Keep Circulating the Tapes/Video Games: Difference between revisions

* [[Doug Ten Napel]]'s [[The Neverhood]], an ingenious point-and-click adventure game made entirely in claymation, has been MIA since the mid-Ninties and copies are quite scarce. When it's easier to get the soundtrack CD to a computer game than the game itself, there is no hope for humanity. Or so it seemed, but [http://www.facebook.com/NeverhoodMobile this statement] has mentioned that a rerelease on mobile platforms is in the works.

* After its unfortunate initial performance in 1995, ''[[Earthbound]]'' has never been rereleased in America, not even on the [[Virtual Console]]. Its Masterpiece demo in ''[[Super Smash Bros Brawl]]'' was even explicitly removed from international versions of the game! Even Japan, where it did well, it is seemingly affected too - its only re-release was on a 2001 [[Game Boy Advance]] [[Compilation Rerelease]] [[Porting Disaster|of dubious quality]], and it's not on the Japanese Virtual Console either, which makes its presence as a Masterpiece demo in the Japanese version of ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' all the more confusing. Rumours abound as to why this is so, the most common ones involving legal issues over [[The Jimmy Hart Version|its music]], but nothing has ever been confirmed by Nintendo and there are plenty of arguments against those theories too. At any rate, it's actually pretty rare to find someone who actually played the game on a console rather than just emulating it. Being a very famous game that sells for anywhere between $80 and ''[[Crack is Cheaper|$200]]'', it's an exemplary and significant example of this trope in action.

* Virtually every [[Licensed Game]], due to the publishers and/or developers either no longer existing or no longer having the licenses. Thankfully, there's been some aversions to this in recent years, in particular when it comes to still-existing major publishers:

** [[Ubisoft]] rereleased (and in [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Turtles in Time|one case]], remade) some of [[Konami]]'s ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' games on the XBLA and the Virtual Console, despite not having anything to do with them besides currently holding the ''TMNT'' video game license. Unfortunately, we're back to square one as of January 26, 2012. The TMNT NES game is no longer available on Virtual Console.

** [[Konami]] wrangled with [[Activision]] for a deal to port the ''[[X-Men (video game)|X-Men]]'' arcade game to XBLA and PSN.

** [[Lucas Arts]] also put up the ''[[Super Star Wars]]'' games and ''[[Indiana Jones Greatest Adventures]]'' on the Virtual Console (though in that example, they ''always'' held the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' licenses).

* The ''[[Lunar]]'' games, remakes, and extra [[Feelies]]. The first two games were released on the [[Sega CD]], which made them tough to come by in the first place. ''[[Lunar: The Silver Star]]'', is actually not too difficult to find, but ''[[Lunar 2 Eternal Blue]]'' certainly is (it doesn't help that ''Eternal Blue'' had low sales). The remake of ''Eternal Blue'' is also a hard find because it was released during the twilight of the [[PlayStation]] era. ''Silver Star Story'' and all subsquent remakes of ''The Silver Star'' are not hard to acquire, though.

* Past-generation ''[[Pokémon]]'' titles. Finding used copies isn't difficult at all, given ''Pokémon'''s [[Cash Cow Franchise|status]], but Nintendo has unusually never shown any inclination to rerelease any past game. This is probably one of the rare cases where no-one minds this at all - ease of finding secondhand copies notwithstanding, given how more Pokémon are added with each generation, and the constant fixes and revisions to the game mechanics with each new generation, rereleasing the games ''in their original form'' would have been somewhat unfeasible. Instead, [[Video Game Remake|remakes]] ensued.

