Reprinting Saturn Games

[Deleted]

This is a problem that is unfortunately a symptom of the immaturity of the games industry - it has come about because we are really only now leaving the pioneering age which has been extended by greed and egos - both resulting in a failure to agree on a standard platform. We are now at the point where the tech is delivering smaller and smaller improvements with each generation so it would technically be possible.

Why should I have to have extra boxes under the TV to play Sega Rally and Super Mario Galaxy? Ludicrous. Why can't COD players on 360 and Wii play together? It is idiotic - imagine if the music industry carried on like that. The Bluray / HD-DVD situation was cleared up pretty quickly - why can't it be the same with games? IP owners can still get licence income so what is the issue?

[zetastrike]

Did anyone ever send Sega the email?

[TrekkiesUnite118]

Sadly no, I just never got around to writing out an email for it.

There's also the issue of who and where in Sega we send it to as I'm sure if we just send it to some standard Customer Service email we'll just get a generic "We appreciate your concern but we do not support a "Sega Saturn" at this time." reply.

[Deleted]

Well, I'm late to the party on this topic.

I must say, it was surprising when Sega allowed official copies of Trigger Heart Exelica and Under Defeat on the Dreamcast a good 5 years ago. But these were new games, and not re-releases. And I think, after Trigger Heart, Sega Sammy were fed up of the time it took to fill out all the paperwork for that kind of thing to make it worthwhile, and announced they weren't allowed further games, which is what at least partially dashed the changes of Senko no Ronde on the Dreamcast.

Aug 22, 2013 13:05:41 GMT davyk said:

This is a problem that is unfortunately a symptom of the immaturity of the games industry - it has come about because we are really only now leaving the pioneering age which has been extended by greed and egos - both resulting in a failure to agree on a standard platform. We are now at the point where the tech is delivering smaller and smaller improvements with each generation so it would technically be possible.

Why should I have to have extra boxes under the TV to play Sega Rally and Super Mario Galaxy? Ludicrous. Why can't COD players on 360 and Wii play together? It is idiotic - imagine if the music industry carried on like that. The Bluray / HD-DVD situation was cleared up pretty quickly - why can't it be the same with games? IP owners can still get licence income so what is the issue?

I'd say video games are much more complex than music and films/ television. How they're developed. How they're distributed. How they're played. For instance; the different GPUs used in various consoles, with all their pros and cons. I guess it could all come down to a single, standard system, but which company decides what technology should be used at standard?

I guess you could've argued a while back that PC only would've been the way forward. But you now have the battle of the operating systems, with Apple becoming increasingly popular with the mass market, and Linux also gradually getting noticed by more and more.

I think video games are a completely different kettle of fish. Music can only be experienced in one way, using your ears. Films and TV can only be experienced in one way - using your eyes. Video games have a variety of interactive methods and we need variety to compliment that said variety.

[Deleted]

I still see no reason why online games cannot be played cross-console. It's server-based code facilitating presence in the game area and the client platform is irrelevant. Wasn't DC Quake a game that allowed you play against PC gamers?

There are all sorts of tech issues why games are more complex but frankly that is techno-speak that is irrelevant to a consumer. Control schemes are a valid point but the wavy experiment is over. Gamers now seem to be highly conservative and rarely does true innovation or novelty get rewarded. I doubt very much if the Wii phenomenon will be repeated for a very long time.

[fcorona76]

Jul 17, 2013 17:19:40 GMT TrekkiesUnite118 said:

So this thread over at Sega-16 got me thinking. Why don't we as a community actually look into getting certain US and possibly even PAL and JP Saturn releases reprinted? Between all of us we probably have some connections to reach out to people and get some info on what would need to be done to make this possible. And if money comes down to being the main factor we could probably use Kickstarter to raise it.

So what do you guys think about this? If we do want to seriously go into it I'd say our first line of business would be to reach out to the right people and start asking questions. So to start I think a good idea would be to get a list of who we think would be good people to get in contact with to get some information on this and who knows how to get in contact with them.

I'd say definitely reaching out to Sega would be a good place to start. Though I'm not sure who would be a good person to contact about that.

