Across the multiple computers and devices I have played on, it is only natural that I have lost many playthroughs out of nowhere
So, I have talked before about games Iāve played but never completed, many times I just stop for one reason or another, but I could still resume them if I really wanted to, I have the save files and no problem going back to them.
This is the case for most of my games, but there are also many others where due to time, or not having access to them, I would have to start all the way over if I want to play. Which is honestly fine for most of these games since I probably forgot all of what I did on them anyway.
Regardless, here is a list those games that I will have to start over if I want to complete them one day.
The Legend of Zelda: Majoraās Mask
A wonderful game that was quite literally the canon event that got me into emulation. I started playing it years later on an old laptop, and I think I completed a couple of the dungeons, the Forest and the Ice one, and only did like two short sidequests.
I remember I even brung that laptop to a family trip, alongside a super cheap wired controller to play, a rather convoluted setup that I didnāt even get to use that much. Despite this, at some point my laptopās display got ruined because some liquid spilled over it and I didnāt notice for a whole day.
The sad thing is I never took the drive out of it, which probably would still work, I donāt think we have that laptop anymore, I believe it got thrown away or something, to my dismay.
Paper Mario 64
Speaking of emulation, this is probably the first game I just couldnāt get to emulate completely. I tried it once or twice on an old desktop computer more than a decade ago. The game ran fine at first, no hiccups or anything, but Project 64 1.6ārunning on my desktop with Windows XP and no GPUācrashed everytime in the same part. I eventually forgot about it. I really enjoyed the start of the game, but never returned to it and that save is lost forever. Honestly this one isnāt a big loss, I would have started it again even if I could recover my progress.
Super Mario 64
This is the one I have the hardest time understading how, despite all of the chances Iāve had, I have never played beyond the ocean level with the sunken ship and the scary Eel.
I even played it once on real hardware, maybe two decades ago, in the birthday party of some kid I donāt even remember. Again on 3 different computers, once on a borrowed Nintendo DS, and even tried it for a bit on a PSP source portāadmittedly not the best way to play itāand of course the Switch. I just have never committed to it properly, but maybe one day.
Shadow of the Colossus
I played this on a whim on a certain day years ago where I was like āletās see how PS2 emulation is doing.ā I had never tried emulating that console, and for some reason I went ahead and tested it with one of the most demanding games of the platform.
I explored quite a bit of the game and I think I managed to defeat one of the bosses, but eventually I deleted it all and forgot about it, it was around the time I was moving to Linux as well, if I recall correcly. I hope I come back to this game one day, and to appreciate its influence in the medium.
Metal Gear Solid
I actually didnāt lose the save file of this game, it is safely stored in my PSP. However, I decided to just not use it once I transferred all my PS1 gaming to my RG35XXSP, because I was playing the Spanish version with Spanish dub and I kind of felt like starting over with the original, at some point. I remember I was about to face against Psycho Mantis. I wanted to figure out a way to change the region of the save file but I couldnāt be bothered.
GTA Vice City and Liberty City Stories
These are two games where the save file might still live somehwere in my PSP but since I have not launched either game in ages and I feel like Iāve probably deleted something at some point when transferring save files between SD cards and Memory Stick adapters.
I should try and find them, they must be there, I wish the PSP saves werenāt stored in folders with the code of the game which is pretty annoying to look up and parse.
Finishing up
Thereās a lot of other games in a similar state, and I probably have forgotten a bunch of them. For example, all of those times I tried to play Metal Slug games on arcade machines at birthday parties, a playthrough of Super Mario Galaxy I was playing at a friendās house, and countless similar situations that many gamers have gone through.
What about you dear reader? Have you ever lost all of your progress on a game forever? Were you one of those old people that kept overwriting memory cards on your PS1s and PS2s? Or did you lose that precious password of your NES game with no save slots? Please tell me your stories!
