Long-lost NES RPG Indy The Magical Kid resurfaces with rare 1993 gameplay footage after decades in obscurity
A remarkable discovery has been made about a long-lost NES RPG that was recently unearthed. The game in question is Indy The Magical Kid, a Japanese video game developed by Graphic Research and scheduled for release in 1993 by publisher IGS.
Unfortunately, the game vanished without a warning after being nearly complete. Reports at the time indicated that the game was 90 percent done. Promotional material, flyers, and marketing for the game were also reportedly all fleshed out.
The game was based on a series of choose-your-own-adventure style gamebooks by author Naomi Inoue. The game promised a fresh twist on the RPG genre, allowing players to concoct magic spells by mixing medicinal seeds in a ritual circle, creating over 100 possible spells.
The story dropped you into the shoes of a young apprentice sorcerer, Indy, as he embarked on a journey through five magical worlds ravaged by demons, and was aided by his mentor’s cat, Miau, alongside another magical girl to battle against enemies with custom spells, items, and talismans.
It's been decades, and the details about Indy the Magical Kid have been tight-lipped. A brief clip from a 1990s TV show called The Game Power on Tokyo offered a sneak peek of the game, along with some magazine scans showing Dragon Quest-esque top-down exploration, mixed with Earthbound vibes.
However, the game itself remained lost to time. That changed in 2019, when a prototype ROM surfaced on Yahoo! Auctions in Japan and sold for over 1.5 million Yen, which was around $9,600 at the time. The anonymous buyer kept it under wraps and refused to share the game’s code or ROM files with anyone.
Fast forward to December 2025, and fans have finally been graced with a seven-minute YouTube gameplay video from a group of passionate retro enthusiasts dedicated to preserving the game. The footage was captured on VHS during its development cycle and uploaded to YouTube.
It showed raw footage of Indy exploring pixelated worlds, fighting in turn-based sequences, and concocting new spells. While there was no title screen or full context, it was genuine hands-on gameplay.
The uploaders, operating under the X handle @INDY_MAGICAL_KD, stressed that they had obtained exclusive permission from the original development team, including Inoue, producer Hiroyuki Nakata, character designer Hiroshi Fuji, and Yuuichiro Shinozaki.
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