I agree with a few other posters that "collectors" are ruining video game collecting. The Saturn is a great example of it with so many of it's great games fetching larger sums of money than the same game on other systems. Being CD games doesn't help either...I can't begin to imagine how many discs have just been taken off the market completely when they've been thrown away from breakage or severe scratching.

I'd love to see reprints so I can affordably play the games but I'd hate to see them if it means people trying to pass of repro's as originals for a huge markup.

[zetastrike]

I'd say if they reprint Saturn games (and that's a big if) they should put them in DVD cases or better yet standard jewel cases. That way you could tell them apart from original releases.

[NeoGeoNinja]

Oct 20, 2013 3:39:25 GMT zetastrike said:

I'd say if they reprint Saturn games (and that's a big if) they should put them in DVD cases or better yet standard jewel cases. That way you could tell them apart from original releases.

I agree with this.

I always feel this way about reprints and similar though. Should always be a clear way to tell the difference between originals and repro's (even if it's just colour/palette changes to characters etc)

[IrishNinja]

as someone who does not care about the desires of any collector community: i don't know how this'd work but i'd be down for this! it'd be nice to have another option besides CD-R's and fanmade covers for prohibitively expensive stuff.

[Segarally]

Reprints would never happen, too expensive to produce. If they did then they would need to be similar to "platinum" best seller edition type releases, rather than a straight out identical production... Problem is that that would too cost money.

Why would they do that when they can so easily release it on digital.. Iphones are capable of playing Playstation 2 games nowadays, world of gaming is changing. The Saturn has it's few diehards but it was considered a failed console, it didn't sell all that well originally and there is nothing to say that a rerun of sought after games would sell well.

I'd love a more affordable copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga or Dragon Force but it will never happen unless Sega decides to release them on digital media services like Steam, PSN, Xbox live etc. I do think that Sega releasing on digital media would be a good thing, owners of original copies might disagree though as it would probably drive down used prices.

[martiniii]

Jan 22, 2014 1:49:56 GMT Segarally said:

I'd love a more affordable copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga or Dragon Force but it will never happen unless Sega decides to release them on digital media services like Steam, PSN, Xbox live etc. I do think that Sega releasing on digital media would be a good thing, owners of original copies might disagree though as it would probably drive down used prices.

Not me. I own copies of both Panzer Dragoon Saga and Dragon Force, and I'd love for other people to be able to get them more cheaply. Granted, I have no intention of ever selling either game, but I don't think it'd change my feelings if I did. Especially since from what I've heard, the Xbox Live Arcade release of Guardian Heroes didn't significantly affect prices for the original. (Which is a bummer, since that's one Saturn game I'm still trying to get.) So I don't know if re-releases on digital media actually drive down prices for the originals.

[snume]

I'd love it if they updated PDS, SF3 StHA, etc for the modern consoles. playing them with updated graphics & sound would be awesome.

[mick_aka]

I can assure you now, after working for a company that did small manufacturing runs, a reprint of PDS with manuals and boxes would easily end up being as expensive as a second hand original.

If your motivation for supporting this is under the illusion that you will be able to grab more expensive titles on the cheap, you're barking up the wrong tree.

[xDerekRx]

I honestly prefer to leave it as is. The print runs of the games released during the systems lifespan represent the success or failure of the system and are a cool piece of its history.

Im not one to comment on price but the collectible nature of the games is unique and I sorta enjoy that.

The only thing Id like to see is a NEW game released for the system like Pier Solar. I contacted them about that a few times. They currently have a Genesis version with a Dreamcast version about to be released.

One of the main problems is the difficulty in programming for it. However the whole disc write protection discs kill it. I seriously doubt this technology in its original form still exists. So any company looking to produce a new game would almost have to sell a package with an action replay included.

[Deleted]

A more realistic way of approaching this is removing the reliance on the medium

A modification to the Saturn's firmware and/or a hardware mod to run games off solid state media, coupled with the licencing/legalities of games dealt with so as to provide a viable download service would please fans, and the curious could sample games via emulation.

A similar arrangement could also allay the fears of those who own Dreamcasts.

More realistic maybe but just as difficult to achieve.