Capcom Hyping Ducktales Remake w/ Gold NES Carts!

[CastlevaniaDude]

Oh, man.

Get ready for a collectors' shitstorm.

Youtube Video of the coveted gold cart. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tilBZLKxf8)

Coolest part other than the ad for "Other great Capcom games" -- on the back of the cart, where it warns about extreme temperatures, etc... Final warning: "Life is like a hurricane."

[Daria]

Is it sad that I just want the lunchbox?

[CastlevaniaDude]

Is it sad that I just want the lunchbox?

Yes, because then you'd be breaking up a very limited set! @_@

[XYXZYZ]

Is it sad that I just want the lunchbox?

Are you actually going to pack your lunch in it?

[Daria]

Are you actually going to pack your lunch in it?

Nah, I keep my Gameboy carts in them. :)

CastlevaniaDude: well fine if you're going to twist my arm I suppose I'll also take the sexy gold cartridge as well.

[buzz_n64]

Is it sad that I just want the lunchbox?

If you end up getting the set, give me the gold cart. I'll give you $20. :)

[Graham Mitchell]

Does the game actually play? It looks real, I can see an edge at the bottom of the cart...

[CastlevaniaDude]

Nah, I keep my Gameboy carts in them. :)

CastlevaniaDude: well fine if you're going to twist my arm I suppose I'll also take the sexy gold cartridge as well.

AND the ad for great upcoming new Capcom games like Megaman!

Apparently the game IS playable, too.

6978

[skaar]

The gaming "press" is bought off by shit like this, while the people who actually spend the money on the games don't have access other than buying from the press members who resell it on ebay.

Nice secondary income source.

[Gameguy]

Does the game actually play? It looks real, I can see an edge at the bottom of the cart...
A comment on that youtube page says it does, I'm not sure if that's correct though. Does this mean that Capcom still has NES manufacturing equipment?

[Daria]

If your average joe homebrewer can manufacture a small run of NES cartridges I'm sure Capcom can too.

[Kitsune Sniper]

A comment on that youtube page says it does, I'm not sure if that's correct though. Does this mean that Capcom still has NES manufacturing equipment?

Or they bought 150 carts off eBay and placed the boards inside new carts.

[Gameguy]

Or they bought 150 carts off eBay and placed the boards inside new carts.
But they're gold carts, I'm not sure if they painted old carts or made new plastic shells in this new colour with correct equipment. If they were grey I'd just think they bought old Duck Tales carts and changed the labels.

[Kitsune Sniper]

But they're gold carts, I'm not sure if they painted old carts or made new plastic shells in this new colour with correct equipment. If they were grey I'd just think they bought old Duck Tales carts and changed the labels.

They could've also disassembled the carts and painted the outside gold for all we know. :P

[StoneAgeGamer]

But they're gold carts, I'm not sure if they painted old carts or made new plastic shells in this new colour with correct equipment. If they were grey I'd just think they bought old Duck Tales carts and changed the labels.

They look painted. My guess is either they still had old NES shells in the warehouse that they painted or they just bought donors to paint. Not really worth getting molds made for a run for only 150 carts. Still cool to see something official from Capcom, its a shame they are used to basically buy off reviewers though. I would rather see them in the hands of actual customers.

[wiggyx]

They're painted. Injection molded gold plastic doesn't look like that. In fact, it looks like shit about 90% of the time. The parts end up looking like a swirled, 2-flavor cake. This is why you almost never see actual gold plastic used in much of anything aside from kids toys.

Also, the tooling for the original NES shells would be long gone. Injection molding tools aren't kept around forever. They use a LOT of steel, which is valuable and infinitely recyclable (not to mention that the tooling takes up a lot of space), so they don't hang around too long after production ends. There are some repro companies that have their own shells produced. I wouldn't be too shocked if Capcom employed one of these companies to acquire the parts for this. Beats the hell out of buying a ~$10K set of injection mold tools to make 150 cart shells.

