Auctioned Storage Unit Held Game Prototypes, Now Dispersed
A Pixel Game Squad video shows a storage unit bought at auction filled with game production materials, including a Contra III prototype.
The Pixel Game Squad YouTube channel has posted a video about a storage unit it bought at auction that turned out to contain video game production materials, a find first reported by Kotaku. The unit held design documents, concept art, computer chips believed to hold game prototypes, artbooks and level design layouts.
Among the items shown were a prototype for Contra III: The Alien Wars, level designs for Double Dragon and level design layouts for B.O.B. The discovery was detailed in the channel's video, which drew attention from preservation-minded viewers.
In a comment on the video, Aaron Stapish said that much more gaming history from the unit went to many collectors. That statement, combined with the scale of the find, led commenters to call for the materials to go to a museum or the Video Game History Foundation.
Commenters also said they believe the storage unit belonged to developer Tom Tanaka. Tanaka is credited as a level designer on The Terminator for the Sega CD and as an animator on Double Dragon for the Sega Game Gear.
The video and the reaction around it have added to an ongoing discussion about how much of game development history survives outside of institutional archives. The Video Game History Foundation's director, Frank Cifaldi, commented on Bluesky that scrubbing through the video made him sad.