So what makes the Arcade Card Pro so expensive anyways?

[Keranu]

What is it that makes the Arcade Card Pro so expensive? I know it can play on all systems (does this include US?), but that doesn't seem so excusable for me (unless it does play on US systems). Also I was thinking why did they bother releasing the Arcade Card Duo if the Pro can just play on any system?  Strange.

[akamichi]

I don't know why they're expensive now.  When they first came out, I bought it for like $150 since that was the original price.  However, about 4 or 5 years ago, I picked up a couple more Pros, one brand new for like $5 and one used one for like $1 (actually Y100).  Seems like they are expensive now simply because it's requirement for some IMO cool games.

I might be able to shed some light on why they were that expensive back in the day.  The Arcade Card Pro/Duo was scheduled to come out in '93 around Dec.  Of course the magazines made a big deal out of it since Hudson and SNK partnered up in order to get Fatal Fury 2/SP, etc on PCE.  The original release dates were late '93.  However, sometime before that (a couple of months before probably), there was a RAM chip shortage.  Not sure on the details, but basically the shortage caused release date to slip to Mar '94.  I'm guessing the final price was higher than originally thought due to the shortage of chips at the time.  All I remember for sure was I was glad they delayed it because I was saving up money like crazy just to buy it.

Finally, they released two versions of the card in order to support regular CD hardware (original model) and SCD hardware (Duo etc).  AC capability requires Syscard 3 BIOS and of course having it on the AC card for Duo users is redundant.  This made the AC Duo about $20 cheaper than Pro.  The first articles/ads about the arcade card talked about some 2in1 adapter where you'd plug the Duo and the Sys Card 3 into the adapter and then the whole thing into the "old" CDROM system.  That was obviously scrapped in favor of syscard3 + AC all in one model, which became the AC Pro.

Honestly, I don't see why it's expensive at all.  I guess it's just the price of admission.  As a matter of fact, outside of Sapphire and perhaps Madou Monogatari, the AC only games seem to be very common and cheap.  Hell, in '99, a store in Akihabara was selling brand new copies of Fatal Fury 2 for Y50 (50 cents).  They were obviously clearing out old dead stock but that game is pretty much worthless now (there are other reasons as well).  Yet it's a nice game to show off the PCE.

[Keranu]

Thanks for the usefull information! The story about the RAM chip shortage is quite interesting. Say you wouldn't happen to want to sell me an Arcade Card Pro for maybe less than 20 bucks, would you?

[TR0N]

Thanks for the usefull information! The story about the RAM chip shortage is quite interesting. Say you wouldn't happen to want to sell me an Arcade Card Pro for maybe less than 20 bucks, would you?

Just get a Arcade Card Duo there cheaper unless, you just have a PCE set up

[twor2005]

Thanks for the usefull information! The story about the RAM chip shortage is quite interesting. Say you wouldn't happen to want to sell me an Arcade Card Pro for maybe less than 20 bucks, would you?

According to Gamefan, there was a fire at the factory that produced 60% of the world's RAM. They were speculating on whether or not it would delay the AC's release. Guess it did.

[cozzie]

There was Ram chip shortage but also Nec had a fire at the factory in Japan where they where produced.
The factory was gutted along with thousands of the first batch of Arcade cards.

[Keranu]

Even more interesting news!

[zborgerd]

I don't think they're that expensive.  I got a *brand new* one (Pro), shrinkwrapped, for $29 a few months ago.   I've seem them brand new for less than $50 on many occasions.  I don't normally see them got for more than that.

I think it's better to buy one than a System 3.0 card, personally.  You can use it in an American system with an adapter.  I use it to play Sapphire.