I'd also wager that they used a process known as vacuum deposition to apply the finish. Far more durable that wet paint in this application, and incredibly thin, which means pretty much zero loss of any details in the form. If you need a reference, the GBA SP was finished using this process.

[SparTonberry]

I thought they'd just buy 150 copies of the Legend of Zelda 1 or 2 and replace the label (what actually comes up if you try to play it in an NES? DuckTales? Okay, swap 150 PCBs).
LEGEND OF MY ASS!

[Rickstilwell1]

I'm going to quote the rapper Notes on one of his dis tracks because it's appropriate here. "walkin' around town with a can of gold spray paint claimin' you famous"

It's exactly what they're doing here. Reviewers being given gold painted copies of a game claiming they're special.

How were people supposed to even acquire these things if they weren't told about it ahead of time?

[Bojay1997]

I'm going to quote the rapper Notes on one of his dis tracks because it's appropriate here. "walkin' around town with a can of gold spray paint claimin' you famous"

It's exactly what they're doing here. Reviewers being given gold painted copies of a game claiming they're special.

How were people supposed to even acquire these things if they weren't told about it ahead of time?

In fairness, every publisher does similar things with every major and sometimes not so major release. It's a way of getting media outlets excited about your product and giving them something unique and cool is a great way to do it. Think about how much publicity this has generated just today on many, many gaming websites. It's a lot of buzz for the game with very little expenditure or effort.

[wiggyx]

I'm going to quote the rapper Notes on one of his dis tracks because it's appropriate here. "walkin' around town with a can of gold spray paint claimin' you famous"

It's exactly what they're doing here. Reviewers being given gold painted copies of a game claiming they're special.

How were people supposed to even acquire these things if they weren't told about it ahead of time?

You aren't.

[buzz_n64]

You aren't.

It sucks. A ton of these articles are spreading on the internet, and are peaking the interest of game collectors. Only that the 150 that do exist are not even being released to the public, but are given to media people who will either store it away as just another freebie from a publisher, or to be found on Ebay for an inflated price. Why even tell the public about these 150 carts? Fucking teases!

[Ed Oscuro]

The gaming "press" is bought off by shit like this
Sad but true. I think. They will definitely have some fuzzy feelings about the game long after they've stopped playing it, if it turns out to be that kind of game.

Thanks for the big "fuck gamers, we know who's important" reminder, Capcom!

[Bojay1997]

It sucks. A ton of these articles are spreading on the internet, and are peaking the interest of game collectors. Only that the 150 that do exist are not even being released to the public, but are given to media people who will either store it away as just another freebie from a publisher, or to be found on Ebay for an inflated price. Why even tell the public about these 150 carts? Fucking teases!

While it sucks, it's not Capcom that spread this information around. All of the photos and videos have come from recipients in the video game media. People in the media receive all sorts of cool items on a regular basis. It's unfortunate that they couldn't do a large run of these, but like the Mega Man press kit, they likely have to be hand assembled and that's probably not practical especially given the huge demand for these.

[Ed Oscuro]

Let's not kid ourselves here - Capcom haven't done any serious considerations towards any commercial run of NES cartridges. They need to keep people on the digital distribution system - just like everybody else. Yes, the obvious costs of doing a run are there, but it sure looks like they've got the prototype ready, and I think people would be willing to pay a large premium for anything in a physical format, enough to make it worthwhile - they don't care to find out.

[wiggyx]

I don't think enough people would pay that premium though :(

Plus, for all we know the stupid thing is a flash cart.

[StoneAgeGamer]

Let's not kid ourselves here - Capcom haven't done any serious considerations towards any commercial run of NES cartridges. They need to keep people on the digital distribution system - just like everybody else. Yes, the obvious costs of doing a run are there, but it sure looks like they've got the prototype ready, and I think people would be willing to pay a large premium for anything in a physical format, enough to make it worthwhile - they don't care to find out.

I don't think anyone thought they were going to release new NES carts for commercial purposes. I also think you grossly over estimate how many people would actually be interested in such an item.