** Note that if one does obtain a copy of ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver|Gold/Silver/Crystal]]'', there's a good chance that the game will be unable to retain its save data, due to the fact that the backup RAM and the real-time clock share a battery, which the latter eats up within about six years.<ref>(Since they were released in the early 2000s, this means that copies have already started to end up with dead batteries.)</ref> This also applies to ''[[Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire|Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald]]'' to a lesser extent, especially if the bug that causes the battery to die prematurely isn't fixed by ''[[Video Game Remake|FireRed]]'' and ''[[Video Game Remake|LeafGreen]]'' or the [[Game Cube]] games. The games store their data on flash memory (which doesn't require power to retain its data), so they can still be played without the save feature failing to work properly, but the cartridge still uses a battery to power the real-time clock, so difficulties can ensue (though certainly not insurmountable ones if one has enough patience). Note that the clock problems do not exist in every generation after III, as they can only be played on systems that have a clock built into the system itself, which the games make use of instead. (Of course, the main problem mentioned above will likely be an issue in the future, but at least gameplay will function normally.)

** The straightest examples in ''Pokémon'' are ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue|Pokémon Yellow]]'' (unlike Crystal, none of Yellow's differences were incorporated into FireRed/LeafGreen) and quite a few of the spinoffs, most noticeably ''[[Hey You Pikachu]]'' and the ''[[Pokémon Stadium]]'' games, the former of which uses a peripheral exclusive to the Nintendo64 and the latter of which have both that problem as well as the gameplay of both games highly depend on connectivity with [[Game Boy]] and [[Game Boy Color]] games.

*** This led to a bizaare situation in which Yellow's most famous feature, Pikachu following the Player, was added into [[Pokémon Gold and Silver|HeartGold and SoulSilver]], along with Crystal's additions to the game's plot. It was expanded- now any Pokémon could follow the Player, not just Pikachu.

** This also entangles Nintendo's ''[[Donkey Kong 64]]''; the ''Donkey Kong Country'' series and characters are owned by Nintendo, but the game contains Rare's own ''Jetpac'', which is now a Microsoft property and has an [[Video Game Remake]] on [[Xbox Live Arcade]]; the latter is the reason holding the game back, for it can't be simply axed. Why? Because it's a '''mandatory''' [[Embedded Precursor]]; completion of it is necessary to fight the final boss!

** Speaking of ''Jetpac'', the home computer games produced by Rare's original (1983-1987) incarnation, Ashby Computer Graphics / Ultimate Play the Game, have their distribution denied as well. This means titles that revolutionized the European videogame industry such as ''Jetpac'' itself, ''Atic Atac'', ''Sabre Wulf'', and ''Knight Lore''.

**** And some can be downloaded... but aren't playable in an emulator (such as ''[[Indiana Jones and The Infernal Machine]]'' and ''Star Wars Rogue Squadron'').

* This actually seem to be a ''contributing factor'' to a generalized decrease in [[No Export for You]] in RPGs, especially in the last few years. [[Square Enix]] is a good example; previously, they allowed many of their major releases in Japan in the 1990s, such as ''[[Seiken Densetsu 3]]'', ''[[Dragon Quest]] V'' and ''VI'', ''[[Front Mission]] 1'' and others to go unreleased even once ports were made to newer consoles. Around 2003, though, ''SD3'' was translated by fans...and thus played by ''hundreds of thousands'' of people. ''DQV'' and ''VI'', ''FM1'', and a raft of other "back-catalog" titles then got similar treatment and all exploded all over the Internet. This seems to have led to a number of [[Updated Rerelease|Updated Rereleases]] of many of the aforementioned games, which then got translated and sold officially in the US market. SE guys have even acknowledged that fan translation played a part in proving that fans wanted certain games. Of the games listed in this example, only ''SD3'' hasn't gotten a release in the States at this point.

*** Occasionally, though, V will go on sale on Amazon (usually around the holidays).

* ''[[Star Trek Starfleet Command]] III''. Shortly after its release, Activision filed a lawsuit against Viacom claiming that the studio had allowed the ''[[Star Trek]]'' franchise to "Stagnate And Decay", and that this had negatively affected Activision's stocks (or something of that nature). The debacle ended with Activision splitting, and production of the ''Starfleet Command III'' discs (as well as the other ''Star Trek'' titles made by Activision) halted, just a short time after the game's release. In fact, there are so few copies of ''Starfleet Command III'' that they generally sell online for anything from $85 to $144! Activision should have just held off until [[Star Trek (film)|the 11th movie]] then...

