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Emulators eh? Despite being dodgy/illegal/morally wrong, emulators are cool. I’m not talking about emulators and ROMs for current generation consoles, as legal copies of those games are available so should be bought not stolen. No, I’m talking about emulators that either give you the chance to experience older games you never got around to playing when they were first around many years ago, or give you the chance to play games that were never released at all.
Since flirting about with emulators every now and again, I’ve been able to play classic SNES games like Mario RPG, Secret of Mana 2, a translated version of Square’s Front Mission, Earthbound, some interesting anime themed Japanese games and a beta version of Star Fox 2; games unavailable to most of us. I’ve also been able to play a few naff old Megadrive games that I’d never played because I didn’t have a Megadrive. I’ve been lucky enough to play shed-loads of classic/obscure SNK beat ‘em ups and obscure Capcom multiplayer side-scrolling beat ‘em ups like Armoured Warriors, Battle Circuit, Captain Commando, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, and Knights of the Round. All thanks to a PC and the interweb you can explore the forgotten past, having access to literally thousands of titles and each one only takes a few seconds to download and they don’t harm sales figures for companies.
There are many grey areas with regards to emulators, and I don’t like the idea of stealing ROMs from companies, but they are undoubtedly a very cool little thing, and something that needs to be exploited in a better way, not just for games companies to make more cash, but for gamers to play some great old games. How else could you play some of these older games? They’re just not available anymore or were never available in the first place.
There is a massive Retro scene in the games industry nowadays. Collectors enjoy buying up rare old titles, and people love playing some of the classics of yesteryear. But there are so many other great games from days gone by, and these are unavailable to the majority of gamers, and that’s a big shame. Imagine if you will that classic movies from an era gone by like the Silent films of the thirties or the classic Hollywood outputs from the 40’s and 50’s weren’t available, or were available, but only to a seedy sordid underclass of people downloading them from the Internet. It sounds crazy, but this is what is happening in the games industry right now. There are plentiful supplies of amazing old games, and people don’t know about them because they can’t be bought in shops, and it seems wrong that much of this great history is unavailable to 99% of people. A great legacy of gaming, confined to the annals of history.
Some may say that older games should be confined to history, but others may disagree.
So if emulators aren’t the right legal answer to nabbing these old/obscure games, what is?
Nintendo are currently re-releasing some of their classic NES games on the GameBoy Advance in Japan under the “Famicom Mini Collection” label, a step in the right direction, as if they prove popular, perhaps other companies might see fit to follow suit and re-release some of their earlier efforts. Companies like Nintendo, Sega, Konami, Capcom, Square, SNK, Namco, Tecmo, etc have large back catalogues waiting to be exploited and enjoyed. But really at the moment, the only things we get are a few Midway compilations every now and again, though Sega released the Sonic Mega Collection and Capcom are also releasing a Megaman compilation set soon too.
Some new games also feature unlockable versions of earlier games in the series. Metroid, Prince of Persia and Rebel Strike for example, and isn’t the Japanese version of Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes going to be available with the original Metal Gear game? This is a great little idea, showcasing the history of certain titles; where they came from compared to where they are today.
A current buzzword and trend in the dvd market is “Special Edition”, “Anniversary Edition” or “Definitive Edition”, and it would be great if this kind of treatment could be transferred into the games industry, with game series collections or large sections of company outputs released in boxsets.
Take SNK. They have a cult following and one of the most dedicated fanbases around, and old versions of their games sell for hundreds of pounds on places like eBay. So why doesn’t whoever owns the rights to some of these unheard of old beat ‘em ups cobble together a boxset featuring all these undiscovered gems?
As an example, you could have SNK beat ‘em ups 1990-1992 in one set, then one from 1993-1995 in another, etc. The same could be done with Capcom’s numerous side-scrolling beat ‘em ups.
Of course that would be great in an ideal world. In an ideal world such boxsets would be released on all next-gen formats and gamers of all ages would snap up excellent pieces of gaming memorabilia. But, the stark reality is that if such an SNK super boxset or Capcom scrolling beat ‘em up anthology were to be produced, it would only be in limited numbers, and only available to Japanese folk, and copies would eventually surface for extortionate prices on eBay, pricing some people out of the market. Or, if it did arrive over here, would there be much interest in it? Probably not, which is a shame.