When you are talking about companies that do hundreds of millions or billions of dollars of gross sales a year a new NES cart run of Duck Tales is a drop in the bucket and just not worth the time or investment. I am not sure why people think a company like Capcom would have any interest in releasing a new game for an old system except for a gimmicky reason like this. Why do you think repro companies are not sued or even sent cease and desists? Its because the repro market compared to Nintendo's, Sega's, Capcom's, and EA's economic scale is virtually non-existent.

[The Adventurer]

Capcom probably wouldn't be allowed to release an NES repo, or at least one that looks like the one in the video, commercially for a variety of legal/cost reasons.

[Niku-Sama]

I don't care about the cart. I find it more interesting that they included an old ad, atleast old ad. I'm thinking the reason they included it its to suggest that they might "remaster" sine of the listed games.

I mean duck tales is an odd one to start off with and nothing quite like this has been done the same way...

[wiggyx]

Capcom probably wouldn't be allowed to release an NES repo, or at least one that looks like the one in the video, commercially for a variety of legal/cost reasons.

Why not? What would keep them from doing so from a legal standpoint?

[Jack_Burton_BYOAC]

Two theories:

#1. Capcom paid a couple of guys to buy 150 copies of NES duck tales from all over the internet and turn them into the gold carts.

#2. Capcom paid a Chinese company to print some PCBs and mask ROMs (this has been done with other repros) and then reconditioned 150 random games.

Pretty expensive either way. Hope it's worth it for them, but it seems a long way to go for a game that's not even one of their own franchises.

*Conspiracy Theory: These were done by Time Walk games. They had the PCBs, they had the cases, they had the skills.

[The Adventurer]

Why not? What would keep them from doing so from a legal standpoint?

Slapping all those official Nintendo logos all over it for one. Can you say Trademark violation?

[wiggyx]

Slapping all those official Nintendo logos all over it for one. Can you say Trademark violation?

Considering that it's little more than a reprint of a label that was on a game which was licensed by Nintendo decades ago, no, not really.

Not to mention that it's pretty hard to imagine that nintendo themselves didn't give them their blessings on this one. That's some pretty awesome FREE publicity for them.

[Gameguy]

Also, the tooling for the original NES shells would be long gone. Injection molding tools aren't kept around forever.
This is what I thought which was what threw me off, I was surprised to see new looking NES carts for this reason.

They didn't look like used Zelda carts as they look too new, and the cart shells look authentic. Plus I know with the Zelda carts that they're actually black plastic painted gold, I wasn't sure if the paint needed that plastic to stick or why Nintendo didn't just paint grey carts for their Zelda releases. It seemed like a lot of work for Capcom to just track used copies in excellent shape just to paint them. I guess that's what they did though. Now that I think about it, didn't they use real cart shells for their Mega Man 9 promo? I thought they just made a box for some reason, I forgot about the empty cart shell.


Still, Duck Tales is awesome.


http://i43.tinypic.com/2zp4ho9.png

[xelement5x]

This is what I thought which was what threw me off, I was surprised to see new looking NES carts for this reason.

They didn't look like used Zelda carts as they look too new, and the cart shells look authentic. Plus I know with the Zelda carts that they're actually black plastic painted gold, I wasn't sure if the paint needed that plastic to stick or why Nintendo didn't just paint grey carts for their Zelda releases. It seemed like a lot of work for Capcom to just track used copies in excellent shape just to paint them. I guess that's what they did though. Now that I think about it, didn't they use real cart shells for their Mega Man 9 promo? I thought they just made a box for some reason, I forgot about the empty cart shell.


Still, Duck Tales is awesome.


http://i43.tinypic.com/2zp4ho9.png

I'm suprised that doesn't say "Army of Duckness" instead ;)

[wiggyx]

This is what I thought which was what threw me off, I was surprised to see new looking NES carts for this reason.

