I used the search, but couldn't find any topic yet (but if there is, do point me out!). I'm not really familiar with the repro world, but upon seeing a PAL version of Secret of Mana 2 complete with (cardboard) box and manual I really consider adding that to my collection. So I was wondering how the world of repro carts work. Are there a few manufacturers / vendors? Or can we expect more and more people (indivuduals?) doing this as a hobby thing (and making some money out of it)? Specifically in the case of Secret of Mana 2 PAL, where should I look and get it, if I want the best quality (maybe also support)? Are there things to take into account when buying a repro from one source or another?
Repo? So what they break into sealed collectors homes, repossess the sealed games and then sell them either on Ebay or for bitcoin on the dark web?
Ugh, that should have been 'Repro' obviously. Can a mod change the topic title? Guess that was the reason I didn't get many hits when using the search In the case of Secret of Mana 2, for example: http://melbourneconsolerepros.com/product_info.php?products_id=35 http://www.gamereproductions.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=329 http://www.retrogamereproductions.co.uk/#!secret-of-mana-2-1/iasm3
Oh I just love commercial repros! At least as long as everyone gets their fair share, i.e. the developers of the original game as well as the translation team. So before you buy anything, make sure the seller isn't just ripping off other peoples' work. Do The Right Thing. Thank you.
I don't mind repro as long as it's not ripoff of someone's homebrewn game. Starfox 2 for example was prototyped but never released and requires SFX chip to run so it won't work on flash carts (not even SD2SNES, no SFX support yet) so I would pay for repro. Hacked fantranslation of popular games are another area worth looking into. And some alternate world games like many of hacked Zelda games can be fun and almost worth playing. There's one version that made original LoZ almost like SNES version but because the modded ROM is huge, it won't work on flash carts. Homemade games like Zaku for Lynx I will only get the original and not pay for repro, it'd be giving a ROM thief the money and not the author who deserves it.
It depends what they charge in my opinion. The rom translator/creator obviously has no issue with you having the rom for free - they put it on the internet. Long as the repro only costs price of parts + labour of installing the chip etc, they are not charging for the game, just doing work you might not be able to do personally. Think of it as if you downloaded the rom yourself, burned it to an eprom and then send it to someone to install - they would still charge you.
Agreed that everything's peachy as long as no profits are made. I doubt that's the case with the linked-above repros going for $119 though. There's the fact that translators might have put restrictions on distribution. For example, this is from the Seiken Densetsu 3/Secret of Mana 2 translation by Corlett et al: I've seen quite a few similar paragraphs on other patches. Would be interesting to see sth like this going to court, imho. No idea if anyone's actually tried that yet.
Also there'd be even less problems if packaging and carts had "reproduction" stated on them somewhere. However this doesn't happen often and they're passed off as originals.
Wow that is pricey. I get repros quiet often from a buddy. He makes them at his house. Granted cart only but $35+ shipping for a standard style cart (no special chips inside) isn't bad. And for sure are labled that it is a reproduction clearly on the labels. They aren't very distinct coloring and look somewhat faded but I get them just to play as I am not a collector by any means other then having them to play. Edit Well I guess with the "complete" ones that isn't a bad price. The cart only ones are priced right and seem of a very high quality. Thanks for the links I see a few I want to get that he isn't able to do priced fairly at $65 or so. Glad I saw this thread. Re-Edit OK I am VERY happy I found this. The Genesis repros are super affordable. Finally I will have Eliminate Down and more. Buying the 10 games for $300 special as we speak. Just had to come back and say thanks, a really big thanks for the heads up on all these. Only ever bought SNES repros before like Nightmare Busters and thrilled to find some for my Negative/Genesis.
Or official translations, like Monster World 4, only released on Virtual Console. That's something I'd pay money for (and I have done so).
Not entirely correct. In some translation circles, not buying the original is seen as an affront and only patch files will be distributed by the translators themselves, not entirely patched ROMs. Taking this to the extreme leads to situations like Break The Support Disc!, but it's an entirely valid and not that uncommon sentiment on its own.
It was a poor choice of wording, I was implying they are happy for you to use their work without paying (patch/rom/translation). i.e. they dont expect any money from you to use the patch/translation.
Fair enough, but they still might be against the sentiment of repros, even if the price is just to cover production costs, since you're not supporting the original creators that way.
Which original creators? The one who made the original game? Even buying the game now, you arent supporting them - they see none of the money. Or are you talking about the translator? But you could just use the japanese version of the game and swap the rom in that. But as far as I have seen, I have not seen terms to say you cant put the patch into a cart (i.e. you download the patch, you dump your own cart and then replace the rom in said cart). So if thats OK, its not a stretch to think its OK to pay someone for the labour you arent skilled enough to do. But I certainly do agree with your sentiment, the person who created it can still say they arent happy with you selling it.
The original game developers. Whether or not they see money heavily depends on the market: doujin visual novels, in which the sentiment is more common, typically see a fair bit of the money and are also heavily dependent on decent sales figures.
If you buy a game from me, the developer sees none of it. Are "doujin visual novels" (I dont know what these are!) different in this respect? if so, how? (I am genuinely interested, not arguing) Unless we are crossing wires with currently produce items vs old stuff (which when talking about repros, I have SNES/NES/Genesis/etc) in mind.
I think we may be talking past eachother, since I presume you're talking about stuff like second-hand sales, while I'm talking more about sales from the source (think Amazon Japan or something similar). The kind of relevant items tend to be sold with developer benefit long past their commercial lifetime, funnily enough. I agree that second-hand stuff is more of a muddy subject, but the common idea among translators who share such sentiments is "here's a link to get it from the source (the developers, or a store that benefits the developers), get it from there, we're only distributing the patch". In that aspect, buying repros would not be supporting the original developers. For what it's worth, you can roughly translate doujin to "indie" in the Western scene in this context. It's a sort-of unique Japanese thing. The definition of visual novels is also somewhat muddy, but for this discussion's sake you can just think of it a type of "game".
Yes, we are talking about different things. I was very much talking about out of production games etc. I certainly agree that translators wouldnt want you to pirate in production games.