The idea of special editions appearing and being successful in this country isn’t crazy though; interest in the Zelda Collector’s Edition on the Gamecube was very high, showing that many people did want this kind of thing; collections of classic old games with extra bonus videos etc.
Or perhaps companies could invest in their own emulator programs and ROMs? They could offer stable emulators with a better wealth of options and control capabilities, and charge a minimal amount for downloading each ROM or a collection of ROMs? Though that might be like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted, just like the music industry in their fight against file sharing by offering their own downloading services, after all, why would people bother paying for official ROMs when they can get loads for free? So, I don’t think official emulators and ROMs would be the answer.
It surely can’t cost a company a huge amount of cash to release an old game onto a current system or cobble together a compilation set, so why don’t Nintendo release Star Fox 2 on the GBA? Or Earthbound or Front Mission? Or Capcom with their side-scrolling beat ‘em ups? Just slap the code onto a GBA cart or game disc and Bob’s your uncle. The majority of older games aren’t bringing in any revenues for companies anymore anyway, so if they re-released them they’d have a chance of getting a bit more cash as development costs would be minimal. They wouldn’t have to redesign any elements of the game, just release raw versions. Many people bemoan the constant releasing of old ports on the GBA, but if they are released alongside new and innovative titles, they can have a place.
I feel passionately about the fate of older games, especially from the great 16-bit era and mid-90s beat ‘em ups. Gaming is still a young industry, but it is one that’s made enormous leaps in every area since the days of bedroom coding and Pong. Although we’ve gone on to bigger and better things, we shouldn’t forget our past and where we came from. We have a rich history of what has gone before, and it should be made available.
A prime example: My 13 year old younger brother is currently playing through an emulator of the amazing Secret of Mana, he’s played it a bit before on the SNES, but wanted the full experience of playing through one of the best games ever from start to finish. Whilst he was playing it the other day, I asked him whether he’d talked about the game to anyone at school and if they knew about the brilliance of Secret of Mana. His response? “I told some people about it, but all they know about is Playstation 2.”
You can browse the shelves for dvds from every era, from Matrix to Metropolis, yet when it comes to games, it’s only the current crop available in the high street shops. It’s a big shame that most kids nowadays have no clue that great older games like Secret of Mana actually exist because they’re not available anymore, and that should change.
Since flirting about with emulators every now and again, I’ve been able to play classic SNES games like Mario RPG, Secret of Mana 2, a translated version of Square’s Front Mission, Earthbound, some interesting anime themed Japanese games and a beta version of Star Fox 2; games unavailable to most of us. I’ve also been able to play a few naff old Megadrive games that I’d never played because I didn’t have a Megadrive. I’ve been lucky enough to play shed-loads of classic/obscure SNK beat ‘em ups and obscure Capcom multiplayer side-scrolling beat ‘em ups like Armoured Warriors, Battle Circuit, Captain Commando, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, and Knights of the Round. All thanks to a PC and the interweb you can explore the forgotten past, having access to literally thousands of titles and each one only takes a few seconds to download and they don’t harm sales figures for companies.
There are many grey areas with regards to emulators, and I don’t like the idea of stealing ROMs from companies, but they are undoubtedly a very cool little thing, and something that needs to be exploited in a better way, not just for games companies to make more cash, but for gamers to play some great old games. How else could you play some of these older games? They’re just not available anymore or were never available in the first place.
There is a massive Retro scene in the games industry nowadays. Collectors enjoy buying up rare old titles, and people love playing some of the classics of yesteryear. But there are so many other great games from days gone by, and these are unavailable to the majority of gamers, and that’s a big shame. Imagine if you will that classic movies from an era gone by like the Silent films of the thirties or the classic Hollywood outputs from the 40’s and 50’s weren’t available, or were available, but only to a seedy sordid underclass of people downloading them from the Internet. It sounds crazy, but this is what is happening in the games industry right now. There are plentiful supplies of amazing old games, and people don’t know about them because they can’t be bought in shops, and it seems wrong that much of this great history is unavailable to 99% of people. A great legacy of gaming, confined to the annals of history.
