In case you missed it, Hamster, the company behind Arcade Archives announced that they will be releasing "Console Archives," selected console games available for individual purchase, starting with Cool Boarders and Ninja Gaiden II.
A common refrain from people, especially on this subreddit, is that they wish more retro games were available for sale individually, and not tied to subscriptions or compilation packs.
Will the people who say this actually buy these, you think?
Posted by razorbeamz
26 Comments
Dude Idk about you but I don’t feel like spending money on Doraemon for the Famicom.
Me personally, no. But that’s because I have zero nostalgia for the games in that series. I want to own specific Nintendo games, not these.
Depends on what they release. Doraemon is not exactly lighting me on fire with excitement. I know Nintendo has a few arcade archives games but I somehow doubt they’ll be putting Super Mario Bros 3 up on console archives any time soon.
I’m going to buy Ninja Gaiden 2 and Sonic Wings Special.
I’ll pass on Cool Boarders because I think I could find a physical PS1 copy for less and I still have a working PS3 hooked up.
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I mean, it depends on what games happen. I’m not just going to buy every old game just because it’s old
The Arcade Archives already aren’t too dissimilar from the Virtual Console and were probably fairly successful given the continuation of the series. Same with other companies that have been re-releasing similarly obscure/niche games like the EGGCONSOLE and G-MODE series. I imagine the arcade emulation was more annoying for the developers than creating the emulators for these. The money has already been put into the proverbial mouths for years now.
>Will gamers who said they want Virtual Console games sold individually put their money where their mouth is?
If it’s games they actually *want* to own and play, yes. That doesn’t mean that we’ll just buy up anything just because it’s old.
I bought **SEGA AGES Phantasy Star** so I would have the first **Phantasy Star** subscription-free and I bought the entire **Sega Genesis & Mega Drive Classics collection** just to have **Phantasy Star IV** subscription-free (though, certainly, I’m glad to have **Shining Force**, **Gun Star Heroes,** and other titles as part of the package).
But **Cool Boarders**? **Doraemon**? **Sonic Wings Special**? I’m sure there’s an audience for these but it’s not me and that doesn’t mean that I’m “not putting my money where my mouth is”.
I’m not big on the classic **Ninja Gaiden** titles either…I remember them as terribly hard, pixel perfect, unforgiving titles and I don’t have a great interest in revisiting them. Except that the music, art, and storytelling (at least for the time) was fantastic, so that’s at least a maybe. But put out basically any of the classic console RPGs and I’m in. I’d be in for **Megaman**, **Samurai Shodown**, or **Mana** but I already picked up the collections.
Nope, I won’t buy individual games that are 30-40 years old. I pay for switch online and play whatever is on there from time to time. If there’s a game I have to play and it’s not there I can emulate it which is what these releases are anyway.
Pahaha sorry to disappoint you champ but when people say they want to be able to buy individual retro games these aren’t what they mean. They mean they want to buy Nintendo games.
This is the most pathetic attempt at a ‘gotcha!’ I’ve seen.
Looking at that section my only question was, who’s Hamster? Never heard of them.
I have very little interest in most older games. Outside of Nintendo titles, most of the games I like I have bought already
Hamster do a very good job with their ports, with great respect to the original game. The emulation quality is top tier, I always pick up whatever catches my eye (play Liquid Kids).
If we get games worth buying. I want Snowboard kids, Space station Silicon Valley and Body Harvest. If they release things like that then absolutely I will buy them.
I already paid for them all on my Wii U.
When people say they want Virtual Console games, they mean they want Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc.
They’re not upset because they can’t play some relatively obscure 3rd party NES shovelware.
This collection isn’t gonna have Super Mario Bros, or Link’s Awakening, or things like that, so it’s not what people are looking for.
God gaming discourse is so toxic. This reads as a gotcha to satisfy toxic tribalism and console wars. If people want to have the privilege to buy Nintendo games to own why demonize them for it?
“Will the people who wanted to be able to buy once and have endless access to Super Mario Bros 3 speak with their wallet and buy niche Famicom games like they wanted?”
The false equivalence on this post going crazy.
For the time being, I’d like to see games that were exclusive to Sega’s consoles (I wouldn’t even mind console ports of arcade games). For example, Skies of Arcadia deserves this honor.
I would if I had a Switch 2 or PS5.
No they will not.
Hamster is a tiny company cruising on tiny marginal gains and the infrastructure of others. When their release have issues they don’t face close to the same scrutiny as Nintendo.
At this point, NSO probably is the better deal
Like yeah, I probably would buy OOT for the fifth time, but theres not that many Nintendo games I’d be willing to buy multiple times over at this point in my life
No because I want Nintendo games lol.
There has GOT to be a better acronym for “Console Archives” than the one they’re using on that website, bro
Much like the people who said they’d be happy if they got GoldenEye on 64 NSO, and then put up a new goal post, or the people who were supposedly going to be happy with Gamecube, or GBA Fire Emblems or a g of the others dozens of goalposts for NSO, they have no intention of buying anything. It’s just for performative rage. This time it’ll be because they aren’t the *right* games.
Depends.
For Arcade Archives I bought my favorites, like my S tier games, and then games that weren’t on NSO but I enjoyed like Qix.
I see myself doing the same here.