/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.1005813]

Can anybody tell me why NA release of SNES games and NES games are much,much,way overpriced compared to the japanese releases? I mean they released less in Japan than they did in North America, it doesn't make any sense.

[Anonymous No.1005814]

It would be more lucrative to learn japanese and buy the super famicom version,plus all them unrealeased gems.

[Anonymous No.1005815]

Mostly reseller scum.

[Anonymous No.1005816]

because nobody wants to learn Japanese

an already translated game is way more valuable to today's 'i want it now" consumer

[Anonymous No.1005817]

>>1005815
It's fucking bullshit really, I usually hate the nippons for being racist and shit but they seem like they're pretty cool guys when it comes to the retro market

[Anonymous No.1005818]

For one, Tales of Phantasia wasn't released in the US, that cartridge is a reproduction of a fan translation.

Besides that though, most of the SNES RPGs are a dime a dozen in Japan because they were produced in massive numbers there but got much smaller production runs in the US. There are plenty of extremely rare and expensive SFC games, but usually it's not RPGs. Take Hagane, for instance.

Besides that, SNES prices in general are high right now because of nostalgia and resellers.

[Anonymous No.1005826]

I flipped shit when I saw that , ~45 bucks fully boxed and all

[Anonymous No.1005830]

>>1005818

Yes, but games like Earthbound and Secret of Mana (hardly rare) are ridiculously over priced and have stayed that way for decades because of the reseller market. I really don't see how they make money off the system of inflating game prices by buying expensive games.

[Anonymous No.1005832]

>>1005830
I know assholes that scourge pawnshops and yards sales trying to find games just so they can resell it on ebay,making sometimes 1200+% profit. They don't understand that they're putting a virtual price on something hardly worth 10% more than the original price

[Anonymous No.1005841]

>>1005813
BECAUSE JAPANESE ISN'T THAT EASY TO LEARN IF YOU HAVE LITTLE FREE TIME AND NO JAPANESE FRIENDS TO PRACTICE WITH.

Also fuck resellers. Get flash carts, and only buy games that are priced at the level you feel comfortable with paying.

[Anonymous No.1005845]

This shit is infuriating

[Anonymous No.1005846]

Americans cannot read Japanese

[Anonymous No.1005848]

>>1005841
It's hard as fuck,but it's worth it in the end. Learning them shitty Kanji's is depressing though

[Anonymous No.1005850]

Not a major thing, but there is also the price of shipping, which normally boosts the price of jap games quite a bit.

Also that glorious feel when importing a game from japan with free shipping.

[Anonymous No.1005853]

>>1005850
Worth I've seen on a SF game was 9$ of shipping so far.

[Anonymous No.1005864]

Japanese gamers have no materialistic attachment to things, so they will buy a game to play and resell it almost immediately.

[Anonymous No.1005878]

>>1005817

This post is dumb for so many reasons. Perhaps if you could see past your blind prejudice you could enjoy cheap games (and thereby a higher quality of life) too

[Anonymous No.1005886]

>>1005878
You didn't get me right or I badly choosed my words. I have a super famicom and over 80 SF games (Which I payed barelly 100$ for all of them). What I mean to say is that I used to hate them, I wish they were more open minded and all but I guess they still remember ww2 and what the white man did to Japan. My prejudice isn't blind too, it's a known fact.

[Anonymous No.1005894]

>>1005886
I don't think you are helping your point, most of the world hates us for a reason

[Anonymous No.1005897]

>>1005894
You're a fucking retard,he clearly stated that he understand why they hate us, you're either autistic or you have issues reading properly

[Anonymous No.1005902]

>>1005897
>>1005894
Wow, no need for all this /v/ bullshit.

[Anonymous No.1005904]

>new CR2032 battery and holder

There's some labor investment there but for the most part SNES > SFC holds true.

[Anonymous No.1005906]

>>1005878
>>1005886
>>1005894
>>1005897
>the world hates us

Speak for yourself man.

[Anonymous No.1005912]

>>1005904
A $1 battery holder and a $3 battery is not responsible for an $80+ difference even factoring in labor

[Anonymous No.1005953]

>>1005864
Japanese gamers definitely do have an attachment to material things, if not more so than Americans.

The reason you see a higher number of them buying new games and reselling them immediately is because you can't rent games in Japan, so people will buy a game right when it comes out, beat it as quickly as possible, then resell it while it's still a new release to get the most money back.

