Would an OFFICIAL reproduction interest you? Explanation inside

As a collector of classic games and systems, finding things in the ideal condition isn't always easy. As someone that's slightly obsessive about boxes and things like that, it ramps up a bit. Add in some systems beginning to fail like the trays on the OG Sega CD or the gears crumbling on the Turbo Grafx 16 CD, and it's enough to drive me insane. That's not even mentioning individual pieces like the clips on the 32X. I was talking about this with 2 friends while driving back from yet another trip up to Digital Press, and I posed this question to them since they were getting ready for PAX East. If Sega announced they would be reproducing a limited amount of the Genesis and Sega CD, or CDX, would this be something you'd have interest in? For the sake of argument, the run would be limited enough that they wouldn't be available for more than 6-9 months, but extreme scalping wouldn't happen either. There would also be clear marks on the box/system that it's a reproduction. Other than that, 100% faithful, if not improved. Personally, I'd pay a stupid amount of money, and potentially buy 2.

tl;dr..If companies like Sega made a limited run of faithful reproductions of their systems, would you be interested?

 

Probably not because chances are they'd either cut corners or couldn't replicate the same original quality with modern components. I'm all for repro boxes, replacement shells or spares for worn out parts, but I'm all about that original look, sound and feel when it comes to game play and from past experience companies never seem to live up to that standard.

If they actually managed to improve on previous hardware then sure, but I'm 99% certain it would never happen.

 

That's what I mean, for the sake of argument, they could use a newer mechanic instead of the rubber belt that wears out, or shitty gear that crumbles over time. They wouldn't cut corners. Clearly, no one would run with the idea, it's a thought in passing between 3 collectors on a 2+ hour drive, but it's an interesting thought.

 

Even with a clear marking to separate the original and reproduction? Don't get me wrong, I can absolutely see it your way as with some things I collect in other areas I'd never want reproduced, I just feel with some items that were never a rarity a small run wouldn't be a bad thing.

 

I'd go for it as long as the parts were clearly marked as repros. I mean, cars use aftermarket repros all the time because the original manufacture doesn't make engine parts or body panels anymore. Why should classic game consoles be any different? After all, a pure 100% original is going to be worth more to a collector than a fixed up console with repro parts.

 

Good point but that's how I see it now. I wouldn't buy a crappy looking Mega CD even if it was cheap because I'd want a mint one. That's just the way I am. If given the choice of a 100% original mint unit costing say $150 and a mint reconditioned unit at $100 I'd still buy the original. But like I said, that's just how I am. Originality is important to me. I would have thought real collectors would be the same.

 

NGev is doing a reprint of "Last Hope" with a limited (& still very expensive) run. I don't see anyone complaining about that.

IMHO I'm all about official reprints/repros, because when it comes down to it I'd just like to see great games out there in the hands of the greatest number of people.

 

The way I see it, if it's an official release, then that's not a "reproduction" any more than a greatest hits release is a reproduction. It's a rerelease. Record companies rerelease albums all the time, and nobody regards those as "reproductions", although some people still prefer the original release. So personally I think it would be awesome if game companies did stuff like that, but it seems pretty unlikely to me. I can't think of any harm such a rerelease would do.

It's true that it might cause the price of the original copies to fall, but that seems like a good thing to me. Those who want the original release can get it for cheaper, and those who want a brand new copy have that option too. It might hurt some sellers, but it probably wouldn't be enough of a widespread thing to really hurt the market all that much. Besides, in case you haven't noticed, retro game prices have skyrocketed in the past few years for seemingly no reason. Anything that could bring down the prices is a good thing to me.

I also think it's shortsighted to think only of what effect this would have on sellers. To me this is similar to the argument that development of new, more advanced technology will cause people to lose jobs related to older technologies. If you expect progress to ever happen in an industry/society, inevitably some people will lose their source of income. The market evolves, people adapt their business practices to a new environment. I think that's a good thing. Too much stasis is never a good thing.

