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the horrible state of the UK retro scene

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    the horrible state of the UK retro scene

    Where is all the retro? buried somewhere? Apart from a dozen pages on ebay for each fomat there isn't much to look, and if what your looking for is jap then where you can find what your looking for is narrowed further, mainly limited to a few choice importers who believe that anything jap means adding 50% on the price, and the try selling me a copy of sengoku blaede for ?80 because its "rare". If it wasn't for the traders from the east i would be screwed.

    While looking around the segagagadomain site i was treated to a preview of the retro scene in japan, naturally it was far more evolved then the UK, while their retro scene is the equivalent of a fully evolved homo sapien ours hasn't even evolved a spine yet never mind touching on dry land. Rows and rows of titles, you would never believe that format is dead there is so many games available, titles that those who supply us tell us are 'rare' seem to be in plenty over there. Then i look at what we've got, gamestation has a shelve of badly looked after, common as dirt, over priced titles, other than that nothing. The UK's retro scene's pride and joy used to be CEX, the place where all retro heads used to go, the place was a nice change from the norm and was thus excused for its sometimes over priced titles. Now however the place is nothing more than a second hand dvd store, even that they can't do right such is the incompetance of the place. It seems as our retro scene has moved backwards not forwards.

    So why is that? it seems almost as if we in the UK are embaressed about the history of our favourite industry, we would rather forget about such classics as mariokart, nights, and twinbee, we will sweep them under the carpet and pretend that they never happened. While other mediums happily embrace the past, in the UK videogame scene we don't, apart from a few segregated from the majority. Although progression is healthy it is always best to know where it came from, thats why when i'm not listening to the likes of weezer, oasis, or manic street preachers i would listen to the beatles, or when i'm not watching the latest hollywood blockbuster i would put on the Italian Job. The UK videogame scene is forgetting its heritage, maybe thats why many believe it is losing its soul.
    Last edited by muse hunter; 19-02-2006, 17:53.

    #2
    Blame the marketing men, & spoilt kids

    Old is crap, new is good, must have the new, it will make you cool, chicks will sleep with you ect.....

    This is now the norm im afraid, the uk games market in general is a joke. Kids in general dont appreciate retro (yes there are a few that do but mostly not) kids have been spoilt growing up in a age where graphics look amazing, to their eyes retro games are just nasty looking crap.

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      #3
      Originally posted by importaku
      Blame the marketing men, & spoilt kids

      Old is crap, new is good, must have the new, it will make you cool, chicks will sleep with you ect.....

      This is now the norm im afraid, the uk games market in general is a joke. Kids in general dont appreciate retro (yes there are a few that do but mostly not) kids have been spoilt growing up in a age where graphics look amazing, to their eyes retro games are just nasty looking crap.
      Unfortunatly true, luckily my mates all played on either a SNES or an MD when they were younger so they can appericate retro stuff but some of my younger cousins just take the piss out anything thats 2D. If you want to get retro stuff now it seems the net is the best place, which is a shame.

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        #4
        What Impotaku said.

        That and the fact that the Japanese in general seem to take exquisite pride in what they own and most of what I receive from over there is in good condition. Unlike in the US and here where it's anything goes quite often in shops. Thank god Nintendo.com let you buy new Cube cases off their website...
        Lie with passion and be forever damned...

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          #5
          I know it's not exactly retro but I came across a bunch of pre owned Japanese DC games in GAMESTATION once for like ?1 each and an American copy of Shenmue for ?3.

          As for others, Pal retros are easy to come buy, on Megadrive most of the good games have all of the regional versions in the one cart and the version you get to play is controled by the region setting of the Megadrive so that's fine for me =P
          I have a friend who is basically a chav, kind of. But he plays Street Fighter and stuff so all hope is not lost for him =D

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            #6
            This is one reason retro gaming is not appreciated in this country.

            Then you have to consider that most retro gamers, i.e. those old enough to remember these games from first time around, are generally earning a wage and therefore able to pay stupid money for Sentimental Japanese RPG Gaiden XVI if so minded. If they couldn't, the traders wouldn't be able to charge so much as they do.

            I don't think the whole 'when all this were fields' attitude some people take helps much either, because it conjurs up images of misty-eyed old men who can't let go of their adolesence.
            Last edited by MattyD; 19-02-2006, 18:25.

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              #7
              It's cos 99.9% of British gamers don't care about 2D anymore. People just want to drive souped-up chavmobiles around night cities or blast people apart in the most 'authentic' way possible, preferably with the option of night vision goggles. In the past, the Japanese culture and architecture was so refined stylistically that the tradition seems to be part of the lifeblood of the people nowadays. They appreciate artistry, we seem to appreciate shiny things. I can't see the UK ever getting back to the days when SF2 actually meant something.

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                #8
                Ugh, those kids are such little ****heads

                Referring to importaku's point, some kid I know at school got rid of his DS purely because 'the graphics are crap'. What a twat.

                EDIT - Oh, I remember seeing on some TV Show that they went to the developers who make the Harry potter and Narnia games, and they get kids to test them to see how they can 'make the better'.

                I always wondered why they were so crap
                Last edited by Distant Cousin; 19-02-2006, 18:42.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by importaku
                  Blame the marketing men, & spoilt kids

                  Old is crap, new is good, must have the new, it will make you cool, chicks will sleep with you ect.....
                  There's also the fact that publications like EDGE like to dump their interest/coverage in a system as soon as a newer & shinier one becomes available.
                  Sometimes they won't even bother waiting untill it runs it's course before declaring it a dud (Saturn, Dreamcast) and siding with the most advanced console on the market.

                  Apart from a dozen pages on ebay for each fomat there isn't much to look, and if what your looking for is jap then where you can find what your looking for is narrowed further
                  Oh, and searching for "Jap" stuff will always return limited results since it's something of a derogatory term.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by muse hunter
                    Although progression is healthy it is always best to know where it came from, thats why when i'm not listening to the likes of weezer, oasis, or manic street preachers i would listen to the beatles, or when i'm not watching the latest hollywood blockbuster i would put on the Italian Job.
                    Off topic, I know, but it's good to see another Weezer fan on the boards. \w/

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                      #11
                      That's another quote from muse hunter that's almost as ridiculous as his 'goodbye gaming/can't wait for E3' postings, given his recent tirade against the ZX spectrum I didn't exactly expect to see a post about how retro is un-appreciated in the UK and it's good to know about the roots...

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                        #12
                        At work, it's horrible to see unboxed retro consoles covered in crap, and games in destroyed boxes getting traded in, noone seems to look after anything.

                        Still, when I was told to put some "4 for ?20" PS2 games in the window display, I picked all 2D games, Shumps, Sonic Collection, Alien Hominid, hah. No doubt they'd be ignored.

                        Sick of seeing kids playing on the 360 pod and talking JUST about graphics. They're loving a crap game, as long as it looks nice... Heard some kids talking about 50Cent saying the graphics ruled and it's the best game ever...

                        ...

                        If I win the lotto I'm so opening a retro shop in Manchester.

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                          #13
                          shmups AND Alien Hominid in 4 for ??20?!

                          =O

                          I'd go for that!

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                            #14
                            Its cause the UK just loves its yearly EA updates and always will.

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by Distant Cousin
                              shmups AND Alien Hominid in 4 for ??20?!

                              =O

                              I'd go for that!
                              Some of them are from the Play It/Midas etc. budget range, mentioned in another thread, where basically they get given minging box art, and a new name for PAL release. I never knew about these until I saw the thread yesterday! Had a rake through, theres a few games I'll be grabbing.

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