1 00:00:00,530 --> 00:00:02,220 "...move on to Japan, because what happens 2 00:00:02,220 --> 00:00:05,460 if you put the world's best-selling handheld game machine 3 00:00:05,460 --> 00:00:08,253 in the world's biggest burger chain?" 4 00:00:12,670 --> 00:00:15,410 "...DSis donning the McDonald's 'M' 5 00:00:15,410 --> 00:00:17,570 came with unique DS cartridges 6 00:00:17,570 --> 00:00:19,720 containing training software." 7 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:22,110 "...and Mike, how exactly are they teaching 8 00:00:22,110 --> 00:00:24,850 the McD's members with the... 9 00:00:24,850 --> 00:00:27,410 what is it, the 'NSDS' or something like that?" 10 00:00:27,410 --> 00:00:28,750 "The... the DS." 11 00:00:28,750 --> 00:00:30,520 "Perhaps someone out there watching this video 12 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:32,090 knows more than we do. 13 00:00:32,090 --> 00:00:33,183 But for now... 14 00:00:33,394 --> 00:00:35,679 the McDonald's training game is... 15 00:00:35,679 --> 00:00:38,463 ...a mystery." 16 00:00:49,010 --> 00:00:49,940 In the year 2010, 17 00:00:49,940 --> 00:00:52,640 McDonald's Japan announced something shocking. 18 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:54,540 In March of that year, the company revealed 19 00:00:54,540 --> 00:00:57,980 a brand new program to train part-time McDonald's employees: 20 00:00:57,980 --> 00:01:01,010 a partnership to create an exclusive piece of software 21 00:01:01,010 --> 00:01:03,000 for the Nintendo DS. 22 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:05,240 This unassuming little cartridge would then go on 23 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:08,830 to become one of the rarest Nintendo DS games of all time. 24 00:01:08,830 --> 00:01:11,560 Today, I'll be telling you the story of this legendary game - 25 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:13,910 and how, in June of 2020, 26 00:01:13,910 --> 00:01:16,040 one of the last known copies disappeared 27 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:19,110 into the hands of an anonymous collector forever. 28 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:26,200 Now this program was a big deal for McDonald's Japan: 29 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:27,960 the company claimed this cartridge would allow them 30 00:01:27,960 --> 00:01:30,080 to train new employees in half the time 31 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:31,240 it would usually take. 32 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:32,950 It was a huge investment for the company, too: 33 00:01:32,950 --> 00:01:33,783 this whole endeavor 34 00:01:33,783 --> 00:01:35,740 of manufacturing and distributing these carts 35 00:01:35,740 --> 00:01:38,460 was costing them roughly 200 million yen - 36 00:01:38,460 --> 00:01:38,960 or 2 million dollars - 37 00:01:38,960 --> 00:01:43,140 and that's not even counting the cost of developing the software itself. 38 00:01:43,140 --> 00:01:45,710 And while the title of the game isn't particularly exciting - 39 00:01:45,710 --> 00:01:48,870 the official name is "eCrew Development Program" - 40 00:01:48,870 --> 00:01:51,870 the contents of this cartridge are fascinating. 41 00:01:51,870 --> 00:01:54,850 From what little we know, the game was surprisingly robust, 42 00:01:54,850 --> 00:01:58,090 with just a ton of personality, lots of custom sprite work, 43 00:01:58,090 --> 00:01:59,940 and even some rudimentary 3D 44 00:01:59,940 --> 00:02:03,247 for the little boxes the hamburgers come in. 45 00:02:06,170 --> 00:02:08,040 "This game shows trainees how to assemble 46 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:09,630 a quarter pounder with cheese. 47 00:02:09,630 --> 00:02:11,420 You can also learn how to cook fries 48 00:02:11,420 --> 00:02:12,913 and clean your workstation." 49 00:02:18,010 --> 00:02:19,350 - And I say 'what little we know' because, 50 00:02:19,350 --> 00:02:20,800 for the past decade, 51 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:24,040 this game has been completely lost to time. 52 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:25,190 For about 10 years now, 53 00:02:25,190 --> 00:02:27,220 this unassuming little blue cartridge 54 00:02:27,220 --> 00:02:30,580 has been the Holy Grail for many Nintendo collectors. 55 00:02:30,580 --> 00:02:31,840 While, nobody knows precisely 56 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:33,420 how many copies were manufactured - 57 00:02:33,420 --> 00:02:36,610 estimates range from a few hundred to a few thousand - 58 00:02:36,610 --> 00:02:37,640 one thing is for sure: 59 00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:40,300 this game, if you can even call it a game, 60 00:02:40,300 --> 00:02:42,740 is highly sought after. 61 00:02:42,740 --> 00:02:44,470 Now, this tactic of taking something 62 00:02:44,470 --> 00:02:46,400 that appeals to the young people of Japan 63 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:48,900 and deploying it as a recruitment tactic 64 00:02:48,900 --> 00:02:52,050 is something McDonald's Japan has done many times before. 65 00:02:52,050 --> 00:02:55,230 Among the most memorable examples would be this anime-style 66 00:02:55,230 --> 00:02:58,260 "Join the McDonald's Crew" campaign from a few years back 67 00:02:58,260 --> 00:03:02,210 featuring members of popular idol group AKB48. 68 00:03:02,210 --> 00:03:03,450 This game is so rare, in fact, 69 00:03:03,450 --> 00:03:05,520 that it even spawned conspiracy theories 70 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:08,060 that it never existed in the first place. 71 00:03:08,060 --> 00:03:09,360 I've come across YouTube comments before 72 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:10,830 claiming that this game is a total hoax, 73 00:03:10,830 --> 00:03:12,520 and that it's just people mixing up 74 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:15,960 some Hilton PSP game for training employees 75 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:18,480 and transposing a memory onto McDonald's. 76 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:20,008 And, of course, the existence of 77 00:03:20,008 --> 00:03:22,360 that Bloomberg news report I showed you at the beginning 78 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:25,410 kind of contradicts the whole 'this game is a hoax' theory. 79 00:03:25,410 --> 00:03:28,280 But, strangely, that Bloomberg news report 80 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:30,950 has remained the closest look we've ever gotten at gameplay 81 00:03:30,950 --> 00:03:32,030 for 10 years now. 82 00:03:32,030 --> 00:03:33,730 "And Bloomberg's Mike Fern 83 00:03:33,730 --> 00:03:37,050 went to McDonald's training center in the heart of Tokyo." 84 00:03:37,050 --> 00:03:40,450 "That game is a little bit trickier than it looks, actually. 85 00:03:40,450 --> 00:03:42,310 If you don't get everything exactly right, 86 00:03:42,310 --> 00:03:44,020 it won't let you shake your fries. 87 00:03:44,020 --> 00:03:46,330 Japan, the only country where McDonald's 88 00:03:46,330 --> 00:03:48,020 uses the DS to train staff..." 89 00:03:48,020 --> 00:03:50,750 - Somehow, in the time since that Bloomberg reporter 90 00:03:50,750 --> 00:03:53,130 paid a visit to McDonald's Japan HQ, 91 00:03:53,130 --> 00:03:55,670 we have never really gotten a close look at the game 92 00:03:55,670 --> 00:03:58,438 and nobody has really gotten their hands on the cartridge - or, at least, 93 00:03:58,438 --> 00:04:00,749 everybody who has gotten their hands on the cartridge 94 00:04:00,749 --> 00:04:03,393 has kept it completely to themselves. 95 00:04:05,580 --> 00:04:09,080 ...or, at least, that WAS the case until December 2018, 96 00:04:10,740 --> 00:04:14,320 when a user on assembler-games.com named code1038 97 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:15,630 made the following post 98 00:04:15,630 --> 00:04:18,160 announcing he'd gotten his hands on the game. 99 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:19,500 "Hello, guys. 100 00:04:19,500 --> 00:04:22,160 I found this very rarest cartridge year ago, 101 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:23,780 and I'm still at same point. 102 00:04:23,780 --> 00:04:27,720 I can't reach hidden menu to see 3D burger and play games. 103 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:30,690 I've tried with famous Japanese speaker to enter in it, 104 00:04:30,690 --> 00:04:33,320 but unfortunatly, I need a code. 105 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:35,440 I've made this little video what I can do. 106 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:37,060 Help needed!" 107 00:04:37,060 --> 00:04:39,500 Now, maybe you're confused, so I'll explain: 108 00:04:39,500 --> 00:04:41,160 code1038 on this forum, 109 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:43,570 also known as Coddy Trentuit on YouTube, 110 00:04:43,570 --> 00:04:45,110 had actually gotten his hands 111 00:04:45,110 --> 00:04:46,930 on a copy of this coveted game. 112 00:04:46,930 --> 00:04:50,020 However - and here's the incredibly intriguing part - 113 00:04:50,020 --> 00:04:52,570 he had been stuck for years on the title screen 114 00:04:52,570 --> 00:04:54,202 because the title screen... 115 00:04:54,202 --> 00:04:55,633 required a password. 116 00:04:57,986 --> 00:04:59,410 Coddy had even included a video 117 00:04:59,410 --> 00:05:01,330 captured directly from his copy of the game 118 00:05:01,330 --> 00:05:04,510 showing the issue, and sure enough: this gameplay video - 119 00:05:04,510 --> 00:05:06,380 the only gameplay video we have 120 00:05:06,380 --> 00:05:07,880 of the McDonald's training game - 121 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:09,110 is only two minutes long, 122 00:05:09,110 --> 00:05:11,140 because he couldn't get past the title screen. 123 00:05:11,140 --> 00:05:12,780 And while it's only two minutes long, 124 00:05:12,780 --> 00:05:16,410 what's in those two minutes is unbelievably intriguing. 125 00:05:16,410 --> 00:05:19,203 First off, there's this amazing opening cutscene: 126 00:05:35,994 --> 00:05:37,880 And then, there's my personal favorite part: 127 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:40,220 the incredible main menu music - 128 00:05:40,220 --> 00:05:42,310 which, if you listen closely, 129 00:05:42,310 --> 00:05:45,760 you'll note is a re-orchestrated chiptune interpretation 130 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:49,490 of the classic McDonald's "ba-da-ba-ba-ba!" jingle. 