Get to know the staff of MN9U!

[TheRaven]

Soo I just thought of an awesome topic to get to know the people running MN9U! Here you may ask us questions and we'll respond to them. We'll also post a bit about ourselves to let you know more about us. (Well if we feel like it that is. xP) Anyway I'll share a few things about me. First off my favorite color is green. It's pretty much the reason why the Admin usergroup color is green. :V My favorite genre of music is video game music with my least favorites being Dubstep and Rap. My favorite gaming franchise of all time is Sonic the Hedgehog and I enjoy hacking the Sega Master System and Game Gear games. (My hobby got me a promotion to Tech Member on Sonic Retro. I go by Ravenfreak there...) I hope to become a computer programmer one day but until then I just work in retail unfortunately... >_>

[epicnights]

To each staff member:

Would you rather fight a horse sized duck, or 100 duck sized horses?

[TheRaven]

Uhh definitely a horse sized duck. xD

[MechaGS]

Hey everyone. You all know me as MechaGS (both here and on the official forums).



My work on this site is "tech admin" where I deal with all of the site's technical needs. At this point, I'm mostly dealing with issues that the forum and it's members may be experiencing at any given time. Of course, I do the normal admin-y stuff but you'll mostly see me behind a wall of code.



I'm a certified Windows Software Developer (7 years) and a self-taught website developer (10 years, I started as a teen and worked my way up) where I usually deal in big custom systems. This is why you'll see me hating on pre-builds like Drupal and Wordpress quite a bit. I've become a bit of a jack of all trades when it comes to tech and IT in general.



My favourite colour is blue, I'm a massive anime / manga fan and my favourite game of all time is Wonderboy 3: The Dragon's Trap. My favourite game series are both Mega Man and pre-2000's Sonic the Hedgehog.



I don't have a favourite genre of music, I tend to listen to anything that doesn't completely grate the ears. I won't listen to dubstep though, I consider that stuff to be the epitome of garbage.



My major hobby is collecting rare games (European). I do buy games in from the States and Japan but only where I can play them. (for example, DS and Vita games or PS3 and PS2 games)



I mentioned anime and manga already, but I have extensive collections of both. I also collect arcade (fight) sticks and fighting games as I find the genre to be one of the best on consoles. I'm also a major RPG'er and have played nearly every big-name title (plus some really obscure ones) you can throw at me.



If any of you have any particular questions, make sure to throw them my way!

To each staff member:

Would you rather fight a horse sized duck, or 100 duck sized horses?

I wouldn't fight the horse sized duck, i'd tame it and ride it like a chocobo!

[tailszero]

What is the cost of the rarest game in your collection?

[MechaGS]

What is the cost of the rarest game in your collection?

This is a hard one to judge because of games going digital (especially with PSN hosting PS1 and 2 games, eShop hosting a lot of old Nintendo platform games). As soon as they hit digital, the physical copies lose their value as it's not considered rare any more.



Also, the price goes down if I take them out of the shrink-wrap. (this is why I don't sell my games)



As it stands, the game that still stands out above the rest is <a href='http://www.play-asia.com/street-fighter-iii-3rd-strike-fight-for-the-future-limited-editi-paOS-13-49-en-70-4oo.html' rel='nofollow' target='_blank'>Street Fighter 3: Third Strike Limited Edition</a> for PS2 (Japanese release). It's worth between ?170-180 at this point in time if new and sealed. Mine isn't but is in mint condition so I'd need to cut it down around ?30-?50 to make it on-par with the used cost. It's now considered out of print.



An honourable mention from my collection is Tombi (Tomba in the US) which can sell between ?80 and ?100 in mint condition. Of course, it's on PSN now so it's lost some of it's value and used to be worth up to ?130.



Another honourable mention is Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia. While the game isn't rare in the US, the European version of the game was only sold in Italy and France making it at times a hard one to get at. It only goes for up to ?40 though.

[13445]

What is the cost of the rarest game in your collection?

This is a hard one to judge because of games going digital (especially with PSN hosting PS1 and 2 games, eShop hosting a lot of old Nintendo platform games). As soon as they hit digital, the physical copies lose their value as it's not considered rare any more.



Also, the price goes down if I take them out of the shrink-wrap. (this is why I don't sell my games)



As it stands, the game that still stands out above the rest is <a href='http://www.play-asia.com/street-fighter-iii-3rd-strike-fight-for-the-future-limited-editi-paOS-13-49-en-70-4oo.html' rel='nofollow' target='_blank'>Street Fighter 3: Third Strike Limited Edition</a> for PS2 (Japanese release). It's worth between ?170-180 at this point in time if new and sealed. Mine isn't but is in mint condition so I'd need to cut it down around ?30-?50 to make it on-par with the used cost. It's now considered out of print.



An honourable mention from my collection is Tombi (Tomba in the US) which can sell between ?80 and ?100 in mint condition. Of course, it's on PSN now so it's lost some of it's value and used to be worth up to ?130.



Another honourable mention is Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia. While the game isn't rare in the US, the European version of the game was only sold in Italy and France making it at times a hard one to get at. It only goes for up to ?40 though.