They didn't look like used Zelda carts as they look too new, and the cart shells look authentic. Plus I know with the Zelda carts that they're actually black plastic painted gold, I wasn't sure if the paint needed that plastic to stick or why Nintendo didn't just paint grey carts for their Zelda releases. It seemed like a lot of work for Capcom to just track used copies in excellent shape just to paint them. I guess that's what they did though. Now that I think about it, didn't they use real cart shells for their Mega Man 9 promo? I thought they just made a box for some reason, I forgot about the empty cart shell.


Still, Duck Tales is awesome.


http://i43.tinypic.com/2zp4ho9.png

Well, as stated before, there are some folks out there having new shells made from their own tooling. Capcom may very well have used *GASP* a repro game company to acquire the shells. Hard to say for sure. I know I just talked with a guy who has tooling for SNES shells and was asking if I'd be interested in buying some. There are indeed ways besides picking up used carts for this sort of thing...

[Ed Oscuro]

I also think you grossly over estimate how many people would actually be interested in such an item.
Do I? I mentioned price, not numbers. As wiggyx, Jack Burton (let me tell ya) and others noted, Capcom went through a lot of expense to produce these 150 cartridges. Why couldn't they have released some more and set whatever price they wanted? We don't even get to square one here, with a price being mooted. Given how much old games go for routinely on eBay, and how much people spend on Kickstarter (for good and completely ridiculous projects both) Capcom would have plenty of leeway on pricing something like this for general distribution. Even doing a "first come first serve" limited run release would be something.

Actually the Nintendo trademark thing could have been some kind of roadblock to a reissue, I suppose. I wouldn't know if Nintendo is willingly going along with releases for defunct and obsolete (from their perspective) systems; they also want people stuck on the digital system.

Just releasing something for free on an old system is not going to give Nintendo much to say in court about damages to the brand. If they were selling them without the OK to use the trademark on this product, that would be different.

Man, we're getting pretty hot and bothered about modern-day Capcom here. I just want them to make good games again.

[StoneAgeGamer]

Do I? I mentioned price, not numbers. As wiggyx, Jack Burton (let me tell ya) and others noted, Capcom went through a lot of expense to produce these 150 cartridges. Why couldn't they have released some more and set whatever price they wanted? We don't even get to square one here, with a price being mooted. Given how much old games go for routinely on eBay, and how much people spend on Kickstarter (for good and completely ridiculous projects both) Capcom would have plenty of leeway on pricing something like this for general distribution. Even doing a "first come first serve" limited run release would be something.


Maybe I am not 100% sure what you want. You want Capcom to release NES games so a few people can get a hold of them and re-sell them on eBay at inflated prices? Or are you saying Capcom should inflate the prices themselves and reap the little reward and then those people who bought them re-sell them on eBay at even higher inflated prices?

I would have preferred these 150 carts actually be given away to actual people through a contest or something instead of news sites, but I also know why Capcom gave them to the news sites. To get people talking about the game. This was purely an advertising expense, nothing more.

I am sure the carts were expensive to produce when compared to how much an NES cart cost to produce back in NES hay day. Small runs are exponentially more to produce. I have some experience with cart shell costs, painting shells, getting labels made, and PCB costs (I know wiggy does as well). Its not cheap, especially for small runs.

Being a retro gaming store and a retro gamer I am all for someone producing new games for classic systems. However, again, we are talking about huge companies. This would be such a drop in the bucket I am not sure how it would be worth their time. Right now the Duck Tales carts are receiving hype because they are a novelty, not because people (in-general) are clamoring for new releases on the NES.

I am not trying to be a negative-nelly here. All I am doing is telling you why it would most likely not happen. Of course I would think it would be cool to see, but it doesn't mean it will happen. I would love to see Sega make a new console, but I also know why it will most likely never happen and why it would probably be a bad idea to do so.