131 00:05:49,490 --> 00:05:50,895 Just listen: 132 00:06:09,750 --> 00:06:12,850 But tragically, this was all Coddy could see. 133 00:06:12,850 --> 00:06:14,530 Even though he owned the cartridge, 134 00:06:14,530 --> 00:06:16,160 he could only watch that title screen 135 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:17,820 and get to that main menu over and over - 136 00:06:17,820 --> 00:06:20,430 and had been stuck there, according to him, for a year. 137 00:06:20,430 --> 00:06:22,970 Now, this in and of itself is extremely weird: 138 00:06:22,970 --> 00:06:24,910 the idea of a Nintendo game cartridge 139 00:06:24,910 --> 00:06:27,640 with a unique password to lock out unintended players 140 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:29,520 is already very unusual. 141 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:31,490 But the fact that this functionality was built 142 00:06:31,490 --> 00:06:34,090 into what is also arguably the single rarest 143 00:06:34,090 --> 00:06:35,790 Nintendo DS game ever manufactured 144 00:06:35,790 --> 00:06:38,283 made the whole thing even more intriguing. 145 00:06:39,250 --> 00:06:40,870 Now, making things even trickier 146 00:06:40,870 --> 00:06:42,730 is the fact that Coddy refused 147 00:06:42,730 --> 00:06:44,650 to share the contents of the cartridge. 148 00:06:44,650 --> 00:06:47,020 In the comments of his video and all over the internet, 149 00:06:47,020 --> 00:06:49,630 people have begged him to dump the game. 150 00:06:49,630 --> 00:06:51,110 The comments on the video are now locked, 151 00:06:51,110 --> 00:06:53,630 but in this video by the YouTuber blameitonjorge, 152 00:06:53,630 --> 00:06:57,010 you can see somebody asking Coddy to please dump the rom 153 00:06:57,010 --> 00:07:01,160 and him saying "that's illegal ;)". 154 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:03,030 Even going back to his initial forum thread, 155 00:07:03,030 --> 00:07:05,890 Coddy said "ps: I can't share rom." 156 00:07:05,890 --> 00:07:07,280 And when another user insisted 157 00:07:07,280 --> 00:07:10,540 that Cody dump the cartridge, he stood firm: 158 00:07:10,540 --> 00:07:13,510 "Law is law, and I've already stuff for dumping. 159 00:07:13,510 --> 00:07:15,070 Sharing is still illegal by law 160 00:07:15,070 --> 00:07:17,220 and I'm very strict for this point. 161 00:07:17,220 --> 00:07:20,220 I've bad personal experience about illegal download. 162 00:07:20,220 --> 00:07:22,290 I'm working with people who are very strict 163 00:07:22,290 --> 00:07:24,030 about information sharing." 164 00:07:24,030 --> 00:07:26,490 In other words, Coddy would not be dumping the cartridge 165 00:07:26,490 --> 00:07:27,920 and distributing it online, 166 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:30,090 so picking the game apart inside the software 167 00:07:30,090 --> 00:07:32,260 and looking for the password was not gonna be an option. 168 00:07:32,260 --> 00:07:33,730 Now, while researching all this, I reached out 169 00:07:33,730 --> 00:07:35,630 to a video game conservationist and translator 170 00:07:35,630 --> 00:07:37,800 named Samuel Messner to ask him about this phenomenon: 171 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:40,970 why do collectors keep these one-of-a-kind games 172 00:07:40,970 --> 00:07:42,640 hoarded for themselves? 173 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:46,810 "Yeah, so this is an issue that is a bit hard to dodge, 174 00:07:46,810 --> 00:07:49,580 because whenever you've got something that's valuable, 175 00:07:49,580 --> 00:07:52,180 the only thing that's gonna drive you 176 00:07:52,180 --> 00:07:57,050 to do anything that decreases that value is altruism, 177 00:07:57,050 --> 00:08:00,710 and you know, idealism, right?" 178 00:08:00,710 --> 00:08:01,880 - Right. 179 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:04,460 "And you know, personally, I'm very much an idealist, 180 00:08:04,460 --> 00:08:05,600 so that's what I would do, 181 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:09,160 but some people are not very into the idea 182 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:11,020 that things they have in their collection 183 00:08:11,020 --> 00:08:13,600 would suddenly be worth so much less." 184 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:15,970 - Now, despite Coddy's insistence on not sharing, 185 00:08:15,970 --> 00:08:18,890 the members of the now defunct ASSEMbler Games forum 186 00:08:18,890 --> 00:08:20,260 did their very best to help him out: 187 00:08:20,260 --> 00:08:22,360 they translated the menus for him, 188 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:25,330 picked apart his extracted game saves that he uploaded, 189 00:08:25,330 --> 00:08:28,080 attempted to contact Japanese game collectors for help, 190 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:28,580 and... 191 00:08:28,580 --> 00:08:29,553 nothing. 192 00:08:29,553 --> 00:08:31,840 They came up completely empty-handed. 193 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:33,160 Eventually, the forum shut down, 194 00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:35,960 and the quest hit what looked like a permanent dead-end. 195 00:08:43,491 --> 00:08:46,270 Now, fover a year, this was where the story ended - 196 00:08:46,270 --> 00:08:49,130 there was no real movement on Coddy's hunt 197 00:08:49,130 --> 00:08:50,980 to get access to this game. 198 00:08:50,980 --> 00:08:53,900 But then, in June of 2020 - just a few months ago - 199 00:08:53,900 --> 00:08:56,320 there was an enormous development. 200 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:57,830 Over on Yahoo! Auctions Japan, 201 00:08:57,830 --> 00:09:02,700 a seller by the name of nanvata_0122 was selling a copy - 202 00:09:02,700 --> 00:09:05,819 an actual copy - of the McDonald's training game. 203 00:09:05,819 --> 00:09:07,480 And that would have been exciting enough on its own, 204 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:09,860 but the thing that made this auction really special 205 00:09:09,860 --> 00:09:11,250 is that from the photos, you could tell 206 00:09:11,250 --> 00:09:12,850 that whoever this mysterious person is 207 00:09:12,849 --> 00:09:14,531 who was selling the game... 208 00:09:14,542 --> 00:09:16,296 actually had the password. 209 00:09:16,420 --> 00:09:17,750 In all the photos of the game, 210 00:09:17,750 --> 00:09:18,950 you could see it being played - 211 00:09:18,950 --> 00:09:20,720 there was actual gameplay on the screen. 212 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:24,670 This person had the password that Coddy needed - 213 00:09:24,670 --> 00:09:26,990 the password for this specific cartridge - 214 00:09:26,990 --> 00:09:28,870 which was completely unprecedented. 215 00:09:28,870 --> 00:09:31,910 Now the thing is... nanvata_0122 216 00:09:31,910 --> 00:09:34,360 clearly knew what this was worth. 217 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:39,360 Because they listed this auction at a whopping 345,000 yen - 218 00:09:39,780 --> 00:09:43,403 the equivalent of about $3,500 US dollars. 219 00:09:45,670 --> 00:09:47,800 Still, the item description was clear" 220 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:50,490 You weren't just paying for this very rare game, 221 00:09:50,490 --> 00:09:52,420 and the equally-rare 222 00:09:52,420 --> 00:09:55,440 matte black McDonald's logo branded DSi; 223 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:57,560 Included in this auction was the code 224 00:09:57,560 --> 00:10:00,150 required to boot the game up. 225 00:10:00,150 --> 00:10:02,640 For the very first time in 10 years, 226 00:10:02,640 --> 00:10:04,580 there was finally a path forward, 227 00:10:04,580 --> 00:10:07,080 a way for the world to finally see what secrets 228 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:09,470 the Japanese McDonald's training game had - 229 00:10:09,470 --> 00:10:13,393 but there was an enormous, 350,000-yen roadblock in the way. 230 00:10:15,850 --> 00:10:18,810 Coddy reappeared, now on a new forum called Obscure Gamers, 231 00:10:18,810 --> 00:10:21,690 and posted: "I found a guy on Yahoo! Auctions Japan 232 00:10:21,690 --> 00:10:23,650 who has full access to menu. 233 00:10:23,650 --> 00:10:26,250 I need someone to contact him and get access." 234 00:10:26,250 --> 00:10:28,490 But, of course, that never happened. 235 00:10:28,490 --> 00:10:31,240 No one was able to reach out to nanvata_0122 - 236 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:33,150 and, besides, there's no way this person 237 00:10:33,150 --> 00:10:35,470 would be giving up this password. 238 00:10:35,470 --> 00:10:37,960 And then... the auction just sat there for weeks, 239 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:40,750 with seemingly no one willing to fork up the cash 240 00:10:40,750 --> 00:10:43,770 for this very, very, very rare game - 241 00:10:43,770 --> 00:10:48,320 that was, until July 9th, at 9:00 PM Japan time, 242 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:50,870 when an anonymous person placed a sniper bid 243 00:10:50,870 --> 00:10:54,813 at the last second, won the game... and then vanished. 244 00:10:58,230 --> 00:10:59,880 That was four months ago now. 245 00:10:59,880 --> 00:11:01,900 And ever since that auction ended, 246 00:11:01,900 --> 00:11:04,760 nobody has stepped forward as the owner of this game. 247 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:09,030 "In 2020, one was put up for sale on Yahoo! Japan Auctions 248 00:11:09,030 --> 00:11:10,920 with one of the training cartridges 249 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:15,030 and sold for the equivalent of around $3,200." 250 00:11:15,030 --> 00:11:16,590 - Most people have just assumed that it went 251 00:11:16,590 --> 00:11:18,000 into the hands of a private collector, 252 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:20,430 someone who's as fascinated as you and I 253 00:11:20,430 --> 00:11:23,720 about Nintendo history, who has no intention of ever 254 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:25,920 sharing this precious gem with the outside world. 