The Video Game History Foundation has announced the preservation of a major Sega Channel archive, recovering 144 Sega Channel ROMs alongside extensive system software and internal documentation. Revealed on December 15, 2025, the project represents one of the most complete recoveries of a discontinued console-based digital service.
The archive includes previously lost Sega Channel exclusives such as Garfield: Caught in the Act – The Lost Levels and The Flintstones, games that never received physical cartridge releases. Also preserved are numerous Sega Channel–specific variants, including split and reduced versions of titles like Mortal Kombat 3, Virtua Fighter 2, and Sonic 3D Blast, modified to fit the service’s strict file size limits.
In addition to game data, nearly 100 unique system and menu ROMs were recovered, covering almost every consumer version of Sega Channel software released between 1994 and 1997. One of the more unusual discoveries is an experimental Sega Genesis web browser, designed to deliver compressed, static web pages over cable television.
All recovered ROM data has been donated to Gaming Alexandria, while internal documents from former Sega Channel vice president Michael Shorrock provide new insight into how the service operated and what its cancelled successor, Express Games, might have become. With this effort, Sega Channel’s legacy is now preserved as an important chapter in early console digital distribution history.