Garage: Bad Dream Adventure (found Japanese PC horror adventure game; 1999)

The game's protagonist.

Status: Found

Date found: 18 Mar 2014

Found by: cc0

Developed by Kinotrope and originally released in limited numbers (3,000 units) in early 1999 was a Japanese PC/Macintosh game titled Garage: Bad Dream Adventure (though referred to by many simply as Garage).^[1]

Content

The point-and-click game, directed by Tomomi Sakuba, features bizarre, surreal, often nightmarish (as the title implies) and sometimes graphic imagery. The player controls a small alien-like robot, maneuvering their way through a barren, foreboding landscape of cracked wood panelling and old, rusting machinery, complete with creepy, lifeless faces. The eerie background music (or lack thereof, at times) only adds to the sense of impending danger, making for a very unsettling atmosphere.

Search

Garage trailer.

A 2013 search effort for the game, spearheaded largely by 4chan's /vr/ board, had uncovered multiple copies for sale, though said copies were always immensely expensive.^[2] It was also discovered that a special "private Edition" was made available for a very short time in April of 2004 through Sakuba's official website (released in very limited numbers; just 90 copies, selling out within a single day), consisting of the game itself, plus a collection of concept art.^[3] Notably, around the same time, the standard edition of the game was also made available for purchase (again, in somewhat limited quantities) on Sakuba's website, up until September of 2007, when it was officially discontinued.

Despite these re-releases, no downloadable copies of Garage had shown up online prior to 2014, leading to the game becoming incredibly rare and sought-after. During this time period, several people had come forward, claiming to own copies of the rarity, though all of them were reluctant to provide a rip to the online community, fearing retribution on account of Japan's strict anti-piracy laws. One owner, however, was kind enough to provide recordings of an entire playthrough of the game.^[4] Additionally, two short (slightly varying) trailers were unearthed around this time.

Recovery

In early 2014, a copy of the game was put up on Yahoo Auctions Japan and was quickly bought by hg101.proboards.com user cc0 for 77,000 yen. The game was then arranged to be shipped from Japan to the U.S., then to Australia (due to potential issues regarding Australian customs), where it was ripped and uploaded by Lost Media Wiki founder dycaite. The CloneCD image can be downloaded here or here, and the .dmg file for the Mac version can be downloaded here.

Following the game's upload, cc0 also graciously provided a collection of scans and photographs (of the manual, box, case inlay, disc and included map), which can be obtained here.