255 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:27,760 Seemingly, this person was perfectly content 256 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:29,360 to just enjoy this game themselves 257 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:32,020 and never let us see what the gameplay looked like. 258 00:11:32,020 --> 00:11:33,410 Just as quickly as it had appeared, 259 00:11:33,410 --> 00:11:36,030 the game had once again vanished - 260 00:11:36,030 --> 00:11:38,520 and so too had the world's only opportunity 261 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:40,850 to actually experience the gameplay 262 00:11:40,850 --> 00:11:42,860 of the McDonald's training game. 263 00:11:42,860 --> 00:11:45,490 And until now, this has been where this story ends: 264 00:11:45,490 --> 00:11:47,790 an unsatisfying and predictable outcome 265 00:11:47,790 --> 00:11:49,980 that honestly paints a pretty grim picture 266 00:11:49,980 --> 00:11:52,650 of the state of video game preservation. 267 00:11:52,650 --> 00:11:55,870 But I'm here tell you that there's more to this story. 268 00:11:55,870 --> 00:11:56,703 A lot more. 269 00:11:58,800 --> 00:11:59,893 Because, viewer... 270 00:12:00,860 --> 00:12:03,200 I've been keeping a secret from you. 271 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:05,023 See, the person who placed that bid... 272 00:12:06,010 --> 00:12:08,990 The person who won that $3,500 auction 273 00:12:08,990 --> 00:12:11,080 for the McDonald's DS game, 274 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:13,210 the person who now owns the only copy 275 00:12:13,210 --> 00:12:14,560 with the password included... 276 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:16,610 that person... 277 00:12:19,460 --> 00:12:20,293 ...is me. 278 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:33,620 All right, let's back up. 279 00:12:33,620 --> 00:12:36,230 Four months ago, I received a comment on one of my videos 280 00:12:36,230 --> 00:12:37,900 saying "You have to make a video 281 00:12:37,900 --> 00:12:39,800 about the lost Japanese DS game 282 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:41,870 made for McDonald's employees." 283 00:12:41,870 --> 00:12:44,120 And while I don't normally solicit video ideas 284 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:47,710 from my YouTube comments, this idea immediately hooked me. 285 00:12:47,710 --> 00:12:50,080 I had no idea that this cartridge existed, 286 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:51,030 and the more I looked into it, 287 00:12:51,030 --> 00:12:53,600 the more fascinated I became by this whole thing. 288 00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:55,730 It wasn't long before I found myself on a forum thread 289 00:12:55,730 --> 00:12:56,750 where one user said: 290 00:12:56,750 --> 00:13:00,720 "I found an auction, but it's too darn expensive. It ends on Thursday. 291 00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:04,070 The thing is... when I came across this thread, 292 00:13:04,070 --> 00:13:06,090 it was already Thursday. 293 00:13:06,090 --> 00:13:07,890 Frantically, I clicked the auction link - 294 00:13:07,890 --> 00:13:11,070 and there I was, staring down a copy of the game 295 00:13:11,070 --> 00:13:13,290 I had just spent an entire night researching... 296 00:13:13,290 --> 00:13:15,340 ...and there were just 30 minutes left. 297 00:13:15,340 --> 00:13:16,920 For that entire half-hour, 298 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:19,350 I was just pacing in front of my desk, 299 00:13:19,350 --> 00:13:20,760 trying to decide whether or not this purchase 300 00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:21,800 could be worth it. 301 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:23,220 I kept talking myself into it, 302 00:13:23,220 --> 00:13:25,140 and then talking myself out of it, over and over - 303 00:13:25,140 --> 00:13:27,700 and then, finally... I caved. 304 00:13:27,700 --> 00:13:29,630 With two minutes left on the auction, 305 00:13:29,630 --> 00:13:31,223 I clicked the Place Bid button, 306 00:13:33,300 --> 00:13:34,363 and saw... this: 307 00:13:39,120 --> 00:13:40,250 Turns out, the website I was using 308 00:13:40,250 --> 00:13:42,580 had a 300,000 yen limit on my account, 309 00:13:42,580 --> 00:13:45,610 and the auction was seconds away from ending. 310 00:13:45,610 --> 00:13:48,400 And as I watched it slip away, I was pretty bummed out - 311 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:49,520 but also kind of relieved 312 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:51,910 that this temporary insanity that had taken over me 313 00:13:51,910 --> 00:13:54,420 hadn't driven me to spend a preposterous amount of money 314 00:13:54,420 --> 00:13:55,510 on a piece of McDonald's 315 00:13:55,510 --> 00:13:58,350 employee training software from Japan. 316 00:13:58,350 --> 00:14:00,140 With the auction over, I refreshed the page, 317 00:14:00,140 --> 00:14:01,860 curious to see if some other last minute bidder 318 00:14:01,860 --> 00:14:03,670 had swooped in and stolen it... 319 00:14:03,670 --> 00:14:05,530 and lo and behold, that's when I realized 320 00:14:05,530 --> 00:14:09,390 that the auction had been set to automatically re-list. 321 00:14:09,390 --> 00:14:11,410 This meant that I now had six whole days 322 00:14:11,410 --> 00:14:14,400 to formulate a plan to get my hands on this thing. 323 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:15,233 Now, maybe you've noticed 324 00:14:15,233 --> 00:14:17,320 that when it comes to placing the actual bids, 325 00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:19,770 I'm not doing it through Yahoo! Auctions Japan directly; 326 00:14:19,770 --> 00:14:22,310 I'm doing it through another website called Buyee. 327 00:14:22,310 --> 00:14:24,380 That's because most sellers on Yahoo! Auctions Japan 328 00:14:24,380 --> 00:14:26,430 do not offer international shipping. 329 00:14:26,430 --> 00:14:27,710 And that's where Buyee steps in: 330 00:14:27,710 --> 00:14:29,540 in essence, they allow international customers 331 00:14:29,540 --> 00:14:31,890 like you and me to shop directly for items 332 00:14:31,890 --> 00:14:34,400 on Yahoo! Auctions Japan, Mercari, Rakuten, 333 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:36,690 and a ton of other Japanese online retailers. 334 00:14:36,690 --> 00:14:38,470 The way Buyee works is that these items you buy 335 00:14:38,470 --> 00:14:40,480 are then shipped to Buyee's warehouse, 336 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:41,970 packed together in one package, 337 00:14:41,970 --> 00:14:44,820 and then shipped to you all as one big thing 338 00:14:44,820 --> 00:14:47,930 to save you time, hassle, and a lot of money. 339 00:14:47,930 --> 00:14:50,110 Now I've partnered with Buyee before on videos - 340 00:14:50,110 --> 00:14:52,740 like for this unboxing of a ton of Japan exclusive 341 00:14:52,740 --> 00:14:54,860 Super Monkey Ball and Mario items - 342 00:14:54,860 --> 00:14:56,800 but this was different. 343 00:14:56,800 --> 00:14:59,730 This time, I was gonna be asking them a way bigger question: 344 00:14:59,730 --> 00:15:01,880 I wanted to know if there was any chance 345 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:03,710 Buyee would be willing to help me out 346 00:15:03,710 --> 00:15:07,130 and assist me in securing this historic video game. 347 00:15:07,130 --> 00:15:10,002 Amazingly... they said yes. 348 00:15:14,690 --> 00:15:16,450 Now, I can't tell you how happy I was 349 00:15:16,450 --> 00:15:19,460 when Buyee said yes to this proposition, 350 00:15:19,460 --> 00:15:22,230 and with their help, I placed the bid, 351 00:15:22,230 --> 00:15:24,503 waited, and then won the auction. 352 00:15:25,470 --> 00:15:29,930 However, there was still one enormous hurdle left to clear. 353 00:15:29,930 --> 00:15:33,000 See, it's still 2020, and over the summer, 354 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:36,540 as a temporary precaution due to [CURRENT WORLD EVENT] 355 00:15:36,540 --> 00:15:40,570 Japan actually halted shipping in or out of the country. 356 00:15:40,570 --> 00:15:44,280 See, Japan's primary mail provider is Japan Post, 357 00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:47,046 and Japan Post had an enormous list of countries 358 00:15:47,046 --> 00:15:48,500 who they were forbidding 359 00:15:48,500 --> 00:15:51,110 all mail to be sent or received from - 360 00:15:51,110 --> 00:15:54,480 and included on that list was my home country: 361 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:55,930 the United States of America. 362 00:16:06,970 --> 00:16:09,650 This posed an enormous problem: 363 00:16:09,650 --> 00:16:11,270 I needed to devise a way to somehow 364 00:16:11,270 --> 00:16:13,170 get this game out of Japan 365 00:16:13,170 --> 00:16:15,840 at a time when mailing things in and out of Japan 366 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:17,900 was strictly forbidden. 367 00:16:17,900 --> 00:16:20,290 Out of options and desperate for some sort of resolution, 368 00:16:20,290 --> 00:16:22,090 I knew what I had to do. 369 00:16:22,090 --> 00:16:23,900 ...and it's not what you think. 370 00:16:23,900 --> 00:16:25,670 See, normally in a situation like this, 371 00:16:25,670 --> 00:16:27,300 my solution - as you probably could have guessed 372 00:16:27,300 --> 00:16:29,940 if you've seen my other videos - would be to go to Japan 373 00:16:29,940 --> 00:16:31,700 and secure the package myself. 374 00:16:31,700 --> 00:16:32,700 But not only had Japan 375 00:16:32,700 --> 00:16:34,930 halted all mail in or out of the country, 376 00:16:34,930 --> 00:16:37,590 they've also halted all tourism in and out of the country, 377 00:16:37,590 --> 00:16:40,140 so there was no way I'd be getting in. 378 00:16:40,140 --> 00:16:41,870 So I'm sure you can understand my predicament here: 379 00:16:41,870 --> 00:16:44,040 I effectively had to figure out a way 380 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:46,560 to book a flight to Tokyo in search of answers 381 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:48,330 at a time when booking a flight to Tokyo 382 00:16:48,330 --> 00:16:50,830 in search of answers is literally against the law. 383 00:16:53,270 --> 00:16:55,283 Luckily, I had an ace up my sleeve. 384 00:16:59,490 --> 00:17:00,840 See, around this time last year, 385 00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:03,810 my younger brother Mark actually moved to Tokyo 386 00:17:03,810 --> 00:17:05,130 to go to university - 387 00:17:05,130 --> 00:17:07,370 and while all foreign residents of Japan, 388 00:17:07,370 --> 00:17:09,360 including people with student visas, 389 00:17:09,360 --> 00:17:10,730 have been forbidden from leaving 390 00:17:10,730 --> 00:17:12,730 and re-entering the country during the pandemic, 391 00:17:12,730 --> 00:17:15,190 my brother had just been granted special permission 392 00:17:15,190 --> 00:17:17,140 to head back to the United States for a few weeks 393 00:17:17,140 --> 00:17:19,243 for a mandatory medical checkup. 