AES / MVS prices

madmanjock

Bare AES Handler
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2002
Posts
7,723
Perhaps, but they would not have the buying power, nor economies of scale, that SNK have.

Additionally, back in the day, the average cost of a new AES games in the UK in the mid-late 90s was £300... that's roughly £540 in todays money.

So, if MMJ got his wish of official re-releases at £300 each, he would actually be paying less for them than in the 1990s.

Either way you slice it, it's easy money for SNK and I don't see why they would not want to pursue it... arguably the carts would be an easier sell now, than they were back in the 90s as awareness around the IPs is much greater thanks to the maturity of the tinterwebs.
I was going by this old Gamesmaster video - it claims the games cost £99.99 to £149.99. (1 min 2 secs in).

I think I remember seeing Neo Geo games for about £300 at Telegames in the early 2000s, which is where my 300 notes figure came from.
 

gameofyou

Mr. Big's Thug
15 Year Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
Posts
209
Yes I have amassed many sealed GameCube and all Dreamcast games and some are worth over $1000 (Go Go Hypergrind ie) along with Laseractive LDs, maybe I should sell them now.


If SNK ever decides to reprint some of the AES titles the values of my collection will drop but I'll be delighted as I'll be able to upgrade some of my games (not all of mine are in top pristine conditions) and/or double up with either English or Japanese titles.

The current state of SNK is just sad, gaming wise nothing but rehash of KOF, Samurai, and Metal Slug along with trying to milk those franchises further with all accessories.

Even if SNK released AES games, that were originally only released on MVS (Shock Troopers, for example), I would support that. That way there could be no confusion over original release vs reprint, either. If they could come in around $300, I think they could sell enough for it to be profitable.
 

Neo Alec

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2000
Posts
11,923
Xeno Crisis has custom cart hardware. You can re-release an old official game with Ali Express hardware much cheaper.
 

Tarma

Old Man
20 Year Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2001
Posts
7,137
I was going by this old Gamesmaster video - it claims the games cost £99.99 to £149.99. (1 min 2 secs in).

I think I remember seeing Neo Geo games for about £300 at Telegames in the early 2000s, which is where my 300 notes figure came from.
lol, dude, that Gamesmaster video is from like '91 / '92 when Top Players Golf was the best sports game on the system... Fast forward to '97 / '98 new releases were generally £250 - £299 at CEX / Raven Games.

Btw... miss Gamesmaster big time... I went to Gamesmaster Live at the NEC in late '92 and still haven't come back.
 

madmanjock

Bare AES Handler
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2002
Posts
7,723
lol, dude, that Gamesmaster video is from like '91 / '92 when Top Players Golf was the best sports game on the system... Fast forward to '97 / '98 new releases were generally £250 - £299 at CEX / Raven Games.

Btw... miss Gamesmaster big time... I went to Gamesmaster Live at the NEC in late '92 and still haven't come back.
They started a new series, not watched it yet though as it has that weegie guy off ConsoleVania / VideoGaiden who I find a bit hit and miss. But I'll get round to it. Looks better than Dara goes 8 bit.

 

vincewy

Loyal Neo-Disciple,
20 Year Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2000
Posts
1,198
Hell, if you look at their online store, over the last few years, they've pretty much rung every last ounce out of their IPs with collectible crap. Given that they've re-produced the AES clam shells to put t-shirts inside them, re-manufacturing the carts isn't going to be the biggest hurdle in the world for them and I'm sure there are plenty of independent distributors who would take stock.

I'm simply not going to buy any of that crap, including games released on modern platforms. Look at how many versions/variations of KOF XV and Samurai Shodown in snap-lock cases in PS4/PS5/Switch SNK has released? I know some suckers would.

I just got Xeno Crisis and kind of regretted, none of whole game screams out anything remotely related to SNK/Neo-Geo, from the graphics, game play, sound effects, play mechanics, cover arts. I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling the same way. Give me the original SNK stuff, MVS/AES, any time over the new indie game. It's the reason the prices of the original MVS/AES have gone through the roof.