[Anonymous No.1005959]

because there is no hipster retro market boom in japan

[Anonymous No.1005960]

>>1005953
Well that doesn't explain why they would resell games that are more than 20 years old for a decent price.

[Anonymous No.1005963]

>>1005960
I was responding to the post I quoted, not to OP's question.

[Anonymous No.1005968]

Japan sees old items as old, and think they hold little value. They don't attach the idea of "retro" to old products or capitalize on nostalgia to overcharge. The only Japanese games (sold in Japan) that fetch a high pricetags are ones mint CIB, or legitimately rare.

In the west though, people see something old and think "Oh so retro/vintage/antique!" Then charge more under the false pretense that because it's old, it's rare, and because it's old and rare, it's worth a lot of money.

Even with the high cost of shipping, it's still cheaper, and more worthwhile, honestly; Japan has a better selection of retro games. The only downside being, of course, to understand anything you'll need a passable understanding of moon in anything remotely text-heavy.

[Anonymous No.1005974]

>>1005886
>>1005817

Japan loves America. They view us very favorably. The only "racist" people are old curmudgeons who served in the war, don't generalize the whole country as racist because of a tiny minority.

[Anonymous No.1006010]

>>1005974
Yeah Japan and Korea's fashion is all about america, I know this is slightly off topic but still.

[Anonymous No.1006368]

>Game gets made in home country
>They know it will sell well and shipping it around their own country is cheap
>Take huge risk in paying someone to localize, ship, and distribute the game, not knowing if it will sell well
>Only do 1/10th of the original run in the states
>Game sells like shit because the barrier (Especially back then without the internet) was very large, things didn't translate well with Americans not understanding a lot of symbolism and jokes, as well as over tones
>Game is a mediocre success but the game dwindles out in America as it only has a cult following
>Game is considered just okay with Americans, cartridges get lost and misplaced due to nobody really caring about the game
>The final products that are left surviving the terrible aging process are traded at large prices because they're rare

Pretty much supply and demand. Games in Japan cost cheaper prices because well, they're made right there in Japan and abundantly. Earthbound was localized as something totally different in America and was deemed a failure. Hence why we didn't get Mother 3 either.

[Anonymous No.1006404]

>>1006368

You seem to be under the impression that games like Earthbound and FFVII are rare when they aren't even remotely hard to come by. It has nothing to do with supply and demand.

[Anonymous No.1006409]

They're in Japanese, nobody can read them. It also helps that they're really cheap in Japan in the first place.

When I buy games online, I often end up buying the JP version because it's much cheaper. I've got CIB copies of all my favorite SNES games and all for like $15 a game.

[Anonymous No.1006423]

>>1006404
>Earthbound
>abundant

lol nope. It's not exactly rare, but it sold significantly less than one million copies. So it's a "mediocre success," as that guy said. If that game was "abundant" like you claim, then it would sell for something closer to the current after-market price of FFVII (which is an abundant game, without question).

[Anonymous No.1006427]

>>1006423

Less than a million isn't a bad number at all, retard.

[Anonymous No.1006440]

>>1006427
True, but having more than a million people wanting the game after the fact is going to cause the price to skyrocket. Kind of like how original pressings of Beatles LPs go for stupid high prices even though they sold millions of copies -- there are more people who want them than there are surviving copies up for sale.

And while less than a million isn't exactly a failure, it's still far from being a success in the eyes of a company who will sell millions of copies of other games from franchises both old and new. "Mediocre" is a good way of classifying Earthbound's sales in North America.

[Anonymous No.1006449]

>>1005953
And for retro Games?. since retro stuff is shipped over seas, they are afraid they stock will be over for them?.

Wouldnt make any sense to not allow games to be shipped from there?.

[Anonymous No.1006452]

>>1005813
because not as many people are looking for it? Not as much demand? Most North American buyers don't want in'tl shipping. What I do is look for Japanese sellers for rarer universal items that I need.

[Anonymous No.1006454]

there is generally a smaller amount made for the games that are sold for so much, but they usually aren't very rare because there are plenty of copies circulating.

But yeah, the retro market isn't as massive in Japan so they're incredibly easy to come by and the international market for them isn't strong because Japanese isn't a very common language.

It's completely worth it to learn Japanese if you happen to enjoy games that originate there.