* The [[Game Boy]] ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' (''Rockman World'') series, including the well-regarded 5th game. A Game Boy Advance version of ''Mega Man Anniversary Collection'' was planned, but cancelled. Plus, you're out of luck if you don't own a GBASP or earlier (or a Game Boy Player for the [[Game Cube]]), as Nintendo handhelds from the DS onwards ditched classic Game Boy support.<ref>(Yes, the Game Boy Micro removed it first, but who the hell remembers ''that''?)</ref> Just hope for a release on the [[Nintendo 3DS]] [[Virtual Console]]...

** Currently, the first installment is on the [[Nintendo 3DS]] [[Virtual Console]]. No word on the others yet, though.

* The 1990s [[Humongous Entertainment]] games have not been rereleased in any form, with the exception of ''Freddi Fish: Kelp Seed Mystery'', ''Pajama Sam: Don't Fear the Dark'', and ''Spy Fox in Dry Cereal'', which are all available on the Wii (after the rights were sold to Majesco), plus ''[[Backyard Sports|Backyard Baseball]]'' and ''Backyard Soccer'', both available on [[Real Arcade]].

** ''Freddi Fish'', ''Pajama Sam'', and ''Spy Fox'' on the Wii are no longer available, because Majesco used [[Scumm VM]] (without complying with the GPL) [[Idiot Programming|and didn't bother fixing well-known errors in the rendering]].

** The second game of the franchise is, despite [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]] to a truly historic degree, considered more than a bit of a translation trainwreck and also neutered multiple abilities of characters. Even worse, the GBA version ''changed nothing''. The only way to play the game with a ''readable'' English text (versus [[Engrish]]) is via a [[Fan Translation]] of the Japanese Super Nintendo ROM — again, of dubious legality, especially with Square planning a possible re-release and possible re-translation.

** The third game ''was'' planned to be re-released in North America for the PSP but ran into a serious roadblock — Sony Entertainment US has a rule requiring 20% new content for re-releases, and the re-release of ''[[Breath of Fire]] III'' was seen to not meet this requirement despite new bonus art and features unlocked in the game. (Of note, Sony Entertainment US is the ''sole'' territory where the PSP is sold to have a "New Content Rule". It apparently even hits games never released in the US, as it was one of the factors in Atlus USA not translating the PSP port of ''[[Devil Summoner]]''.) The only way to obtain ''III'' at this point in North America is either via grey-market imports from Europe for the region free system (where the PSP re-release was sold, with English text!), finding the game on Ebay, or the use of copied [[IS Os]] (of extremely dubious legality). The game also has never been re-released on Playstation Network, either.

** The fifth game (''Dragon Quarter'') is out-of-print, has been out-of-print for over seven years, is now (thanks to the [[Broken Base]] it caused) apparently not really acknowledged by Capcom as having existed, has never been re-released in any format including Playstation Network, and one's only real hope of obtaining it at this point is via used game stores or (again) [[IS Os]] of dubious legality.

** Literally all artbooks, with the sole exception of the compilation ''[[Breath of Fire]] Complete Works'', are out-of-print and have been for years; the only sources are online import companies selling them at high expense (and of dubious authenticity), or via scans of the artbook done by fans.

*** Which makes no sense, as the VC is simply an emulator, so they'd just need a game ROM.

*** Tell that to SEGA. ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog CD|Sonic CD]]'' was originally supposed to be on ''Sonic Mega Collection'', but due to emulation problems (I.E. tossing out the original schematics and design documents for the Mega CD/Sega CD as well as somehow losing the original game's source code) ultimately, it was not included. The version on ''Gems Collection'' is a hack of the PC version, made to run on consoles under a PC emulator, if memory serves me correctly (This is noticeable in how the debug menu works, and the water in Tidal Tempest being clear; PCs of the era had issues emulating the water effects, so it was scrapped.), and the 2011 rerelease was completely recoded from scratch.

