Retro Gaming Subscription Service? Good Idea?

[laurenhiya21]

I'm kind of picky with what games I get, so I would rather just buy what I want and not go through the hassle of getting rid of some games I don't want :/ (seems kind of pricy anyway).

[Ghudda]

All really awesome responses so far that raise a bunch of good points. A few things:

-They do evidently send you a questionnaire email to get an idea of what games and consoles you already own to avoid duplicates, as well as get an idea of what kind of games you enjoy playing, but I'm not sure how extensive it actually is.

-I think my main concern is that they never apply any sort of criteria to the games they are going to send out. Though it's unlikely, they could seriously send you whatever they want to. Without an idea of what they've sent out in the past, or a criteria to the games they're going to select, it leaves the subscriber completely in the dark. This may work for things like loot crate, but not for an entertainment medium like video games or music. Vinyl Me Please works because you can get an idea of their taste in music based off past record selections as well as from their blog.

-Also interesting how they're going to handle game selection depending on individual subscribers (not all subscribers get the same game each month). I'm sure they just have a value set for the monthly games and choose based off of the subscribers owned consoles and games.

-Perhaps their target audience is someone who doesn't own many video games (but owns a retron or multiple retro consoles), and wants to get into retro gaming without having to spend a lot of time doing so.

[CRTGAMER]

I rather pick my own games. I suspect most games will be at the low end of the want list or very common inexpensive carts.

However, this is good (as others have mentioned) if one has a very small library and wants to have a surprise game every month. To keep a subscriber enrolled, perhaps once in a while an unknown game might be sent to add anticipation of the next package?

[CFFJR]

Probably not for me, for the same reasons that have been mentioned already.

However, I must say I'm tempted by Vinyl Me Please.

Ghudda, are you happy with the service? Do you think its worth it?

Get any records that you thought were a bust and just didn't like?

[BoneSnapDeez]

I wish this had existed when I first started getting into retro games.

These days I'd probably end up with duplicates. My collection isn't huge, but large enough to guarantee that I'd get many games that I already own. I really don't like selling games (how often do you see me on B/S/T?) so I'd probably just end with doubles that sit here and collect more dust than my Neo Geo X.

At $35 a month it's too much of a gamble.

-Perhaps their target audience is someone who doesn't own many video games (but owns a retron or multiple retro consoles), and wants to get into retro gaming without having to spend a lot of time doing so.

Yeah this would be perfect for someone who played games as a kid, just got a Retron 5, and now wants to get into retro gaming.

I think this is a good idea, but I don't think I'm the target audience.

[Anapan]

Won't they all be PAL games if they're coming from the UK?
edit: nvm - should've clicked the link first...

but, yeah, too much for a gamble on the quality of the titles physically and gameplay-wise imo.

[Ghudda]

Probably not for me, for the same reasons that have been mentioned already.

However, I must say I'm tempted by Vinyl Me Please.

Ghudda, are you happy with the service? Do you think its worth it?

Get any records that you thought were a bust and just didn't like?

So far I haven't received a record that I disliked or I'd say isn't worth owning. Really, if you follow pitchfork or any other "indie" music blog and agree or enjoy there top rated albums or music taste, you'll like vinyl me please. It spreads across all genres so one month you'll have a limited edition of Madvillainy and then a classic Blues album. It basically adds variety to my collection and I'm with that as I'm open minded towards most genres of music.

My advice: look at their archive of monthly releases and see if you enjoy their musical taste and decide based off that. I've been subbed for about 6 months now and plan on sticking with it. At the same time, if I was actively buying records each month, which I don't because i'm currently buying more games, I probably wouldn't be subscribed to VMP. It's a great way for me to still get a record a month that I am confident I will enjoy, without having to search or dig for one (not very many record stores where I live)

[alienjesus]

So I ended up subscribing to this to try it out, and my first box arrived today.


I got:

Rastan (SMS) - boxed with manual
Rad Racer (NES) - cartridge only
Mario Golf (GBC) - cartridge only
Wario Land 4 (GBA) - cartridge and manual

Not a bad little selection. If I'd bought them all seperately on eBay, including postage I'd have paid about £5 each, so although I haven't quite gotten my money's worth, considering the price of actually providing the service and postage it seems more than reasonable, and I quite enjoyed the surprise of opening the games.

I'd only recommend it to UK subscribers though - the price of the service abroad isn't really worth it due to the postage costs and the fact that even if you're buying NTSC games, they're gonna be more expensive in the UK - it'd be much cheaper to just buy those games in the US.

[Bremaine]

I heard about this the other day and was considering it. How many retro games do they throw in per box? For $35 plus $6 I hope they toss in a decent amount. Also I like that they don't toss in sports games.