Episode 152: Japanese Mobile Game Preservation

From Video Game History Hour by Video Game History Foundation

March 18, 2026 · 1h 10m · Season 2 · Episode 152

About this episode

The episode discusses the challenges and importance of preserving Japanese mobile games, featuring insights from digital preservationists.

In this episode, host Phil Salvador is joined by two digital preservationists, Ellen Cooper and Max Solensky, to explore the world of Japanese mobile game preservation. Before app stores existed, Japan was living in the future thanks to i-mode: a 1999 revolution that put the internet (and Capcom and Sega) right in your pocket. Today, these games are disappearing, and quickly. From brutal encryption to servers that no longer exist, saving this history is a high-tech race against time. We discuss the i-mode explosion and how Japan’s feature phones beat the world to the web; why saving a mobile game is way harder than dumping a cartridge; the small community groups saving early iOS and Android gems from the digital void; and how you can help keep gaming history from being "delisted" forever. Mentioned in the show: Video of max swinging keyboard in the monkey game https://youtu.be/I1VJw_yYI1U?si=s_9nXIAZS2hwuNLC&t=355 Transforming phone: https://hitsave.org/wild-land/ You can listen to the Video Game History Hour every other Wednesday on Patreon (one day early at the $5 tier and above), on Spotify , or on our website . See more from Ellen Cooper “Unabandonware”…

People in this episode

Host: Phil Salvador

Guests: Ellen Cooper, Max Solensky

Topics covered

Japanese mobile game preservation
digital preservation
i-mode
feature phones
gaming history
app stores

Keywords

mobile game preservation
digital void
encryption
feature phones
gaming history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Video Game History Foundation, Capcom, Sega, Unabandonware, RockmanCosmo, keitaiarchive.org, keitaiwiki.com