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From this image, everyone recognizes the 'Player's Choice' label variation. Now, I ask: Is this
really a good thing? In this issue of ask a blog, we will explore the pros and cons of the run-of-the-mill rerelease, and then, you get to tell
US what you think.
When a game is released, the company has two main things in mind: Will this sell well, and will the customer be satisfied? Every so often, a game meets both of these criteria extremely well, selling copies into the hundreds of thousands, or even millions. This is where the typical rerelease comes in.
For example, take the popular SNES game F-Zero. It was released in 1991 in North America. Once it passed the 1,000,000 sell mark, it was rereleased as Player's Choice. Now, what exactly did this do? It allowed them to stop producing the original version, and produce this second version, with slightly different packaging, and one other major difference: no dust cover. Now, this may not seem like a bad thing, but it sets the scale as for what rereleases do to the game. They usually package it poorly, leave special items out such as promotional coins and mini-mags, and may even use a
lower quality product. This allows them to keep production costs down even more, while still making the same amount of money on the other end.
Granted, if a game makes it to player's choice, chances are that you will be able to find an original copy, with no problem. Other types of remakes also exist, such as with
Ikaruga, the shoot-em-up originally released for the Japanese Dreamcast, later ported and rereleased on the Gamecube and Xbox 360. With the release of the 360 version, prices on the GC and DC versions plummeted, even though their rarity was still the same.
So, rereleases make access to either: hard-to-find games more accessible while driving their price down (yet keeping their rarity), or easily found games even easier. Rereleases, in my humble opinion, are a good thing in that they can give access to an unknown game that is very good. The major downfall is that those who own the original are left with a game that may have devalued by half or more. Does either of these outcomes outweigh the other? Only you can decide that.
And now... We want to hear from
you! The reader!!! What are your thoughts and feelings on a rerelease? Are they great, evil, okay, so-so, not too bad, or completely your lifesaver? Post a comment below, and until next time: Keep having an opinion!
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I don't mind any game getting rereleased as long as it's a good one, rereleasing rare titles makes as much sense as me importing one or two Mega CD games to add to my collection because it's harder to find here in Europe, they benefit the consumer while current owners and sellers aren't as much. Then again, I remember Racketboy saying that people shouldn't collect games for their rarity, but to enjoy playing those games. I would love to get Snatcher if the prices weren't high, so even a remake would satisfy me, let alone a rerelease.
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@gamepopper101:Sorry if my comment made little sense or consistancy
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There are two big reasons why I dislike remakes.
Different packaging looks silly with the rest of my collection. Why dont they just put a little "greatest hits/players choice/whatever" label in the corner somewhere and leave the spine the same color as the rest of the games on the system. I would load up on PC style games if they would just leave the spine the same color as everything else.
The only other thing that bugs me is when they alter the original game. I believe that if a game is worth remaking then it should be kept identical and not alter the experience. Dont tack on extra content or improved visuals, just keep the game in its pure form. If they have some ideas to improve on the game then do so with a sequel.
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I don't mind re-releases really since the prices are usually cheaper, but I agree with Crabmaster2000 about when the game is altered from the original release in some instances cause it makes me want to hold out a lot of times for fear that they may release an enhanced version later on. Sometimes it definitely feels like the companies are trying to get you to buy the same game twice.
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I don't have a problem with re-releases or Player's Choice/Platinum/Greatest Hits games. What Crabmaster said is true: the different packaging can look stupid (the U.S. Greatest Hits PS1 games come to mind, or the Platinum PS3 games. Both have an almost fluorescent color strip across the cover, which is kind of lame.)
But other than that I like re-releases, because:
1. It drives the price down of the original game, allowing me to buy it for less money.
2. For some games I don't care whether I have the original game or not, so it's easier to find a re-released copy.
3. They can make me notice games I wouldn't have otherwise.
What I don't like are remakes. Regardless of what game that's being remaked, when they decide to "recreate the game with modern graphics", they always seem to screw up somewhere. So: re-releases yes, remakes no.
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Resident Evil on GCN is one of the best rereleases ever made, they did everything right. I saw a major graphic overhaul, more enemies, more puzzles, it was just a better game for it. So I guess it depends on the game really, ports are becoming very popular nowadays.
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Did the price of Ikaruga really plummet? It still seems pretty strong to me...
At any rate, I don't really care for re-releases. I'm more of a collector than a player at this point in my life, which means I'm more concerned with value than ease of acquisition. The same principal goes for anything that I buy: DVDs, CDs, books, etc. I didn't by my copy of 1984 because I thought it was going to be valuable, but it ended up being so, and I'd prefer to see it hold that value. I don't own a single "greatest hits" PS1, PS2 or GCN game, and I think it'll probably stay that way.
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As long as it plays, I don't care. I'm a gamer first, and a collector as a far distant second.
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@BadEnoughDude:
Yeah, it used to be $50-$70 for CIB, now it's about $35-$50 CIB. 
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I agree with crabmaster2000 if its pretty much the same game than I feel rereleases are fine. Hell throw in some extra content too as long as its not directly related to gameplay, production art, interviews/commentary etc. are always great. reMAKES on the other hand, are usually a companies attempt at a very quick $ with very little overhead. Perfect example the new play edition (think thats right) wii games, which are just GC games with new controls. Not saying all remakes suck just most of them.
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I'm all for ANYTHING that takes price control out of the hands of greedy collectors who overinflate the value of everything.
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I hate rereleases. Not because they lower the value on the original release or anything, but it just makes collecting so much more complex. I feel that I should have each variation of a game (I don't actively look for variants, but I keep the ones I buy in lots) and it just makes things so much more of a hassle, plus it makes my collection take up more space without adding any variety to it.
Plus, rereleases like the Greatest Hits and GameCube's Player's Choice makes things look weird. What would otherwise be a solid line of black GameCube logos is sporadically separated by a bright yellow logo, it just looks stupid on a shelf like that. At least the SNES and N64 Player's Choice boxes aren't really noticeable from the edge of the boxes.
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I am glad Nintendo has yet to implement a Player's Choice for Wii yet
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@logical123:$50 for a Dreamcast/Gamecube game is still a lot
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I'm all for ANYTHING that takes price control out of the hands of greedy investment speculators who overinflate the value of everything. Buy stock, stay the F%CK out of my hobby.
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Goodness. There's some aggression here. I'm not really sure that investment speculators are really what you need to worry about. If you look back at the history of the hobby, there's really no evidence that certain games just become rare or valuable at random. A game that's rare or expensive or sought after today will probably still have those same qualities 5 or 10 years from now. I really think the issue is simply more people getting into the hobby, which increases demand and raises prices - that's where the inflation really comes from. I sincerely doubt that anyone is sinking thousands of dollars into video games right now with the expectation that they'll quadruple their money in 2 years.
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Well considering it makes the game cheaper and I'm not a tool who obsesses over what my collection looks like as opposed to what games I have and being able to play certain games, clearly I'm in favor of them.
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@Butts Fartso:
Lol, I am totally a tool!!!
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@Crabmaster2000: I'm aware.
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Yep. Pretty conscious about what my collections looks like, and definitely not a tool.
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@BadEnoughDude: Yes you ar... sorry I can't keep this up. No you guys aren't tools and no I don't mind if you guys dislike rereleases- I was trolling because it was a heated debate in here. If this was any other site I wouldn't admit to trolling but I like you guys.
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Thanks!!
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I said indifferent. But that's not quite right. I collect, but not for "rarity." I collect games that I want to play and own. So re-releases make them easier to find, and sometimes a re-release ports a game from a system I never had to a system that I do.
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