[Ed Oscuro]

You want Capcom to release NES games so a few people can get a hold of them and re-sell them on eBay at inflated prices? Or are you saying Capcom should inflate the prices themselves and reap the little reward and then those people who bought them re-sell them on eBay at even higher inflated prices?
This is already what's going to happen, so that wouldn't be much of an improvement of conditions, unless you think my only goal is for people to suffer, which is a very natural and reasonable thing to think.

Battle Kid has sold out multiple times at only $30 (+ $10 for a box). I think it's reasonable to expect that given it's Capcom releasing the Ducktales game with some extras, a price somewhere south of $100 seems reasonable. I don't think you have any idea what the capacity of the repro makers is like, though, so it's worthless to assert that unmet demand and scalping are inevitable. Price and distribute the game right and there won't be much reason for scalping - and even if there was scalping at the start, unmet demand is something that video game manufacturers have known how to deal with as long as physical distribution has been around (i.e. since before Capcom and throughout the disc era, or did you think nobody ever reprints games?).

[Greg2600]

I really don't get Capcom's rationale here. By having such a limited number of these things, you're just going to anger people.

[wiggyx]

This is already what's going to happen, so that wouldn't be much of an improvement of conditions, unless you think my only goal is for people to suffer, which is a very natural and reasonable thing to think.

Battle Kid has sold out multiple times at only $30 (+ $10 for a box). I think it's reasonable to expect that given it's Capcom releasing the Ducktales game with some extras, a price somewhere south of $100 seems reasonable. I don't think you have any idea what the capacity of the repro makers is like, though, so it's worthless to assert that unmet demand and scalping are inevitable. Price and distribute the game right and there won't be much reason for scalping - and even if there was scalping at the start, unmet demand is something that video game manufacturers have known how to deal with as long as physical distribution has been around (i.e. since before Capcom and throughout the disc era, or did you think nobody ever reprints games?).

On the contrary. I know plenty of repro makers and do so myself. Although I really don't see how that adds much of anything to the discussion :/ Repros and their target market aren't the same as this silly batch of gold carts.

[The Adventurer]

Also, it's important to keep in mind exactly so made these carts. My suspicious that its not so much 'Capcom', as in the entire company. So much as it was Capcom USA's promotional department. The production of these industry promotional items would have come out of their budget, with the goal of getting more press to make the new game more visible. Corporate Capcom probably had approvals at some point, but the money put into them would have come out of Promotional's yearly budget.

At least that's my guess.

[Kitsune Sniper]

I really don't get Capcom's rationale here. By having such a limited number of these things, you're just going to anger people.

This is Capcom. It's what they do. See: Cancelled Mega Man games, countless rereleases, etc.

[InsaneDavid]

With gaming magazines, and the buying of review scores with advertising revenue, pretty much done I think we're going to see more and more of this type of thing to buy media outlets off.

[Ed Oscuro]

On the contrary. I know plenty of repro makers and do so myself. Although I really don't see how that adds much of anything to the discussion :/ Repros and their target market aren't the same as this silly batch of gold carts.
Well, it seems to me that the capacity for limited runs - we're not talking about a market where components are so high in demand that NES releases are taking up a large amount of the semiconductor output of Japan - for one game could well be much better than what's known here, and the "there will be scalping and other bad stuff" argument depends on there being low supply for a high demand (although I don't see why asking for even a handful more cartridges is going to do anything but help the situation from the supply and demand standpoint), unless StoneAgeGamer is using some kind of economics that existed before supply and demand theory.

[Bojay1997]

With gaming magazines, and the buying of review scores with advertising revenue, pretty much done I think we're going to see more and more of this type of thing to buy media outlets off.

Are you joking? Reviewers have been receiving promotional items/gifts since the dawn of the video game industry. In fact, reviewers and journalists in all forms of entertainment media have been receiving similar gifts since the beginning of mass media.

[InsaneDavid]

Are you joking? Reviewers have been receiving promotional items/gifts since the dawn of the video game industry. In fact, reviewers and journalists in all forms of entertainment media have been receiving similar gifts since the beginning of mass media.

