Topic: Why do all the big rarer titles never get a re-release?

Especially games that appeared on Sega consoles - Shenmue, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Nights, Burning Rangers, Gurdian Heroes, Snatcher etc.

These games have such huge followings and people would love to play them again. With most of these being epic, quality titles, surely it'd also make good financial sense to release them again? Imagine how many people would buy Panzer Dragoon Saga if released on the Wii - OK maybe not as many as did New Super Mario Bros, but I bet a good portion of fans would. The thing is these games have been made already, not many people have played them and they have a lot of praise behind them - a simple re-release would make a lot of people happy.

Alas I'll probably always have to keep a Saturn handy...

Because none of the consoles they were released on ever got popular in the U.S. and most of the games are impossible to emulate. Most of the games you mentioned either had sequels that saw terrible sales, or are so obscure that it's obvious that no one would buy a rerelease of it.

I always wanted to play Panzer Dragoon to bad that never got made / re-released on Nintendo Console / Handheld System.

I thought Pulseman was a fairly rare game? That was released on VC not too long ago

Fire emblem genology of the holy war and mystery of the emblem never even made it to NA

Because no one knows they exist?

The best guesses would be anything that Mickeymac said.

Shenmue was a game that cost way too much and it was one of the games that made sega almost go bankrupt.
Nights had a sequel and didn't faired well.
Guardian heroes..never heard it my life.
Panzer Dragoon same case as Nights.

Of course they still could make new sequels this time with the right decisions. But since SEGA became a full 3d party they have been in "survival mode" for years and just rely in milking their popular franchises (like Sonic) to death to avoid the brisk of dissapearing.

Is a shame honestly. The SEGA of the 90s was awesome and is a shame it is not around us anymore.

Well, I suppose in Nights' case, ask Sega why they didn't release the PS2 port/remake outside Japan.
Wasn't Snatcher a heavily ported game in Japan?

We still haven't seen Fire Emblem 2-6. Apparently Nintendo doesn't want to/can't translate them for VC release.
I'd be interested in seeing FE Gaiden (2).

@madgear Glad to see another classic Sega fan. Panzer Dragoon Saga never got a re-release probably because of two things: poor sales, and it hasn't aged well at all. Trust me, it would be somewhat embarrassing if it turned up on VC. I played it last year and well, visually it's a disgrace. At the time it was something else but nowadays, when you run through a town it looks like a cat sicked up on your screen. The battles are still stunning though. It couldn't get a VC release anyway because it's CD-based, and across 4 of them no less. If anything, they should do a full remake or sequel using current gen hardware - it would shine spectacularly with a graphical/audio upgrade.

Mickeymac is right. It's a matter of economics. Those games, while fantastic, just didn't fare well enough in the market to warrant having a sequel. It's a real shame, but that's the business of games for you. :/

@buffalobob I'm a bit shocked that you haven't heard of Guardian Heroes. What about Gunstar Heroes (for the Genesis)? It's in the same series, and they're both made by Treasure (the Ikaruga people). Also to clarify, Panzer Dragoon isn't the same as NiGHTS. It had 3 sequels (Panzer Dragoon II Zwei, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Panzer Dragoon Orta), all of them ground-breaking and amazing but never really hitting mass market appeal. Their story is too thinky for most, and rail shooters have always been a niche genre.

Another game I'd love to see a NA/EU re-release of is Dragon Force. It got a remake for the PS2 a few years back in the Sega Ages 2500 series, but it never made it out of Japan.

HolyMackerel - I actually own Panzer Dragoon Saga but I've not played it since the late 90's. I can't imagine it being that bad looking now as I thought it looked amazing at the time. Either way, I'm sure its incredible atmosphere is still intact. One thing that has occurred to me is I'm so desperate for this games to be re-released, yet I could just play them right now if I so desired. Means setting up a couple of old consoles but the option is there at least.

Anyway the poor sales, as a lot of you pointed out, is actually what got me questioning their lack of a re-release. Take Shenmue for example - it cost millions to make. Infact I think it is still the second most expensive game ever made (only beaten by GTA4). Companies can make some of their money back by re-releasing them on a system that has a much larger user base than the Saturn or Dreamcast ever had. These games are considered to be epic titles, so it's a little bit like Star Wars only being released on betamax tape and never to be released on DVD. It's such a shame because these games are works of art and shouldn't be forgotten about - especially when you consider the amount of money, talent and man hours that was spent creating them.

Same here, I still have my copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga from way back. Back then it looked amazing, and now it doesn't.

Eek.

The battles still look great though. Believe me, I was a little stunned to see the game I remember looking awesome suddenly being a blocky mess.

EDIT: In fact, in my mind it looked a lot like Panzer Dragoon Orta. God am I glad I have an Xbox.

This is precisely why VC doesn't appeal to me, and I don't plan on buying much VC. Maybe some SNES and N64 classics, since I never owned those consoles.

Because they never sold in the first place?

They're small but loud followings. Sort of like Earthbound.

If they were never sold, then the only way we'd know about them is through gaming magazines (or websites).