Noah's Ark (lost Japanese PC adventure game; 1995)
The front of the box for Noah's Ark
Status: Lost
Noah's Ark is a lost 1995 Windows/Mac adventure game linked to NEC. Very little is known about this game, but from the screenshots and brief description we have, the game seems to be a Myst-style point-and-click adventure. A sold listing with photographs of the game's box from several angles was discovered on Yahoo Auctions Japan, thus confirming the game's existence. Using the Wayback machine, two archives of the game's website were found, one in English and one in Japanese.
According to the Japanese version of the site, Kenichi Shigeto[1] and Kazuhiro Nishimatsu worked on the game as an artist and a composer respectively, and they seem to have credits on other projects related to their stated fields.[2]
The screenshots shown on the English version of the website suggest that this game was at least partially in English. The GUI in the screenshots has English text. However, it is unknown if the game originally had English text on the GUI or if it had been translated into English, as the .gif file pulled from the JP version of the site is too low resolution to determine the language of the text.
On December 31st, 2021, a user on the lost media wiki forum called Saint posted the game's trailer from the cover disc for a 1996 issue of the Japanese gaming magazine called "Digital Boy".
On February 9th, 2021, saint posted 2 scans from a 1995 issue of Game Blast magazine to the Lost Media Wiki Forums. These articles contained previously unseen screenshots. According to a translation done by saint, the game was originally slated to release on October 5th, 1995.
On March 28th, 2023, Lost Media Wiki Forum user TenaciousNyx Uploaded two scans from Issue 20 of Logon Magazine from October 1995. According to TenaciousNyx's translation these scans include a brief walkthrough of some of the game's puzzles as well as an overview of the game's interface. The scan also has a bit of new info about the story, such as the fact that the player has an AI companion.
External Links
Noah's ark game website (English)
Noah's ark game website (Japanese)
Gallery
Picture of the back of the box. (Taken from the Yahoo Auctions Japan listing)
A different picture of the back of the box. (Taken from the Yahoo Auctions Japan listing)
A picture of what was included in the Yahoo Auctions Japan listing for Noah's Ark. (Taken from the Yahoo Auctions Japan listing)
A picture of the side of the Noah's Ark box. (Taken from the Yahoo Auctions Japan listing)
An angled picture of the front of the Noah's Ark box. (Taken from the Yahoo Auctions Japan listing)
A .gif file presumably showing screenshots of the game. (Taken from the EN version of the site)
Another .gif file presumably showing screenshots of the game. (Taken from the JP version of the site)
A scan of an article from a 1995 issue of Game Blast magazine. Contains a brief write-up on the game as well as the game's release date.
A scan of an ad for the game from a 1995 issue of Game Blast magazine. Contains an overview of the game's levels.
A scan from a write up about the game in issue 20 of Logon magazine from 1995. Contains information about the story of the game.
Another excerpt from Logon issue 20. This page seems to contain hints for some of the game's puzzles.
Noah's Ark Trailer found from a Digital Boy cover disc.