394 00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:21,850 And by the way, just to reassure you, 395 00:17:21,850 --> 00:17:23,993 he got his checkup and everything's fine. 396 00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:26,470 So here's my idea: 397 00:17:26,470 --> 00:17:30,460 If I could somehow get this game into Mark's hands 398 00:17:30,460 --> 00:17:32,680 before his flight back to America, 399 00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:35,130 he could theoretically smuggle the McDonald's DS 400 00:17:35,130 --> 00:17:36,950 out of Japan in his luggage, 401 00:17:36,950 --> 00:17:38,653 and the package would be secure. 402 00:17:39,580 --> 00:17:40,460 For whatever reason, 403 00:17:40,460 --> 00:17:44,890 I felt a real sense of urgency with this mission: 404 00:17:44,890 --> 00:17:47,210 blameitonjorge's video that mentioned this McDonald's game 405 00:17:47,210 --> 00:17:48,990 had shined an enormous spotlight on it, 406 00:17:48,990 --> 00:17:50,160 and I couldn't shake the feeling 407 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:53,040 that someone else might beat me to the punch on this. 408 00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:54,580 Now, a couple of weeks after winning the auction, 409 00:17:54,580 --> 00:17:57,070 the item finally arrived at Buyee's warehouse - 410 00:17:57,070 --> 00:17:59,520 but I was really, really running out of time. 411 00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:01,290 By this point, it was July 28th, 412 00:18:01,290 --> 00:18:04,520 and my brother's flight to America was just 3 days away - 413 00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:07,230 an incredibly narrow window to get this thing delivered. 414 00:18:07,230 --> 00:18:08,700 So if this item didn't arrive quickly, 415 00:18:08,700 --> 00:18:10,530 this plan was doomed. 416 00:18:10,530 --> 00:18:12,280 For two very stressful days, 417 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:13,840 this possibility hung over my head 418 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:16,970 that after all this work - after all the money we'd spent 419 00:18:16,970 --> 00:18:19,690 and after everything else had lined up so perfectly - 420 00:18:19,690 --> 00:18:23,410 a simple scheduling issue could unravel this entire plan. 421 00:18:23,410 --> 00:18:25,160 Then, on July 30th, 422 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:27,663 I got this Discord message from my brother: 423 00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:38,693 The package had been secured. 424 00:18:43,870 --> 00:18:45,270 "So while I was packing up my stuff 425 00:18:45,270 --> 00:18:49,400 to get ready to return to America here in a few days, 426 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:52,740 I am pretty sure that I heard a certain package 427 00:18:52,740 --> 00:18:54,150 arrive at my doorstep, 428 00:18:54,150 --> 00:18:55,800 so we're gonna go check that out. 429 00:19:00,850 --> 00:19:01,683 Oh-ho-ho! 430 00:19:08,460 --> 00:19:13,070 Not only is the inside of this cardboard box 431 00:19:13,070 --> 00:19:18,070 an incredibly rare, one-of-a-kind make and model of DS - 432 00:19:19,570 --> 00:19:21,520 it also could potentially hold 433 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:25,170 trade secrets of the McDonald's corporation. 434 00:19:25,170 --> 00:19:28,597 So I'm gonna be very careful opening this. 435 00:19:28,597 --> 00:19:30,500 Who knows what kind of... 436 00:19:30,500 --> 00:19:32,210 This could be bugged. 437 00:19:32,210 --> 00:19:34,310 I could have the McDonald's corporate team 438 00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:39,203 busting down my door with riot shields any second now. 439 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:42,233 Oh, my goodness." 440 00:19:43,660 --> 00:19:45,600 - With barely a day left before his flight, 441 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:47,930 Mark safely packed the McDonald's DS 442 00:19:47,930 --> 00:19:49,760 into his enormous blue suitcase, 443 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:52,733 and soon he was on his way to Tokyo's Haneda Airport. 444 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:13,850 And to be honest with you, the particulars 445 00:20:13,850 --> 00:20:16,280 of whether or not Mark would even be able to leave 446 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:18,860 were kind of a big question mark. 447 00:20:18,860 --> 00:20:19,850 Jumping through the hoops 448 00:20:19,850 --> 00:20:21,160 to get all the paperwork filled out 449 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:23,750 so that Mark could return home was an enormous hassle, 450 00:20:23,750 --> 00:20:24,930 and there was no real guarantee 451 00:20:24,930 --> 00:20:26,920 he would even be able to leave, 452 00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:29,470 much less get back into the country. 453 00:20:29,470 --> 00:20:32,340 Mark entered the airport, and with virtually all flights 454 00:20:32,340 --> 00:20:34,780 in and out of Japan canceled due to the pandemic, 455 00:20:34,780 --> 00:20:38,070 Haneda's international terminal was a ghost town. 456 00:20:38,070 --> 00:20:39,790 Everywhere he looked, seats were blocked off 457 00:20:39,790 --> 00:20:41,730 forbidding people from sitting next to each other - 458 00:20:41,730 --> 00:20:43,710 a measure that ultimately proved redundant, 459 00:20:43,710 --> 00:20:46,780 since almost every seat in the airport was unoccupied. 460 00:20:46,780 --> 00:20:48,250 Soon, it was time for Mark's flight, 461 00:20:48,250 --> 00:20:49,400 and a few minutes later, 462 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:52,660 Mark found himself onboard a virtually empty airplane 463 00:20:52,660 --> 00:20:55,013 from Tokyo to the United States. 464 00:20:55,860 --> 00:20:58,510 Meanwhile, halfway across the world, 465 00:20:58,510 --> 00:21:00,310 me and my family were on our way to the airport 466 00:21:00,310 --> 00:21:02,730 to go meet Mark and see him for the first time 467 00:21:02,730 --> 00:21:03,680 since the pandemic. 468 00:21:07,180 --> 00:21:09,010 I was extremely excited: 469 00:21:09,010 --> 00:21:10,810 excited, of course, to see my brother 470 00:21:10,810 --> 00:21:12,850 for the first time since 2019 - 471 00:21:12,850 --> 00:21:14,930 something that seemed almost impossible to pull off 472 00:21:14,930 --> 00:21:17,040 in the midst of COVID - but also excited 473 00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:19,090 that the world would finally get a close look 474 00:21:19,090 --> 00:21:21,450 at this legendary and mysterious game 475 00:21:21,450 --> 00:21:22,943 for the first time ever. 476 00:21:30,810 --> 00:21:32,650 We arrived at the airport masked up, 477 00:21:32,650 --> 00:21:35,960 and after patiently waiting for what felt like forever, 478 00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:38,220 watching handfuls of masked passengers 479 00:21:38,220 --> 00:21:40,570 slowly trickle out of the gates, 480 00:21:40,570 --> 00:21:42,803 finally... we saw him. 481 00:21:49,090 --> 00:21:50,053 He had arrived. 482 00:21:51,980 --> 00:21:52,813 It's hard to overstate 483 00:21:52,813 --> 00:21:55,010 how great a feeling it was to see Mark again. 484 00:21:55,010 --> 00:21:57,080 The whole situation with travel in Japan 485 00:21:57,080 --> 00:21:59,720 had really led me to believe that he may not 486 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:01,400 get to see us this summer at all, 487 00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:04,530 and that we may not see him until next year. 488 00:22:04,530 --> 00:22:07,060 But in all the excitement of seeing Mark, 489 00:22:07,060 --> 00:22:08,670 something slipped through the cracks - 490 00:22:08,670 --> 00:22:11,070 something I didn't realize right away. 491 00:22:11,070 --> 00:22:13,320 If I'd been looking closely, I would have noticed 492 00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:14,920 that the enormous blue suitcase 493 00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:17,610 that Mark had packed the McDonald's DS in... 494 00:22:17,610 --> 00:22:18,510 He didn't have it. 495 00:22:20,690 --> 00:22:23,580 "Do you know... your... bag didn't come?" 496 00:22:23,580 --> 00:22:25,760 "So the bag is delayed..." 497 00:22:34,010 --> 00:22:34,843 - Mark explained to me 498 00:22:34,843 --> 00:22:37,740 that due to a baggage snafu with the airline, 499 00:22:37,740 --> 00:22:40,590 his luggage had not wound up on his flight home with him. 500 00:22:45,220 --> 00:22:47,800 So... I'd be lying if I said 501 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:50,070 that this situation was not terrifying. 502 00:22:50,070 --> 00:22:52,930 I mean, here we had this incredibly rare game - 503 00:22:52,930 --> 00:22:55,730 an item that virtually never showed up on auction sites, 504 00:22:55,730 --> 00:22:59,240 a game that as far as I know, doesn't exist anywhere else 505 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:00,230 in the United States, 506 00:23:00,230 --> 00:23:04,010 a game that seemingly nobody had the password to access except for me - 507 00:23:04,010 --> 00:23:05,880 and we'd have to rely on an airline 508 00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:08,963 who'd already misplaced it once to ever get it back. 509 00:23:12,860 --> 00:23:14,800 This was a truly helpless feeling. 510 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:16,940 There was really nothing we could do here 511 00:23:16,940 --> 00:23:19,723 except just exercise some patience and wait. 512 00:23:20,670 --> 00:23:22,490 Well... almost nothing. 513 00:23:22,490 --> 00:23:25,293 The one thing I could do... was start preparing. 514 00:23:26,300 --> 00:23:28,440 See, even if everything went perfectly 515 00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:31,230 and the airline found this bag and returned it to us, 516 00:23:31,230 --> 00:23:32,730 that was only half the battle. 