Indie/Limited/Obscure Physical Release Deals and Discussion Thread

AugustAPC

CAGiversary!
Feedback
51 (100%)
The Indie/Limited/Obscure Physical Release Thread
 ​
Physical media may not be as popular as it was in years past, but that has not stopped it from finding success in more niche areas of the market. In fact, we're seeing so many physical releases, these days, that it has become difficult for even dedicated collectors to keep up with all of them. Many games, usually indie titles, are seeing releases with highly limited prints, regional exclusivity, retailer exclusivity or are simply appearing with little notification. The purpose of this thread is to identify, catalogue, discuss and post deals for these releases, in hopes of making information more accessible and supporting the medium.​
 ​

FAQ

Q: tl;dr

A: There are probably games that were released physically that you don't know about. Find them here.

Q: What is the "master list"?

A: The master list is a catalogue of all the games that have been identified here that meet certain criteria that differentiates them from standard, mainstream releases. It offers information regarding regional exclusivity, retailer exclusivity, print quantities and more.

Q: What are the criteria? How do you decide which games make the list?

A: For the most part, these will be "smaller" titles that were originally released as digital-only but have been given a physical release. Some exceptions may apply, like if an indie game launches with a physical release, it will likely be listed. Another exception would see a larger title that was only released digitally, for whatever reason, get a limited physical release (example: if Limited Run Games did a print of Fatal Frame V.)

Generally if a game is, as the title says, indie, limited or obscure and has a physical release, you'll see in on the "master list."

Also, the game must be region-free or NTSC-U and in English (subtitles are valid).

Q: Region free or NTSC-U? Doesn't that mean the list is only valid for North American users?

A: This means that every game on the list will be playable on North American consoles, though a few games may have versions that are region-locked on a certain console (this will be noted). Most games are now region free, so if you aren't from the NTSC-U region, it's very likely that the game will work for you. Knowledge of which systems do and don't have region-locking should allow anyone to make use of this list.

Q: What about games for collectors who aren't in the NTSC-U (North American) region or own consoles that can play region-locked games?

A: There may be a separate tab for you guys down the line. One step at a time.

Pre-Orders/Upcoming Releases


Notable Publishers/Distributors

iam8bit

A retailer, located in California, that sells all sorts of limited edition video game merchandise. They occasionally publish physical, indie titles for the PS4.

Limited Run Games

Based in California, Limited Run Games is generally accepted as the company that started the modern trend of releasing physical games in limited quantities. Currently, they publish several games a month but have stated they intend to ramp down. Their games come with collectible, trading cards and are sometimes offered alongside soundtracks, collector's editions and other related merchandise. The two heads of the company are very active on different forums and regularly engage with the community. They currently publish games for the PS4, PS Vita, Nintendo Switch and occasionally the PC.

Play-Asia

Play-Asia is an established retailer located in Hong Kong. They are well known for offering a large variety of imported merchandise, including many games that have not seen western releases but have English subtitles. They've recently partnered with eastasiasoft to distribute exclusive and limited, physical releases. These games are often offered with collector's editions which are highly praised for their presentation, content and low prices.

Special Reserve Games

A company based in Texas, Special Reserve Games currently publishes games in limited quantities with no discernible schedule. Their games are frequently offered alongside collector's editions. They also collaborate with Limited Run Games to create variant covers for some of their titles, which are then sold via Limited Run Games' website. They currently publish for the PS4, PS Vita and PC.

Strictly Limited Games

Based in Germany, Strictly Limited Games seems to publish one title a month with varied but highly limited quantities. Collector's editions and soundtracks are sometimes offered alongside game releases. They've published games for the PS4 and PS Vita.

Super Rare Games

Located in London, these guys are relatively new to the limited game market. Similar to Limited Run Games, they include trading cards and stickers with their games. They publish only for the Nintendo Switch and intend to release one game a month.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Ended up with 3 orders after some craziness with my credit card :whistle2:k . Did paypal check out but it failed to use my new card probably fraud bs. So I went in to change payment which after 3-4 tries wasn't working so I backed out and placed a new order using my paypal balance which worked fine. Then I went to my order page to see if I could get things sorted on the other order only to see that another order had spawned :whistle2:? . So anyways went in and fixed one of the orders to a functional payment method and hopefully CS can get the other one canceled so I don't get whammied for going over the limit.

