handle fragile stuff with care.