Summary

  • Video Game History Foundation now offers free access to digital records spanning the video game boom era.
  • The success of the digital library has resulted in slow website loading and occasional unavailability.
  • Despite technical issues, visitors can explore scans of Nintendo Power and advertisements from the late 80s and early 90s.

Whether you're still pretty new to the gaming scene or have been holding a controller since the Atari days, there's always something cool about video game preservation. For the veterans, they're a trip down memory lane; for those who are relatively new to the scene, they're a cool insight into how games played and felt and can give background on how some of the most powerful IPs in the gaming world got their footing as a fledgling title.

Now, the Video Game History Foundation allows the general public access to its digital records for free, but if you want to access it, I wish you the best of luck.

The Video Game History Foundation is suffering from its own success

As announced on the Video Game History Foundation website, the digital library is now open for public use. The collection allows you to pore over materials from the very beginning of the video game boom, such as scans of the Nintendo Power magazine and advertisements that herald from when game companies advertised at CES during the late 80s to early 90s. It's a wonderful way to see how things were back then and how things have changed in recent decades.

There's just one problem. It turns out that the Video Game History Foundation is a little too good at generating interest, as the website has been reduced to a crawl. Going through the material is pretty slow, and sometimes, the website doesn't load. And I understand the irony of me telling you to go check it out and make the situation worse, but maybe you can bookmark it and return a little later after everyone has had their fill.

Regardless of if you want to brave the loading limbo or plan to come back another day, you can get started over at the Video Game History Foundation library. I recommend clicking one of the three buttons at the bottom to jump to archived magazines, production materials, or promo materials; however, don't get too upset when you're hit with a 502 error. And while you're waiting for the website to improve, check out our own piece on the most expensive video game failures of all time.