So I would call out to SNK, please re-release Metal Slug, Twinkle Star Sprites, Ninja Masters, Neo Turfmasters, Pulstar, etc. MVS and AES alike (AES better though), you can even mark them re-released 202*, make us prepay and we'll even wait a few years (like NG:DEV) for them.
 

Tarma

Old Man
20 Year Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2001
Posts
7,137
So I would call out to SNK, please re-release Metal Slug, Twinkle Star Sprites, Ninja Masters, Neo Turfmasters, Pulstar, etc. MVS and AES alike (AES better though), you can even mark them re-released 202*, make us prepay and we'll even wait a few years (like NG:DEV) for them.
That's a perfect idea - put up pre-orders and say you'll only put them into production if a certain number of buyers are reached (and limit the niumber of carts that can be ordered per person).

Over 15,000 people have just paid $400 to Hasbro Pulse for a Ghostbusters proton pack with no gun attachment.

I'd like anyone on here to look me in the eye and say that SNK wouldn't find say, 1,500, buyers for a genuine re-release of Metal Slug AES if they put out a kick-starter style campaign.
 

SignOfGoob

Butthurt Enthusiast
20 Year Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2003
Posts
2,857
Now, once upon-a-time, I would have treated such a suggestion with some derision, but now it doesn't seem like a bad idea. I don't think it would help bring down AES prices by any great margin, (there would be the "original run" factor), but it seems like an easy way for SNK to make money.

Hell, if you look at their online store, over the last few years, they've pretty much rung every last ounce out of their IPs with collectible crap. Given that they've re-produced the AES clam shells to put t-shirts inside them, re-manufacturing the carts isn't going to be the biggest hurdle in the world for them and I'm sure there are plenty of independent distributors who would take stock.

Given that original AES runs were not that great, re-releasing runs of a few thousand carts of some of their most popular games seems like a no-brainer to me.

Remember when they brought back the Technics 1200 and now its like triple the price? I'd expect that sort of thing if this project happened. It may be nice for people who are already paying $2000 a game but don't expect new $350 carts on mask ROMs ever again.
 

mehguy

Haomaru's Blade Shiner
Joined
Mar 7, 2014
Posts
699
What's also interesting is how arcade PCB collecting became much more mainstream, and in tune with the rest of the retro gaming community. I remember back in 2014 ish, if you wanted a supergun you either had to pony up the $$$$$ for a custom made one or make your own. I remember the vogatech supergun was an affordable option but finding one was hard since I think they had stopped producing them by then. Now there are superguns everywhere from vendors in china.

This sharp increase in interest is definitely not going unnoticed. It seems like arcade ops in China and Latin America are finding whatever stock is local in their country and sell it to collectors overseas. You can even buy legitimate CPS1 and CPS2 boards from aliexpress and they'll burn whatever rom you want on to it.

Even seeing LGR's and Game Sack's videos on this stuff was kinda odd, since I remember the only avenues of information and community for this type of stuff were forums like KLOV, shmups.org, here, etc. It really seemed like it was an entirely separate community from the retro console gaming one, but now the lines seem a bit blurred now.
 

smokey

massive ding dong
20 Year Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2001
Posts
1,764
Perhaps, but they would not have the buying power, nor economies of scale, that SNK have.

Additionally, back in the day, the average cost of a new AES games in the UK in the mid-late 90s was £300... that's roughly £540 in todays money.

So, if MMJ got his wish of official re-releases at £300 each, he would actually be paying less for them than in the 1990s.

