Classic games economics and ethics

[Jagosaurus]

My point was some people just collect games or drive a Mercedes for a reason. Are there a handful of those who hunt some type of social justification, want to have the best gameroom pictures on Nintendo Age, or strive to have the most expensive car on the street? Absolutely, but they're a minority within our hobby.

While this might sound emo, I've never been big no what others think of me. Although I strive to be a better person each day and am kind to my family & friends, I am who I am. If you don't like it, I neither want nor seek your approval. So the amassing of games to get the approval of random people on YouTube or forums baffles me, as does driving a foreign car to impress your neighbors. Again, I think they're in the minority in our retro gaming circles but they are present. Most of us are reliving our childhood or buying games we couldn't as kids... while scratching a bit of that collectors itch and shelf candy in the process.

Back to the repro discussion:
I have issues buying the games never released (Star Fox 2, etc) because they're often sold by sellers who are also offering counterfeits of games that were retail releases.

I brought up in the Sega subforum an ebayer selling Half Life 2 and Propeller Arena was also selling Power Stone 2 & Cotton "reprints" listed as "nearly new." What the eff does that even mean. Those will reenter the market, intentional or not, at some point. A trained eye can spot them but not all. I grabbed a screenshot of a counterfeit Cotton listed as "nearly new" by another seller in a different state. At the very least, it's creating copy cats and the problem is spreading.

[Sarge]

My rule is if something brings you joy then do it. Life is too short not to. If it stops or does more harm than good, don't.

So much this. I enjoy video games. I enjoy finding video games. I enjoy finding them for cheap even more. Game collections are always impressive to me, but even more so if you've managed to either cobble it together for a low price. But even if not, it means you have the wealth to be able to pull that off. I mean, remember the show "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous"? Folks are often impressed by things they will likely never have, so I'm always going to boggle a bit at someone who has, for instance, a complete NES set.

[Anayo]

There's so much consumerism and "gotta have it now" thinking in first-world countries, zeroing in on retro gaming seems like missing the forest for the trees to me. People have disposable income, so they spend it on things they like. That's just the state of things right now.

I was trying to play through the Sega Saturn library (using a modchipped system) and I ended up with a list of about 150 games I wanted to try. After getting through a dozen or so of them I thought, "This is going to take years." It made me realize that if people hung onto the same game console until they had scrupulously squeezed every possible drop of play value out of the console's library of games, many would still be playing NES.

In a way I feel like retro gaming actually defies consumerism by saying, "This doesn't have to be new to be of value to me. I'm not going to throw away my old games just because something shinier is on the store shelves."

[Sarge]

I'm still mining the NES for stuff to play! Granted, it's a lot slimmer pickings now, but it doesn't keep me from trying.

[Betagam7]

Somewhat related and relevant with the minor fury being expressed at Nintendo's limited releases of its classic models, I'd like to ask this question.

Do people think that Nintendo released these to appeal to the hardcore collectors or was the intention to be a Christmas novelty purchase that hit a nostalgia sweet-spot?

it seems to me that the latter was the intention but they almost entirely ended up on the shelves of the former.

[alienjesus]

I think the latter was the intention with the NES Classic, but I'm pretty sure they've changed their target audience with the SNES mini to the hardcore crowd - it isn't an accident that the price went up and they threw in a previously unreleased game after all. They know the hardcore crowd will lap that up and pay extra for the privilege.

[Betagam7]

I think the latter was the intention with the NES Classic, but I'm pretty sure they've changed their target audience with the SNES mini to the hardcore crowd - it isn't an accident that the price went up and they threw in a previously unreleased game after all. They know the hardcore crowd will lap that up and pay extra for the privilege.

The pricing probably also has something to do with the fact that a bazillion NES emulation boxes already exist but very few SNES ones do and most of them have faulty emulation.

[Anayo]

I think the latter was the intention with the NES Classic, but I'm pretty sure they've changed their target audience with the SNES mini to the hardcore crowd - it isn't an accident that the price went up and they threw in a previously unreleased game after all. They know the hardcore crowd will lap that up and pay extra for the privilege.

The pricing probably also has something to do with the fact that a bazillion NES emulation boxes already exist but very few SNES ones do and most of them have faulty emulation.

I think the NES classic was just meant to sell a few low-stakes units before the Nintendo Switch came out. I don't think they expected it to explode quite like it did. As for the SNES classic, I think Nintendo's goal with that is to stir up a buzz and get people talking about their cool Nintendo childhood memories, with the ultimate purpose of getting "Nintendo" back in the headlines and drawing the public's attention to the Nintendo Switch.

I think the reason Nintendo pulled the plug on the NES Classic was that the resources being used to produce those took away from manufacturing more Nintendo Switches. It's nice that people like the NES Classic, but the NES Classic isn't designed to generated any additional revenue once someone buys it. Nintendo is still smarting from the hot water they fell into with the Wii U and they're probably preoccupied with getting out of that.

[BogusMeatFactory]

The price went up on the snes classic because there is a second controller added.

[Sarge]

The extra controller makes part of the cost, anyway. Throw in the fact that it's Star Fox 2, and SNES games sell for roughly double on VC, and the price makes sense.