Anyway, as I said, I think it's pretty unlikely that'll ever happen. Game companies stand to make a lot higher profits by selling their current/next-gen consoles and ports of retro games for those consoles than to rerelease games for older, abandoned consoles. The entirety of their marketing and investments are in those newer consoles, so it would be counterproductive for them to release games on a dead console. But hey, anything's possible.

 

Video game collecting shouldn't be able the value anyway.

 

I'm guessing you meant "about". Video game collecting for you isn't about the value. It means something very different for every person. If we made video gaming a full time job and played games start to finish for 40 hours a week, till the end of our mortal coils; most of us wouldn't even make a dent on our collections. For some people its about having something that is rare, wanting something that they can't have, or making a few dollars doing what they love(some call this greedy profiteering); is what video game collecting is all about.

 

To me, this hobby is about nostalgia; collecting the systems and games that I wanted when I was a child but couldn't afford because I was just a child, and owning complete sets is not about owning scarce or rare things, it's about owning an entire "set" of that era of gaming history. While owning something rare and valuable is nice, it's not what this is about to me.

If Nintendo, for example, rereleased a repro NES/Famicom, I'd think that's awesome, as long as it were true to the original hardware and not their own kind of SoC-style clone.... If it were a clone or something like that, I wouldn't bother although that might end up making it collectable in its own right.

 

Absolutely I would want this and I would want perfect reproductions as well. I don't care if it tanks the original's value.

We are not talking about some one-off masterpiece created by a great artist like the Sistine Chapel or the Mona Lisa. Something special that can never be recreated again. These are items whose value is derived simply due to time passing and various other circumstances.

There are plenty of things that I would love to own but likely never will simply because I wasn't born at the right time to get it and which are now prohibitively expensive. Certain cars are the first that come to mind. That both sucks and makes no sense when there is both the demand for it and the possibility to make it again.

 

I do believe Megaman 2 is in that category of awesomeness, Megaman 3 slightly less so.

 

such as? i mean seriously what would you do?
if SEGA wanted to do this they would and no amount of moaning from yourself would stop them
unless your on the SEGA board and you just never mentioned it?

similar to what you did with Geist force? the original GD-R is now worth a lot less no?

 

I would welcome reproductions for normal prices (e.g. $20 for a reproduced Famicom game, manufactured by Nintendo). Of course it should always be highlighted as such so the collector's market is not poisoned. I know this will never happen, but just if it did happen, I would be delighted and not against it. I do not think that the collector's value of most items will plummet. Only games that are primarily bought for high prices in lack of an alternative will fall in prices (e.g. Earthbound SNES). Everything else will still be bought by collectors, not gamers, and is therefore likely to remain stable in price since a reprint does not substitute the original in the eyes of an enthusiast.

 

thats the thing, as long as it was done properly (used decent components and was 1:1 with the Sound/Video of the original) and clearly labelled as a reproduction then its a great thing, the original consoles are mostly a bit crappy now and its hard to get one in tip top condition without paying over the odds (unless you drop on one luckily) so a new release of hardware can only be a good thing

 

Re-produced parts? Yes please for example the helix screw for model 1 Sega/Mega CD (or full replacement drives).

Not sure about full consoles as I am not sure the 100 or so people that want them would warrant the price.

 

Why make games with out of production chips, that were made by a process that most of the current generation of console employees most likely cant reproduce? Just emulate(by stealing software[emulators] that you sued for existing in the first place) and forget.
5volt and through-hole components are slowly disappearing from electronic manufacturers. Additionally, gold is getting more expensive for contacts.

I'ts easier to charge for the same game multiple times, emulated on multiple systems.
But any-who, once the rom is released to the public, the original console most likely has a way of playing with CDR's/DVDR's/Flash carts/ODE's. Don't mind the pirates, they just like it free. But for most old rare games, does it really count as piracy?

I only pirate unobtainium. For 100's if not 1000's off the current purchase price.