Either way you slice it, it's easy money for SNK and I don't see why they would not want to pursue it... arguably the carts would be an easier sell now, than they were back in the 90s as awareness around the IPs is much greater thanks to the maturity of the tinterwebs.
For sure . If they would do a limited run/ strictly limited style games for the neo it would sell like hot cakes. I would love to see new features in the games and new box art. Preferably by shinkiro. Hell even doing collection carts would be cool.
I think SNK is still to big of a company to get involved with something like that.
 

joe8

margarine sandwich
15 Year Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2007
Posts
3,724
Having been out AES / MVS collecting for over ten years now I recently looked up some prices on ebay

If those prices are to be believed, if I had kept my collection I would now be sitting on a small fortune

The likes of MOTW, Waku Waku 7, Top Hunter, Viewpoint etc were an achievable purchase for ordinary folk

The pricing I am seeing now indicates only the stinking rich could get involved in the hobby nowadays and like anything of value no doubt there are more and more bootlegs being passed off as genuine cartridges

Is ebay really a good indicator of pricing ?
Yes, some games are worth quite a lot more than they used to be, especially shooters. I'm not entirely sure why that is, it's a niche system, and the games haven't changed in rarity over the years (except for common games, where some are sacced to make conversions).
 
Last edited:

Neo Alec

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2000
Posts
11,923
Yes, some games are worth quite a lot more than they used to be, especially shooters. I'm not entirely sure why that is, it's a niche system, and the games haven't changed in rarity over the years (except for common games).
AES is a niche console; MVS is one of the most common arcade boards there is. Almost any arcade with 90's games has/had at least one MVS.
 

doaal

Mr. Big's Thug
Joined
May 7, 2018
Posts
209
What gaming collector market hasn't jumped in price in the past few years?
 

donluca

Ninja Combat Warrior
Joined
Aug 19, 2015
Posts
529
Game Gear.

And I'm waiting anxiously for it to jump in price so I can finally offload my collection which has been gathering dust as my poor GG died years ago due to the damn caps.
I tried to repair it but the damage was unbelievable, those pieces of shit leaked and made a mess and even ate parts of the traces.
 

wyo

King of Spammers
10 Year Member
Joined
May 22, 2013
Posts
10,108
Trash handheld. I really regretted selling my Gameboy to get a Game Gear. Oh great, a Master System on a shit screen and batteries last 20 minutes.
 

Tw3ek

69Vapelord420
10 Year Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2013
Posts
2,100
Trash handheld. I really regretted selling my Gameboy to get a Game Gear. Oh great, a Master System on a shit screen and batteries last 20 minutes.
20 min if you're lucky
 

ShaolinAce

Ninja Combat Warrior
Joined
Oct 15, 2019
Posts
528
Game gear has good games though. Surpised there aint more hidden gems videos floating around. I watched the gba go down it was sickening.
 

madmanjock

Bare AES Handler
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2002
Posts
7,723
I always wanted a Sega Nomad, the ones with modern replacement LCD screens look stunning.
 

Inshakoor

New Challenger
Joined
Mar 16, 2022
Posts
53
I always wanted a Sega Nomad, the ones with modern replacement LCD screens look stunning.
Big Genesis fan, first console I ever asked for and actually got. Fast forward to last Christmas and I finally picked up a Nomad. Had the screen replaced and man, it is one of the most fun things to play! It’s a bit big but for a Genesis fan I love it.

As for the Neo Geo AES, I’m quite new. Never even new it existed in my youth. It’s now my favorite console but as this thread discusses, finding affordable carts is insane. I lucked out on an eBay bid for Shin Samurai Spirits and got it for $31. I know it’s already a less expensive cart but I’m happy with it. Trying to figure out how I can continue to collect but with today’s prices it’s all but impossible for the average collector/fan.
 
Last edited:

Hawwa

B. Jenet's Firstmate
Joined
Sep 21, 2018
Posts
408
Big Genesis fan, first console I ever asked for and actually got. Fast forward to last Christmas and I finally picked up a Nomad. Had the screen replaced and man, it is one of the most fun things to play! It’s a bit big but for a Genesis fan I love it.

As for the Neo Geo AES, I’m quite new. Never even new it existed in my youth. It’s now my favorite console but as this thread discusses, finding affordable carts is insane. I lucked out on an eBay bid for Shin Samurai Spirits and got it for $31. I know it’s already a less expensive cart but I’m happy with it. Trying to figure out how I can continue to collect but with today’s prices it’s all but impossible for the average collector/fan.
Suruga-ya + Zenmarket is the way I chose...
 
Top