If you’re the kind of player that is still clinging to your original hardware – and the chances are that you are, if you’re reading this site – you might well be interested in Retro-Bit‘s new multi-carts for the NES and SNES, releasing this weekend in North America, with PAL releases scheduled to follow in January 2018.
The cartridges are officially licensed from Data East and Jaleco, and contain the following games:
Data East All-Star Collection (NES, $29.99/£29.99): Ring King, Bad Dudes, Side Pocket, Burger Time, Buggy Popper.
Data East Classic Collection (SNES, $34.99/£34.99): Fighter’s History, Fighter’s History Mizoguchi, Magical Drop, Magical Drop 2, Super Side Pocket
Jaleco Brawler’s Pack (SNES, $34.99/£34.99): Brawl Brothers, Rival Turf, Tuff E Nuff, The Peace Keepers
Joe & Mac Ultimate Caveman Collection (SNES, $34.99/£34.99): Joe & Mac, Congo’s Caper, Joe & Mac 2: Lost In The Tropics
To find out more about these re-releases, we spoke to Richard Igros, marketing manager for Retro-Bit distributor Innex, Inc.
RG: These new multi-carts represent Retro-Bit’s first venture into publishing games on cartridge. What drove the decision to try this?
Richard Igros: As you know, most of our consoles utilise original cartridges, and some from multiple consoles such as the Super Retro Trio that plays original NES, SNES, and Genesis cartridges. And one of the most common questions we get is where cartridges can even be found anymore. So we wanted to take away some of the legwork of having to track down these classic games that both work and are priced fairly. And so Multi Carts were born! Let us find the games for you and put them on a single cartridge. Spend less time searching and more time playing!
RG: How did you come to choose Data East and Jaleco as the initial partners for this project?
RG: What factors went into deciding the games in each package?
RG: Are the games region-locked?
RG: How did you come to choose Data East and Jaleco as the initial partners for this project?
Richard Igros: We are very lucky to have worked with both Data East and Jaleco for our plug and play consoles. So when we decided to work on these cartridges, we couldn’t think of a better place to start than with the popular libraries from Data East and Jaleco!
RG: What factors went into deciding the games in each package?
Richard Igros: As I’m sure you’ll find when browsing the library in each cartridge, we really wanted to provide great games that we not only played growing up, but that also brings a great variety of games to play through.
RG: Are the games region-locked?
Richard Igros: This first run of cartridges will in fact be region locked and are intended for NTSC consoles. [PAL cartridges are available in the new year.]
RG: Why are you using custom cartridge shell designs for this project?
Richard Igros: We wanted to set ourselves apart from the other 8-bit and 16-bit cartridges found in the market. We plan to release various series of cartridges and would like to be have a design distinct to the Retro-Bit brand.
RG: Another company’s recent cartridge re-release drew negative attention due to its fire safety warning. Are there any such risks associated with Retro-Bit’s cartridges?
Richard Igros: All of the Retro-Bit Multi Carts have been tested on original and third party consoles because what we are sharing are games that were meant to be played! Rest assured, your consoles are safe!
RG: If these releases are successful, what are your plans for the future – more NES/SNES releases, or new platforms maybe?
Richard Igros: We are very excited for the release of these Multi Carts and for the possibility of future ones. We would very much love to continue to offer you guys more games and possibly even more publishers. We pride ourselves on making fun ways to play old games, so if the demand is there we would love to keep making these!
To find out more and place a pre-order, visit http://retro-bit.com/