Would an OFFICIAL reproduction interest you? Explanation inside

I think the exact same way. :encouragement:

 

Remember, collectors & gamers are two different markets. There is some overlap, yes, but it's not the same. Gamers will trade off case damage or accept loose systems for a lower price, or might pay a few extra bucks for a new (repro) system when compared to a loose system, with the understanding that it will last longer. Collectors aren't looking for these systems.

Repros would be sought by gamers (depending on price), maybe not collectors. If repros get released, it will be good for collectors looking to buy, since their supply will go up (gamers won't be buying what they are looking for). It will be bad for sellers, since their demand would go down (again, fewer gamers will be looking at their stuff).

 

I'm going to say hipsters with their parents money on that one to some extent

 

I'm all for anything that drives the price of originals down.

If you don't want a repro, you haven't got to get one. Maybe get both and own them side by side?

I could then collect an original and a repro and unify them as a pseudo-set.

 

aka, people with more money than sense? ha!

Also, kids who were born in early 90s or so are just entering the workforce now. For some of these people, the Playstation was their first console. Now, they are seeing YouTube videos highlighting (or making fun of) classic games and they want to get in on the action, too, now that they have some cash in their pockets. Gamecenter CX has made me aware of enough awesome jp-only Famicom games that I'm trying to get a Famicom now (these hipsters are keeping the prices high though!).

 

Haven't Sega (licended and only to a degree) already done this with the various plug and play retro consoles?

There is the handheld that plays roms via SD and the megadrive units with proper cart slots.

Both use modern technology - (chips and emulation) and since the originals are years out of manufacturing, and the methods are probably non-existent now, this is as close as we'd get.
The difference is of course that these don't necessarily meet all the requirements - poorly coded emulator / sound hardware etc..
Obviously this isn't the full finished product, but it's closer than some who seem convinced that this will ever happen seem to imagine.

Value wise, I'm not convinced that a new Sega CD for example - a pretty niche console with few stand out games would tank in value if a new, most probably very expensive reproduction was created.
In reality, the people who would buy one would probably be the ones that are searching for / already have a mint boxed original, and want the repro to add to their collection.
Obviously for the repro, the price / availability / number produced will vastly effect this, but I reckon realistically you'd struggle to sell more than maybe 5,000 (or another very small number in mass production terms) new Sega CD units at the original RRP nowadays...

Chris

 

yeah they have many times, MegaDrive has been well milked, some of them are pretty cool all be it cheap ish, like the streetfighter 2 ones they done

if they could do license one that plays the original carts aswell as built in + had decent audio and video it'd be great.

as for the cd systems i'd settle for an all in one system even if it was software emulation based and not hardware based. eg a box that plays sega cd and 32x cd and saturn games. with actual sega control pads

from a gaming point of view that would be fine, aslong as they got the sound and video quality done right and had close to 100% compatibility.

 

But you have that already, it's your computer. I don't mean to be glib, but the whole point of this discussion was about bringing back original hardware. Emulation for most consoles (excluding current gen) is "good enough" at worst and "excellent" at best on my very meager computer, except for Saturn... The last PS2 game I got (as a gift), I had to play via emulation, with a dual shock 2 controller (I had sold my PS2 for money to get a PS3, one without BC).

The point is there's a certain je ne sais quoi around playing games on the original hardware that won't be there for clones, that's why the OP was asking about a hypothetical situation where we could get that "original" hardware back...

 

i know and i agree, i was just saying from a gamers point of view if they got it right on a multi system with actual reproduction control pads, like the neo geo x for example only done right and not nasty cheap cheap. yeah a computer can do this but saturn emulation aint perfect yet.

as far as actual repros go yeah im all for that i'd definatly get one especially for the CD systems. i think NEC should go for it too bring back the PC Engine / TurboGFx

 

Sign me in, but there is NO WAY IT WOULD BE CHEAP

Think that when these things were made it was by the millions

How much could they sell now? a few hundreds is already optimistic

Is not that you can't make a SEGACD as good as the original, even cheap laptops have better plastics than the AES these days, the problem is QUANTITY

If the classic gaming market was so big you would already have companies making spare cases and parts like with classic cars, but we don't even have that

Most factories don't bother for orders lower than 10,000 units, do you know 10,000 who want a brand-new SEGACD?

I don't, not even 100 for that matter

 

10000 will be sold without problems.

 

First print books are still usually worth more than later prints so why wouldn't consoles be the same, surely the aim is expand the audience thus the demand for software rises. I'd personally be up for it. I have a few backup units of my consoles just in case one of them starts to fail, this could be seen as 'hording' but in reality, if there was a way I could still readily get say, a brand new Saturn - I wouldn't be too worried about burning the drive out and my original 90's one could be kept in the box as it would still be the 'original'

 

It's not a "hoarding" it's just keeping spare one for replacement. "Hoarding" is when some guy buys all available copies of some rare thing to keep prices high.

 

I said it could be seen as hoarding not that it actually is, some people view collecting differently, dude.