It’s been a while … where are all the US carts?

VisionRom

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It’s been about 15 years since I’ve been around here but where are all the US AES games? Looking around I mostly see JP carts for sale. Are people just not letting go of things like they used to? Or am I old and my memory of the good old days back in 2002 just wrong?
 

yagamikun

Art of Typing Wiz
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In the hands of shelf-collectors the world over. :) Haha

Seriously, though. The US/Euro versions have always been more sought after from collectors because of investment potential due to lower print runs and people really like boring, grey boarders around their art I suppose. US games in this modern market are astronomically expensive due to the explosion of new collectors thanks to the pandemic with prices rising sharply over the last year or so. Games that were just a few hundred dollars two years ago have had a huge price spike. Example -Super common games like Art of Fighting 2 and Fatal Fury Special are over $300 these days.

Japanese AES games seem to be on a slight down curve right now due to more availability and the Yen is weak to the dollar right now (about 70 cents USD per 100 yen). This is really only affecting games purchased in the Japanese market rather than the US market - Japanese games on Ebay are usually way over priced due to games just being more expensive in the US market regardless of region and Ebay's crazy 14% seller fees.
 

Neo Alec

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
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One of the topics of my next video is that some of the early US releases like Fatal Fury used to be considered very cheap used games, but they've skyrocketed in price since.

I mean, FF1 still isn't among the most expensive, but going from $30 in the 90's to $300 now is a 1000% price increase.
 

Atro

Who?,
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One of the topics of my next video is that some of the early US releases like Fatal Fury used to be considered very cheap used games, but they've skyrocketed in price since.

I mean, FF1 still isn't among the most expensive, but going from $30 in the 90's to $300 now is a 1000% price increase.
And I myself got "rid" of mine the minute I grabbed the fantastic japanese version.

Cant say I regret, but wouldn't mine to still have it. I mean, the art is soooo cheesy that it makes that version kinda special.
 

NGLad

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One of the topics of my next video is that some of the early US releases like Fatal Fury used to be considered very cheap used games, but they've skyrocketed in price since.

I mean, FF1 still isn't among the most expensive, but going from $30 in the 90's to $300 now is a 1000% price increase.
Can't wait to see that! Personally I've considered buying FF1 for the AES for some time now. But I just can't bring myself to pay that, for it. Maybe it would be more worth it for the US cart since it's got that hilarious cover. That alone is worth the price of admission! :ROFLMAO:
 

Atro

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Can't wait to see that! Personally I've considered buying FF1 for the AES for some time now. But I just can't bring myself to pay that, for it. Maybe it would be more worth it for the US cart since it's got that hilarious cover. That alone is worth the price of admission! :ROFLMAO:
I really think that the most hiddeous thing about the Western releases (both euro and dog tag) is the game logo itself. It's even worse than that kotm2 text font.

Other than that, the cover still has it's charm. It's like that fat chick you don’t wanna have as a gf, but you wouldn't mind to bang here and there. 😎
 

Bar81

Note to self, Place interesting, Custom rank here.
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Games that were just a few hundred dollars two years ago have had a huge price spike. Example -Super common games like Art of Fighting 2 and Fatal Fury Special are over $300 these days.

The reason they've gotten more expensive is that they were cheap and sacrificed for conversions. At some point the supply of cheap carts ran out and prices went up.
 

MCF 76

Vice's Love Slave
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Exactly. I have always hated the idea of sac carts.
Yep, so many took pride in that bullshit & it's still going strong unfortunately. Vast % of eBay Neo AES & mvs stuff is nothing but conversions and it's being bought up by people unknowingly or stupidly.
 

yagamikun

Art of Typing Wiz
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The reason they've gotten more expensive is that they were cheap and sacrificed for conversions. At some point the supply of cheap carts ran out and prices went up.
Nah - correlation doesn't equal causation my friend. :) Not condoning conversions, but the entire US video game market exploded over the last two years and US/Euro Neo games are a part of that explosion. Not saying conversions did not contribute to price increases in the past (like that Sengoku 3 debacle 20 years ago), but not so much in the modern market.

Not all PCBs are compatible with all games either. The most widely compatible prog and cha boards are the ones used for FF3 & Real Bout - the BK1 and 256 boards. "Early" neo games like Fatal Fury use the 42G1 boards and these are not at all compatible with the games you'd be most likely to see as a real conversions like Metal Slug, Ninja Master's, etc. I mean, unless you want to convert your copy of Fatal Fury into Legend of Success Joe then you'd use your FF as a sac cart. ;)
True conversions are less of a thing these days. Reproductions (100% all new parts) from NCI and the like, which people call conversions for some unknown reason, are much more common. That is unless you're KennyBoy and make absurd conversions of games like Last Blade that have no business being converted given how common the Japanese version is.
 
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VisionRom

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It makes sense that Neo stuff has exploded as well. There was always a smaller market here given the original price of these carts, but man even 20 years again I feel like collecting for Neo was cost prohibitive, now it’s just crazy. I’m sure people chopping up cheaper carts and the increase in demand are all contributing factors. I just can’t believe I can’t even go on eBay and readily find carts. I bought my Super Neo 29 cab for $500 and I found one, and only one, on eBay selling for $4500.
 

Neo Alec

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
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True conversions are less of a thing these days. Reproductions (100% all new parts) from NCI and the like, which people call conversions for some unknown reason, are much more common. That is unless you're KennyBoy and make absurd conversions of games like Last Blade that have no business being converted given how common the Japanese version is.
They call them "conversions" because they're easier to sell that way than calling them bootlegs.
 
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