 
Checked after you said this. Not sure why it is showing available for you. The add to cart is gone for me. And I did sign up for the preregister.
Are you signed in with an account using the same email address? Not sure if that could be an issue but I made up an account just in case earlier today.

 
Long story short, PlayAsia followed me and asked to DM them the email address so they can add you to the list.

Edit: If you want them to check, pm me the email address.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I refreshed at 2am eat, and was able to complete checkout on the mobile website relatively easy.

Glad I don't have to keep re trying for this
 
Clicked the purchase link at 4:30 EST and it was listed as "Coming soon" however after I signed in I got the option to preorder.

 
the product purchase links that play asia emailed originally were unique links fyi, they had specific codes appended to the urls

 
Got mine. Good thing I accidentally stayed up playing zelda.
Similar story. Completely forgot about Blue Rider but was up later than I should've been playing Pac-Man Championship edition. Went to lay down and saw the email from PlayAsia pop up saying it was about to go live.

 
Was able to order Blue Rider CE without issues...  Am I the only one think this is not just a better game, but also a better limited release game with tons of cool stuff, you know comparing to LRG?  For LRG, you get the game and that's it, CDs  cost $15 if you want it separately.

 
I got my Blue Rider order in this morning before work.
I was able to use one of the $3 off codes as well. Looks like a nice release.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Was able to order Blue Rider CE without issues... Am I the only one think this is not just a better game, but also a better limited release game with tons of cool stuff, you know comparing to LRG? For LRG, you get the game and that's it, CDs cost $15 if you want it separately.
This release is also being backed by the actual developers of the game (eastasiasoft) where as most LRG releases are just releases where LRG secured publishing rights. I do think it would be cool if LRG started numbering the cases of the production runs though to add to the limited nature of the items.

 
This release is also being backed by the actual developers of the game (eastasiasoft) where as most LRG releases are just releases where LRG secured publishing rights. I do think it would be cool if LRG started numbering the cases of the production runs though to add to the limited nature of the items.
Christ I can see it now. Hey that ebayer has 20 copies up. Let's check the numbers on the game to find out who it was. ;-)

 
It's interesting to see Blue Rider seems to have gone off pretty smoothly. Nothing is perfect, but I'm reading mostly problems from people that aren't using the email link or not being logged in with an account tied to that same email address... and then some issues with paypal. But none of the "it was in my cart and then it was gone" kind of super frustration. It'll be nice to see how this ends up going in the long run. Every step forward (by any company) towards making these limited releases easier for regular customers to get, is a good thing.

This is another area where I like LRG over the competitors. Badland announces something like AV physical, and then it's months away, maybe more. I believe quarter 2 is the time frame, but that could be April, May or June, and it could still be late. I see no reason to announce it so soon, and then not have any specifics. All that does is keep the digital from selling, as those who want physical will just continue to wait.
When is Cosmic Star Heroine coming again?

When do the preordered copies of Skullgirls ship?

When is Salt & Sanctuary coming?

This is going to get old typing this stuff... so when are these other games coming? *List below from Squarehard's OP in the LRG thread

Pang Adventures, PS4

Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae, PS4

Astebreed, PS4

Drive! Drive! Drive!, PS4

Tharsis, PS4

The Bit.Trip, PS4/Vita

Runner, PS4/Vita

Forma.8, PS4/Vita

Dariusburst: Chronicle Saviours, PS4

Dragon Fantasy: Volumes of Westeria, PS4/Vita
YIIK (A Post Modern RPG), PS4/Vita
Fallen Legion, PS4/Vita
Nuclear Throne, PS4/Vita
Oceanhorn, PS4/Vita
Fault Milstone One, PS4/Vita (Sekai Project Partnership)
World End Economica, PS4/Vita (Sekai Project Partnership)
Narcissu, PS4/Vita (Sekai Project Partnership)

Add to that these kickstarter games...

Sharin no Kuni, Vita
Plague Road, PS4/Vita

Sundered, PS4

There are many games above that we've waited more than a quarter to find out more about.

