Before I begin here, I just need to get this out of the way. I am not against video games being $70 this generation. Game development costs have only gone up, while the prices of games have remained stagnant for years. That is a separate article though. Today, I am here to talk about another type of game where the prices are getting absolutely out of control: Retro games
If you have somehow found your way to this article, you no doubt read articles from bigger gaming websites. You have seen the insane prices sealed, graded copies of The Legend of Zelda, and Super Mario 64 have been fetching at auction, and it is clear to see that people of a certain age, with too much money are hungry to recreate their childhood, and are willing to pay a lot of money to do so. This phenomenon is not unique to the crypto-assholes and the trust-fund babies of the world however. Many people have been out in the world, going through garage/yard sales, going to retro-game stores, and cruising Ebay in an effort to get the best deal on the special games of their childhood. This was something that was happening before we found ourselves in this Pandemic-hellscape, but Covid-19 definitely sped up the process. If you go to stores or websites now that cater to the retro crowd, you will see that the prices of things like first-run GBA’s and GameBoy Colors have been skyrocketing.
Generally there are two crowds going for these devices: those who are literally just into playing the old games, and then the modding-enthusiasts who will take apart a GameBoy Color and put a better screen in it, rechargeable battery, etc. With so many people stuck at home for so long in 2020 and 2021, people needed new ways to pass the time, and more people took to tinkering around with things like retro handhelds. A lot of the results have been great, but this has increased demand for a finite resource. Nintendo is not going to see the uptick in popularity of the GameBoy Advance device and start making them again. Hell, they’re not even going to re-issue most of the games on their current device that would easily sell. Point is, once all the GameBoys are cracked open to put in new screens, all the original GameBoys will be gone. This attitude drives up price, it’s the simple supply and demand problem.
Games are in a similar, but slightly different boat. Sometimes games from our childhoods get reissued, like Super Mario 64 being part of the 3D All-Stars collection. But a lot of games do not get reissued, especially if they are not 1st-party titles. For Sony to throw God of War from the PS2 onto the PS5 storefront of course takes technical work, but there are no legal hurdles to jump through; they own the IP outright. However, if Sony wanted to go ahead and get the rights to put the classic (and overlooked) RPG Shadow Hearts on their storefront, they would have to negotiate new contracts with a company that may or may not be much into making games. Last time I checked, that IP is owned by a Pachinko company, so good luck there. So really then, there is only one “legit” way to play this game, buy a used copy of it somewhere. Now I own a copy of this game, I paid roughly 55 dollars for it, which I believe is fair. However, I also believe that the price for that game will only go up with time, as people like me hoard their copies, and we find ourselves in the issue of supply and demand again.
So the only other way around this race to empty wallets is the dreaded word: Emulation. I will admit this freely, I have a ton of roms. Will I tell you where I got them? No, but if you ever wanted to do this yourself, it isn’t hard. But from a technical standpoint, emulation has come a really long way. While the 2D era has been damn near perfect for a while now, 3D games are really getting better it seems almost every day. I have an Anbernic 351M, and I love it to death. I flashed it with 351 Elec firmware, and it plays everything from early video games to the PS1 flawlessly. It can play Dreamcast, but gets a little choppy from there. For the later systems, you can play directly on your computer, or buy a higher-end handheld device. For instance, I managed to reserve a Steam Deck today, and I am very excited to see how that thing can handle emulating the PlayStation 2.
Is emulation legal? Yes. Is the downloading of roms legal? No. But really it already is the best way to experience many old games, especially those that are hard to find. If you’re not someone who needs CiB (Complete-in-box), or you’re just someone that wants to load up a game and play it, emulation is probably the best way to do it. There will always be people looking for boxed copies of Nintendo 64 games like a crazy person, and things like that copy of Super Mario 64 auctioning for so much will only drive that already expensive market into a frenzy
Outside of say...Nintendo games that get remade or remastered time and again, the economics just make the most sense. No one is losing money off of you emulating the aforementioned Shadow Hearts, because there is no way to buy a new copy legitimately anymore. So once you find a way to emulate PS2 games, and you find a safe rom of Shadow Hearts, play to your heart’s content. I only ask that you continue to support legit avenues of buying and enjoying retro games that get remade. If Mother 3 was ever officially put out in America, I would buy it in a heartbeat, even though I have had several ways of playing this game for years. Reward the efforts of companies to keep their classics in the legit public buying space, but don’t let that keep you away from just getting the games you want otherwise.
-Ray McGill