Some may say that older games should be confined to history, but others may disagree.
So if emulators aren’t the right legal answer to nabbing these old/obscure games, what is?
Nintendo are currently re-releasing some of their classic NES games on the GameBoy Advance in Japan under the “Famicom Mini Collection” label, a step in the right direction, as if they prove popular, perhaps other companies might see fit to follow suit and re-release some of their earlier efforts. Companies like Nintendo, Sega, Konami, Capcom, Square, SNK, Namco, Tecmo, etc have large back catalogues waiting to be exploited and enjoyed. But really at the moment, the only things we get are a few Midway compilations every now and again, though Sega released the Sonic Mega Collection and Capcom are also releasing a Megaman compilation set soon too.
Some new games also feature unlockable versions of earlier games in the series. Metroid, Prince of Persia and Rebel Strike for example, and isn’t the Japanese version of Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes going to be available with the original Metal Gear game? This is a great little idea, showcasing the history of certain titles; where they came from compared to where they are today.
A current buzzword and trend in the dvd market is “Special Edition”, “Anniversary Edition” or “Definitive Edition”, and it would be great if this kind of treatment could be transferred into the games industry, with game series collections or large sections of company outputs released in boxsets.
Take SNK. They have a cult following and one of the most dedicated fanbases around, and old versions of their games sell for hundreds of pounds on places like eBay. So why doesn’t whoever owns the rights to some of these unheard of old beat ‘em ups cobble together a boxset featuring all these undiscovered gems?
As an example, you could have SNK beat ‘em ups 1990-1992 in one set, then one from 1993-1995 in another, etc. The same could be done with Capcom’s numerous side-scrolling beat ‘em ups.
Of course that would be great in an ideal world. In an ideal world such boxsets would be released on all next-gen formats and gamers of all ages would snap up excellent pieces of gaming memorabilia. But, the stark reality is that if such an SNK super boxset or Capcom scrolling beat ‘em up anthology were to be produced, it would only be in limited numbers, and only available to Japanese folk, and copies would eventually surface for extortionate prices on eBay, pricing some people out of the market. Or, if it did arrive over here, would there be much interest in it? Probably not, which is a shame.
The idea of special editions appearing and being successful in this country isn’t crazy though; interest in the Zelda Collector’s Edition on the Gamecube was very high, showing that many people did want this kind of thing; collections of classic old games with extra bonus videos etc.
Or perhaps companies could invest in their own emulator programs and ROMs? They could offer stable emulators with a better wealth of options and control capabilities, and charge a minimal amount for downloading each ROM or a collection of ROMs? Though that might be like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted, just like the music industry in their fight against file sharing by offering their own downloading services, after all, why would people bother paying for official ROMs when they can get loads for free? So, I don’t think official emulators and ROMs would be the answer.
It surely can’t cost a company a huge amount of cash to release an old game onto a current system or cobble together a compilation set, so why don’t Nintendo release Star Fox 2 on the GBA? Or Earthbound or Front Mission? Or Capcom with their side-scrolling beat ‘em ups? Just slap the code onto a GBA cart or game disc and Bob’s your uncle. The majority of older games aren’t bringing in any revenues for companies anymore anyway, so if they re-released them they’d have a chance of getting a bit more cash as development costs would be minimal. They wouldn’t have to redesign any elements of the game, just release raw versions. Many people bemoan the constant releasing of old ports on the GBA, but if they are released alongside new and innovative titles, they can have a place.
I feel passionately about the fate of older games, especially from the great 16-bit era and mid-90s beat ‘em ups. Gaming is still a young industry, but it is one that’s made enormous leaps in every area since the days of bedroom coding and Pong. Although we’ve gone on to bigger and better things, we shouldn’t forget our past and where we came from. We have a rich history of what has gone before, and it should be made available.
