# What's your oldest extant saved game? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 25, 2018, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-oldest-extant-saved-game/811160 "2018-03-25T15:23:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2018, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-oldest-extant-saved-game/811160/1 "2018-03-25T15:23:56Z")
Moodily contemplating the advance of time, partially spurred on by the loud whippersnappers in the world, and discovery that I have marked “read” emails in an inbox that are over a decade old, I was just wondering: what’s the oldest Saved Game that the rest of you have, that’s still in existence? For myself, I have a few SimCity 2000 cities and Civ 2 runs quietly enjoying retirement on a Zip Disk or two that date back to the mid-to-late 90s, at least. And if the battery has managed to hold out, a Maniac Mansion save on an NES cartridge in the storage shed that would date back to 1998. How 'bout you? Bonus points if it’s actually a continuing campaign. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2018, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-oldest-extant-saved-game/811160/2 "2018-03-25T15:47:46Z")
I’ve managed to find an SC2000 save dated 1996. It would be quite unlikely that I’d have anything that goes back farther than that, as that’s about the time when I first got my own computer. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2018, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-oldest-extant-saved-game/811160/3 "2018-03-25T16:30:19Z")
The oldest timestamp I can find is a saved game slot for _Dark Sun: Shattered Lands_, dating from January 23, 1997. I think I might have something older from _Doom II_ or _Hexen_, but the timestamps all got reset somehow during one of my copyings from one computer to another. I’m a little surprised about the Dark Sun one, because that game only had a limited number of saved game slots that you had to re-use, and I’ve played it through a number of times since then. I guess I just never happened to re-use slots 7 or 10. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2018, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-oldest-extant-saved-game/811160/4 "2018-03-25T17:10:09Z")
I have played Chrono Cross three times on the same save(it gives you New Game+ at the end). Once in 2000 up on release. Once in 2005. And once a few years ago. I still have the PS1 save card and have considered playing it again. I have functioning PS2 to play it on. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2018, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-oldest-extant-saved-game/811160/5 "2018-03-25T17:28:46Z")
Like a box you move from house to house and never actually unpack, I have some files I moved over and over from four computers back that have saved games that date back to the late 90s that are probably unreadable. Original Baldur’s Gate saves and Sierra game saves plus others. Probably have some D&D Gold box game saves somewhere as well that are older still. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2018, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-oldest-extant-saved-game/811160/6 "2018-03-25T18:43:49Z")
I deleted most of my old saves on my PS3 to make room for new games, so probably Portal 2 (2007-2008) which was the first game I played on my current computer. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2018, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-oldest-extant-saved-game/811160/7 "2018-03-25T20:07:26Z")
I still own cartridges for Warrior of Rome II and Master of Monsters, both on the Sega Genesis from around 1995. They would have existing campaigns on them assuming the batteries held out (which I doubt). I probably have a Princess Maker II save somewhere from around 2000. Not a saved game, but I still have my custom unit icons for Civilization II somewhere. They would date back to around 1998ish ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2018, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-oldest-extant-saved-game/811160/8 "2018-03-25T20:08:01Z")
I probably have some saved games on my Apple ][ floppies, ~ 30 years old. Whether they are still readable is a different question… Brian ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2018, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-oldest-extant-saved-game/811160/9 "2018-03-25T20:44:51Z")
Wouldn’t be surprised if I have some DOS games on 3½ floppies saved back in the early Nineties. No, I’m not digging them out to check. 🙂 ETA: still have my Super NES from when I first got my own apartment in '93. My save in Super Mario World has to be about that old. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-oldest-extant-saved-game/811160/10 "2018-03-26T14:13:44Z")
Wait, Portal 2 is _ten years old_!? But that just came out! …didn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-oldest-extant-saved-game/811160/11 "2018-03-26T14:35:08Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I still own cartridges for Warrior of Rome II and Master of Monsters, both on the Sega Genesis from around 1995. They would have existing campaigns on them assuming the batteries held out (which I doubt). Wow, what a flashback, I had those same games and played them to literal death when the battery backups died. 🙂 I still have functional memory cards from my Sega Dreamcast and Nintendo Gamecube, mostly for **Soul Calibur** so I never have to re-unlock content. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-oldest-extant-saved-game/811160/12 "2018-03-26T19:49:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Wait, Portal 2 is _ten years old_!? But that just came out! > …didn’t it? Woops, I should have said 2012-2013.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-oldest-extant-saved-game/811160/13 "2018-03-26T19:58:04Z")
My laptop is new and I didn’t port anything to it, so I’d say I’d have to go back to a memory card I have stuck in my PS2, which still works but which I rarely play. I think I have an old _Spider-Man 2_ saved game still on there, and a _The Warriors_ saved game as well. How old is that … no clue. The ol’ wiki machine tells me those two games were released in 2004 an 2005 respectively, so let’s say a nice round 10+ years. I strive for accuracy. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-oldest-extant-saved-game/811160/14 "2018-03-26T20:26:19Z")
I’ve got an old 3.5" floppy disk with a bunch of old DOS savegames on it. I know there’s at least an old _Wasteland_ save, and a bunch of campaign scenarios for _Ancient Art of War at Sea_, both circa 1989-90. But of course I don’t own a drive anymore that can read the disk so I might as well just frame the thing and hang it on the wall. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-oldest-extant-saved-game/811160/15 "2018-03-26T20:59:08Z")
I have [an external floppy drive](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RXEWOAA/ref=asc_df_B00RXEWOAA5417323/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=395033&creativeASIN=B00RXEWOAA&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198138936631&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6411639606376639503&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9008192&hvtargid=pla-384404854525) and DOS Box. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-oldest-extant-saved-game/811160/16 "2018-03-26T21:04:32Z")
Pretty sure I have some Fallout: New Vegas save games on my hard drive somewhere that date from early 2011 before my first son was born. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-oldest-extant-saved-game/811160/17 "2018-03-27T08:28:30Z")
I have some old C64 5 1/4 inchers somewhere, one or more of them will have Bard’s Tale saves c.1986-87. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-oldest-extant-saved-game/811160/18 "2018-03-27T20:41:02Z")
I’ve got saved games from the original Sim City on 5.25" floppies from the late 80s. Unfortunately I no longer have any PCs with a 5.25" floppy drive. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-oldest-extant-saved-game/811160/19 "2018-03-28T15:31:35Z")
An Amiga game, [Deuteros](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deuteros). Working from memory, since I haven’t fired up the game in decades, but the save game should be about 1992. I still have the floppies and the computer, and I know that the computer (at least) still works. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-oldest-extant-saved-game/811160/20 "2018-03-28T17:56:09Z")
There’s probably still an XF5700 Mantis save game from the mid-90s on a hard drive at my mom’s house. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-oldest-extant-saved-game/811160.md?page=2)