A long-lost NES port of the classic god sim Populous has been recovered after 33 years by the preservation group Games That Weren’t. The discovery was announced on March 24, 2025, when Games That Weren’t founder Frank Gasking successfully recovered data from development disks provided by Enigma Variations CEO Mark Greenshields and producer Darren Melbourne.

This NES version of Populous was in development around 1992 when publisher Imagineer hired Enigma Variations to port the popular strategy game to Nintendo’s 8-bit console. However, the project was ultimately cancelled because Imagineer believed the NES was past its prime and wouldn’t generate sufficient sales.

According to Gasking, “the conversion looks pretty solid,” though it lacks some color depth in the main map. Overall, he reports that “it all works and plays very well.” The prototype can now be played using NES emulators like Nestopia or MESEN, and Games That Weren’t has uploaded a nine-minute video demonstration to their YouTube channel.

This discovery follows another recent Games That Weren’t find—an unreleased NES port of Sensible Soccer, also developed by Enigma Variations. The Populous recovery represents another significant preservation effort for gaming history, rescuing what would have been the NES version of one of the most influential strategy games of its era.

For those interested in trying this piece of gaming history, the recovered prototype is now available for download through the Games That Weren’t website.