A copy of the mysterious Bone Snatcher, made by the studio Sluggy Systems Co-op, has been obtained by the Video Game Museum of Amsterdam.

Originally envisioned as an Action-RPG, the development team shifted gears after a heated fight took place in the studio. Now with half the team left due to the other half being injured, they pivoted to a more traditional Turn-Based RPG.

Developed for the SuperSlug, likely a bootleg of the SNES, the game was meant to feature an expansive world with interesting party members, a wide range of spells and weapons, and an engaging story. Instead, only a big "what if" is remains. Very little of this game was known, until now.

The game went into the public domain after the studio behind it shut down its doors in 1999 due to a lack of funds. It tried to sell its IPs to other publishers, however, nobody wanted them even for free, so as a response the studio waived all its rights away. Immediately after, the studio's accountant, Sven de Laar, claimed the company had never made any money and was operating at the good graces of one benefactor. The monthly Macau trips that he took were justified for their proximity to Japan.

The game was an international co-production between The Netherlands and Japan. With the designers, illustrators, and writers being Dutch, while most programming was done in the East. This was due to labour laws, which, being non-existent in Japan made development cheaper. English was the main language to communicate ideas, so the build we found was written in that language. It was noted later however, that most of the Japanese staff did not know much English, and just interpreted as best they could.

Since none of their games were ever released, no copies of Bone Snatcher existed in the wild for people to examine, until 2024. The only known copy of this game belonged to a private collector known only as JV. This mysterious person is suspected to own thousands of physical copies of a lot of games, as well as a "Ditto" collection. It is unknown if this refers to the Pokémon Ditto, or something else, but it would be very lame if it was the former. The claim is that JV procured the sole copy of this game in a garage sale, with the original box included.

We received a cartridge from Lutra, who asked to be cited as an anonymous source, with an early build of the game, and some development notes. We were told four conditions to gain access to these materials: don't ask questions, do not delete the save data, return the original cartridge after dumping it, and and a highly polished stone of unspecified significance . We have followed these conditions, but not before also creating extensive documentation of the cartridge itself as a way to create a physical copy of it on a later day. Sadly we had no access to the Box art, whose only documentation is the cover image for this article.

After reviewing the development notes, which will be exhibited in our museum from April 20 onward, we discovered contact details from the former staff. We subsequently contacted, and received response, from some of them.

We asked the lead character designer, Kurt Ellont, why use a sea bunny (Jorunna parva) as the inspiration for its lead character, Jorunna the Mage. The response was as follows.

"It came to me in a dream.... Or what? You expected a very clever answer or something? It's been 30 years, how should I know? Do you remember things you did in your youth? How about your son, Ivan? Yeah, the one that goes to Green Hill School? I hear he has football practice at 6, you'd better get at it and stop asking idiotic questions."

Gen Kimuramura the lead level designer responded through a translator:

"Hello. I am very honoured to be remembered for this project. I recall when the change happened from Action-RPG to Turn-Based, the office was in chaos. We had to scrap it all, but we persevered, until the unfortunate cancellation. But the memories and knowledge we gained can never be cancelled. It was a very fun two weeks, and I wish the best to our colleagues and to this Museum. I hope to be there someday! Doei!!"

After this, we reached the game's director, Beau Sebas, for comment on this outstanding rediscovery.

"I hated every second working on that game. Releasing this into the world would be a grave mistake. That stupid Slug Mage haunted my nightmares for years. If your stupid question brings them back, I will do everything I can to destroy this stupid museum."

The private collector known as JV has been contacted for comment on this development. We are awaiting a response.

Now, we at the museum would not be doing our due diligence if we did not comment on the actual game. We played the dumped copy, which allows no new saves or deleting the existing one.

We will not mention glitches and crashes, as annoying as they can be, they were expected from an early build.

Combat is very simple, to say the least. Stats and Items are there, but they do not work as expected. Some graphics are clearly rushed, or placeholders, it is hard to tell most of the time which is which. The player is very overpowered, and enemy variety is lacking. The music is a collection of classical tunes, evoking a very nostalgic feeling. No doubt it is placeholder music, but a lot of effort was put into it.

Parts of the world feel empty or corrupted(?), and you can't quite put your finger on why, but you get the feeling something is... wrong. Characters say strange things, so it feels like you are dropped in the middle of something. Even though we were playing an early section, just the tutorial area, it felt like butting in mid-conversation. NPCs range from what's expected to very passive-aggressive, to very dumb. Some witty lines in there, but it feels at odds with the fantasy setting.

Joining Dutch gaming legends in our collection, Horizon Zero Dawn, Killzone, Hokeymon, and Cube Escape, Bone Snatcher is no longer a myth, but a glimpse into a chaotic game with lots of wasted potential. If you asked us whether we preferred it stayed a myth, we would ignore the question.

The early build of Bone Snatcher can be played here.

Play this hidden... bone, at our museum! We are located at Australiëhavenweg 21, 1045 BA Amsterdam

Edit: An earlier version of this article contained the wrong link and a random sentence as footer. This was a rare glitch and has been corrected.