517 00:23:33,580 --> 00:23:34,690 I didn't just want to own 518 00:23:34,690 --> 00:23:36,550 this McDonald's training cartridge - 519 00:23:36,550 --> 00:23:38,410 I wanted to document it. 520 00:23:38,410 --> 00:23:41,740 I wanted to finally give the world its first up-close look 521 00:23:41,740 --> 00:23:45,100 at what the McGameplay actually consisted of. 522 00:23:45,100 --> 00:23:46,110 See, if I was gonna do this - 523 00:23:46,110 --> 00:23:48,140 if I was gonna put in all this time, effort, 524 00:23:48,140 --> 00:23:50,700 energy, and money - I wanted to do it the right way: 525 00:23:50,700 --> 00:23:53,380 I wanted to capture the game as it was actually played 526 00:23:53,380 --> 00:23:55,240 by McDonald's employees back in 2010 527 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:57,393 running on actual Nintendo hardware. 528 00:23:58,510 --> 00:23:59,770 So I started looking into solutions, 529 00:23:59,770 --> 00:24:02,220 and pretty quickly I realized what I wanted 530 00:24:02,220 --> 00:24:04,843 was a 3DS modified for video capture. 531 00:24:05,730 --> 00:24:06,960 But here's the thing: 532 00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:10,410 In 2020, getting your hands on a 3DS capture device 533 00:24:10,410 --> 00:24:12,820 is much easier said than done. 534 00:24:12,820 --> 00:24:16,230 For example, check out this MLIG video from last April: 535 00:24:16,230 --> 00:24:18,010 "I wish we could say we were able to show you 536 00:24:18,010 --> 00:24:21,600 great ideas that you can go and try for yourself right now, 537 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:24,230 but the reality is that at this moment, 538 00:24:24,230 --> 00:24:27,280 the 3DS is in kind of a bad place." 539 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:29,560 - And what they say in that video is completely true: 540 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:33,570 the availability of hardware-modified 3DSs in 2020 541 00:24:33,570 --> 00:24:35,770 has dried up almost entirely. 542 00:24:35,770 --> 00:24:37,070 And from doing a ton of research, 543 00:24:37,070 --> 00:24:39,810 I realized that there was really only one person 544 00:24:39,810 --> 00:24:41,770 left on Earth who could help me with this problem, 545 00:24:41,770 --> 00:24:44,070 and that was a console modder based out of Germany 546 00:24:44,070 --> 00:24:45,568 named Stefan Merki. 547 00:24:45,568 --> 00:24:47,893 "Wir bieten seit mehr als zwei Jahren 548 00:24:47,893 --> 00:24:49,746 Installationen von 3DS Capture Cards." 549 00:24:50,050 --> 00:24:53,070 For years now, Stefan has run a shop called merki.net 550 00:24:53,070 --> 00:24:54,980 where he sells capture cards and hardware mods 551 00:24:54,980 --> 00:24:57,230 for the Nintendo 3DS. 552 00:24:57,230 --> 00:24:59,270 This site came up over and over in my research: 553 00:24:59,270 --> 00:25:01,480 by all accounts, Stefan was one of the best 554 00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:03,300 and most reliable hardware modders out there, 555 00:25:03,300 --> 00:25:05,850 able to install a full suite of capture devices 556 00:25:05,850 --> 00:25:07,940 and other useful hardware modifications, 557 00:25:07,940 --> 00:25:10,850 and he seemed like a perfect fit for this project. 558 00:25:10,850 --> 00:25:12,911 So, excitedly, I went to Stefan's website 559 00:25:12,911 --> 00:25:15,233 and... he had stopped selling them. 560 00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:18,810 "We chatted a bit via email with Merki, 561 00:25:18,810 --> 00:25:22,470 a European distributor for both Katsukity and Loopy kits, 562 00:25:22,470 --> 00:25:24,900 and he tells us that he is also getting out of the game 563 00:25:24,900 --> 00:25:27,040 once his existing stock is depleted. 564 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:28,570 He seems to believe that his business 565 00:25:28,570 --> 00:25:31,610 can no longer count on receiving a return on investment 566 00:25:31,610 --> 00:25:33,490 for additional 3DS hardware." 567 00:25:33,490 --> 00:25:35,830 - Stefan had just posted an open letter on his website 568 00:25:35,830 --> 00:25:39,130 announcing that he was, sure enough, out of the modding game: 569 00:25:39,130 --> 00:25:40,950 retiring after seven long years 570 00:25:40,950 --> 00:25:43,730 of modding Nintendo hardware for a living. 571 00:25:43,730 --> 00:25:46,297 Still, I knew I had to try. 572 00:25:46,297 --> 00:25:48,197 So I reached out to Stefan personally. 573 00:25:49,690 --> 00:25:50,940 I pleaded with this man - 574 00:25:50,940 --> 00:25:54,260 the Hattori Hanzo of 3DS hardware modification - 575 00:25:54,260 --> 00:25:57,210 trying my hardest to persuade this master of his craft 576 00:25:57,210 --> 00:26:00,890 into coming out of retirement for one last job. 577 00:26:00,890 --> 00:26:02,730 I explained the situation to Stefan: 578 00:26:02,730 --> 00:26:04,680 that I was painfully close to getting my hands 579 00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:06,287 on this ultra-rare DS game, 580 00:26:06,287 --> 00:26:08,070 and that I needed one of his devices 581 00:26:08,070 --> 00:26:09,420 to share it with the world. 582 00:26:13,190 --> 00:26:15,463 And it took some convincing, but eventually... 583 00:26:16,430 --> 00:26:17,950 he agreed. 584 00:26:17,950 --> 00:26:19,103 But there was a caveat: 585 00:26:21,070 --> 00:26:22,810 Stefan said he would need me to send him 586 00:26:22,810 --> 00:26:24,970 some American 3DS hardware to modify, 587 00:26:24,970 --> 00:26:28,980 so I went out and purchased a brand new New 2DS XL 588 00:26:28,980 --> 00:26:30,723 and mailed it off to Germany. 589 00:26:32,298 --> 00:26:33,131 "You're left-handed, too." 590 00:26:33,131 --> 00:26:34,015 - "Yep." 591 00:26:34,015 --> 00:26:34,980 "We're the smart ones." 592 00:26:34,980 --> 00:26:36,030 - "That's what I hear." 593 00:26:38,190 --> 00:26:39,173 More on that later. 594 00:26:40,060 --> 00:26:41,640 In the meantime, I also continued 595 00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:44,720 to closely monitor this piece of lost luggage. 596 00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:46,070 Balancing all these things: 597 00:26:46,070 --> 00:26:48,380 the auction, the missing baggage, 598 00:26:48,380 --> 00:26:50,600 trying to persuade a retired German modder 599 00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:53,090 to make me a custom 3DS for capture - 600 00:26:53,090 --> 00:26:54,350 it was overwhelming trying to keep 601 00:26:54,350 --> 00:26:56,380 all these plates spinning at once, especially knowing 602 00:26:56,380 --> 00:26:58,180 that if even one of these things fell through, 603 00:26:58,180 --> 00:27:00,440 the whole project would likely fall apart. 604 00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:02,330 Eventually, after hours of checking 605 00:27:02,330 --> 00:27:05,750 the luggage delivery link over and over and over, 606 00:27:05,750 --> 00:27:07,373 an update came in the next day. 607 00:27:08,430 --> 00:27:09,780 - "Yeah? Wait, what's it say?" 608 00:27:09,780 --> 00:27:12,290 "Airlines Baggage Information delivery info." 609 00:27:12,290 --> 00:27:13,123 - "Oh, okay." 610 00:27:13,123 --> 00:27:14,622 "This is from an email address called 611 00:27:14,622 --> 00:27:17,443 Welcome to WheresMySuitcase.com." 612 00:27:17,443 --> 00:27:18,810 - (laughs) "Where IS your suitcase?" 613 00:27:18,810 --> 00:27:19,960 "Recently, your baggage was delayed 614 00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:21,800 while flying into Raleigh-Durham International Airport. 615 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:22,633 You're seeing this email 616 00:27:22,633 --> 00:27:23,840 because we will be handling your delivery 617 00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:24,673 on behalf of American Airlines." 618 00:27:24,673 --> 00:27:26,120 - "So far, so good." 619 00:27:26,120 --> 00:27:27,910 "We have entered your baggage claim into our system 620 00:27:27,910 --> 00:27:28,860 and are working with the airline 621 00:27:28,860 --> 00:27:42,009 to get your baggage as fast to you as possible. 622 00:27:30,670 --> 00:27:31,780 If all goes according to plan, 623 00:27:31,780 --> 00:27:34,020 we'll get this bag by tonight at 10:00 PM." 624 00:27:34,020 --> 00:27:36,670 - "I mean, this is the closest I've ever been 625 00:27:36,670 --> 00:27:38,940 to this McDonald's DS. 626 00:27:38,940 --> 00:27:41,420 The trajectory is correct. It's on the right path." 627 00:27:41,420 --> 00:27:45,010 "It's in spitting distance." 628 00:27:44,510 --> 00:27:45,010 - "It's passed so many hands, you know? 629 00:27:45,010 --> 00:27:46,920 Who can really trust... 630 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:48,790 what if a little Greedy Gus at the airport 631 00:27:48,790 --> 00:27:49,820 snuck his hand in there 632 00:27:49,820 --> 00:27:51,930 and decided he wanted a McDonald's Game Boy? 633 00:27:51,930 --> 00:27:52,763 Who can say?" 634 00:27:52,763 --> 00:27:53,890 "So there's your info." 635 00:27:53,890 --> 00:27:54,980 - "Thank you." 636 00:27:56,550 --> 00:27:57,970 - "Oh, what?! What the... 637 00:27:57,970 --> 00:27:58,803 Are you ser-...?" 638 00:28:00,210 --> 00:28:03,200 The baggage had apparently arrived at our airport 639 00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:06,630 and was set to be delivered to our house that night. 640 00:28:06,630 --> 00:28:09,730 And then, on August 4th at 10:00 PM, 641 00:28:09,730 --> 00:28:11,000 there was a knock on the door: 642 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:12,400 "Hi!" - "Hi. 643 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:14,559 This is for Mark?" 644 00:28:14,559 --> 00:28:15,990 "Yep. That's it." 645 00:28:15,990 --> 00:28:17,100 - "Awesome. Thank you so much." 646 00:28:17,100 --> 00:28:17,933 "Absolutely. Have a good night." 647 00:28:17,933 --> 00:28:18,766 - "You too. 648 00:28:18,766 --> 00:28:19,599 Oh, my gosh..." 649 00:28:20,710 --> 00:28:22,020 It had arrived. 650 00:28:22,020 --> 00:28:24,160 -"Here it is... this is it, right, Mark?" 651 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:24,993 "Yup! 652 00:28:24,993 --> 00:28:26,240 Very precious cargo." 653 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:27,263 - "Indeed." 654 00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:32,903 - "We got the goods..." 655 00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:36,140 "This is smuggled... 656 00:28:38,150 --> 00:28:40,970 across country borders." 657 00:28:40,970 --> 00:28:42,744 - "Multiple states. 658 00:28:42,744 --> 00:28:44,750 It's changed hands 659 00:28:44,750 --> 00:28:47,263 more times than I can count, between postmen... 660 00:28:48,130 --> 00:28:49,270 Oh, my gosh." 661 00:28:49,270 --> 00:28:50,800 "Everything is all jumbled up in here. 662 00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:52,700 This is NOT how I had everything." 