GPS Game Catalog Lookup
About the Game Preservation Society Game Catalog
As we look back on history, we can see how archival organizations like libraries, museums and art galleries support the pursuit of human knowledge. There we can discover something we did not previously know, and rely on them to research that which we want to know. But in order for the people to use these archives of materials, it is necessary to provide an index of what materials are available and where they are located.
The Game Preservation Society already has general lists and databases of game information, but a “catalog” is a collection of reliable and verifiably correct, with detailed information intended more for professionals that has been sourced from actual items. Public databases and sites like Wikipedia accumulate a large amount of information, no matter how trivial in nature or occasionally unreliable its source, but a catalog differs from this concept in that it contains only information that has been confirmed with our own eyes, that which we can soundly rely on from original materials and sources. It corresponds to the inventory catalogs used at museums and libraries for their collections.
The GPS catalog also includes thumbnails of materials that have been scanned as part of our work for the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs (ACA). This serves in part as proof that we have obtained the data from actual materials and that the information can be trusted as verified.
Conversely, information that cannot be verified (such as a release date for a game that is commonly believed to be true but lacks a source for that information) is excluded from this catalog. However, by using secondary sources such as magazines, we can later add such information with its source noted.
Regarding our use of thumbnails, the ACA has allowed us to use such images in order to create a more vivid presentation, but in order to follow copyright guidelines, the resolution of these images has been lowered in order to prevent unauthorized duplication.
Unlike a simple database, a professional catalogs provide more detailed information. It takes much time and effort to compile and present that information. Currently, we have only a relatively small amount of information currently available. That amount will grow over time as we continue to grow our catalog, item by item.
It is our hope that this catalog serves the public as an effective tool for video game historical research.
Available Platforms
NEC PC-8001 Series
NEC PC-8801 Series
Entries: 1,511
Thumbnails: 1,190
Version History
The Game Catalog receives constant updates
2022-05-27 Additional search form fields (brand, model, media)
2022-03-10 Added information collected in conjunction with the ACA Media Arts Database program
2021-04-01 Initial Games Catalog published
