Releasing in 1999, and only having a run of 3,000 copies. Garage: Bad Dream Adventure never properly had a chance for true success on release, especially with it being a Japanese exclusive.

 In 2013, a message on the 4chan /vr/ board would change all of that. A thread started by user “explorer”, or “lightingman” on other platforms, began asking other users to help him in obtaining a copy of Garage off various Japanese auction websites. At this point in time, almost nothing was known about the game.

 The only info available was that a rerelease of the game in 2004 distributed an extra 90 copies into the world, and there was an existing webpage by the studio detailing some of the game’s plot. Even with Japanese users who did have the physical copy, they were terrified to upload the game online, as it was very possible for Japan’s anti-piracy laws to strike full force upon them for doing so. 

For those overseas, foreigners were unable to directly purchase copies themselves as prices were incredibly exorbitant by then. Eventually, however, a crowdfund was set in place to purchase a copy of the game to put online, but it would be too late as the only auction available had been purchased by someone else. It would be a while until another offer was found.

 Thankfully, after about a year had passed, another auction was found. With the community quickly gathering to start another crowdfund, making sure to not get out-bid. The purchase had managed to go through successfully.

 An Australian user would now get ahold of the coveted lost media, quickly uploading the files online. While the game was now playable, it was still entirely in Japanese. Leaving many dissatisfied as they could not even understand the experience they had been waiting so long for, and thus unable to play. 

With a translation effort started it would be several years before Westerners could play the game without a walkthrough. The translation team would be close to finishing the effort in 2020, as a user was able to develop a hack that automatically translated text which sped up the process immensely. (But still needed to be checked for inaccuracies.)

Suddenly, on Dec. 4, 2020, a crowdfunding project started by the original creator (Sakuba Tomomi) was made. The plan was for a director’s cut-esq version of the game with multiple translations to be released on mobile

. What began as a 3 million yen goal, quickly reached 23 million yen with the help of over 2000 people.  Backed by the immense support, an official English-translated mobile port of the game with updated UI and resolution was then soon made available on the iOS and Android app stores in 2021. It shocked many who weren’t aware of the crowdfund as there had not been much announcement prior. The game would then shortly be ported over to PC platforms in 2022, ending the saga of the unobtainable nightmare trip that is Garage: Bad Dream Adventure.