663 00:28:52,700 --> 00:28:55,430 - "Well, I suspect it was packed pretty safely 664 00:28:55,430 --> 00:28:57,823 by our friend in Japan, right? 665 00:28:59,230 --> 00:29:00,063 Oh my God. Is this..?" 666 00:29:00,063 --> 00:29:01,163 "There's part one. 667 00:29:05,124 --> 00:29:06,624 ...where is part two...? 668 00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:09,280 Wait a minute... 669 00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:13,190 - "There's no way somebody... would snatch it..?" 670 00:29:13,190 --> 00:29:13,851 "Here it is." 671 00:29:13,851 --> 00:29:14,351 (huge sigh of relief, laughter) 672 00:29:15,310 --> 00:29:15,899 - "You never know with TSA, dude." 673 00:29:15,899 --> 00:29:19,157 "I thought maybe like, yeah, there's a lithium ion battery in it... 674 00:29:19,157 --> 00:29:21,420 and they wouldn't let me check it through. 675 00:29:21,420 --> 00:29:23,018 That was the thought in my head just now 676 00:29:23,018 --> 00:29:24,730 why they could have taken it." 677 00:29:24,730 --> 00:29:28,607 - "Getting lithium batteries through customs can be tricky." 678 00:29:28,607 --> 00:29:30,750 - "I believe what you have here is the charger." 679 00:29:30,750 --> 00:29:31,250 - "Okay." 680 00:29:31,250 --> 00:29:33,068 "I think this is the actual device." 681 00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:33,913 - "Okay." 682 00:29:33,913 --> 00:29:35,220 "That's based on how much it weighs." 683 00:29:35,220 --> 00:29:36,053 - "All right." 684 00:29:36,053 --> 00:29:37,530 - "So you haven't opened this part yet, right?" 685 00:29:37,530 --> 00:29:38,930 "I haven't opened anything." 686 00:29:39,830 --> 00:29:41,063 - "This is a huge moment. 687 00:29:50,088 --> 00:29:51,088 Oh, my gosh. 688 00:29:57,280 --> 00:30:00,040 This is so thoroughly wrapped, 689 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:00,920 and I'm grateful. 690 00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:03,583 It needed every bit of wrapping here. 691 00:30:06,140 --> 00:30:07,690 Okay, hang on a second. 692 00:30:07,690 --> 00:30:10,240 There's something pretty interesting going on here. 693 00:30:22,500 --> 00:30:23,333 You ready? 694 00:30:26,107 --> 00:30:29,230 (wheezing) That is beautiful. 695 00:30:29,230 --> 00:30:32,333 Look at the matte black McDonald's logo. 696 00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:36,793 MKBHD would get a kick out of this, I think. 697 00:30:37,710 --> 00:30:39,210 It's in such good condition, too. 698 00:30:39,210 --> 00:30:42,270 Shouts out to the McDonald's employee who took -" 699 00:30:42,270 --> 00:30:44,350 "So it has a cartridge? It's not just pre-installed?" 700 00:30:44,350 --> 00:30:45,183 - "Oh, buddy. 701 00:30:46,070 --> 00:30:48,560 That's an unassuming cartridge 702 00:30:49,470 --> 00:30:54,190 with incredibly high value... and precious data. 703 00:30:56,740 --> 00:30:58,540 And then what is going on over here? 704 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:05,637 What is this second thing? 705 00:31:08,610 --> 00:31:11,340 So this number, from the YouTube videos I've seen 706 00:31:11,340 --> 00:31:13,610 of the people who can't get past the title screen, 707 00:31:13,610 --> 00:31:16,360 I'm pretty sure there's a six digit code that's needed. 708 00:31:18,402 --> 00:31:20,783 Wait, there's ANOTHERone? 709 00:31:20,783 --> 00:31:24,002 There's TWO? What?! 710 00:31:26,780 --> 00:31:29,053 Two McDonald DSis here. 711 00:31:30,500 --> 00:31:34,143 Wow, they're both like in incredible condition too. 712 00:31:35,230 --> 00:31:36,860 That matte texture is so nice. 713 00:31:36,860 --> 00:31:40,450 The DSi is a very beautiful and underrated device. 714 00:31:40,450 --> 00:31:41,840 And then, let's see 715 00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:44,193 what's the last piece of the puzzle here... 716 00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:49,040 Mark, I think your suspicion is correct. 717 00:31:53,460 --> 00:31:58,460 I think this is just a pretty standard DSi charger here. 718 00:31:59,006 --> 00:31:59,839 Oh, my god. 719 00:31:59,839 --> 00:32:01,620 Wow. Beautiful. 720 00:32:01,620 --> 00:32:03,230 Thank you. Thank you so much, Mark." 721 00:32:03,230 --> 00:32:04,063 "Yeah, yeah!" 722 00:32:04,063 --> 00:32:05,593 - "and thank you, Robert, for filming." 723 00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:09,180 At long last, this ultra rare game - 724 00:32:09,180 --> 00:32:13,520 and, allegedly, the password for it - was in our hands: 725 00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:16,230 This incredibly rare, McDonald's-branded DSi; 726 00:32:16,230 --> 00:32:20,150 this even rarer McDonald's Japan employee training game; 727 00:32:20,150 --> 00:32:22,600 and, arguably the most precious part of all, 728 00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:25,070 the long lost, unique six-digit password 729 00:32:25,070 --> 00:32:26,360 that would let us access the game 730 00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:28,573 for the first time in 10 years. 731 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:37,670 Finally, at long last, the game was safely in our hands, 732 00:32:37,670 --> 00:32:38,720 and that meant that there was only 733 00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:40,463 one piece of the puzzle left. 734 00:32:41,430 --> 00:32:42,910 And sure enough, a few days later, 735 00:32:42,910 --> 00:32:45,620 another package arrived, this time from Germany, 736 00:32:45,620 --> 00:32:48,423 containing the modded New 2DS XL. 737 00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:50,830 This was the final piece - 738 00:32:50,830 --> 00:32:52,620 this was the last ingredient necessary 739 00:32:52,620 --> 00:32:54,710 to share this game with the world. 740 00:32:54,710 --> 00:32:57,960 The only obstacle left to surmount was the language barrier. 741 00:32:57,960 --> 00:33:02,160 I can't read Japanese, but I know somebody who can. 742 00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:03,690 So I reached out to Samuel Messner again 743 00:33:03,690 --> 00:33:05,400 and asked him if he'd be down to join me 744 00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:06,860 for this first-ever playthrough 745 00:33:06,860 --> 00:33:10,930 of the McDonald's DS training game. 746 00:33:10,930 --> 00:33:12,421 He agreed. 747 00:33:18,300 --> 00:33:20,920 - I'm excited to see the icon for it. 748 00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:22,490 - Yes. Good point. 749 00:33:22,490 --> 00:33:23,520 This is a big moment for me. 750 00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:25,360 I have not actually turned this game on yet. 751 00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:27,736 I've played zero seconds of this, 752 00:33:27,736 --> 00:33:30,220 as has everyone in the United States, 753 00:33:30,220 --> 00:33:31,870 as far as I can tell. 754 00:33:31,870 --> 00:33:34,060 - Oh, my God, it's fancy. 755 00:33:34,060 --> 00:33:34,893 - Dang, I kind of wish that 756 00:33:34,893 --> 00:33:36,660 that was what the cartridge looked like, 757 00:33:36,660 --> 00:33:40,413 because it's got kind of a "Feel the Magic: XY/XX" vibe to it. 758 00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:44,073 Dude. 759 00:33:44,941 --> 00:33:46,190 - [Both] I'm loving it! 760 00:33:46,190 --> 00:33:47,301 - I'm loving it! 761 00:33:47,301 --> 00:33:48,362 I AM loving it. 762 00:33:52,856 --> 00:33:53,689 FMV!! 763 00:34:07,530 --> 00:34:08,743 Oh my god. 764 00:34:11,020 --> 00:34:11,853 Dude. 765 00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:15,530 Happy McDonald's customers all over the world. 766 00:34:15,530 --> 00:34:18,440 So this opening video was on YouTube, 767 00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:19,870 but I avoided watching it 768 00:34:19,870 --> 00:34:22,050 'cause I didn't want to take away from that moment, 769 00:34:22,050 --> 00:34:23,350 and I made the right call. 770 00:34:25,130 --> 00:34:26,040 Wowie. 771 00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:27,510 All right, so we got three menu options here - 772 00:34:27,510 --> 00:34:28,810 Can you help me out with these? 773 00:34:28,810 --> 00:34:31,190 - Yeah. So the first one is password input. 774 00:34:31,190 --> 00:34:35,080 The second is password, like change your password. 775 00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:37,670 And the third one is serial code input, 776 00:34:37,670 --> 00:34:39,760 which is probably what we're gonna wanna do here. 777 00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:40,763 - Oh, interesting. 778 00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:43,900 I feel like I'm defusing a bomb here. 779 00:34:45,830 --> 00:34:48,053 Dude. I don't know if you caught that: 780 00:34:48,890 --> 00:34:50,973 It's got the ba-da-ba-ba-ba jingle. 781 00:34:53,390 --> 00:34:54,700 It's incredible. 782 00:34:54,700 --> 00:34:56,330 It's so spiritual. 783 00:34:56,330 --> 00:34:57,430 Okay, this has to be it, 784 00:34:57,430 --> 00:35:00,510 because it's a six digit code that only takes numbers. 785 00:35:00,510 --> 00:35:02,440 All right, let's punch this in. 786 00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:03,670 Four. 787 00:35:03,670 --> 00:35:04,503 Eight. 788 00:35:05,460 --> 00:35:06,590 Five. 789 00:35:06,590 --> 00:35:07,650 Oops. 790 00:35:07,650 --> 00:35:09,660 Is this backspace in the lower right? 791 00:35:09,660 --> 00:35:10,493 - Yeah, it is. 792 00:35:10,493 --> 00:35:12,383 - Four, eight, two. 793 00:35:13,220 --> 00:35:15,077 Such a distractingly beautiful song. 794 00:35:15,077 --> 00:35:16,143 All right, here we go. 795 00:35:17,225 --> 00:35:18,090 What does it say at the bottom? 796 00:35:18,090 --> 00:35:19,333 - Complete input. 797 00:35:21,366 --> 00:35:22,400 All right, let's see here. 798 00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:23,233 Oh, no! 799 00:35:25,288 --> 00:35:27,040 'What you have entered is incorrect. 800 00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:29,663 Please enter the correct information.' 801 00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:38,500 - This moment, in all honesty, scared the crap out of me. 802 00:35:38,500 --> 00:35:40,910 My mind flooded with terrifying possibilities: 803 00:35:40,910 --> 00:35:44,390 Had this DS cartridge save game been wiped somehow? 804 00:35:44,390 --> 00:35:46,930 Had the seller sent me the wrong copy? 805 00:35:46,930 --> 00:35:50,160 Or, worst of all: were these photos... fake? 806 00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:52,465 Had we been straight-up scammed here? 807 00:35:57,960 --> 00:35:59,360 - What if it's the password? 