** Lampshaded on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STfLWs6XGkM official Risky's Revenge soundtrack release video]. WFT has apparently been working on getting the game on [[DSiWare]] / 3DS Virtual Console though.

* Pretty much the entire Commodore 64 software library falls into this category. Other than a handful of games released for various virtual consoles, the entire rest of the catalog is available almost exclusively on the internet as disk images that can be played using a C64 emulator. Thankfully, rights holders are either nonexistent, having disappeared decades ago, or simply don't care that the images are available, so they're very easy to find.

* The ''[[Ogre Battle]]'' games ''The Knight of Lodis'' and ''Legend of the Zenobia Prince'' for [[Game Boy]] Advance and Neo Geo Pocket Color can't be had on current consoles.

* ''Albion'' is a good example of this as well, given that copies show up on Ebay only rarely and in small numbers. When they do appear, they fetch prices of $100, at the very least.

* The fan game ''[[Super Mario Bros X]]'' thanks to creator Redigit "getting a cease and desist from Nintendo", a story which many are pretty sure is fabricated because Redigit [[Artist Disillusionment|"didn't like the community"]].

* ''[[Panzer Dragoon Saga]]'' was not only released in limited quantities during its short life on the Sega Saturn, Team Andromeda no longer exists, and the original source code is lost.

* The original monochrome release of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening]]'' had some bugs (often [[Good Bad Bugs]]) that the [[Updated Rerelease]], ''Link's Awakening DX'', ended up fixing. Since the ''DX'' version was the one chosen to be released on the [[Nintendo 3DS]]'s [[Virtual Console]], second-hand copies are pretty much the only way to get the original version.

* They stopped producing ''[[Rune Factory]] Frontier'' games in America after a year or so, so this is the only way to buy a title.

* Want to find the Eyewitness series of educational video games from the '90s and early '00s? Well, you can't go to the store and buy it. You can order them from places like Amazon and eBay, or find a torrent. Otherwise, you're doomed.

* This seems to be the case with various Nintendo games that use the ''Tetris'' branding but aren't actually ''Tetris'' games (such as ''Tetris Attack''), due to the stricter trademark licensing from The Tetris Company, because so far the only Nintendo game with "''Tetris''" in the title to be released on the Virtual Console service is the [[Game Boy]] installment (and for some reason, unlike ''[[Links Awakening]]'' above, it's the original version and not the ''DX'' release for the [[Game Boy Color]]), released on the [[Nintendo 3DS]]. It got this treatment when the Wii was very late in its life, which never got a VC release for ''Tetris Attack''. (Note that the Japanese release does not have this issue; the Japanese release doesn't hide the series it's in and calls it ''Yoshi's Panepon''.) Fortunately, in the case of the ''Tetris Attack''/''[[Puzzle League]]'' series, sequels dropped the ''Tetris'' branding and ''Pokémon Puzzle League'' did not have this problem and got a VC release, which means there wouldn't be a problem doing the same with the portable ''Pokémon''-based game in the series, ''Pokémon Puzzle Challenge''.

* ''[[Sonic Shuffle]]'' is one of the few Sonic games to not be rereleased.

* The ''[[Living Books]]'' series has unfortunately fallen under this for a long time. Firstly, they have not been known to age well when it comes to compatibility with modern computers. The three [[Dr. Seuss]] titles are the only ones that have had an update to combat this, and even then, they're Mac-exclusive. Then there's also the fact that four of the games have long gone out-of-print mysteriously (what's more, they're still included as demos in the still in-print games). If you want ''The New Kid on the Block'', ''Sheila Rae the Brave'', or either ''[[Berenstain Bears]]'' title, you better grab a tank load of money. Especially with ''New Kid''.