I said nothing about promo and specialty goods being a new phenomenon, simply that there is bound to be an increase in these type of publicly showcased "look at what I got" items. Talk about shooting from the hip, dude.

[Ed Oscuro]

I think this does represent a new thing, though, since it's an area that anybody should be able to tell is sensitive to classic gamers - the kind of people they want to target with this release. But obviously Capcom's marketing people are kind of autistic when it comes to their fanbase (or former fanbase, anyway), so we can't really blame them, can we?

[Bojay1997]

I said nothing about promo and specialty goods being a new phenomenon, simply that there is bound to be an increase in these type of publicly showcased "look at what I got" items. Talk about shooting from the hip, dude.

The "look at what I got" thing has been going on in the video game media on the Internet for at least a decade or more and while Youtube and other video sites have perhaps increased awareness, it's not something that just started happening recently, nor has there been an increase in the volume. In fact, Capcom has been doing press kits like this for digital releases for at least five years now and this is the first one they have done in at least a couple of years.

I have my share of concerns with how Capcom operates as a gamer, but people getting upset about Capcom not releasing a run of these to the general public are totally deluded about their market. Frankly, that Mega Man press kit being released caused them quite a bit of ill will from people who couldn't get one even after they covered there own mistake in overselling by doing a third run of them. This would only do the same as there are probably thousands of people who would want one and very little chance that they could meet that demand.

[Greg2600]

I would concur that Capcom marketing division probably doesn't realize that these giveaways are going to cause a backlash, mainly with their target audience. Guarantee none of those people are gamers.

As much as Gamestop and others get hated on, I think they should have considered a similar type of giveaway with pre-orders or something like that. Or at the least, give away 150 using an online prize contest. Let the collectors have a chance.

I would liken this to the Transformers collectors who clamor for special convention only toys, but again, at least the public attendees have a chance to get them.

[Daria]

A real collector wouldn't be bitching that they didn't get a fair crack at truely limited item. Instead they'd be writing 150 letters seeking out a seller.

I think the cart is cool, and if Capcom truely wanted to open the release to the public, crowd sourcing would be the way to go here. But bitching that Capcom's not catering to the collector crowd by creating yet another mass produced "collectible" is... Stupid.

[bb_hood]

But bitching that Capcom's not catering to the collector crowd by creating yet another mass produced "collectible" is... Stupid.

Yeah, I agree. I just think its awesome that Capcom still makes such cool stuff, even if there is only 150 of the sets made. I can deal with the fact that I will probably never own one. I got my pre-order in and am very much looking forward to playing the game!

[Immutable]

Should I expect to see a cartridge like this in a "video gaming museum" soon? Heh.

[CelticJobber]

I wonder if one of those carts will end up on an episode of Pawn Stars? I'm sure Chum-Lee and their "toy expert" would be knowledgeable about it...

[wiggyx]

Well, it seems to me that the capacity for limited runs - we're not talking about a market where components are so high in demand that NES releases are taking up a large amount of the semiconductor output of Japan - for one game could well be much better than what's known here, and the "there will be scalping and other bad stuff" argument depends on there being low supply for a high demand (although I don't see why asking for even a handful more cartridges is going to do anything but help the situation from the supply and demand standpoint), unless StoneAgeGamer is using some kind of economics that existed before supply and demand theory.

I was simply saying that the target market for repros and Capcom issued gold carts are different, that's all.

As to your point, and with regards to what SAG has already pointed out, the demand is moot if the resources for production are limited, not to mention the likelihood of such a venture being profitable is nearly impossible. It makes sense to use them as a marketing tool, not so much as a quasi mass-produced novelty.


A real collector wouldn't be bitching that they didn't get a fair crack at truely limited item. Instead they'd be writing 150 letters seeking out a seller.

I think the cart is cool, and if Capcom truely wanted to open the release to the public, crowd sourcing would be the way to go here. But bitching that Capcom's not catering to the collector crowd by creating yet another mass produced "collectible" is... Stupid.

This.