A prime example: My 13 year old younger brother is currently playing through an emulator of the amazing Secret of Mana, he’s played it a bit before on the SNES, but wanted the full experience of playing through one of the best games ever from start to finish. Whilst he was playing it the other day, I asked him whether he’d talked about the game to anyone at school and if they knew about the brilliance of Secret of Mana. His response? “I told some people about it, but all they know about is Playstation 2.”
You can browse the shelves for dvds from every era, from Matrix to Metropolis, yet when it comes to games, it’s only the current crop available in the high street shops. It’s a big shame that most kids nowadays have no clue that great older games like Secret of Mana actually exist because they’re not available anymore, and that should change.
I love emulation and yes it is wrong but is so fun.
I have 800 snes games around 300 nes games 1000 mega drive games about 400 GameGear and Master sytem/Master system2 games and around 1000 spectrum games all for my dreamcast its so good and it feels like your playing the console. Needed to get a keyboard for the DC cause of the spectrum games but it is well worth it and is a ruddy enjoyable experience.
I have 800 snes games around 300 nes games 1000 mega drive games about 400 GameGear and Master sytem/Master system2 games and around 1000 spectrum games all for my dreamcast its so good and it feels like your playing the console. Needed to get a keyboard for the DC cause of the spectrum games but it is well worth it and is a ruddy enjoyable experience.
Emulation is great, but it doesn't replace getting the real thing.
I got my first taste of Super Metroid on a PC, which I illeagally downloaded. And then because the keyboard and PC sounds system just didn't cut it I went out and bought the real thing - second hand - which also appears to be illeagal, or atleast undesirable as far as the industry is concerned.
I don't know what all the fuss is about though.
They don't sell Snes games anymore, so what's the harm in people downloading them. THat's why I don't take this leagal business seriously.
Besides, emulation can be good for the industry.
After hearing about Pokémon (just before it came out in the UK) I downloaded it onto my PC and had a go.
I only got so far before realising that I'd never get full enjoyment out of it without being able to trade and/or battle with friends.
So I ordered it, along with a Gameboy Color.
That little demo sold me the game.
I got my first taste of Super Metroid on a PC, which I illeagally downloaded. And then because the keyboard and PC sounds system just didn't cut it I went out and bought the real thing - second hand - which also appears to be illeagal, or atleast undesirable as far as the industry is concerned.
I don't know what all the fuss is about though.
They don't sell Snes games anymore, so what's the harm in people downloading them. THat's why I don't take this leagal business seriously.
Besides, emulation can be good for the industry.
After hearing about Pokémon (just before it came out in the UK) I downloaded it onto my PC and had a go.
I only got so far before realising that I'd never get full enjoyment out of it without being able to trade and/or battle with friends.
So I ordered it, along with a Gameboy Color.
That little demo sold me the game.
I love my emulators, my amiga, snes, megadrive and gameboy advance ones. *sniff* The only trouble i find is that you can't really play sports game on them. I've tried playing Sensible World of Soccer on a keyboard and it put my fingers through hell. I use them just for RPG's and stuff. Some of the classics from the old days
Ey. Emulators are quality, and, I agree, are usless for this generation gaming. And illegal.
Without my SNES emulator I would never have discovered the joy of Metroid, or FF, or Secret of Mana. I kinda miss the pad, as I spent a long times as a five year old at my friends house playing his MegaDrive and his SNES. Ah, I loved NHL and Sonic back then too.
Without my SNES emulator I would never have discovered the joy of Metroid, or FF, or Secret of Mana. I kinda miss the pad, as I spent a long times as a five year old at my friends house playing his MegaDrive and his SNES. Ah, I loved NHL and Sonic back then too.
Emulators eh? Despite being dodgy/illegal/morally wrong, emulators are cool. I’m not talking about emulators and ROMs for current generation consoles, as legal copies of those games are available so should be bought not stolen. No, I’m talking about emulators that either give you the chance to experience older games you never got around to playing when they were first around many years ago, or give you the chance to play games that were never released at all.
