CFFJR wrote:I'm definitely interested in these cases!
I have some questions right off though.
I understand the design is still being worked on, but will there be room in the cases for manuals? (I'm assuming here that we'd be buying an empty case to put our own copy of the game into, which is the only way this makes sense)
Also, what systems will this project encompass (how recent) and will it ever go into disc based systems? I mention this because I'd love to have a steelbook for the likes of Sonic CD, NiGHTS into Dreams, or Shenmue.
Will you be doing one system at a time or skipping around? For my part, doing one and only one at a time will be boring. I must admit that I'd lose interest if the first 20 or 30 games in this series were all NES titles. Even less than that really, as I don't imagine these will be coming out a fast rate. I'd end up waiting for other systems instead.
Which leads to this, is there any thought on releases? Not on what's coming out obviously, but rather how often there would be a new release?
And finally, is there any early guesses on a price range for these?
Sorry for all of these questions. I hope it just indicates that I'm genuinely interested in this idea.
I realize its probably too early to get solid answers for a lot of these, but I wanted to at least mention them.
As for the first game, I have to say that I believe Super Mario Bros. 3 would be the best choice. If that is too obvious, as someone else pointed out, then I have to throw my support behind either Castlevania or Ninja Gaiden.
I hope to see this happening soon.
Don't apologize for questions. That's the whole idea! So let me answer these one at a time.
- As of this morning, it sounds like I may have to do four different titles to start, if I wanted to do the Jumbo Steelbook DVD size as opposed to Blu-Ray. The reason I wish to do the DVD Size is so that people could fit their manuals in, and it would also be a good slot for the Certificate of Authenticity. So this is still being worked on and I have to measure out the manuals, but I know N64 manuals do not fit in a BD-size case.
- The starting systems for this project are going to be NES, SNES, and PS1. The first run I want to do as NES to be very traditional - the second run I'd like to do PS1. I'd honestly like to keep doing them in more of a rotation to keep it fresh. PS1 will be significantly easier to do, but of course it might be quite hard to keep your PS1 manuals in a DVD or BD size Steelbook. I may do the occasional genesis, dreamcast or saturn title, but there would have to be a lot of interest because Sega is just simply not as popular right now.
- Yesterday I would have said that it would simply be a system where I'd hopefully release a new one every couple weeks if it went well, but it might be set-up now so that if I have to do four at once, maybe I release four per month. It really depends on sales volume.
- Price range really depends on shipping. I will have to speak with Canada Post and see what we can work out. I was hoping to do no higher than $30-35 within North America, and $35-40 internationally. I'll do what I can to get these costs down, but of course I need to buy a million and a half mailing boxes and make sure these do not get damaged in shipping.
BlackDS wrote:Honestly, I think this whole retrobook idea is ideal for early CD consoles whose games came in over-sized cases. (Sega CD, Saturn, early Ps1 games). There actually is a great demand for replacement cases for those games, but I feel that a lot of collectors just accept having loose cartridges in their catalog.
You're right, but to get 1000 people to be interested in Sega products may be a bit harder from the get go. It's something to look at down the road, but PS1 will definitely be looked at. While some collectors accept having loose carts, there are plenty that accept it simply because the boxes are crap.
Michi wrote:CFFJR wrote:And finally, is there any early guesses on a price range for these?
That's really my only question. Those steelbooks are nice and for the right price I'd be more than willing to buy a couple for some of my SNES games. I'm currently picturing some very sweet and shinny Link to the Past cases.
I'd like a case for Earthbound with starman on it, but I'm not sure you could meet your quota.
Price range question answered above. As far as Earthbound goes, I'd love to do Earthbound, and a lot of the artwork is going to be voted on in contests so if people want Starman, there would be Starman.
It also sounds like I may have to focus on emphasizing specific colours to make these unique instead of a full-colour spread. Which honestly, isn't a bad idea. If you've seen the Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City steelbook, it's one of the nicest I've seen. Or the European DMC4 Special Edition steelbook. So I might look at something involving monochromatic backgrounds and colour highlights or foregrounds (because obviously, you couldn't have Mario without colour) and play a lot more with unique case effects.