[Anonymous No.1006478]

>>1005813
Because we belong to a stupid fucking consumer culture that will pay for something regardless of price

[Anonymous No.1006481]

>>1005813
i'm pretty sure the US version of ToP is rarer
it's also pretty shitty, they censored almost everything, like in the GBA port
PSX version is still the best anyway

oh and yeah, probably reseller scum (see the shipping price)

[Anonymous No.1006482]

>>1005850
The most I've payed for shipping is $15 for insured air mail. I'm not sure where you're getting your facts, but they're outdated/wrong.

[Anonymous No.1006645]

>>1006481
IT'S A REPRO YOU FUCKING IDIOT

[Anonymous No.1006678]

>>1005817
>I usually hate the nippons for being racist
I lol'd.

>I usually act on the stereotype of them because they act on stereotypes.

I bet you're a hypocritical self-entitled liberal too.

[Anonymous No.1006939]

Because american gamers are jaded. They'll literally throw out old consoles when a new one comes out because they become obsolete. In Japan theres older games and consoles everywhere because alot of people still enjoy them.

[Anonymous No.1007367]

>>1006939
Oh Yeah

>US Gamers only care about graphics,, specially in the 90s.
>Sega CD and Genesis only had crappy EXTREME American games and FMV.
>When SNES came out, The NES barely sold
>Games were still produced but many of them ignored.
>Kickmaster, Little Samsom and Panic Restaurant like games dont sell well
>Kids only care abut graphics, they want more powerful consoles
>Those games are now overpriced
>Reseller scum
>SNES was ditched in favour of the N64 too early
N64 Failed in the eyes of most gamers

[Anonymous No.1007391]

>>1007367
Completely agree

N64 didnt age well either. If you go back and play non-Rare (company) games theres hardly any texture and it just looks empty and unfinished.

[Anonymous No.1008437]

>>1007391

N64 games aged awfully, definitely. I can hardly go back and play any of them, despite it being the system I grew up with. At least in previous generations, 2D and sprites were hard to mess up and some had a certain charm to them, but early 3D is like you said, exceedingly empty and kind of repetitive. An exception would probably be Rayman 2.

[Anonymous No.1008580]

>>1007367
>>1007391
>>1008437
While most Dense US gamers didnt gave a shit about the hidden gems of the post 1990 NES GAMES, because Genesis and SNES spoiled them, Japanese gamers still holded Famicom Games with a place in heart.

[Anonymous No.1008590]

>>1008580
and in Japan Super Famicom games were still being produced after July 1996 and while it is true that unlike the momentum the NES had when SuperNES got released, that SNES games were being produced less and less, at the very least they were some sweet games aside from the 2 last kirby games and harvest moon.

[Anonymous No.1008617]

>>1006482
I said it wasn't a major thing, you are just over reacting.

[Anonymous No.1008893]

>>1008437
>An exception would probably be Rayman 2.
mah nigga

Regardless, what I really don't like about the N64 is it's rather shallow pool of games (it's something like a little over 300, right?) It just seems like there's not much to discover because most of the games seem to be in the same few genres (Racing, Platforming, and maybe a few others).
That's my take from a more modern perspective, anyway. It just seems like there's not too much new stuff to discover with the N64, when I find new and great titles that i've never heard of once in awhile for, well...almost every other game console that could be considered retro (sans some of the ones that didn't do too hot, but even still).

[Anonymous No.1008907]

>>1005974
This. There are certainly Japanese people who hate Americans but they are a small (albeit vocal) minority. Hating Koreans is more common.

[Anonymous No.1008913]

>>1005826
>>1005968
You have to hand to them, not only saving cib games but selling them for reasonable amounts. You can get many common cib sfc games for $10-$20. Dat nip conduct, yo.

[Anonymous No.1008917]

>>1005864
>Japanese gamers have no materialistic attachment to things

This is hilariously wrong.

[Anonymous No.1008919]

>>1008917

Maybe he misspelled Americans, because that would describe your average gamer to a tee.

[Anonymous No.1008921]

>>1005813
It's how the western markets are raised, the goal is to get rich quick no matter the cost. If something is popular you find a way to whore it and use it up.
Also it doesn't help that the western markets are not raised to appreciate the value of money. You can spend thousands of dollars a year on games and toys in Japan but it is seen in a very shameful and negative light. Where in the west they take the opposite approach and shame you for not wasting money ("lol not buying unnecessary phone 5? What are you poor?")

This kind of mentality makes both sides in the west drive the price market up to stupid levels.