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."
Donning asbestos suit and bunny slippers...
You know RA, for us game-challenged, who enjoyed these games with our kids,.(and never touched them since) it would be really nice to know where all these retro games are available today?
I admire your hi-tech prowess, but hi-tech or no, that is still called cheating!
Well no,
By weakening the Warrior and Wizard G2 is actually cheating, I just put them back to the way they were, And the ?food well everybody who plays G2 knows the odd 7 - even 3 health trick already so it's more saving time than actual cheating and the acid puddles well...OK that's cheating.
"My three fave games of all time were "tempest", "Banjo Kazooie", and "Final Fantasy X". :-)"
Space Duel. It was beautiful, man.
For me, retro in the NES. :-/
I actually got an NES recently, with a box of old games. Most of the games were forgotten mediocrities, but there were a few classics that I was looking forward to playing, but the NES didn't cooperate with my TV. :-(
ack...
in=is
Vice City is the best game I have ever played..... yeah, it's that good.
That rocks! I was starting to look at playing with them, since I wanted to be able to control the starting levels and such, but I never figured out how the 16 bytes or so that change (in the volatile file) affect that. I prefer the elf myself, mainly because of the extra speed and shot power.
Awww dang. I missed that one.
How cool is that. I have not gotten that far in the game yet.
Smiles. Good memories to treasure. :-)
What an excellent game that was!
Indeed it was. I remember it was called a "kids game" but I sure liked it as well. :-)
You and me both. Now its out for the PC, however, without the spinning wheel it's really hard to play.
I do know that Atari is putting out some of the old archade disks for the PC. I kept my N-64 for the very purpose of lighting up one of those games again. N-64 systems are now dirt cheap.
:-)
This thread has brought back fond memories.
In case you haven't played it already, I highly recommend "Photopia", a free game by Adam Cadre. It's more of a story than a game, but it's well worth it in my opinion.
WOW. :-)
In case you haven't played it already, I highly recommend "Photopia", a free game by Adam Cadre. It's more of a story than a game, but it's well worth it in my opinion.
Cool!
Don't worry, author of the country song "19 something" made the same mistake, talking about Pac-Man in "1970-something."
P.S. Visit my Classic Home Video Games Museum online since January 1996!
Which do you prefer--biplane or "bomber"? I've found that I can usually do quite well with either, but the key to winning with the bomber is to keep the fight as nearly-horizontal as possible.
"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.""
Not quite. The problem w/"new" games - alot of sound & fury, signifying nothing. They "look good", but they are actually mostly boring games and they take way too long to get going, having to go thru a bunch of "oooo-aaaahhh" look-good "realism" build up to actual action. Which is a major time-waster.
Like those sports games like Madden's football. Alot of nonsense about players and showing them acting like fools for a touchdown, but not moving on w/the actual GAME which YOU are supposed to be PLAYING - not merely watching a game performed by some1 else. (Yes, my nephew got annoyed by the wasted time on this game!)
Time-wasting "realism", which also doesn't leave alot of room for interesting game plots, could be the killer. There was more ultimate variety to the "simple" games.
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