What are your thoughts on the Classic Console approach?

Right… so $5 is high versus piracy. That’s not really an argument, you know?

true, but that’s been a concern since…the terrible dreamcast smash pack? they always play it safe with the mostly same titles there.

part of me will honestly just be happy to not see fucking flash games nobody wants

ehhhh…i blame itunes/etc. you have to look at value propositions.

people pay what, $15/month for countless hours on netflix. something around that for spotify/apple music to stream most of what they care about.

american comics have been dying on the fucking vine forever now at $4-5 for 22 pages after ads because the model is stupid.

i can get most ebooks for like $5-10, or pay $15/month to audible for audiobooks. so $5 for a non-mario/zelda type NES game that i might play for a few minutes before moving onto something else feels crazy.

look, this may feel stupid but here goes: if i was in charge of a virtual console:

$.99 for 8bit games. SMS, NES, i don’t care. oh, it’s mario 3? fuck ya life. shit’s a dollar son

$1.50 for 16bit

etc. unify that shit the way apple did music and nearly books, or allow a streaming service for kids to try them out. we all adore PCE titles, but you’re fucking well not gonna get a teen to use what little $ they have to find out that military madness isn’t their jam for $8. does this mean rondo of blood should be like $2?! fuck yes, it’s a goddamn materpiece but it’s old as dirt and only old people give a fuck about paying scalpers too much to have it on their shelf at this point, and we all know that the world would be a better place if everyone could play it. i’m happy about the PS4 port, but frankly? if we let college students see classic art at museums for free most times, i don’t think there’s strong arguments for not making this classic really cheap if not free - especially since modern konami is a shithouse and most everyone involved in that icon is long gone or dead anyway.

am i drunk? yes but the point still stands. public schools should skip half of trig and make kids play the best of the 16bit & 32bit eras to teach artistic design & some degree of problem solving cause we’re not really educating in a practical manner that prepares anyone for the loveless world we’re thrusting them in soon anyway, might as well have a good time before all that why yes i could use some more whiskey

PS panzer dragoon saga and snatcher should both be pre bundled in every console from here to eternity

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I didn’t say 5 bucks is too high for NES games. I said it’s too high on steam specifically.

Different market places command different prices. $5 for an NES game on Wii was worth it at the time. You got real 240p output and classic games were perfect for that consumer base of both casual audience and gameplay-first style gamers that the Wii attracted. Plus it was the first time these companies systematically sold their back catalogues through emulation. It was new at the time.

Steam, today, attracts a different and wider user base though. It also contains far more software at far cheaper prices. Companies will probably do better by charging bargain-style prices just based on numbers alone in that marketplace. $5 for many simpler style NES games probably wouldn’t be as lucrative as charging $1.99.

But having a price disparity on different platforms isn’t a good look. People complain about the “Switch tax”. So it’s better to sidestep the issue altogether and take the compilation approach. Capcom did it with a Mega Man and was rather successful. And I believe it ensured some level of price parity on all platforms.

This would make me buy dozens. I won’t buy $5 emulated classics though.

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Publishers are getting back my ideal approach, which is collections that are handled with care and attention to detail. The classic consoles are kind of like collections in a different wrapping. I like seeing the Capcom and Sega M2 collections lately. Have always preferred that. Having a viable classic controller is essential to this approach, though and we’re finally starting to get those, too. I love that Nintendo is re-issuing bona fide NES controllers for Switch. I just wish Nintendo would sell collections that were as high quality as the software itself - ie, classic Mario or Metroid collections with proper physical booklets, artwork, interviews … not just ROM dumps. I’m hoping that their move to dump VC and the success of classic consoles, plus other publishers having success with such packages, will nudge Nintendo (and others) to do this. Not every old game deserves to be in a collection sold physically, but many do.

Can this be the official motto of RGB?

Maybe put it in a littler sub-header under the logo or something?

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It’s his new tag :relaxed:

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see mom, that philosophy degree finally paid off

AtGames Mega Drive Classic 2018 model is appearing in the wild.

Remember, this thing runs libretro/genesisplusgx core with an official licence.

And it has already been hacked, with a CFW to load ROMs from the SD slot: https://gbatemp.net/threads/atgames-sega-flashback-2018-edition-is-out-in-the-wild.522990/

I just have the Super Famicom version and i quite like it. Most of that comes down to the design of the unit and especially the controllers. It’s hard to really evoke the nostalgia without the right pad! For the price I think they give you enough games. I have most of them already but even the few I don’t would probably cost more than the unit to get original carts, so that is nice. Not to say i won’t buy original carts sometime later too :smiley:

BUT I think it’s a huge missed opportunity to make these as just novelty devices. It seems like such a no brainer to get them online, and support them by continually adding to the library, pretty much forever. Maybe even get brand new SNES games developed. If it was a device that could be kept around in perpetuity, why not? The systems and games are popular enough that they can sell them now, ~30 years after they came out, why not indefinitely!

Having played consoles seriously since the SNES era myself, i’ve come to hate how they’re just discarded at the start of a new generation. I guess there is no money or economies of scale in supporting the old consoles past their prime… Yeah. But what i’m more sick of is the trend of re-re-re-releasing games. People eat it up which is half the problem. People want one machine that has everything in a series. Of every series! Most owners of RE4 have it at least 5 times I bet! I’m guilty of re-buying stuff, but for some people I think it borders on OCD and really, what system has everything you want? None of them do, and when the console is discarded the process begins a new. Backwards compatibility can be great, but it’s so fickle. You never fully know ahead of time, which of your purchases you’ll be able to play on the next gen console.

I feel like a classic mini console that could essentially transcend generations is what is needed to break this trend. Their libraries are known quantities and theoretically (licenses aside) once you had everything that’d be it, you’re done! It keeps working forever and you don’t have to worry about buying stuff ever again on next/next/next gen.

While I like having the nostalgic console look, considering the hardware inside is the same, the ideal approach would be a single new console design, sell the original console controllers separately, sell games for NES/SNES/N64 on the shop. I exclude disc systems cause of the size of those games making the machines require more power, more storage and thus probably be too expensive.

Having watched a fair few N64 long plays recently, I’ve come to the conclusion that I just can’t see Nintendo releasing an N64 Mini Classic. The games just look too bad. Of course there’s also the fact that N64 emulation on low power platforms is not yet solved, and that two N64 controllers would bump the price up.

Or am I looking at this wrong?

I think you’re on point.

Reggie did confirm recently that they have no plans for an N64 Classic.

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.pcmag.com/news/364991/nintendo-isnt-making-an-n64-classic%3Famp=1

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I missed that news, thanks for the link!

The 64 seems like a stretch because these things need to be below 100 dollars and if Nintendo wants to pull in the same kinds of margins, I don’t see this thing happening at all.

A 100+ unit with a very limited selection of games (and no Goldeneye) isn’t going to be an easily purchased and nostalgic unit for most people who remember this system fondly.

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At least they realise this. Sony didn’t.

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I really wish they would though, if only to get a new source for good quality n64 controllers.

I think they still look good. You definitely need a low res CRT to make them look best though.

I’m just not convinced. :joy:

I think they should do more special edition NES/SNES ones first, like the Shonen Famicom in Japan.

N64 Mini could pop up in a couple of years.