808 00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:01,200 What if they set the password to be... 809 00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:03,450 'Cause it is a six digit password. 810 00:36:03,450 --> 00:36:04,977 - Try it. Yeah, why not? 811 00:36:06,100 --> 00:36:08,610 - I hope so, 'cause I don't know what I'm gonna do 812 00:36:08,610 --> 00:36:09,660 if this doesn't work. 813 00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:14,030 - And here it says, please enter the six digit password 814 00:36:14,030 --> 00:36:15,970 that you yourself have decided. 815 00:36:15,970 --> 00:36:19,513 This is where I'm unsure whether this will actually work. 816 00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:23,593 - All right. 482500. 817 00:36:25,260 --> 00:36:26,563 I'm hoping this works. 818 00:36:28,691 --> 00:36:30,743 Yes! 819 00:36:30,743 --> 00:36:32,290 - Yeah! 820 00:36:32,290 --> 00:36:33,770 - All right. 821 00:36:33,770 --> 00:36:34,603 We're in. 822 00:36:34,603 --> 00:36:36,720 - We're in uncharted territory, man. 823 00:36:36,720 --> 00:36:37,553 - Dude. 824 00:36:37,553 --> 00:36:40,040 The password... had worked. 825 00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:41,780 Wow, we got the buns. 826 00:36:41,780 --> 00:36:43,140 Two pickles. 827 00:36:43,140 --> 00:36:45,270 That's an iconic bit of McDonald's lore. 828 00:36:45,270 --> 00:36:46,560 Two patties. 829 00:36:46,560 --> 00:36:47,447 I think I'm done. 830 00:36:47,447 --> 00:36:48,073 Oh, it's 3D! 831 00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:52,920 Now our full playthrough of this game took over an hour, 832 00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:54,867 so I'm gonna spare you from watching all of that 833 00:36:54,867 --> 00:36:56,523 and just show you the highlights: 834 00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:02,363 - Is this my name..? 835 00:37:03,750 --> 00:37:04,933 Oh my god. 836 00:37:06,420 --> 00:37:08,580 All right, let's go with this guy, then. 837 00:37:08,580 --> 00:37:09,903 Oh, let's get the egg. 838 00:37:11,310 --> 00:37:12,143 - Oh yeah. 839 00:37:12,143 --> 00:37:13,550 - Oh, this sound design is so good. 840 00:37:13,550 --> 00:37:14,383 Are you hearing that? 841 00:37:14,383 --> 00:37:17,360 Dude, the fact that it's like a sprite of a cow 842 00:37:17,360 --> 00:37:19,083 with a McDonald's M on it!! 843 00:37:22,460 --> 00:37:25,630 - 'Hey, my name is Donald McDonald.' 844 00:37:25,630 --> 00:37:28,960 - Okay, how many pickles on a double cheeseburger? 845 00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:29,793 - Easy. 846 00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:33,638 We're now getting an isometric view of the whole store. 847 00:37:33,638 --> 00:37:34,630 - Whoa. 848 00:37:34,630 --> 00:37:35,463 - Oh, my god. 849 00:37:40,980 --> 00:37:41,813 - Okay... 850 00:37:43,810 --> 00:37:48,400 ...it says that you can send an encouraging message 851 00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:50,420 to someone else in the McDonald's crew. 852 00:37:50,420 --> 00:37:51,890 - Dude. 853 00:37:51,890 --> 00:37:54,310 Dude, that is incredible. 854 00:37:54,310 --> 00:37:55,620 - Now, as we played through this game, 855 00:37:55,620 --> 00:37:59,450 we just kept making discovery after fascinating discovery: 856 00:37:59,450 --> 00:38:01,390 - Is that Ronald McDonald's hand? 857 00:38:01,390 --> 00:38:03,250 - Way too much to put in this video. 858 00:38:03,250 --> 00:38:05,290 And, side note, if you're one of the people crazy enough 859 00:38:05,290 --> 00:38:07,720 to wanna watch all 73 minutes of this playthrough, 860 00:38:07,720 --> 00:38:10,080 you can just click the Join button underneath this video, 861 00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:12,330 and you'll get access to the entire thing 862 00:38:12,330 --> 00:38:13,500 as one of my channel members. 863 00:38:13,500 --> 00:38:14,423 Anyways: 864 00:38:15,470 --> 00:38:17,020 It goes without saying that this was 865 00:38:17,020 --> 00:38:18,730 an immensely satisfying moment: 866 00:38:18,730 --> 00:38:21,150 playing through this game for the first time, 867 00:38:21,150 --> 00:38:23,260 and having a translator by my side to help out. 868 00:38:23,260 --> 00:38:24,690 It felt like a victory. 869 00:38:24,690 --> 00:38:28,000 - It's a great piece of history that we've uncovered here, 870 00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:31,010 and I'm looking forward to sharing it with the world. 871 00:38:31,010 --> 00:38:33,380 - Yeah, and thank you for doing your part 872 00:38:33,380 --> 00:38:35,720 for video game preservation, man. 873 00:38:35,720 --> 00:38:38,820 This'll be the first video material in the world 874 00:38:38,820 --> 00:38:42,840 that actually goes into properly what the game is like. 875 00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:44,840 This has existed exclusively 876 00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:48,113 within the memories for like decades. 877 00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:49,953 Let's be honest, though. 878 00:38:49,953 --> 00:38:50,810 No one was gonna document 879 00:38:50,810 --> 00:38:54,630 the McDonald's DS game before you. 880 00:38:54,630 --> 00:38:55,837 - However.... 881 00:39:01,073 --> 00:39:02,685 (dry chuckle) 882 00:39:03,410 --> 00:39:05,830 About one week after I recorded my playthrough with Samuel, 883 00:39:05,830 --> 00:39:07,890 I was catching up with a friend over FaceTime 884 00:39:07,890 --> 00:39:09,490 and she asked me what I'd been up to lately. 885 00:39:09,490 --> 00:39:11,530 So I walked her through this whole story - 886 00:39:11,530 --> 00:39:14,510 the long lost game, the Bloomberg video, the auction; 887 00:39:14,510 --> 00:39:16,030 the French guy, Coddy Trentuit, 888 00:39:16,030 --> 00:39:17,420 who had a copy but couldn't get in 889 00:39:17,420 --> 00:39:19,860 because he didn't have the password, et cetera, et cetera - 890 00:39:19,860 --> 00:39:22,930 and how I had just managed to get to it myself. 891 00:39:22,930 --> 00:39:25,840 And she says to me, "So, wait: that password, 892 00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:29,140 was it an employee ID number or what?" 893 00:39:29,140 --> 00:39:31,530 So I go to Coddy's video to show her 894 00:39:31,530 --> 00:39:34,410 the exact password screen the guy was stuck on, 895 00:39:34,410 --> 00:39:37,550 and I noticed something new. 896 00:39:37,550 --> 00:39:39,090 While showing her Coddy's video, 897 00:39:39,090 --> 00:39:40,740 I spotted something in the description 898 00:39:40,740 --> 00:39:42,670 that I hadn't seen before: 899 00:39:42,670 --> 00:39:44,460 a new message that had been edited in 900 00:39:44,460 --> 00:39:45,910 since the last time I watched it. 901 00:39:45,910 --> 00:39:50,640 In French, in all capital letters: 'IDENTIFIANTS TROUVEE' - 902 00:39:50,640 --> 00:39:51,563 and beneath that, 903 00:39:53,430 --> 00:39:56,483 'LOGINS FOUNDS !!' with a YouTube link. 904 00:39:58,870 --> 00:39:59,820 I clicked the link. 905 00:40:02,520 --> 00:40:05,570 And it took me to a livestream archive, 906 00:40:05,570 --> 00:40:10,520 broadcast on YouTube, with 131 views - 58 minutes long - 907 00:40:31,760 --> 00:40:34,270 ...and it actually works. 908 00:40:34,270 --> 00:40:37,080 He gets in, plays through the entire game, 909 00:40:37,080 --> 00:40:38,480 just like me and Samuel did. 910 00:40:39,420 --> 00:40:42,280 And - here's the really devastating part: 911 00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:45,690 Coddy's playthrough had been streamed live to YouTube 912 00:40:45,690 --> 00:40:48,063 on August 30th, 2020. 913 00:40:49,070 --> 00:40:50,943 My playthrough with Samuel? 914 00:40:54,790 --> 00:40:58,780 That was on September 18th - barely two weeks later. 915 00:40:58,780 --> 00:40:59,813 We'd been beaten. 916 00:41:08,820 --> 00:41:10,370 I gotta be honest with you here, 917 00:41:10,370 --> 00:41:12,710 this was a little bit heartbreaking. 918 00:41:12,710 --> 00:41:15,760 To have come this far and put in all this effort... 919 00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:16,980 I was kicking myself: 920 00:41:16,980 --> 00:41:18,730 If I just moved a little faster, 921 00:41:18,730 --> 00:41:20,160 procrastinated a little less, 922 00:41:20,160 --> 00:41:22,600 I could have been the actual first one 923 00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:23,793 to document this game. 924 00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:25,610 At the same time, though, 925 00:41:25,610 --> 00:41:29,010 I was happy for Coddy - and also mystified by the fact 926 00:41:29,010 --> 00:41:31,960 that he'd somehow gotten the password for his cartridge. 927 00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:35,530 I mean, we all know how I got the password for my version; 928 00:41:35,530 --> 00:41:37,923 but how the hell did Coddy get his? 929 00:41:39,170 --> 00:41:41,430 Well, strap in, because Coddy's journey 930 00:41:41,430 --> 00:41:44,923 to get his cartridge's password is even crazier than my own. 931 00:41:52,660 --> 00:41:54,500 Over on that Obscure Gamers forum thread 932 00:41:54,500 --> 00:41:55,971 from the beginning of this video, 933 00:41:55,971 --> 00:41:57,930 Coddy tells the full story. 934 00:41:57,930 --> 00:42:01,650 In short, he was able through a friend to meet in person 935 00:42:01,650 --> 00:42:04,310 with the IT director of McDonald's in his country - 936 00:42:04,310 --> 00:42:06,310 presumably McDonald's France. 937 00:42:06,310 --> 00:42:08,290 Upon seeing the McDonald's DS, 938 00:42:08,290 --> 00:42:11,360 this IT guy freaked out, said "don't move," 939 00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:13,540 and then brought it to the desk of none other 940 00:42:13,540 --> 00:42:17,540 than the CEO - truly the 'Scott, president of Domino's Pizza' 941 00:42:17,540 --> 00:42:19,430 of this particular story. 942 00:42:19,430 --> 00:42:21,420 It turns out, the CEO's wife is Japanese, 943 00:42:21,420 --> 00:42:23,180 and she herself had actually worked 944 00:42:23,180 --> 00:42:25,520 at McDonald's Japan corporate - 945 00:42:25,520 --> 00:42:27,840 meaning she knew exactly who to contact 946 00:42:27,840 --> 00:42:29,113 about Coddy's problem. 947 00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:33,760 Weeks later, Coddy found himself on an email chain 948 00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:36,900 with employees from McDonald's Europe, McDonald's UK, 949 00:42:36,900 --> 00:42:40,483 McDonald's Australia, and of course... McDonald's Japan. 