[xelement5x]

On a thread on NA they were talking about this. Apparently iam8bit came forward as being responsible for the productions of these.

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXpcwS9-8lo

I guess someone who purchased one from a person in the press has already taken them apart and the PCBs have all the markings of a repro from Timewalk Games as well.

Here's the thread (a bit long) for anyone that wants more info:
http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=109087

[Greg2600]

So I guess that finally answers the question of whether a current, big time publisher wants to dissuade game reproduction websites!

[StoneAgeGamer]

I was simply saying that the target market for repros and Capcom issued gold carts are different, that's all.

As to your point, and with regards to what SAG has already pointed out, the demand is moot if the resources for production are limited, not to mention the likelihood of such a venture being profitable is nearly impossible. It makes sense to use them as a marketing tool, not so much as a quasi mass-produced novelty.



Bingo. Its not that there isn't profit to be had by mom and pop operations, but no profit to be had by Capcom. Even if they could make profit, it would be a pittance to them. Really, the biggest companies that actually target the retro gaming community are probably the clone companies like Hyperkin, Innex and Yobo. Capcom probably brings more in a few weeks than all 3 combined do in a year. Capcom is much better off investing money in making hit games for current gen than releasing games for 20 year old systems.

[wiggyx]

On a thread on NA they were talking about this. Apparently iam8bit came forward as being responsible for the productions of these.

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXpcwS9-8lo

I guess someone who purchased one from a person in the press has already taken them apart and the PCBs have all the markings of a repro from Timewalk Games as well.

Here's the thread (a bit long) for anyone that wants more info:
http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=109087

I'm shocked!

Oh wait, the other thing...


Capcom may very well have used *GASP* a repro game company...


Bingo. Its not that there isn't profit to be had by mom and pop operations, but no profit to be had by Capcom. Even if they could make profit, it would be a pittance to them. Really, the biggest companies that actually target the retro gaming community are probably the clone companies like Hyperkin, Innex and Yobo. Capcom probably brings more in a few weeks than all 3 combined do in a year. Capcom is much better off investing money in making hit games for current gen than releasing games for 20 year old systems.

I'll 2nd this. You and I could make a killing selling these, but a killing for us is chump change for them, if they could even find a way to make it profitable.


Also, it's worth mentioning again that a large game company is actually employing a reproduction game maker, and one of the largest at that. Capcom is cool with the repro scene? Seems like it, at least in the US...

[MetalFRO]

Not to get too off-topic here, but I'm wondering about the production on something like this as compared to homebrew and repro carts. I know repro makers use donor carts to make their games, but obviously something like Battle Kid is a bit different. The cases for that game are a custom job, but what about the PCB? Do they use donor PCB's to accomplish that, or have they come up with their own? I know that for US releases, Nintendo made everyone buy components from them, but now that we're nearly 30 years out from that, has anyone manufactured NES PCB's for stuff like this? I'm also wondering about 3-D printing, i.e. what would be the cost of 3-D printing a cartridge shell versus re-using carts? Not everyone is Ben Heck and has a large-scale 3-D printer in their workshop, so I'm curious to know what the kind of cost vs return ratio might be on something like that.

[Azarkhel]

Not to get too off-topic here, but I'm wondering about the production on something like this as compared to homebrew and repro carts. I know repro makers use donor carts to make their games, but obviously something like Battle Kid is a bit different. The cases for that game are a custom job, but what about the PCB? Do they use donor PCB's to accomplish that, or have they come up with their own? I know that for US releases, Nintendo made everyone buy components from them, but now that we're nearly 30 years out from that, has anyone manufactured NES PCB's for stuff like this? I'm also wondering about 3-D printing, i.e. what would be the cost of 3-D printing a cartridge shell versus re-using carts? Not everyone is Ben Heck and has a large-scale 3-D printer in their workshop, so I'm curious to know what the kind of cost vs return ratio might be on something like that.

Timewalk use new PCBs for everything now, RetroZone have done so as well for ages.