Badland and LRG pretty much do these announcements exactly the same. I think The Sexy Brutale is the only one on Badland with a date (April 11th) and it looks like (if I'm reading right) it's not sold directly but going through retailers. Personally, I'd rather know games are coming with no date in site than have no clue what the companies are up to. It's a whole lot easier for me to stay interested in LRG and Badland knowing games are coming that I want. iam8bit is pretty much dead to me right now as is Fangamer as the are no announcements for more games.

 
It's interesting to see Blue Rider seems to have gone off pretty smoothly. Nothing is perfect, but I'm reading mostly problems from people that aren't using the email link or not being logged in with an account tied to that same email address... and then some issues with paypal. But none of the "it was in my cart and then it was gone" kind of super frustration. It'll be nice to see how this ends up going in the long run. Every step forward (by any company) towards making these limited releases easier for regular customers to get, is a good thing.

Badland and LRG pretty much do these announcements exactly the same. I think The Sexy Brutale is the only one on Badland with a date (April 11th) and it looks like (if I'm reading right) it's not sold directly but going through retailers. Personally, I'd rather know games are coming with no date in site than have no clue what the companies are up to. It's a whole lot easier for me to stay interested in LRG and Badland knowing games are coming that I want. iam8bit is pretty much dead to me right now as is Fangamer as the are no announcements for more games.
I wouldn't call having to pull a pre-order completely because you didn't set up the item properly the first go round and rescheduling for several days later "pretty smoothly". I also question how it's better to require people to pre-register for a limited run of something as opposed to just giving everyone an equal chance by putting it up at a set time. Essentially, Play-Asia just added additional hoops and people that didn't register were excluded from the sale. There were also no mysterious cart disappearances with LRG. They simply sold out and because of the way their site allocates inventory, people never really had active stock in their carts to begin with even if it appeared that way.

As for Badlands vs. LRG, I would agree that LRG has been guilty of announcing certain titles way early, but Badlands has announced titles, set a date for retail and then missed those dates by weeks or months on a regular basis. Since Badlands tends not to announce a limited quantity and sells through retail, it's generally not a huge problem, but it does mean that if you preorder their releases, there is not a lot of certainty about when they will actually ship.

Personally, I prefer the LRG model with a date being set, orders opening and shipping within a relatively short period thereafter. I also strongly believe that their model is the only workable one for physical releases of indie games and that companies like Iam8Bit and Gaijinworks have made some poor decisions that have resulted in either excess stock and discounting, upsetting the people who paid full price, or serious release delays that consumers wouldn't accept on a regular basis for the volume of releases LRG is doing. It will be interesting to see how this Play Asia release goes, but I suspect they could have sold far more than 2500 copies if they had used the LRG model.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I never got the email to finish paying for my order after they fixed the initial $5 only charge but I should be good now. They were trying to charge the card I first used which wasn't going though but that same card worked just fine via Paypal.

 
I never got the email to finish paying for my order after they fixed the initial $5 only charge but I should be good now. They were trying to charge the card I first used which wasn't going though but that same card worked just fine via Paypal.
Same here about the final total being "correct". I wish I had known about the other $3 off codes, though, as MYPSVITA didn't work when I tried it during the first Blue Rider listing and I didn't want to risk losing out.

 
Grabbed two orders, going to give one to my buddy for his birthday.

I really want to know when they're going to charge/ship for River City PS4, still says March but we're halfway through it...

 
Grabbed two orders, going to give one to my buddy for his birthday.

I really want to know when they're going to charge/ship for River City PS4, still says March but we're halfway through it...
any word on River City getting a NA release?

Heavy Arm confirmed Patapon Remastered is getting a physical asian-eng release also

 
Just noticed this popped up on Amazon. Wouldn't have expected to see a nearly decade old DS game getting a PS4 port but I'll gladly take it for $19.99 ($15.99 prime).

https://www.amazon.com/Locks-Quest-PlayStation-4/dp/B06VWGJ3TJ/ref=pd_sim_63_57?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B06VWGJ3TJ&pd_rd_r=SDK71BKJVH77Y233ERJD&pd_rd_w=Ou2UI&pd_rd_wg=UlnYt&refRID=SDK71BKJVH77Y233ERJD&th=1

QuqHgGJ.jpg


 
So is there anyone at Sony we could tweet at to beg for a Gravity Rush remastered reprint? Game is going for ridiculous prices on eBay now and I'm surprised it hasn't been reprinted yet.