Since flirting about with emulators every now and again, I’ve been able to play classic SNES games like Mario RPG, Secret of Mana 2, a translated version of Square’s Front Mission, Earthbound, some interesting anime themed Japanese games and a beta version of Star Fox 2; games unavailable to most of us. I’ve also been able to play a few naff old Megadrive games that I’d never played because I didn’t have a Megadrive. I’ve been lucky enough to play shed-loads of classic/obscure SNK beat ‘em ups and obscure Capcom multiplayer side-scrolling beat ‘em ups like Armoured Warriors, Battle Circuit, Captain Commando, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, and Knights of the Round. All thanks to a PC and the interweb you can explore the forgotten past, having access to literally thousands of titles and each one only takes a few seconds to download and they don’t harm sales figures for companies.
There are many grey areas with regards to emulators, and I don’t like the idea of stealing ROMs from companies, but they are undoubtedly a very cool little thing, and something that needs to be exploited in a better way, not just for games companies to make more cash, but for gamers to play some great old games. How else could you play some of these older games? They’re just not available anymore or were never available in the first place.
There is a massive Retro scene in the games industry nowadays. Collectors enjoy buying up rare old titles, and people love playing some of the classics of yesteryear. But there are so many other great games from days gone by, and these are unavailable to the majority of gamers, and that’s a big shame. Imagine if you will that classic movies from an era gone by like the Silent films of the thirties or the classic Hollywood outputs from the 40’s and 50’s weren’t available, or were available, but only to a seedy sordid underclass of people downloading them from the Internet. It sounds crazy, but this is what is happening in the games industry right now. There are plentiful supplies of amazing old games, and people don’t know about them because they can’t be bought in shops, and it seems wrong that much of this great history is unavailable to 99% of people. A great legacy of gaming, confined to the annals of history.
Some may say that older games should be confined to history, but others may disagree.
So if emulators aren’t the right legal answer to nabbing these old/obscure games, what is?
Nintendo are currently re-releasing some of their classic NES games on the GameBoy Advance in Japan under the “Famicom Mini Collection” label, a step in the right direction, as if they prove popular, perhaps other companies might see fit to follow suit and re-release some of their earlier efforts. Companies like Nintendo, Sega, Konami, Capcom, Square, SNK, Namco, Tecmo, etc have large back catalogues waiting to be exploited and enjoyed. But really at the moment, the only things we get are a few Midway compilations every now and again, though Sega released the Sonic Mega Collection and Capcom are also releasing a Megaman compilation set soon too.
Some new games also feature unlockable versions of earlier games in the series. Metroid, Prince of Persia and Rebel Strike for example, and isn’t the Japanese version of Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes going to be available with the original Metal Gear game? This is a great little idea, showcasing the history of certain titles; where they came from compared to where they are today.
A current buzzword and trend in the dvd market is “Special Edition”, “Anniversary Edition” or “Definitive Edition”, and it would be great if this kind of treatment could be transferred into the games industry, with game series collections or large sections of company outputs released in boxsets.
Take SNK. They have a cult following and one of the most dedicated fanbases around, and old versions of their games sell for hundreds of pounds on places like eBay. So why doesn’t whoever owns the rights to some of these unheard of old beat ‘em ups cobble together a boxset featuring all these undiscovered gems?
As an example, you could have SNK beat ‘em ups 1990-1992 in one set, then one from 1993-1995 in another, etc. The same could be done with Capcom’s numerous side-scrolling beat ‘em ups.
Of course that would be great in an ideal world. In an ideal world such boxsets would be released on all next-gen formats and gamers of all ages would snap up excellent pieces of gaming memorabilia. But, the stark reality is that if such an SNK super boxset or Capcom scrolling beat ‘em up anthology were to be produced, it would only be in limited numbers, and only available to Japanese folk, and copies would eventually surface for extortionate prices on eBay, pricing some people out of the market. Or, if it did arrive over here, would there be much interest in it? Probably not, which is a shame.
The idea of special editions appearing and being successful in this country isn’t crazy though; interest in the Zelda Collector’s Edition on the Gamecube was very high, showing that many people did want this kind of thing; collections of classic old games with extra bonus videos etc.
