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Video Game Industry Embraces Retro Classics
Newhouse News ^ | 8/14/04 | Laura DeMarco

Posted on 08/14/2004 12:47:49 PM PDT by qam1

The video game industry is on alert. A challenger is gobbling up players -- and her name is "Ms. Pac-Man."

Yes, the classic games of the 1980s are making a comeback, from the beribboned pink Ms. to those "Super Mario Bros." and the one-and-only "Donkey Kong." Vintage and reissued video games are the hottest trend in the usually forward-thinking $7 billion-per-year gaming industry. Gamers are expected to spend an estimated $250 million to $300 million on retro games this year.

"They're huge," says Lee Eisenberg, owner of game hub Fun City in Parma, Ohio, and a retro gamer himself. "Our older stuff is outselling our new stuff. I've never seen anything like this."

Eisenberg carries both vintage and reissued games and systems, but says the old ones outsell the new products. He has a hard time keeping those big, clunky two-decade-old Nintendo, Atari and Intellivision systems ($40) and games ($3 to $10) in stock. Fortunately, he has a warehouse supply of no-longer-manufactured consoles and cartridges acquired from trade-ins, garage sales, Web sites and other sources.

The flashback started with nostalgic thirtysomethings, says Eisenberg, 39. But "younger kids are really getting into them now, and not just with their parents."

He says the appeal is simple.

"The newer games are really really violent and expensive. A lot of people want to go back to their childhood. They want younger, simpler games."

The nostalgia factor was one reason behind game giant Nintendo's June relaunch of eight '80s classics, including "Super Mario Bros." and "Donkey Kong," all for Game Boy Advance.

"Many of us grew up playing Nintendo and have a fondness for some of the great games from our original console, the Nintendo Entertainment System," says Beth Llewelyn, public relations director for Nintendo of America.

"With the 15th anniversary of Game Boy this year ... we thought it would be fun to go back to our '80s roots and release some of the classic NES games."

Sales have been very strong, she says, already hitting the 500,000 mark. The company is also selling a Classic NES Limited Edition Game Boy Advance SP ($100) that re-creates the look of the original NES.

Nintendo's not the only company thinking retro. Toy maker Jakks Pacific recently launched a series of plug-and-play hand-held systems called TV Games, featuring classics such as "Ms. Pac-Man," "Galaga," "Pong," "Centipede" and "Asteroids" from Atari, Namco, Capcom and Activision. The $20 battery-powered system looks like a joystick and plugs into your television.

Radica Games Ltd. will release its own classic system this fall. The $30 console, dubbed Arcade Games, also plugs into your TV and features reissued Sega-Genesis games such as "Sonic the Hedgehog."

And the revival isn't limited to the home-tech world. "Pac-Man" bleeps and blurps are sampled in new songs by hip-hoppers Lil' Flip and Beanie Sigel, and game sounds and images have been used in ads for Hummer and Saturn autos. T-shirts with "Space Invaders," "Pac-Man," Atari joysticks and classic logos are a trendy urban retro-kitsch look.

Namco has even launched a "Class of '81" series of arcade machines.

Many fans aren't content with reissues, however. Vintage Intellivision, Sega-Genesis, Nintendo and Atari games and consoles are hot commodities at the eBay online auction site. A recent search on Intellivision turned up 492 games and systems. A "classic Atari" search yielded 219.

There's even an annual get-together for retro game fans. The seventh Classic Gaming Expo is set for Aug. 21 and 22 at the San Jose Convention Center in California. Last year's expo in Las Vegas attracted 1,500 people and caused organizers to move to a bigger venue, where they expect even more attendees this year, says expo spokesman Jayson Hill.

"There's a huge nostalgia factor to classic-game appeal," Hill explains. But he says the interest has grown beyond sentimental Generation X-ers. He was "shocked" by the number of kids and teens at last year's event.

But are these kids shocked by the primitive graphics and sounds of 8-bit classics, compared with today's 256-bit games?

Hill doesn't think so.

"Sometimes people don't want everything served to them," he says. "If you give a person everything, they get nothing from their imagination. It's not as much fun as if you have to fill in the blanks."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News
KEYWORDS: atari; genx; videogames
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To: Hank Rearden
What pinballs do you own Hank? EM's? Solid States?

I have a Surfer (1976) and a Super Score (1967) - both old Gottlieb electro-magnetic machines.

141 posted on 08/14/2004 3:41:49 PM PDT by FlJoePa (4 More Years for Joe, and 4 More Years for W!)
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To: RadioAstronomer

Have you played the sequel? It was pretty fun...although a bit of a "chick flick" version of Final Fantasy.


142 posted on 08/14/2004 3:42:22 PM PDT by Republican Wildcat
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To: Republican Wildcat

I have it, but you could only play the three girls and the music just downright sucked! LOL! So I did not even complete it. The "Brother" character also got really annoying.


