homebrew rarity guide?

[DarQ Massacres]

is there any sort of rarity guide directed for homebrews? I have a couple I might be getting from someone but I don't have any idea on if they are difficult to find or not. The main one I am questioning is Synthcart, but I'm also just looking for any homebrews that might be rarer than others

 

[imstarryeyed]

That is an interesting question. I think for the most part a lot of people may think that home brews have kind of been immune to pricing guides and rarity, but having said that there are games that are just not attainable in their cart formats but may be in ROMs.

 

I personally am glad this has not been a "thing" but seeing home brew getting better and time passing your question is relevant.

 

I wonder how others may feel.

[KevKelley]

I am kind of curious. I had bought some years ago that seem harder to acquire now and I notice others on eBay that ask for huge amounts.

[KevKelley]

I imagine some older titles or ones published by smaller outfits may yield higher prices years later. As homebrewing grows and reissues occur I'm sure prices will stabilize.

[Supergun]

Here is my take on this.

 

There will always be what we call (super collectors) out there. And some of the most dedicated & passionate ones will inevitably purchase, acquire, & seek out the first print runs of any & every homebrew release; as well as additional & subsequent & special edition runs. Etc.

 

And for that crazy niche type of collector, yes, they will have & maintain a personal / virtual list of these games & their perceived rarity & desirability.

 

But the vast majority of the gamers & collectors, will see homebrew releases as what they are; homebrew. By the very definition of the word, thats what it is. So in essence, whatever game it is, and whatever package its in, has relatively little impact. It just will not ever be collectible. Its a game. Designed & programmed by the author with the intention to be played & enjoyed by the fans.

 

But while this logic applies to homebrews, hacks, reproductions, & other such aftermarket games, it does not always apply with regards to proto releases. At least, not to all of them, as we have seen. Those games & their perceived values, are dependent on wether or not the rom is made available; before, during, or after the carts are made.

 

And so likewise, certain homebrew games, if they were really good & highly desirable & lightly produced; coupled with the rom not having been made public, then they can absolutely end up becoming rare & valuable.

[+Gemintronic]

I guess there's the question of literal rare and demand rare.

 

I made 2 copies of a game called Candybar: one for me and one for the developers at Panic.

https://panic.com/blog/candybar-2600-found/

 

Somehow I doubt anyone will be clamoring for it despite it's 2 copy limit

[Video]

Homebrews often are limited by interest. More interest means more made copies. Most can still be acquired legitimately from the original maker, or from a third party legitimately or not. There are some oddballs like princess rescue that got stopped for other reasons.

 

I guess there could be a difference in original production run and eh, bootlegs, and that could be handy to know.

 

I got skeleton signed by Eric ball, that's cool, but likely only worth something to me. It's slightly different than skeleton + which you can still get on atariage.

[awhite2600]

I agree that determining a "rarity" as well as the monetary value of a homebrew release will not only be difficult, but very subjective.

 

It would be cool to have a comprehensive list of homebrew releases with information about release date, number of copies produced, is it still being produced, is the ROM released, screenshots, packaging info, etc. I know that some of this information already exists on various websites. I don't think anyone has tried to document a release count. Knowing other interesting facts such as at cease and desist filed against Princess Rescue or the limited licensing terms of Boulderdash would be interesting.

 

For some titles it may be hard to determine the release count - especially if the author or publisher has left the scene. For games released through the AtariAge store, Al may have a record of how many copies were sold.

[Albert]

It would be cool to have a comprehensive list of homebrew releases with information about release date, number of copies produced, is it still being produced, is the ROM released, screenshots, packaging info, etc. I know that some of this information already exists on various websites. I don't think anyone has tried to document a release count. Knowing other interesting facts such as at cease and desist filed against Princess Rescue or the limited licensing terms of Boulderdash would be interesting.

 

I will be adding such a section to the forum once I get the forum moved over to new software. Plan on working on that early in the new year after I get over the crush of holiday orders in the store.

 

..Al

[SS]

 

I will be adding such a section to the forum once I get the forum moved over to new software. Plan on working on that early in the new year after I get over the crush of holiday orders in the store.

 

..Al

This will be a great resource to refer people to. There is a lot of disinformation and confusion spread around about homebrew and repro releases over on the AA Facebook page. It sometimes gets a little tiring trying to address the same issues and questions repeatedly.

[Pink]

I think maybe just creating a list with how many were made/produced/sold and who sold them (Atariage store, or some other website or whatever) would be a lot better then assigning an artificial rarity grade, number or status like "rare" "Uncommon" "common", etc. and dollar amounts as a worth or value.

[Albert]

I'm absolutely not going to assign rarity to homebrew games. I plan on having lots of information about each game, including whether or not it's still being produced, but not going to get into the rarity game for stuff like this. And absolutely not going to assign dollar values to them, except maybe to list what they sold for (or what they are currently selling for). I plan on having fun with this. There will be more homebrew-related stuff to come as well, separate from this.

 

..Al

[Pink]

I'm absolutely not going to assign rarity to homebrew games. I plan on having lots of information about each game, including whether or not it's still being produced, but not going to get into the rarity game for stuff like this. And absolutely not going to assign dollar values to them, except maybe to list what they sold for (or what they are currently selling for). I plan on having fun with this. There will be more homebrew-related stuff to come as well, separate from this.

 

..Al

Woohoo sounds awesome! I'm much later into the game then everyone else here and every now and then I come across some homebrew and try to find info on it and don't have much luck, so something of this nature will be awesome!

[+SpiceWare]

I don't have any idea on if they are difficult to find or not. The main one I am questioning is Synthcart

 

Go to the AtariAge Store, select category Atari 2600, then Homebrews, and finally sort by Most Popular. Synthcart is #1, so not rare amongst homebrews, and still available for $25.

[Video]

Rarity could be used for other things to, like I have $25 (or however much) two games interest me, and both have two reviews each, one says awesome, the other ways sux, so which do I buy? Rarity could be a deciding factor, as a more sold game may be more liked. Granted it both sold 73 copies I guess I'd still have to go by a coin toss lol.

[+Gemintronic]

Rarity could be used for other things to, like I have $25 (or however much) two games interest me, and both have two reviews each, one says awesome, the other ways sux, so which do I buy? Rarity could be a deciding factor, as a more sold game may be more liked. Granted it both sold 73 copies I guess I'd still have to go by a coin toss lol.

 

This may work better for past era retail games. Not so much for today. You may get a limited run for an expo.. THEN an unlimited run later with improvements. I'd much rather read the informal customer reviews for each version.

 

My two cents

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I am also all against homebrew rarities. These would only increase the number of limited releases which are IMO usually mediocre at best and frequently only created to milk collectors. Such artificial rarities do nothing good to our hobby. And they are something completely different to real rarities of the original games.

[SS]

I am also all against homebrew rarities. These would only increase the number of limited releases which are IMO usually mediocre at best and frequently only created to milk collectors. Such artificial rarities do nothing good to our hobby. And they are something completely different to real rarities of the original games.

I agree with all of this but I *would* like to see total production numbers when available, especially for limited releases.