THE RETRO REVOLUTION
MAJOR CORPORATIONS ARE STILL GETTING THE CLASSICS OUT THERE, ALBEIT INCONSISTENTLY
The last decade has been a bit of a mixed bag as far as support from the major companies goes. The promise of a vibrant digital market where reissues could be picked up individually has fallen by the wayside, with only PC retailer GOG still championing it. Nintendo’s Virtual Console programme appears to have been discontinued, and the vast library of digital PlayStation classics is still incompatible with the PlayStation 4. Microsoft’s backwards compatibility technology is excellent, but its stop-start approach to expanding the programme is disheartening.
However, it’s not all bad news. Retro compilations from the likes of Sega, Atari and Namco, though less common now, are still being produced for the major formats. The new Evercade handheld console is even dedicated to hosting such compilations. Subscription services are increasingly prevalent, too – Nintendo allows subscribers to its Switch online service to access a library of NES and SNES games, and PlayStation Now offers streaming access to older games. On the PC, Antstream cuts across systems and companies to offer hundreds of games via remote streaming.
Perhaps most excitingly, there has been a growing trend for companies to produce officially licensed reprints of classic games on their original formats, ranging from common games like
Street Fighter II to expensive, sought-after games like R-Type III. These have come courtesy of Retro-Bit, iam8bit, Piko Interactive and Limited Run Games in the west, and Columbus Circle in Japan. As we look towards the next decade, we are expecting to see even more frequent and high-profile cartridge reprints.
PLUG-AND-PLAY CONSOLES HAVE BEEN ELEVATED FROM CHEAP DIVERSIONS TO MULTIMILLION SELLERS
Although plug-and-play retro consoles have existed since the early Nineties, one of the biggest market shifts over the last decade has been the emergence of those consoles as highly desired retro products.
The Nintendo Classic Mini: NES was the