143 posted on 08/14/2004 3:45:49 PM PDT by RadioAstronomer
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To: Miss Marple

Heh-heh! I have two Nintendo 64 game sets...I have been waiting FOREVER for them to be back in vogue...Tetris and Dr. Mario kept me sane for YEARS!


144 posted on 08/14/2004 3:48:21 PM PDT by Monkey Face (The obvious is always new to somebody.)
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To: Republican Wildcat

FFX is still my all time fave though. :-)

Am waiting for Halo 2, GT4, and Fable.


145 posted on 08/14/2004 3:48:37 PM PDT by RadioAstronomer
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To: Monkey Face

Ever play Banjo or Zelda? They were great on the 64.


146 posted on 08/14/2004 3:49:36 PM PDT by RadioAstronomer
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To: FlJoePa

Just curious -- what makes Ms.PacMan better than regular PacMan?


147 posted on 08/14/2004 3:51:14 PM PDT by Yardstick
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To: luigi; RadioAstronomer
Reading all these responses, I realized that we have the original Nintendo system, and not the 64. I now remember I was angry that they came out with a new system, making ours obsolete.

It was the Zelda games that we played (the main character was Link, I believe).

Anyway, I appreciate pepople jogging my memory about happy times in the early 80's. And I do still have that Nintendo set with all of the games.

148 posted on 08/14/2004 4:05:02 PM PDT by Miss Marple
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To: RadioAstronomer
I wish! I was severely limited by what my grandsons wanted to play...I think there are maybe 50 games they so generously gave me, but I will have to dig to find out exactly what is there....

Gramma liking video games was a pretty cool deal! :-)

149 posted on 08/14/2004 4:08:45 PM PDT by Monkey Face (The obvious is always new to somebody.)
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To: Miss Marple
Anyway, I appreciate pepople jogging my memory about happy times in the early 80's.

Awwww.. Those were happy times for me as well. And indeed the hero was Link in the Zelda universe. :-)

150 posted on 08/14/2004 4:11:26 PM PDT by RadioAstronomer
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To: Monkey Face
Gramma liking video games was a pretty cool deal!

Big smiles. :-)

151 posted on 08/14/2004 4:12:28 PM PDT by RadioAstronomer
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To: RadioAstronomer
As of this date, the grandsons are big, ugly boys, ready to graduate from High School...I can only hope they will serve their country well, no matter what they choose to do...as long as they leave the Nintendo to ME!!!

I love them very much; and they would like that I kept my sense of humor...

152 posted on 08/14/2004 4:28:29 PM PDT by Monkey Face (The obvious is always new to somebody.)
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To: Monkey Face
I can only hope they will serve their country well, no matter what they choose to do...

Awww. I don't know you or your family, but I have a feeling with you as a role model, they will do great. :-)

153 posted on 08/14/2004 4:30:36 PM PDT by RadioAstronomer
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To: qam1

Well, since we are on the topic of video games...

http://www.miniclip.com/bushshootout.htm


154 posted on 08/14/2004 4:30:38 PM PDT by Republican Wildcat
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To: Monkey Face
as long as they leave the Nintendo to ME!!!

hehe!

155 posted on 08/14/2004 4:31:05 PM PDT by RadioAstronomer
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To: Professional Engineer

Cool.


156 posted on 08/14/2004 4:42:41 PM PDT by Fedora
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To: asgardshill

5 cd's chuck full of MAME ROM's here. p2p is the place to get them.


157 posted on 08/14/2004 4:44:52 PM PDT by Keeper of the Turf (Fore!!!)
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To: FlJoePa
This is the one I have in the basement - worth getting if you can find it. Mine has updated PROMs with game selection - it has about a dozen Pac-Man variations.


158 posted on 08/14/2004 4:48:12 PM PDT by Hank Rearden (Never allow anyone who could only get a government job tell you how to run your life.)
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To: FlJoePa
What pinballs do you own Hank? EM's? Solid States?

I have a Surfer (1976) and a Super Score (1967) - both old Gottlieb electro-magnetic machines.

All solid-state, although I'm looking for a '67 Williams Apollo. Had a deal on a pristine one a few years ago that fell through at the very last minute. I'm still mad. ;-)

Have Twilight Zone, Tales of the Arabian Nights, Cirqus Voltaire and Revenge from Mars. Have received enormous education, assistance and leads from rec.games.pinball, which I assume you're aware of.

159 posted on 08/14/2004 4:50:59 PM PDT by Hank Rearden (Never allow anyone who could only get a government job tell you how to run your life.)
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To: Fifth Business
Masters of Orion

Oh heck yeah.

During exam week in college my soph year, I had exempted a couple of exams which allowed me a day off....I spent over 16 hours straight on my roomie's 386 playing that game again and again and again....

160 posted on 08/14/2004 4:51:30 PM PDT by Palmetto
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