Episode 383: Delisted Games
Added 2021-06-07 13:00:00 +0000 UTCA couple of months ago, Sony declared its intention to cut off support for digital purchases on its legacy platforms. The outcry from the internet was sufficient that Sony actually blinked... or at least, pretended to blink in order to mollify the masses long enough for the company to be able to quietly kill off those platforms without anyone noticing. Anyway, this reversal happened pretty quickly—but not so quickly that we didn't have time to plan and assemble an episode about what we were losing on PSN. When Sony balked, we quickly expanded the topic to encompass multiple non-Sony platforms with delisted titles and discuss the tragedy of game curation in an age in which the concept of ownership has been jettisoned into outer space. Thankfully, we had an expert guest on hand: The man behind delistedgames.com, Shawn Sackenheim.
Apologies for the slightly spotty audio on Shawn's feed. By and large, we've navigated the tricky waters of remote pandemic podcasting pretty smoothly, but we do occasionally encounter some chop. Thankfully, editor Greg Leahy did a lot of surgery on the audio, and I think the end results are pretty good. And the conversation, of course, is great.
Description: Jeremy Parish, Stuart Gipp, and delistedgames.com curator Shawn Sackenheim convene to discuss... well, delisted games. Inspired by Sony's recent PSN delisting fakeout, we look at multiple digital platforms whose games can no longer be acquired legally.
Artwork this episode by John Pading. Thanks especially to editor Greg Leahy. Musical selections:
- 13:19 - Gradius ReBirth: Moonspin (Last Exit)
- 24:58 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade): Burning Building
- 38:15 - Mr. Driller Drill Till You Drop: The Dragon's Feed is the People
- 50:31 - Etrian Mystery Dungeon: Memories of Days Past
- 58:23 - Super Mario Maker: Castle Creation Theme (NSMBU)
- 1:05:53 - Game Room: Konami Room Theme / Patchwork Heroes: Holding 1,000,000 Tons of Bravery
- 1:15:10 - Muramasa Rebirth: A Spirited Seven Nights' Haunting, Final Act (Version A)
- 1:25:09 - Einhänder: Afterimage
- Closing - Brandish: The Dark Revenant: Headless
Comments
It all belongs in a digital video game museum. Failure to preserve our gaming past will mean that one day we won't have the resources to contextualize hallmark-of-the-era Dizzy masterpieces against filthy shovelware games with Mario in their titles. Knowledge is power, padawan.
Cajun Baz
2021-06-30 02:17:34 +0000 UTCAnother engaging and fun episode! Loved learning about delisted games after following the Sony reversal.
VanDiagram
2021-06-24 20:18:58 +0000 UTCChaos Rings 1-2-Omega weren‘t mentioned, but fact that they never came back after the ios/android updates is an unhappy blow. Mobile RPG of the year, one of the first apps that showed both a PlayStation level of production and gameplay experience could be done on mobile Also.. Stuart Gipp British dry humor and Parish American dry humor is the perfect combo, please more Stuart!
Chase
2021-06-13 06:26:45 +0000 UTC:D
Stuart Gipp
2021-06-10 23:19:27 +0000 UTCGreat episode. I also just want to say I would like hearing from Stuart more often.
Ryan Shapiro
2021-06-10 15:55:13 +0000 UTCSoon you can buy a dedicated mini-cabinet for $600!
Retronauts
2021-06-09 20:12:33 +0000 UTCT_T
Stuart Gipp
2021-06-08 17:22:09 +0000 UTCAdvanced Wars WAS on US 3DS but only available through the free collection of games you received if you paid the higher price for a 3DS before Nintendo came to their senses a couple months after launch iirc
Vanja
2021-06-08 16:25:47 +0000 UTCThe WiiWare titles that were mentioned have largely been archived at Vimm's Lair
Vanja
2021-06-08 15:53:24 +0000 UTCI'm still salty about the Simpsons arcade game getting delisted, so a game I paid money for was gone forever and I couldn't re-download it
Michael Castleberry
2021-06-08 15:39:03 +0000 UTCYeah I gonna skip this episode to avoid depression.
Tentomon4
2021-06-08 05:24:31 +0000 UTCI'm still weeping massive tears of grief for the loss of the cruddy mobile port of 'Dizzy: Prince of the Yolkfolk'. Officially the most tragic moment of this century, thus far.
2021-06-08 04:30:29 +0000 UTCThe fastest I've ever seen a video game pulled from store fronts is the PC version of 007 Legends put on Steam on November 2012 and removed January 2013 just two months later presumably due to timed rights issues. Only way to play it legally is by playing the disc version on PS3 and Xbox 360.
SilverHairedMiddleAgedTuxedoMask
2021-06-08 03:47:26 +0000 UTCMinor correction: Breath of Fire III PSP was released digitally in the US in 2016. I know this because I’m actually playing through the PSP version on my Vita right now. The original was never released as a PS1 Classic, and it’s widely believed that was due to one of the boss’s similarities to Ultraman (it was re-colored for the PSP release, making it legally distinctive enough, I guess).
2021-06-08 02:54:46 +0000 UTCI pray Konami does a Suikoden collection someday, but that would require them to fix the music bug in Suikoden II at the very least and I doubt they'd want to out in the effort. I'm afraid those games will just be lost forever after Sony eventually does axe the old stores.
Grant Baxter
2021-06-07 22:36:38 +0000 UTCPS1 Classic podcast would be awesome!
Matthew Salisbury
2021-06-07 21:13:58 +0000 UTC
