How people who started collecting home carts 20 years ago look at everyone else on this forum.

[Neo Alec]

I believe Magician Lord is more rare on MVS than AES.

 

[Satoshi_Matrix]

It sure seems that way. Even checking Japanese sources Magician Lord does not appear to come up for sale very often in MVS format. I also learned from you, that the AES version is much more challenging and unforgiving, probably to increase the longevity of the home experience through artificial difficulty increase. See: Ninja Gaiden 3 on NES.

Could also be that arcade operators bought fewer copies of Magician Lord to begin with. Magician Lord is a more straightforward action platformer that could have been on Megadrive or Super Nintendo without too much of a downgrade. I remember from my arcade youth that my money always would be spent on the games that I couldn't just play at home and without knowing better, I would probably choose to play something else over Magician Lord.

 

[Neo Alec]

I also learned from you, that the AES version is much more challenging and unforgiving, probably to increase the longevity of the home experience through artificial difficulty increase. See: Ninja Gaiden 3 on NES.

Thanks for your post. Only thing I would add is that there's nothing artificial about the increased difficulty in the AES version. Checkpoints feel like proper game design for a home experience. If anything, the MVS version is artificially made easier to account for the fact that it costs money to continue. It's not like Ninja Gaiden 3 where they just limited continues and increased damage.

 

[Satoshi_Matrix]

What I meant by that is the AES version was adjusted as to keep the game experience slightly more aligned with the general challenge as other platforming games on competing systems. The MVS version being more forgiving is a result of prodding the player to put in another coin to continue playing. Many arcade games were like this, effectively creating pay-to-win scenarios where the player can get through to the end credits if they just keep pumping in quarters. This wasn't anything exclusive to Neo-Geo. I remember buying shooters for Saturn and Playstation that had to change their designs from the arcade original because of this design difference.

 

[Neo Alec]

Yeah. I guess maybe where we disagree is which one is the original. I think this game may be a rare case where the AES version was the original experience, and the MVS is the doctored up version. As evidence of that, the intro is in the MVS cart, but they changed the program rom so it doesn't play.

 

[MetalSludge]

Still recall some people on forums telling me that it would have been perfectly OK to sell my rares, cause one could always just buy them back later when the market cooled off. Heh.

I don't universally look down on the current market buyers, as surely some of them really are well off enough as adults that it's not that big an expense for them, and not all carts are super expensive. Though, as a quality over quantity person, I don't "get" completionists who need rooms full of two copies of every version of every game, as if it's a stamp collection.

Also notice that the old school people who grabbed their carts back in the day are hardly ever the ones posting YouTube videos showing off their collections or setups, it's mostly relatively new collectors and seemingly super rich euro completionists who do that. Not sure what that says about the scene, but it's funny how that goes. Though, to be fair, I tend to enjoy seeing peoples' setups and collections, so I have mixed feelings about it.

I occasionally ponder dropping some cash on one of the few rares that got away from me over the years myself, though I never seem to get around to actually doing so. It does, admittedly, feel like a bad deal nowadays when never having paid anything even close to current rates for a cart in the past.

For what it's worth, I do play my carts when I have time, and recently got back into the fighting games more, with an increasing appreciation for their finer qualities now that something finally clicked and I don't completely suck quite as much at them. Didn't know what I was missing, it feels like suddenly understanding the technical aspects of music or something.

 

[Neo Alec]

Also notice that the old school people who grabbed their carts back in the day are hardly ever the ones posting YouTube videos showing off their collections or setups, it's mostly relatively new collectors and seemingly super rich euro completionists who do that. Not sure what that says about the scene, but it's funny how that goes. Though, to be fair, I tend to enjoy seeing peoples' setups and collections, so I have mixed feelings about it.

Yeah, that is true. Well, I suppose 50-year-olds don't tend to show off on social media.

 

[Hawwa]

The only stuff that 50yos show off on social media and comes from the nineties are their new girfriends.

 

[Fygee]

I believe Magician Lord is more rare on MVS than AES.

I'm surprised honestly, considering it was a launch title and would likely have been with either included or purchased with the cabs.

 

[Neo Alec]

I'm surprised honestly, considering it was a launch title and would likely have been with either included or purchased with the cabs.

By the time most cabs outside of Japan were sold there were several choices.

 

[Kef9]

I see it as a curse because if I ever did want to get rid it would be a major hassle. I don’t give a damn though and just play the games no matter if they are worth £1000’s. It’s all a bit surreal. It would be impossible to replace them so they are priceless really.