Or perhaps companies could invest in their own emulator programs and ROMs? They could offer stable emulators with a better wealth of options and control capabilities, and charge a minimal amount for downloading each ROM or a collection of ROMs? Though that might be like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted, just like the music industry in their fight against file sharing by offering their own downloading services, after all, why would people bother paying for official ROMs when they can get loads for free? So, I don’t think official emulators and ROMs would be the answer.
It surely can’t cost a company a huge amount of cash to release an old game onto a current system or cobble together a compilation set, so why don’t Nintendo release Star Fox 2 on the GBA? Or Earthbound or Front Mission? Or Capcom with their side-scrolling beat ‘em ups? Just slap the code onto a GBA cart or game disc and Bob’s your uncle. The majority of older games aren’t bringing in any revenues for companies anymore anyway, so if they re-released them they’d have a chance of getting a bit more cash as development costs would be minimal. They wouldn’t have to redesign any elements of the game, just release raw versions. Many people bemoan the constant releasing of old ports on the GBA, but if they are released alongside new and innovative titles, they can have a place.
I feel passionately about the fate of older games, especially from the great 16-bit era and mid-90s beat ‘em ups. Gaming is still a young industry, but it is one that’s made enormous leaps in every area since the days of bedroom coding and Pong. Although we’ve gone on to bigger and better things, we shouldn’t forget our past and where we came from. We have a rich history of what has gone before, and it should be made available.
A prime example: My 13 year old younger brother is currently playing through an emulator of the amazing Secret of Mana, he’s played it a bit before on the SNES, but wanted the full experience of playing through one of the best games ever from start to finish. Whilst he was playing it the other day, I asked him whether he’d talked about the game to anyone at school and if they knew about the brilliance of Secret of Mana. His response? “I told some people about it, but all they know about is Playstation 2.”
You can browse the shelves for dvds from every era, from Matrix to Metropolis, yet when it comes to games, it’s only the current crop available in the high street shops. It’s a big shame that most kids nowadays have no clue that great older games like Secret of Mana actually exist because they’re not available anymore, and that should change.
Since flirting about with emulators every now and again, I’ve been able to play classic SNES games like Mario RPG, Secret of Mana 2, a translated version of Square’s Front Mission, Earthbound, some interesting anime themed Japanese games and a beta version of Star Fox 2; games unavailable to most of us. I’ve also been able to play a few naff old Megadrive games that I’d never played because I didn’t have a Megadrive. I’ve been lucky enough to play shed-loads of classic/obscure SNK beat ‘em ups and obscure Capcom multiplayer side-scrolling beat ‘em ups like Armoured Warriors, Battle Circuit, Captain Commando, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, and Knights of the Round. All thanks to a PC and the interweb you can explore the forgotten past, having access to literally thousands of titles and each one only takes a few seconds to download and they don’t harm sales figures for companies.
There are many grey areas with regards to emulators, and I don’t like the idea of stealing ROMs from companies, but they are undoubtedly a very cool little thing, and something that needs to be exploited in a better way, not just for games companies to make more cash, but for gamers to play some great old games. How else could you play some of these older games? They’re just not available anymore or were never available in the first place.
There is a massive Retro scene in the games industry nowadays. Collectors enjoy buying up rare old titles, and people love playing some of the classics of yesteryear. But there are so many other great games from days gone by, and these are unavailable to the majority of gamers, and that’s a big shame. Imagine if you will that classic movies from an era gone by like the Silent films of the thirties or the classic Hollywood outputs from the 40’s and 50’s weren’t available, or were available, but only to a seedy sordid underclass of people downloading them from the Internet. It sounds crazy, but this is what is happening in the games industry right now. There are plentiful supplies of amazing old games, and people don’t know about them because they can’t be bought in shops, and it seems wrong that much of this great history is unavailable to 99% of people. A great legacy of gaming, confined to the annals of history.
Some may say that older games should be confined to history, but others may disagree.
So if emulators aren’t the right legal answer to nabbing these old/obscure games, what is?
