Earthbound Reproduction Carts: Should they be created?

[AppleQueso]

I must be in the minority that lumps: emulation (via downloadable roms), flash carts, translations, burns, rips and reproductions all into the same category.

It's either the original officially released product (or official VC release in this case) or it is not. I always find the moral distinctions on the others above quite amusing.

The difference with repro carts of retail games vs emulation, flash carts, etc, is that people can fairly easy try to pass off a repro as the real thing to turn a profit.

[benderx]

It would be funny if earthbound repo carts started to come out. Then earthbound collectors would Bit about. For them they would prefer others to use emus or powerpak/everdrive instead or buy it.

[Frerix]

I live in a PAL country, so I used a Super Everdrive and a 50/60hz/lockout switched PAL SNES with s-video cable to play Earthbound.
Because in the Netherlands a copy of Earthbound will set you back 100-130 euro (~$127-$164) and buying it off eBay cost you a lot of shipping costs

[chupon]

Guess I never really answered OPs question. The answer is no.

Boots and repros of games already available are wrong.

However..... a repro of say a fan translation that was never released is another story. Depending on how it was made. Let's just say I can't wait till next years Christmas Charity Auction.

[avrame]

+1 on chupon's answer.

If the game is readily available, I wouldn't support a repro of it. For something rare like a rare/limited run game like 'Nintendo World Championship', I would support repros so that everyone could enjoy it if they wish to.

RetroUSB.com appears to be doing just that. They take less accesible games, make repro carts which are clearly repros to avoid people from reselling it for a profit. From what I understand, the shell is a non-grey color, and the PCB is a different color than the official boards, and is clearly marks with the website URL and text warning that it is a repro.

http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.ph ... ucts_id=62

[mjmjr25]

? And then put an official Nintendo logo on it?

And then create boxes, using the same fold system, and include accurate sized manuals? This again points at the whole morality of the process. So a clear cart and off-color PCB (in this case), but an accurate manual and nintendo logo. If the whole point is just to make the game playable on a NES, you can make the cart completely shaped different on the top half. You can write "reproduction" on it, not put a Nintendo logo.

Repros don't hurt value, in fact, often they increase the value of originals - look at JP Saturn prices pre burn and post burn, prices have gone up significantly - so I personally don't care. I am just amused at the morality lines people will draw.

As for people being concerned about buying a repro and thinking its an original. First off, if your buying a repro made to look like an original, common sense tells us it is an expensive purchase to begin with. As with any expensive purchase, it is buyer beware. If yr concerned, have the seller open the cart and show you the PCB.

Everyone wants to make caveats and stipulations, again, to me, this is simply an all or none issue.

[Godot102]

Wasn't there a big issue not too long ago with people making Earthbound repros and selling them on ebay? I don't think people should be selling Earthbound repros because at that point you might as well emulate it or if you REALLY want to play it on an actual system get a flashcart. Yes snes flashcarts are expensive but they're a hell of a lot cheaper than a loose copy of Earthbound.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Most reproduction carts are for games that were either never released in the US (Mother), are astronomically expensive and rare (Nintendo World Championships), unreleased games (Starfox 2), or ROM hacks (arcade/FDS games now playable on NES consoles).

Earthbound doesn't fall into any of these categories. As a consumer I would have no interest in an Earthbound repro cart as the game is easy to emulate.

If the price rises significantly in the next decade or so I could see a need for it. We aren't quite there yet. It's too easily available to justify a repro.

Though I wonder if a bunch of reproduction carts would cause Nintendo to port the game to a modern console or at least release it on the VC. Probably not.

[BoringSupreez]

Though I wonder if a bunch of reproduction carts would cause Nintendo to port the game to a modern console or at least release it on the VC. Probably not.

It wouldn't. A big part of why Nintendo has never given us a port is copyright issues.

[equalsign]

I don't think it's a bad idea. I don't have a SNES, so I wouldn't buy one. It's almost a 20 year old game. Nintendo's not trying to make money off of it, though I'd imagine they'd shut anything like this down.

Ultimately, I don't think it's immoral like everyone else here. I don't see a big difference between buying a repo cart and emulating. Championing piracy as a morally superior option doesn't work for me. Championing paying a flash cart manufacturer as a morally superior option doesn't work for me either. If someone wants to pay a middle man to play a game easily emulated, then so be it. I think it would be best if it had a distinguishing look, so that it doesn't confuse collectors and piss off the community. Just to be nice.

Also, I think it'd be cool if they added features such a non-battery save system and a "Copy Protection" mode.