[wiggyx]

Not to get too off-topic here, but I'm wondering about the production on something like this as compared to homebrew and repro carts. I know repro makers use donor carts to make their games, but obviously something like Battle Kid is a bit different. The cases for that game are a custom job, but what about the PCB? Do they use donor PCB's to accomplish that, or have they come up with their own? I know that for US releases, Nintendo made everyone buy components from them, but now that we're nearly 30 years out from that, has anyone manufactured NES PCB's for stuff like this? I'm also wondering about 3-D printing, i.e. what would be the cost of 3-D printing a cartridge shell versus re-using carts? Not everyone is Ben Heck and has a large-scale 3-D printer in their workshop, so I'm curious to know what the kind of cost vs return ratio might be on something like that.

There are pics of the PCB in the linked thread on Nintendoage. As for the shell printing Q, that's what I do and it's extremely time consuming and the parts require a lot of work when they're done in order to make them look presentable. The cost of raw materials isn't too bad, but the labor is significant.

edit: here's a pic.

http://nintendoagemedia.com/users/771/photobucket/07EAB7AA-0B0F-C499-21ABD7EA0FE5605F.png

[Greg2600]

Wiggy, I also said that it's interesting that Capcom was okay dealing with a repro maker, which like you said tends to show that they don't care and maybe like having continued fan/hobby projects done.

As for this debate, like I said, I have no problem with a limited run, costs wise. My issue was the distribution. Capcom should have raffled them away in a contest, which would have spurred far more interest in the new game than just handing them out to the press. Particularly the mainstream press, which gamers ignore.

[Bojay1997]

Wiggy, I also said that it's interesting that Capcom was okay dealing with a repro maker, which like you said tends to show that they don't care and maybe like having continued fan/hobby projects done.

As for this debate, like I said, I have no problem with a limited run, costs wise. My issue was the distribution. Capcom should have raffled them away in a contest, which would have spurred far more interest in the new game than just handing them out to the press. Particularly the mainstream press, which gamers ignore.

I disagree. I've never become more interested in a game simply because they raffled away some limited item that I didn't win. The goal here was to get the press talking about the game and that was accomplished. There have been very positive reviews all over the place and while you may not care about reviews, lots of us at least take a look at them and consider them along with other sources as part of our purchasing decision.

[Kiddo]

The goal here was to get the press talking about the game and that was accomplished. There have been very positive reviews all over the place and while you may not care about reviews, lots of us at least take a look at them and consider them along with other sources as part of our purchasing decision.

I take it Polygon didn't get one of the feelies, then? Considering their review...

[Bojay1997]

I take it Polygon didn't get one of the feelies, then? Considering their review...

I don't know if they did or didn't, but they still wrote a review of a digital only remake, so apparently Capcom's PR effort worked to at least encourage them to post a timely review.

[wiggyx]

These freebies are meant to get the press interested who in turn are supposed to get us interested and spread the word since they have the capacity to do so.

Giving 150 away to fans would mean little to nothing since most would never do more than post on a few forums. Giving them to the press will help ensure that their game will get publicity, whether it be negative or positive (and anyone in marketing will tell you that ANY coverage is good coverage).

Get over it, folks. It makes almost zero sense for Capcom to send them to Joe Q gamer. Don't take it so personally.

[Daria]

I take it Polygon didn't get one of the feelies, then? Considering their review...

Well according to their website they don't accept gifts valued in excess of $50 anyways.

Wonder how'd they'd appraise this set.

[Jack_Burton_BYOAC]

Timewalk use new PCBs for everything now, RetroZone have done so as well for ages.

huh.

Well, that's good. Now, if only they would start using brand new carts AND giving credit to ROM hackers I'd support them 100%.

[Pikointeractive]

huh.

Well, that's good. Now, if only they would start using brand new carts AND giving credit to ROM hackers I'd support them 100%.

Megaman vs Street Figter was a fan made game they liked and officially picked up. They distributed for free tho. Not 100% rom hack, but something along the way