Japan Retro Game Association Gives Out 100 Free SNES During Coronavirus Emergency

Iyane Agossah April 23, 2020 2:28 PM EST

Japan Retro Game Association will deliver free SNES consoles with DKC and FF6 to households with children during the Coronavirus state of emergency,

JARGA, the Japan Retro Game Association, announced on April 23 it will gift 100 free SNES consoles to families in Japan during the Coronavirus state of emergency.

In total, 100 SNES will be distributed, with all the cables, a controller, and a copy of Donkey Kong Country and Final Fantasy 6.

Families need to fill in a form, open till April 26, 23:59 JST to apply. Only households with children younger than 16 years old and who are fine with paying the shipping fees when receiving the package can apply. The official site has the shipping fees listed by region. A lottery will decide the winners. Shipment will start on April 27.

Here are the consoles and the games, together with who I assume is JARGA president Yutaka Ishii. No identity is declared in the thread.

The thread also kindly ask families to check if they have compatibles TVs by “confirming whether it has those yellow, red and white video connectors things” or not. Old TVs with RCA connectors can easily be found at recycle shops for 500 yen (around 5 dollars).

Personally speaking, I think this is a great initiative. I honestly never heard of JARGA before writing this, but they’re now great people in my book. I’m always in when it comes to retro associations like these. Preserving video games and also making them accessible to young kids who didn’t grew with them. Would be nice if collectioners threw in a bone too. I’ve personally never understood collectioners who just keep the games under blisters for the sake of keeping them, without even playing them themselves. No, I’m not jealous.

In any case, this sure warmed up my evening. If you’re in the mood for some Final Fantasy retro stories, I’ve got your back.