Is there a market for retro console reissues?

[corn619]

Do you think there is a market for this? I know I would pay good money for a brand new Saturn, Sega CD, Turbo Duo, SNES and NES. I don't mean cheap chinese knockoffs, I mean authenic piece for piece replicas. Also reissue the rare and groundbreaking games as well. Considering the high prices these consoles and games demand on eBay and other sites, I'm surprised companies don't act on this. Parts would be cheap thats for sure. Whats your thoughts on this?

[superlarz]

I dont know how profitable it would be to release them piece by piece... as you can get most consoles pretty cheap on ebay. If they did re-release consoles, they would probably be more comparable to the cheap Chinese knockoffs, they would have to be produced cheap as possible and be sold for very little. the games though... if they did it right they could make some money there, but its probably easier, cheaper, and more profitable to digitally release them or update them for a modern console.

[corn619]

All the development costs are paided for and all you have to do is produce them. Theres got to be some money in it, how much does a Turbo Duo, Saturn, Virtual Boy, NES, SNES and Dreamcast factory sealed go for? I'm sure its a lot. Same goes for sealed rare retro games. Just a idea I had.

[DuManchu]

I don't think there's a market for it, not a large one anyway.

I think a niche company could make a limited run of retro consoles and sell them at a profit, provided the original manufacturers would be willing to allow them to build the consoles. But I don't think it would be profitable business model in the long-term.

That being said, I would be interested in purchasing systems like the NES with upgraded internals (more reliable) in classic casings. Or perhaps a Sega CDX (Multi-Mega) reissue with a 32X built in since plugging everything in for a Sega CD 32X game requires plugging in three massive adaptors.

I would also buy newly developed games (such as Beggar Prince), and remakes of accessories such as controllers. It's becoming increasingly difficult to find suitable replacements for the SNES controllers my cats are so fond of chewing.

</rambling>

[LCDSCREEN]

I would explode if Sega re-released the Dreamcast... Even if they just sold them online, as long as they also printed older games. The PS2 is still selling, why not give the Dreamcast a second chance!

[Jrecee]

They wouldn't be exact replicas if they did do it though. It's more likely they'd be like a system emulator stuck in a classic casing like the retro duo. The problem is that a lot of different companies produced the parts that went into these systems. Could you imagine a company like ibm or hitachi or motorola putting their assembly line to work making outdated processors for a niche product? I think at best we're going to get stuff like the atari with built in games that looks sorta like an old atari. That said I want someone to make a new 16-bit system.

[marurun]

I think TV games style arrangements are probably the only way we'd see the original hardware revived in any capacity. They were all the rage for a while, but you'll notice they're a lot harder to get now. I doubt they sold well enough.

Hell, I'd love to see a PC Engine TV game or handheld.

[corn619]

I meant reissue limited edition exact replicas for collecting purposes. I know you couldn't put them next to a 360 in a store and expect them to sell as well as the 360. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I would love to have a mint sealed model 1 Sega CD, Dreamcast, Turbo Duo or SNES sitting on my shelf. Only in a perfect world I guess.

[marurun]

Yeah, there's no way there would be a large enough market for that to make up costs. Not going to happen.

[timewarpgamer]

Not sure if you've heard of this company, but they're already producing high quality NES and SNES consoles, with wireless controllers, too! I've been tempted to pick one up for some time...Love that the NES plays games from ALL regions.