Quote Originally Posted by Aussie2B View Post
I can understand the appeal of wanting to play a game in English (I mean, I personally almost never import a game if a domestic version is available), and I understand the appeal of not wanting to jump through hoops, which is exactly why I said that if I was to play a fan-translated game, the easiest, most logical approach in my mind is to either emulate on a PC and spend nothing, or, to play on actual hardware, get a flash cart and put as many patched games as you want (and be able to change the contents when updated patches are released or new patches come out).
My father and several of my friends wouldn't know the first thing to do, and I'm sure they aren't alone. Honestly, that whole sentence would be like Greek to them, and to a lot of people who only have a casual interest in retro gaming, and aren't that tech savvy. I hear the conversations all the time in stores that deal in older games. A lot of people who have fallen out of the hobby, but have dusted off an old system for kicks, and grab a few carts at the flea market or gaming specialty stores don't want to do anything but put a cartridge in and turn the power on. Many of them don't know what emulators even are, or flash carts for that matter, but they know how to use eBay and purchase games. I have a friend who was an RPG fiend, but he knew fuck-all about computers (and didn't care, really). He was open to pretty much all platforms, and would definitely spend money on a fan-translated cartridge if it meant playing a game in a series he heard good things about, or played other installments off and enjoyed. I doubt that he would spend $50 for a fan-translation (do they normally go for that much...yikes!), but I'm sure he would have spent half that if not a little more. He's in jail now serving a life sentence for shooting his ex-girlfriend in the forehead, execution style, so that's neither here nor there.

With all that said, I understand your point of view a little better now. The current gen game price point of a reproduction cartridge or fan-translated game would definitely deter me, and most of the people who aren't up on things like emulators most likely aren't the people populating gaming forums who are seemingly fascinated with repros and fan-translated carts. In the end my only real concern is the prohibitive pricing of these reproductions. As many others have said, there's plenty to be said for playing an older cartridge title the old fashion way. It just feels right/better to a lot of gamers.