Another factor is that a game that the parent company or the licensing company might no longer hold the rights to a game or the IP. Many rare games these days are Rare cause the IP holder is unknown or has no interest in spending the money to put the IP into the digital world. There are many games that were PS2 classics And XBOX original and GAMECUBE IPs that will not be digital because the company that made them no longer exists and no one is sure who actually owns the IP and the distribution rights? Or in the case of some n64 games they cant be emulated properly due to the fact that the hardware had some special features that the used that cannot be emulated properly. (mischief makers dammit why)



So most games that are rare now is because the titles and the IP are in a legal limbo. Or it might take more work then a company wants to invest to make it work on specific hardware (ps3 cell was a good example)

[MechaGS]

Another factor is that a game that the parent company or the licensing company might no longer hold the rights to a game or the IP. Many rare games these days are Rare cause the IP holder is unknown or has no interest in spending the money to put the IP into the digital world. There are many games that were PS2 classics And XBOX original and GAMECUBE IPs that will not be digital because the company that made them no longer exists and no one is sure who actually owns the IP and the distribution rights? Or in the case of some n64 games they cant be emulated properly due to the fact that the hardware had some special features that the used that cannot be emulated properly. (mischief makers dammit why)



So most games that are rare now is because the titles and the IP are in a legal limbo. Or it might take more work then a company wants to invest to make it work on specific hardware (ps3 cell was a good example)

I agree on all points here, especially the bit about when emulation isn't possible as this will be a big issue going forward for newer platforms. Sony for example have skipped emulation entirely in the Playstation 3's case and gone for a cloud based system running server racks full of modified PS3 hardware. This I feel is the future of gaming on multiple devices.



There's also the issue of selling ROM's. There is a call for ROM's to be sold on publishers sites for PC by gamers so that games can persist in the digital realm. SEGA have tried it on Steam (<a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Mega_Drive_Classic_Collection' rel='nofollow' target='_blank'>Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) Classic Collection</a>) but no one else has dared to release ROM's through a proprietary emulator on PC.



I'm not sure about the legalities of this but on the Internet Archive there's a <a href='https://archive.org/details/MAME_0.151_ROMs' rel='nofollow' target='_blank'>download of 42.8gb</a> which claims to be full of arcade titles that *may* have fallen out of copyright jurisdiction and have been uploaded to safe-guard the games future as a medium. From what I remember, the Internet Archive is a legitimate website and business.



While companies like <a href='http://hyperkin.com' rel='nofollow' target='_blank'>Hyperkin</a> are trying to preserve older gaming platforms, we still need the cartridge's and/or disc's to play from and over time they take a lot of wear and tear. Especially cartridges as they die after so many years of use.



I guess we'll see what happens in the years ahead. I only see physical rare games becoming even more rare as people realise that they won't be able to replace the titles later. (or at least not at a reasonable price unless they do inevitably go digital)

[13445]

"Especially cartridges as they die after so many years of use."



Yup I have replaced and internal battery or two on some old carts.  But god help you if the battery size they used is no longer available or proprietary and if you don't know how to take them apart and put them back together.

[TheRaven]

I have to replace a few internal batteries in my copy of Gold and my girlfriend's copy of Crystal, since you know they didn't last due to the fact the game has a day and night feature and the games are roughly almost 14 or 13 years old... I have the right size batteries, I just need to get the right game bit to open the carts. (The pin trick didn't work at all...)

[tailszero]

I have to replace a few internal batteries in my copy of Gold and my girlfriend's copy of Crystal, since you know they didn't last due to the fact the game has a day and night feature and the games are roughly almost 14 or 13 years old... I have the right size batteries, I just need to get the right game bit to open the carts. (The pin trick didn't work at all...)

There is actually a tool you can get for those screws. I ordered one to use, but never actually replaced the battery of my game.

[13445]

I have to replace a few internal batteries in my copy of Gold and my girlfriend's copy of Crystal, since you know they didn't last due to the fact the game has a day and night feature and the games are roughly almost 14 or 13 years old... I have the right size batteries, I just need to get the right game bit to open the carts. (The pin trick didn't work at all...)

Sometimes its nice having access to my dads workshop stocked with all sorts of tools for such things. If you dont have the right thing you can fabricate it most of the time.

[TheRaven]

That must be nice. xP I bought a tool for opening Sega Genesis carts while getting the batteries for the GB games as I was going to use the shell of a broken game for my Everdrive, but that never happened and I lost it while moving last year. So I guess it's off to Ebay again to buy a tool to open Gold and Crystal! :V I don't know why I just didn't get the tool then though... Damn you past self! >_<

[Swan Dive]

First off my favorite color is green :V My favorite genre of music is video game music with my least favorites being Dubstep and Rap.  I hope to become a computer programmer one day but until then I just work in retail unfortunately... >_>

^Me in a nutshell!



Wow, we have A LOT in common.  The only difference is that I'm more of a Starfire fan instead (though Raven is fine too)!   :becklaughing 



I have a question: What is the primary motivation of the Staff for keeping this forum running?

[TheRaven]

That's so cool. xD And I noticed we start games and never finish them as well. (I saw that in your intro topic. xP) Anyway to answer your question I wanted a Mighty No. 9 community that everyone could enjoy. Since the official forums were going to be for backers only, I thought having a public forum would be a wonderful idea. My motivation for keeping this forum running is definitely the members. I love seeing posts from people around the world and seeing them talk about Mega Man, since I believe that's why most of us are here.