 
So is there anyone at Sony we could tweet at to beg for a Gravity Rush remastered reprint? Game is going for ridiculous prices on eBay now and I'm surprised it hasn't been reprinted yet.
Yup like that guy above me said get the Chinglish version

 
And? If you want a physical copy of the game in English, pay up for an NTSC copy or import it. There's no need for a reprint.
There's need for a reprint of the NTSC version. A lot of people aren't going to go out of there way to import a Chinese copy. They'll see the game going for $100 on Amazon and decide not to buy it, which is stupid on Sony's part since you'd figure they'd want people to go out and buy the original game since Gravity Rush 2 just came out.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
There's need for a reprint of the NTSC version. A lot of people aren't going to go out of there way to import a Chinese copy. They'll see the game going for $100 on Amazon and decide not to buy it, which is stupid on Sony's part since you'd figure they'd want people to go out and buy the original game since Gravity Rush 2 just came out.
No need to go out of the way. $40 + S&H, the 2nd result on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Gravity-Rush-Remastered-PS4/dp/B01BPNN5IO

The point is there are games that need to get a *first* print run before wasting time petitioning to reprint a game that was 1) already available for months before going out of stock and 2) can be easily imported.

 
I tweeted out to the director of GR and he said he was gonna try to do something about it but that was months ago. Maybe spam him on Twitter?

 
No need to go out of the way. $40 + S&H, the 2nd result on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Gravity-Rush-Remastered-PS4/dp/B01BPNN5IO

The point is there are games that need to get a *first* print run before wasting time petitioning to reprint a game that was 1) already available for months before going out of stock and 2) can be easily imported.
Just because you can import it doesn't negate the fact that the NTSC version should still be reprinted.

Imagine if Uncharted 4 went out of stock 4 months after its release and prices for NTSC copies skyrocketed to $100+, but was easily importable. People would be telling Sony to reprint the NTSC version, because that's what more accessible to them.

 
Just because you can import it doesn't negate the fact that the NTSC version should still be reprinted.

Imagine if Uncharted 4 went out of stock 4 months after its release and prices for NTSC copies skyrocketed to $100+, but was easily importable. People would be telling Sony to reprint the NTSC version, because that's what more accessible to them.
That's a terrible comparison that makes no sense.

 
That's a terrible comparison that makes no sense.
How? Gravity Rush Remastered went out of stock a few months after release, and the prices of NTSC copies skyrocketed to $100.

I used a bigger game as an example because people would undoubtedly be telling Sony to reprint it. But with you logic it's okay with Gravity Rush because it was already available for months, even though most first party Sony games stay in print for years, and you can just import it.

 
There's need for a reprint of the NTSC version. A lot of people aren't going to go out of there way to import a Chinese copy. They'll see the game going for $100 on Amazon and decide not to buy it, which is stupid on Sony's part since you'd figure they'd want people to go out and buy the original game since Gravity Rush 2 just came out.
I'm sorry, but I'm just not seeing it. If someone wants to play that bad, they'll download the game digitally. If anyone is interested in a physical version, as shown above, it's an Ebay purchase away.

I honestly don't see anyone reprinting, as what's the point? If someone is a collector, this is par for the course, as stuff goes OOP all the time. You neither pay the premium, or you don't get it. Otherwise it's more than available to most consumers who want it.

 
There was a pretty decent stretch where copies where sitting there at $20 so I doubt they are in a huge rush to get to another printing. That being said they really should have had a second print run when Gravity Rush 2 came out it's the main reason that the remaining stock from the initial release dried up.

 
OlliOlli Epic Combo Edition is down to $16.35 on Amazon (and has been dropping):

https://www.amazon.com/OlliOlli-Epic-Combo-PlayStation-4/dp/B01HI8JR82/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1490190875&sr=1-1&keywords=olliolli+epic+combo+edition

Also, I foolishly missed out on N.E.R.O. Nothing Ever Remains Obscure when it came out last summer.  Now Amazon seems to be sold out of their stock and the prices have risen.  Any ideas where I can pick it up for its release price ($20)?

https://www.amazon.com/N-E-R-O-Nothing-Ever-Remains-Obscure-PlayStation/dp/B01H2F5R6C/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1490190998&sr=1-1&keywords=nero

 
Last edited by a moderator:
bread's done
Back
Top