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."
I remember one of the first out after pong was Space War (believe it was done with vector graphics). A ship that looked like the Enterprise fought one that looked like a Tholian. I believe that there was a 'black hole' in the center that would provide gravity.
I miss that one. Would love to find a decent port to the PC
The only vector graphic game console ever mass produced for consumers was the Vectrex. I have the game Asteroids on mine. :-)
I disagree. Nintendo is still making high quality games that are family-appropriate. In fact, very few games really go for shock value, the ones that do just get alot of attention. The thing is, though, as graphics have improved, more 'realistic' games have gotten more graphic simply because it fits better with the style.
bump
I adored "Haunted House."
And Cruisn USA is now actually playable on a 1.8 GHZ...without sound of course.
Sorry, did not mean to post so much. I just am a fan of home gaming.
Yo Bacon . . . Zak McCracken ping!
Dont you mean the Nintendo 64?
Impossible Mission...
I did that with my son, too, only it was the Link adventure game. We would sit for hours trying doors and tunnels, trying to find hidden things. Great fun!
LOL! Yup! N-64. I have a Commode 64 as well. LMAO! Sorry all!
Did you know there was a game, Pilot Wings, that provided compltete areas that you could fly around or drive around, with buildings roads, and all kinds of places....I never played the game, I landed the little plane and drove all over the place.....it is great
What was the name of that game that dropped blocks? I can't remember it and the stuff is stored away right now, but I have the one that was based on the Russian original. It even plays Russian music!
The Link Orcarena of Time N-64 game has also be rereleased on the Game Cube.
Tetris
Gauntlet II is one of my all time faves and I play it often with MAME.
The only problem is they went PC and weakened the White Male characters the Warrior and Wizard from G1.
They reduced the Wizard's extra shot power and reduced his shot speed and in an ultimate sacrilegious move the Warrior with extra shot power in G2 is no longer able to kill everything with one shot.
I couldn't stand that so I actually wrote a disassembler program in Qbasic that hacks the ROMS and I returned the Wizard and Warrior back to their former glory, (And a few other tricks like making the ?Food always worth 200 health and cutting down on how much the Acid puddles hurt).
No kidding! I loved that game. My son and I were a great team! My husband thought we were nuts, because we would stay up till all hours trying to get to the next level.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.