Nintendo are currently re-releasing some of their classic NES games on the GameBoy Advance in Japan under the “Famicom Mini Collection” label, a step in the right direction, as if they prove popular, perhaps other companies might see fit to follow suit and re-release some of their earlier efforts. Companies like Nintendo, Sega, Konami, Capcom, Square, SNK, Namco, Tecmo, etc have large back catalogues waiting to be exploited and enjoyed. But really at the moment, the only things we get are a few Midway compilations every now and again, though Sega released the Sonic Mega Collection and Capcom are also releasing a Megaman compilation set soon too.
Some new games also feature unlockable versions of earlier games in the series. Metroid, Prince of Persia and Rebel Strike for example, and isn’t the Japanese version of Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes going to be available with the original Metal Gear game? This is a great little idea, showcasing the history of certain titles; where they came from compared to where they are today.
A current buzzword and trend in the dvd market is “Special Edition”, “Anniversary Edition” or “Definitive Edition”, and it would be great if this kind of treatment could be transferred into the games industry, with game series collections or large sections of company outputs released in boxsets.
Take SNK. They have a cult following and one of the most dedicated fanbases around, and old versions of their games sell for hundreds of pounds on places like eBay. So why doesn’t whoever owns the rights to some of these unheard of old beat ‘em ups cobble together a boxset featuring all these undiscovered gems?
As an example, you could have SNK beat ‘em ups 1990-1992 in one set, then one from 1993-1995 in another, etc. The same could be done with Capcom’s numerous side-scrolling beat ‘em ups.
Of course that would be great in an ideal world. In an ideal world such boxsets would be released on all next-gen formats and gamers of all ages would snap up excellent pieces of gaming memorabilia. But, the stark reality is that if such an SNK super boxset or Capcom scrolling beat ‘em up anthology were to be produced, it would only be in limited numbers, and only available to Japanese folk, and copies would eventually surface for extortionate prices on eBay, pricing some people out of the market. Or, if it did arrive over here, would there be much interest in it? Probably not, which is a shame.
The idea of special editions appearing and being successful in this country isn’t crazy though; interest in the Zelda Collector’s Edition on the Gamecube was very high, showing that many people did want this kind of thing; collections of classic old games with extra bonus videos etc.
Or perhaps companies could invest in their own emulator programs and ROMs? They could offer stable emulators with a better wealth of options and control capabilities, and charge a minimal amount for downloading each ROM or a collection of ROMs? Though that might be like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted, just like the music industry in their fight against file sharing by offering their own downloading services, after all, why would people bother paying for official ROMs when they can get loads for free? So, I don’t think official emulators and ROMs would be the answer.
It surely can’t cost a company a huge amount of cash to release an old game onto a current system or cobble together a compilation set, so why don’t Nintendo release Star Fox 2 on the GBA? Or Earthbound or Front Mission? Or Capcom with their side-scrolling beat ‘em ups? Just slap the code onto a GBA cart or game disc and Bob’s your uncle. The majority of older games aren’t bringing in any revenues for companies anymore anyway, so if they re-released them they’d have a chance of getting a bit more cash as development costs would be minimal. They wouldn’t have to redesign any elements of the game, just release raw versions. Many people bemoan the constant releasing of old ports on the GBA, but if they are released alongside new and innovative titles, they can have a place.
I feel passionately about the fate of older games, especially from the great 16-bit era and mid-90s beat ‘em ups. Gaming is still a young industry, but it is one that’s made enormous leaps in every area since the days of bedroom coding and Pong. Although we’ve gone on to bigger and better things, we shouldn’t forget our past and where we came from. We have a rich history of what has gone before, and it should be made available.
A prime example: My 13 year old younger brother is currently playing through an emulator of the amazing Secret of Mana, he’s played it a bit before on the SNES, but wanted the full experience of playing through one of the best games ever from start to finish. Whilst he was playing it the other day, I asked him whether he’d talked about the game to anyone at school and if they knew about the brilliance of Secret of Mana. His response? “I told some people about it, but all they know about is Playstation 2.”
You can browse the shelves for dvds from every era, from Matrix to Metropolis, yet when it comes to games, it’s only the current crop available in the high street shops. It’s a big shame that most kids nowadays have no clue that great older games like Secret of Mana actually exist because they’re not available anymore, and that should change.