To Repro or to Emulate?

[JakeHC]

Hi everyone,

So I'm tossing up two options, I've been emulating a lot of my snes games lately - in particular Dragon Quest 1 and 2.

I've been looking at getting a repro made but I generally choose to emulate for the speedy grinding. I also like owning the original cartridges where possible so I've come to a fork in the road. My options are:

1 - Buy the Japanese carts where they're ranging from $6-10 dollars a cart, get an original and most likely emulate.
 
2 - Buy a repro which at the most will at least cost me $30 dollars a cart and it's not an original and I'll still most likely emulate.

I at least was thinking of doing it for the cheaper games. Games like Adventures of Hourai High look to be very expensive in Japan so I'll opt for a repro of that.

What would you guys do in this situation?

[Arseen]

I tend to buy Repro to play and Jap CIB copy for cover (and possibly manual) making.

[shenske]

I buy the original Japanese version with the intention of reprogramming them to English versions. I have not done this to many games yet but eventually i will. I figure i own the legitimate version and it never came out in America its as close as i can get. (I do not offer this service as I barely have enough time to do these for myself).

If the game is a hack I would prefer the game on a cartridge. I feel a stronger sense of ownership when i can actually hold it in my hands. Emulation is basically just a demo for me.

My most recent collecting craze is finding games that cannot be reproduced. "Hong Kong Originals" is what i call them. Basically games that use a brand new mapper that is not present in any other commercially released game. ie: Donkey Kong Country 4 or Final Fantasy VII on NES.  Most games are pretty bad but there are some fun ones 

[sheep2001]

Emulation and digital media in general definitely has its place, but as a collector I need the physical cart.  I want to get into eprom programming to do my own eventually, but I just don't have the time.

Just bought a raspberry pi, so will probably use that as a dedicated emulation machine for now.  Although, I also just bought a new pc, so I want to build the old pc into an arcade machine for emulation too.  So many projects, so little time. lol.

So, I've not really answered your dilemma, other than, buy everything, and emulate it too. 😉

[delinom]

I don't see much value in collecting repros. I'd rather have the original japanese game and emulate or use a flash cart to play translations/hacks.

[JakeHC]

I absolutely love the idea of repro's for games that weren't released out here. I think it's fantastic and I'd love to learn how to reprogram them for English one day, they'd suit since I'm in PAL land so there's no need to modify the cart widths or shells.

But I don't think I'd ever play them on the original console just due to time constraints etc. Emulating it via the Wii or Computer is a lot more convenient but buying the japanese carts for me would serve as a physical copy I guess.

[bender3455]

Repros are a good choice if you like to have a physical copy for yourself.  They don't carry much value to themselves otherwise.  But as stated before, if you like to maintain a collection of physical copies, you can't go wrong with an English translated repro.

[Arseen]

Bit side tracking:

There are 2 repros I really would want someone to be able to create, but due to missing or limited ROMs are somewhat doubtful to appear anytime soon:

- Starfox 2 complete = The fixed Starfox 2 that is available as repro already but with the multi-player portion restored and added as well. Somewhat working Alpha of multiplayer is playable, someone just has to finish it and add it to the currents Starfox 2 ROM.

- F-Zero Deuce League = The missing 5 tracks from BS F-Zero (Forest 1-3 & Metal City 1-2).These have not been found and even videos of Forest 3 and both Metal City tracks are lost.are
Or Better yet F-Zero complete = Combination of original F-Zero (as Knight, Queen and King Leagues), BS F-Zero GB2 repro and the missing 5 tracks arranged like they were in BS2 weeks 1 & 2 (as Ace and Deuce Leagues)

[KPE]

I got new sega/megadrive PCB boards in the works along with a programmer there flash boards you hook programmer up to your PC stick board onto the socket and can read/write ROMS an SAV files will release to public when i get done with software add me on facebook will keep you updated will have all new sega repros coming soon i got new boards created for nes,sega,gameboy,a2600   www.facebook.com/Slowcheetah97

[KPE]

Repros dont lose value   

[JakeHC]

Bit side tracking:

There are 2 repros I really would want someone to be able to create, but due to missing or limited ROMs are somewhat doubtful to appear anytime soon:

- Starfox 2 complete = The fixed Starfox 2 that is available as repro already but with the multi-player portion restored and added as well. Somewhat working Alpha of multiplayer is playable, someone just has to finish it and add it to the currents Starfox 2 ROM.

- F-Zero Deuce League = The missing 5 tracks from BS F-Zero (Forest 1-3 & Metal City 1-2).These have not been found and even videos of Forest 3 and both Metal City tracks are lost.are
Or Better yet F-Zero complete = Combination of original F-Zero (as Knight, Queen and King Leagues), BS F-Zero GB2 repro and the missing 5 tracks arranged like they were in BS2 weeks 1 & 2 (as Ace and Deuce Leagues)

Those two are completely understandable Anything along with the BS series makes sense to me to throw on a cart.

I've managed to pick up a few super famicom games for 5 bucks each shipped, so I'll case them up. How easy or difficult is it to reprogram them Shenske? I wouldn't mind learning to do this myself.

[razielleonhart]

why not both? 

[Beastman1975]

i personally like to get repros just to have a physical  copy in english when possible , but emulating is nice cause you can stop save wherever you are in the game

[TDIRunner]

I've considered building my own repros, but for the investment, I think I'm more likely to get an Everdrive and go that route.  I like having the physical copy, but for me, playing the game on the original hardware is what's most important and the ED lets me do that. 

[Spiden]

Repros dont lose value   

Yes they do. Star Ocean used to go for $200 and up. But with changes in the way repros are being made, (using new parts and chips) the price has come down to $75 on average.
The price for Star Fox 2 is also falling. When I started buying repros the average game cost about 60 -70 dollars, but now I can get them at $30.