Okay, so this is a subject admittedly fed to us from the overlords partners at Gaming Alexandria. But it’s a neat one, so here we go!
Game preservation isn’t just about “oh, let’s dump some ROMs online”. (Believe me, there are several other people who’d be willing to do that.) There’s also several other elements of it too. There’s the manual (important if you’re talking about a Sierra game), the box (important if you’re talking about Metal Gear Solid), and assorted trinkets (important if you’re talking about a game like StarTropics). And the cartridge/disc too.
There’s also the surrounding culture. Things like Nintendo Power were just as essential as actually owning the game back in those days (in part because it was the only way to beat some of them). Here’s a good place to start if you want to start scanning things.
And remember that in the end, no matter how insignificant your find may be, somebody will be sad if it disappears. I’m only here because of the annotation project, which I only joined because of Some Guy on YouTube that I really liked. So feel free to reach out to people. No matter how hard you try, you’re not going to be able to do it all on your own. And there will be people who’d like to help.
– glmdgrielson