950 00:42:41,730 --> 00:42:43,480 This email chain, according to Coddy, 951 00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:44,980 was loaded with information, 952 00:42:44,980 --> 00:42:48,460 including scans of PDFs of the game's manual... 953 00:42:48,460 --> 00:42:51,170 but unfortunately, they weren't able to give him a password, 954 00:42:51,170 --> 00:42:52,750 as the individual passwords 955 00:42:52,750 --> 00:42:55,960 were set by individual McDonald's store management. 956 00:42:55,960 --> 00:42:59,460 Now, a lot of people would've given up there... but not Coddy. 957 00:42:59,460 --> 00:43:01,090 He kept going. 958 00:43:01,090 --> 00:43:03,550 And the actual explanation of what Cody did next 959 00:43:03,550 --> 00:43:06,730 is pretty technical and honestly way above my head, 960 00:43:06,730 --> 00:43:10,960 but at this point, Coddy actually dove into the code itself. 961 00:43:10,960 --> 00:43:12,570 He took apart the game's ROM, 962 00:43:12,570 --> 00:43:15,440 comparing the McDonald's training cartridges save data 963 00:43:15,440 --> 00:43:19,073 with other DS games and began to find similarities. 964 00:43:20,040 --> 00:43:23,720 Then, incredibly, Coddy made a huge discovery: 965 00:43:23,720 --> 00:43:25,980 he stumbled across a string of code in the game 966 00:43:25,980 --> 00:43:27,500 that contained translations 967 00:43:27,500 --> 00:43:29,350 of the two-character hex code 968 00:43:29,350 --> 00:43:32,250 for every single letter and number in the password screen. 969 00:43:33,310 --> 00:43:36,010 From there, he kept hunting, and then found the entry 970 00:43:36,010 --> 00:43:37,850 in the code for crew members... 971 00:43:37,850 --> 00:43:40,253 and at that point, he had everything he needed. 972 00:43:41,650 --> 00:43:45,720 The username? "LE1038". 973 00:43:45,720 --> 00:43:47,103 and the password he needed? 974 00:43:47,103 --> 00:43:48,000 Zero... 975 00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:49,522 zero zero... 976 00:43:49,522 --> 00:43:50,721 zero... 977 00:43:50,721 --> 00:43:51,458 ...zero... 978 00:43:51,458 --> 00:43:53,210 ...zero. 979 00:43:53,210 --> 00:43:54,043 He was in. 980 00:43:55,680 --> 00:43:58,650 I could not stop smiling when I first read Coddy's story. 981 00:43:58,650 --> 00:43:59,660 This guy had jumped through 982 00:43:59,660 --> 00:44:01,840 about a billion hoops and roadblocks 983 00:44:01,840 --> 00:44:04,400 to solve a very inconsequential mystery - 984 00:44:04,400 --> 00:44:06,310 and to me, that made me feel like he and I 985 00:44:06,310 --> 00:44:08,240 are kindred spirits in a way. 986 00:44:08,240 --> 00:44:09,950 But also... I'd be lying if I said 987 00:44:09,950 --> 00:44:11,070 I wasn't a little heartbroken 988 00:44:11,070 --> 00:44:13,120 that Coddy had ultimately beaten me to the punch. 989 00:44:13,120 --> 00:44:15,170 But the irony wasn't lost on me either: 990 00:44:15,170 --> 00:44:17,910 This entire time, without either one of us knowing it, 991 00:44:17,910 --> 00:44:20,610 Coddy and I had been racing in parallel, neck and neck, 992 00:44:20,610 --> 00:44:22,230 to the same finish line. 993 00:44:22,230 --> 00:44:24,870 And, unfortunately for me, Coddy had beaten me, 994 00:44:24,870 --> 00:44:27,303 fair and square, by just a couple of days. 995 00:44:30,560 --> 00:44:33,360 Still, I was determined to make this adventure worth it. 996 00:44:36,433 --> 00:44:38,590 I had come too far to just throw all this away 997 00:44:38,590 --> 00:44:41,700 because someone else beat me to putting this on YouTube. 998 00:44:41,700 --> 00:44:43,720 And after thinking about it for awhile, 999 00:44:43,720 --> 00:44:46,330 I think I figured out what I can do. 1000 00:44:46,330 --> 00:44:48,150 See, as of today, the only two people 1001 00:44:48,150 --> 00:44:50,350 we know for sure have access to this game 1002 00:44:50,350 --> 00:44:52,400 are Coddy and myself. 1003 00:44:52,400 --> 00:44:54,480 And as cool as that scarcity is, 1004 00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:55,720 I think I want this game to be something 1005 00:44:55,720 --> 00:44:57,600 that everybody can enjoy - 1006 00:44:57,600 --> 00:44:59,210 and Cody's made it abundantly clear 1007 00:44:59,210 --> 00:45:01,960 that he plans to never, ever dump his copy. 1008 00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:03,220 After spending months on this project 1009 00:45:03,220 --> 00:45:05,640 and reading tons and tons of forum threads about it, 1010 00:45:05,640 --> 00:45:07,240 one thing I feel pretty confident about 1011 00:45:07,240 --> 00:45:09,950 is that people really want to see this game preserved - 1012 00:45:09,950 --> 00:45:11,830 both just to check the game out for themselves, 1013 00:45:11,830 --> 00:45:13,650 and also out of principle. 1014 00:45:13,650 --> 00:45:16,820 So, one last time, I reached out to Samuel about my idea, 1015 00:45:16,820 --> 00:45:18,040 and Samuel put me in touch 1016 00:45:18,040 --> 00:45:20,140 with a game preservationist named sCZther. 1017 00:45:41,530 --> 00:45:42,520 sCZther walked me through the process 1018 00:45:42,520 --> 00:45:45,880 of using some software called GodMode9 on my 3DS 1019 00:45:45,880 --> 00:45:48,903 to dump the game cartridge itself in its entirety. 1020 00:45:53,750 --> 00:45:57,860 The game cartridge itself and, crucially, my save file - 1021 00:45:57,860 --> 00:45:59,610 since the game requires a password. 1022 00:46:00,620 --> 00:46:02,623 And, after jumping through a few hoops... 1023 00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:07,373 ...we were successful. 1024 00:46:17,160 --> 00:46:18,760 So, I am happy to announce 1025 00:46:18,760 --> 00:46:21,330 that if you or anyone else watching this video 1026 00:46:21,330 --> 00:46:23,140 wants to play this long-lost 1027 00:46:23,140 --> 00:46:25,530 Japanese McDonald's training game for yourself: 1028 00:46:25,530 --> 00:46:27,240 I've created a page on archive.org 1029 00:46:27,240 --> 00:46:29,550 where I've uploaded the ROM and my save file 1030 00:46:29,550 --> 00:46:30,730 and some basic instructions, 1031 00:46:30,730 --> 00:46:33,500 and you can download it and start playing with it today. 1032 00:46:33,500 --> 00:46:34,333 Have fun. 1033 00:46:39,190 --> 00:46:41,100 It's only recently, now that this whole thing is over, 1034 00:46:41,100 --> 00:46:43,650 that I've been able to reflect on just how bizarre 1035 00:46:43,650 --> 00:46:46,710 and uniquely international this journey was. 1036 00:46:46,710 --> 00:46:47,990 The quest to get my hands on this game 1037 00:46:47,990 --> 00:46:51,570 involved a German 3DS hacker, a pseudonymous French rival, 1038 00:46:51,570 --> 00:46:53,810 a game archivist from the Czech Republic, 1039 00:46:53,810 --> 00:46:55,290 international smuggling - 1040 00:46:55,290 --> 00:46:57,360 and, for the second time in my life, 1041 00:46:57,360 --> 00:47:00,173 the Japanese arm of an American fast food company. 1042 00:47:01,020 --> 00:47:03,610 I still don't really understand why this keeps happening - 1043 00:47:03,610 --> 00:47:06,870 why I seem fated to pursue these trivial stories 1044 00:47:06,870 --> 00:47:09,730 about companies like Domino's Japan or McDonald's Japan. 1045 00:47:09,730 --> 00:47:13,170 And though I don't know how things turned out this way, 1046 00:47:13,170 --> 00:47:14,870 there's one thing I know for sure: 1047 00:47:18,260 --> 00:47:19,093 I'm lovin' it. 1048 00:47:19,374 --> 00:47:20,768 (laughter) 1049 00:47:22,121 --> 00:47:23,288 ...stupid ending. 1050 00:47:28,440 --> 00:47:30,840 Before we wrap up, I have three really quick notes: 1051 00:47:30,840 --> 00:47:31,710 first and foremost, 1052 00:47:31,710 --> 00:47:33,700 I'd like to extend a huge thank you, once again, 1053 00:47:33,700 --> 00:47:35,680 to Buyee for sponsoring this video 1054 00:47:35,680 --> 00:47:37,030 and for helping preserve this weird 1055 00:47:37,030 --> 00:47:38,880 little piece of internet history. 1056 00:47:38,880 --> 00:47:39,790 There's a link in the description 1057 00:47:39,790 --> 00:47:42,800 of this video that gives you a free 2,000 yen coupon 1058 00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:45,380 to any new Buyee users who sign up - 1059 00:47:45,380 --> 00:47:47,310 It's a great service, I've used it a ton of times, 1060 00:47:47,310 --> 00:47:49,880 so if you wanna thank Buyee for making this video possible, 1061 00:47:49,880 --> 00:47:51,170 please consider clicking this link 1062 00:47:51,170 --> 00:47:52,530 and checking the site out. 1063 00:47:52,530 --> 00:47:54,540 Also, in the time since the story began, 1064 00:47:54,540 --> 00:47:57,050 Buyee has opened up international shipping via DHL, 1065 00:47:57,050 --> 00:47:59,980 so getting stuff in and out of Japan is now a breeze. 1066 00:47:59,980 --> 00:48:01,990 Also, a huge shout out to Jennifer Walton, 1067 00:48:01,990 --> 00:48:04,460 who composed that phenomenal reorchestrated version 1068 00:48:04,460 --> 00:48:06,680 of the McDonald's training game menu theme 1069 00:48:06,680 --> 00:48:08,580 that you heard at the very end of this video. 1070 00:48:08,580 --> 00:48:10,100 Couldn't have done it without her. 1071 00:48:10,100 --> 00:48:12,170 I still laugh every time I listen to that song. 1072 00:48:12,170 --> 00:48:13,410 It's so perfect. 1073 00:48:13,410 --> 00:48:15,360 Here's a link to that if you want to hear it. 1074 00:48:15,360 --> 00:48:16,930 Secondly, the link to download 1075 00:48:16,930 --> 00:48:18,620 the McDonald's DS game rom that I dumped 1076 00:48:18,620 --> 00:48:19,970 is linked in the description below, 1077 00:48:19,970 --> 00:48:21,620 so please check that out. 1078 00:48:21,620 --> 00:48:22,960 And lastly: you might have noticed 1079 00:48:22,960 --> 00:48:24,480 that right next to the Subscribe button, 1080 00:48:24,480 --> 00:48:27,200 I now have a Join button under my videos. 1081 00:48:27,200 --> 00:48:28,470 Basically, if you'd like to support me 1082 00:48:28,470 --> 00:48:30,320 making more videos like this one, you can do so 1083 00:48:30,320 --> 00:48:32,370 for just 5 bucks a month, and get access 1084 00:48:32,370 --> 00:48:33,970 to all sorts of free extras 1085 00:48:33,970 --> 00:48:35,697 like me and Samuel's full, hour-long playthrough 1086 00:48:35,697 --> 00:48:37,700 of the McDonald's DS game, 1087 00:48:37,700 --> 00:48:41,300 commentary tracks for my older videos, and so much more. 1088 00:48:41,300 --> 00:48:43,813 Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.