Ultra rare floppy disk game twisted and slashed into shards by US Customs or DHL checkers — ruined Tsukihime 1999 demo was one of only 50 ever produced
Gaming history artifact was needlessly and heartlessly desecrated.
A games collector shared a most distressing unboxing video this week. Keripo had ordered an important historical video gaming artifact, one of only 50 known copies of Tsukhime Trial Edition (月姫 体験版). However, as the images and video (embedded below) show, it looks like the US Customs and/or DHL have been rather heavy-handed when checking the parcel contents. You can clearly see that the original Windows 95/98 demo floppy disk has been deliberately sliced into pieces, after its protective shell was twisted and torn almost beyond recognition.
As Keripo opens the parcel in the video below, they naturally utter a few expletives, so this is an NSFW video in that respect. Turn the sound down/off if you prefer.
My Tsukhime Trial Edition (月姫 体験版) finally arrived, one of only 50 copies in the world. Only to discover that US Customs had removed all the bubble wrap and physically destroyed the floppy disk. Will file a report but literally crying right now😭#TYPEMOON #Tsukihime #月姫 pic.twitter.com/i8Mup326ZsFebruary 26, 2026
We don’t know exactly where in the transportation chain, from sender to Keripo, where the wanton floppy disk rampage took place. Hopefully, they will get some kind of compensation payment. Though that won’t totally make up for a 1-in-50 video gaming artifact being ruined.
The gamer and collector shares some before shipping pictures of the Tsukhime Trial Edition game/packaging in the X thread. It is clear to see that the sender took due care in packaging the artwork and disk. The contents were sandwiched by cardboard to prevent bends and thumbed corners, and then there were liberal rolls of bubble wrap used inside an outer cardboard shipping box. “Would never have expected US Customs to both remove all that AND intentionally damage the floppy directly,” says Keripo forlornly.
If they see this game for sale again online, “I will definitely be buying plane tickets,” said the disappointed new owner of the floppy disk shards. However, the game cover art doesn’t seem to be damaged. And perhaps a fellow collector will be able to share a disk image for a digital replacement of the mangled floppy. According to a quick search, the Mr. Data 2HD floppy we see was just a mass-produced piece of blank media – no other branding/artwork can be seen.
Was an official triggered by the 'adults only' notice on the game artwork?
We can’t fathom the reason behind the video game history vandalism that has been shown by parcel checkers of one brand or another (US Customs or DHL). One possibility is that they saw the imagery and the ‘Adult only’ notice and decided to indulge in a bit of censorship.
I’m not familiar with the Tsukhime Trial Edition demo disk, which I read is part of the Type-Moon visual novel style game series. There’s a possibility that nudity graphics may feature in the game demo, but whether that notion triggered a customs official isn’t certain. From Keripo's replies to the thread, it doesn't sound likely that they will pursue the matter with either of the probable destructive parties.
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Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
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TechieTwo I would not be so sure that it's not DHL as I observed yesterday that they delivered a package to France that wasn't to the correct business customer or even to the correct country. How could DHL do that? :(Reply -
USAFRet One and only one warning, to all....Reply
Leave politics out of this.
Any further transgressions will be summarily deleted. -
GreyOmega ReplyNotton said:I would assume it's CBP and not DHL.
I wouldn't be sure. Due to the tariffs and end of de minimis exemptions the Japanese retailer I've been ordering anime figures from only offers DHL or ECMS for US shipping. DHL is the most expensive, but fastest shipping and my past experiences had been fine with them. Unfortunately something seems to have changed since like last September, as the last two orders I had shipped with them had shipping boxes in pretty trashed conditions. The last box was practically a soggy mess about to disintegrate when the delivery guy dropped it off and practically tried to flee before I opened the door. He apologized but said that was the condition it was given to him. Thankfully the figure inside was fine, but I've since stopped using DHL because of it. -
sftwn Reply
You have to file report first with the CBP, unfortunately. I've gone through this before and it's a long and painful process of filing forms and waiting months for the CBP to not respond in kind so you can finally file suit, then years for the suit to play out.Faiakes said:Lawsuit against both of them?
And even then, you'll rarely recoup the full damages. I only recovered less than half the damages. -
ezst036 This is very sad.Reply
Perhaps the original disk is gone forever, however are there in existence ROMs or EXEs or (fill in the blank) of what the game was so that at least the digital asset is not also lost forever? -
imapterodactyl Reply
For sure. Some idiot kid who's never seen a floppy and sliced it open thinking he could hold the magnetic disk up to the light and see what's on it like it's a dang View-Master slide. Absolute morons with no training whatsoever just ruining stuff for no reason with no shame. Disgusting.Notton said:I would assume it's CBP and not DHL. -
imapterodactyl Reply
Delivering to the wrong location is very different from intentionally tearing open a box and manually destroying the contents because you're a moron who doesn't know what a floppy disk is.TechieTwo said:I would not be so sure that it's not DHL as I observed yesterday that they delivered a package to France that wasn't to the correct business customer or even to the correct country. How could DHL do that? :( -
ezst036 There is another side here.Reply
Who owns the other 49 copies of this only 50 ever produced? What this means is those other 49 now go up in value.
Or maybe not, since people are telling me that DRAM prices increasing has nothing to do with supply and demand that its just a conspiracy when prices go up. Yeah, that's what it is. The other 49 disks won't go up in value at all.