Where’s My Crash?
dear retro gamer, there are some interesting trends in the retro gaming scene right now, wouldn’t you say? i’m particularly interested in how bigger companies seem to be taking legacy platform support seriously.
Just look at the evidence. Sega has just signed an agreement to do new licensed controllers with the same company that has been releasing data east multicarts. Piko interactive is still picking up old games for rerelease, and Capcom even endorsed a new run of Snes Street Fighter II carts (though that fire warning put me off them, personally).
So could 2018 finally be the year that we see the price crash the retro gaming market so desperately needs? Mega Man X2 just went for £650 on ebay. there’s clearly demand there, and Capcom doesn’t see a penny from it – but it would if it licensed a company to make some brand-new copies. and what’s to stop Sega doing the same with the likes of, say, Alien Soldier? We want these games, and it feels like the opportunity to finally get them at non-insane prices is almost at hand.
Come on, games publishers. take my money. rich nicholls
we’ll welcome anything that makes retro gaming a more affordable hobby, and if new officially licensed cartridges can do that, we’re on board. However, we’re not sure if the price crash you want will materialise, and there’s a couple of reasons for that.
Firstly, any reprint venture is risky – overmanufacturing a game only to find that the demand doesn’t materialise can tank your whole company. as a result, we’d expect these to be pretty limited runs, whenever they do happen. secondly, although companies have nothing to lose financially by screwing the people that inflate the prices of rare games, they may wish to avoid the Pr backlash that may come with it. this, we’d wager, its why the Capcom and Data east cartridges released in 2017 have different colours and designs – it keeps them distinct from the original run, so people who like rarity and money more than the actual games can still say ‘rare First edition L@@K’ on their ebay auctions.
still, we would rather you were right than us, so have a Retro Gamer bookazine.