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Searching for 'Happy Ness: The Secret of the Loch' SNES game

Hey fellow lost media hunters, I’m on the tracks of ‘Happy Ness: The Secret of the Loch’. For those not in the know, it was an SNES game planned to ride off the success of things like the 'Nessie' phenomenon.

From what I've gathered, it only made it as far as a few promo materials and possibly a demo at a trade show. There're screenshots from magazines, but a ROM’s never surfaced. It’s like it sank to the bottom of Loch Ness itself. Any gamers out there who caught a glimpse or even played a demo back in the day?

Submitted 12 months ago by 8bitmystery


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I've taken a deep interest in these snippets of gaming history that somehow managed to elude preservation. 'Happy Ness' is a particularly elusive case. According to my research, it was rumored to be shown at the Winter CES of '94. But the details are so scarce, it's like trying to find footprints on water. The trail runs cold after those magazine promos. Never seen a box, manual, or even credible eyewitness accounts of its gameplay. Painting a target for our search might start with tracking down the developers or anyone who attended that CES with a good memory.

12 months ago by ByteQuester

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this sounds like a job for my buddy who's into old trade show memorabilia. lemme hit him up, see if he knows something. no promises but that guy's got a closet like aladdin's cave for this kind of stuff.

12 months ago by retro_raz

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LOL 'Sank to the bottom of Loch Ness itself' - too right. Maybe Nessie ate all the copies, amirite? 🤣 Good luck finding that game tho, it probably doesn't even exist, it's just an elaborate troll by the 90s game devs.

12 months ago by DevilsAdvocate

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Oooooh, 'Happy Ness'! That's ancient history, but here's something cool: I've got an old gaming mag with an article about it. It's not much, just a page with what look like early screen caps and a bunch of hype text, but no actual info on gameplay or if a full demo ever got made. Whoever snagged that gem (if it exists) sitting on a goldmine!

12 months ago by SNESfanatic

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hey, I'm pretty new to this subreddit but fascinated by this kind of stuff. didn't even know about 'Happy Ness'. sounds like a true gaming mystery. anyone got those magazine screenshots or more info on the trade show it was at?

12 months ago by 16bit_mystery

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Y'all are on a wild goose chase here, or should I say wild Ness chase lol. There's a reason 'Happy Ness' never surfaced, and I'm willing to bet it's because it was never much more than vaporware, a few screen mock-ups to build hype in the magazines. ROMs from that era don't just vanish, especially not from trade shows. If it existed, we'd have seen more concrete proof by now.

12 months ago by lochness_legend

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I swear I played a demo of it at a convention wayyy back. It was one of those kiosks that were extremely busy, so I didn't get much time with it. The graphics were decent, typical for the SNES, but the controls were a bit janky. That might've been cuz it was early in dev tho. Can't believe nobody snagged a copy.

12 months ago by demo_dude92

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man, Happy Ness really IS a deep dive, no pun intended haha. never played it myself but i remember seeing those screenshots in a mag once, looked pretty funky for the time. if it ended up at a trade show, maybe some old-school gaming collectors or exhibitors who frequent those events might have the deets?

12 months ago by nesstalgic_gamer