The rise of retro – interview with JP of Replay Games

Here at Vigigames, we've been noticing a bit of a trend, and that is the propensity for developers to release "new" versions of classic games that basically retread extremely familiar ground. Whether this is a problem endemic of culture today (i.e., popular art, especially games, are expensive to produce, therefore, to recoup our costs, we have to release something that's already guaranteed to be a hit) or developers genuinely reliving the glory days of their franchises, it's hard to tell.

For a bit of insight, we turned to JP of Replay Games, Regina's best video game store. Replay specializes in "old school games and collectibles,"  but they also sell many of the newer systems and their games. Let's just say that it's the only place where you can walk in and buy a sealed copy of Wing Commander IV (something I did just a few months ago).

Considering that retro revival games would almost certainly cut into Replay's business, I wondered what they thought of the phenomenon. JP, however, doesn't see it that way: "Personally I'm pleased that alot of these games are re-surfacing on the newer consoles; be it downloadable, or found on a collection. It gives alot of the younger kids who might not have an oldschool console kickin around the house a chance to try all the classics that we grew up with." And while in a lot of places, it is fairly easy to obtain one of these older consoles, it's the games, and more specifically, the classics that prove to be too expensive. "Look at Final Fantasy 7 for example; you're lucky if you find a copy for under 50 dollars, whereas downloading it on PSN is under 10 dollars I believe. Same goes for games like Chrono Trigger. The DS and PSX versions are a fraction of the price of the SNES cartridge alone, let alone a boxed copy, and include bonus material and cutscenes!"

And JP's absolutely right; services like PSN and the Virtual Console (or the occasional XBox Live Arcade release like the recent re-release of Perfect Dark) have opened up the ability to play classic games in a way that was only available to the videogame hobbyist. There's still something to be said about having the original packaging though, and playing a game like Final Fantasy VII on your PS3 isn't really the same experience as playing it on an original Playstation. That being said, I've made extensive use of the Virtual Console service; it's easy, convenient and allows me to play games that I wouldn't even dream of being able to play otherwise (like Sin and Punishment, for example, which runs at a pretty price on eBay).

Another aspect to consider in this vein is, are developers basically targeting people's nostalgia to make a quick buck? "I'm sure that my judgment of older games is partially skewed by that sense of nostalgia, (and) there have been quite a few games I've re-acquired since my youth that used to be favorites of mine, but now seem almost unplayable." However, JP was also quick to add that "in my opinion, Mega Man, Castlevania, and Contra are just as fun today as they were 20 years ago," making reference to the recent releases of these games on the WiiWare service.

I suppose that if people know what they're getting into with one of these purchases, there's no harm, no foul. Hell, I bought that aforementioned copy of Wing Commander IV not because I actually enjoyed playing it as a kid, but because I was nostalgic for a time when I might have enjoyed the game! People are generally passionate about their nostalgias, and as long as it's something that's done with love and not in the spirit of corporate cynicism, it's OK with me.

That being said, I don't think that very many games being released today will inspire that same level of nostalgia. There was this combination of discovery and abstractness to games being released in the 80s that I don't know can be recreated today. Figuring out what exactly you're supposed to do in the first NES Zelda game, for instance, is something that stands out in my mind, and conquering it as a 7-year-old as a great achievement that still makes me feel nostalgic (and keeps me playing Zelda games to this day). JP recalls that "some of my earliest memories are playing Pac-Man with myfather at Grekos (a Greek restaurant in Regina). It was always a treat to go there not only for the food, but mostly because of the Pac-Man!" I don't know that I'll be able to say the same thing about, say, Darksiders in twenty years.

You can visit Replay Games here. They're in the midst of a big move to a new location, so if you're a Regina reader, stay tuned for that!