I realize how rare this game is. I realize a lot of hours must have went in to this port. I realize copies of this game cannot be sold because of licencing issues. I also realize you can not use the Flashboy to play this. But $1200.00 dollars? Lets be reasonable.

Undoubtedly it is someone on this forum selling the game right?

So many Virtual Boy fans want their hands on this game, when I see stuff like this it kind of feels like a shoryuken to the face.

I was thinking. Street Fighter is pretty old, so it should fall under the “safe year” when it comes to file sharing right? I remember this from Underground Gamer, years ago. Files that fell under the safe year were safe to share. It would be cool if we could make a minimum donation to the person who ported it to the VB, to support future projects. All donors would be awarded the honor of being a recipient of a shared version of the game. I wonder if it matters how the file is shared, weather the medium be a physical cartridge or a digital file. It would still technically be sharing since we wouldn’t be paying for the game.

But then someone would leak it… would that be such a bad thing? I would say 90% of the VB community would still want to donate money to receive a copy of the game on a cartridge.

Obviously none of this would ever happen, I am just another sucker who really wants a copy of Hyper Fighting. I am sure there are many technicalities and other reasons why this game will never be shared or sold.

If only I had a spare $1200.00…

Ebay Link

Yeah that’s straight on for what it sells for, I understand the premium myself as its now the rarest VB game. Even though it’s not official, it’s really gained a following because of how cool it actually is.

“For works published after 1977, the copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. However, if the work is a work for hire (that is, the work is done in the course of employment or has been specifically commissioned) or is published anonymously or under a pseudonym, the copyright lasts between 95 and 120 years, depending on the date the work is published.”

Copyright Basics FAQ

There is no magical “safe” year that a copyrighted work can be freely traded while it is still under copyright, as far as I know. Copyright holders disappear, their companies cease to exist, etc, but that person sill holds the rights. SF is a protected IP, this includes the music, graphics, characters, etc (and who knows what else they copyrighted or trademarked). Trading a leaked copy would be illegal in the US. Using the word “donate” isn’t going to get you a legal loophole. If you happened to DL a copy the chances of someone going after you, personally, is probably extremely slim. But what about those involved in the creation of this game? I’m pretty sure Capcom would crush them in a lawsuit. That is the scary aspect that seems to get overlooked during these discussions.

It is a great game. It is limited to just about 70 copies. It is a rare and interesting treat to play. It inspires conversation. I am not at all surprised for what it is selling for (or what others are asking for it).

There are a lot of Atari/NES/Dreamcast/SNES/Genesis/DOS, etc, homebrew releases that I wish I owned and I am not going around the Internet asking for leaked copies to be released because I was not able to buy a physical copy. Really, no one should be.

enfilade wrote:
It would be cool if we could make a minimum donation to the person who ported it to the VB, to support future projects. All donors would be awarded the honor of being a recipient of a shared version of the game. I wonder if it matters how the file is shared, weather the medium be a physical cartridge or a digital file.

But reading the above – isn’t that the whole point of the public demo? You can play the shared version of the game as a digital file, if you have a Flashboy which I think I saw in another thread you do.

You don’t get to play with all characters, but you can see first hand with your own eyes how good the 3D is that way and the crisp display. As for the full game that doesn’t fit on the Flashboy, well it’s Street Fighter 2, there are many platforms to play it.

Best thing about that is that you’re not beholden to a donation if you don’t want to, you just need a Flashboy to check it out.

Lester Knight wrote:
… what about those involved in the creation of this game? I’m pretty sure Capcom would crush them in a lawsuit. That is the scary aspect that seems to get overlooked during these discussions…

I actually think that the eBay resellers of the game are putting themselves more at risk than those involved in the creation of the game. Those involved in its creation have actually done a rather great job of remaining hidden from the public, whereas the eBay resellers are easily trackable and are certainly using the game for personal profit. Hopefully, if Capcom ever goes after anybody, it will go after the eBay resellers.

Good point, Ben. It would be pretty hard for them to track down Anonymous, lol.

I agree with L_E_T though, there is a public demo that is the exact same game technically, just less content. The market has apparently set the price, when the first one went up for auction and sold at what, $1500 I think? So that’s what people want for them now. Enter the demo, which at least gives you a nice playable taste of what it is, with zero cost of entry, minus Flashboy.

Lester Knight wrote:
There are a lot of Atari/NES/Dreamcast/SNES/Genesis/DOS, etc, homebrew releases that I wish I owned and I am not going around the Internet asking for leaked copies to be released because I was not able to buy a physical copy. Really, no one should be.

Lots of good points in your reply. Sorry if I came across like a beggar. I don’t make a habit about whining about games I will never have. I was trying to make it clear I didn’t want anything for free. I also wouldn’t want anyone to be “crushed” for any reason what so ever. Thanks for the response.

L___E___T wrote:
You don’t get to play with all characters, but you can see first hand with your own eyes how good the 3D is that way and the crisp display. As for the full game that doesn’t fit on the Flashboy, well it’s Street Fighter 2, there are many platforms to play it.

I actually just downloaded the demo. I can’t wait to try this out. I remember a while back seeing the download for it. I honestly totally forgot.

Thanks everyone for putting in your two cents. I always appreciate the informative feedback from the VB community. I do own a flashboy+ and can’t wait to get a taste of this game. It is ridiculous I have not done so yet.

70 copies? For aftermarket releases that’s nothing to sneeze at, but when there’s hundreds – maybe thousands – of people fighting for those 70 copies, most of which are unavailable, it’s easy to see how the price shot up so much.

It is definitely a really amazing game, both in a programming effort and in hardware as well. It’s the only 32Mbit Virtual Boy game, it even saves your data. The PCB inside is pretty neat.

3DBoyColor wrote:
70 copies? For aftermarket releases that’s nothing to sneeze at, but when there’s hundreds – maybe thousands – of people fighting for those 70 copies, most of which are unavailable, it’s easy to see how the price shot up so much.

It is definitely a really amazing game, both in a programming effort and in hardware as well. It’s the only 32Mbit Virtual Boy game, it even saves your data. The PCB inside is pretty neat.

I played the demo for quite a while last night. The game certainly is an incredible feat. It looks so good, the 3D is wonderful. It also plays just like the original, and I was surprised how many stages I was able to play in the demo. This game brings back all those feelings of wonder, and shows the true potential of the Virtual Boy. Wow, to think what could have been!

I want this game even more now 🙂

It’s always interesting to see these go up on auction sites, but does anyone know if they actually manage to sell at the prices people list them for? Most that I’ve seen over the past several months with an asking price north of $1000 seem to expire without any bids, or get canceled prematurely.

Asking more out of curiosity than anything else. I’m still pretty fascinated by anything to do with this game, personally. 🙂

enfilade wrote:
I played the demo for quite a while last night. The game certainly is an incredible feat. It looks so good, the 3D is wonderful. It also plays just like the original, and I was surprised how many stages I was able to play in the demo. This game brings back all those feelings of wonder, and shows the true potential of the Virtual Boy. Wow, to think what could have been!

I want this game even more now 🙂

Honestly, I think the true potential of the VB would be expressed in a fully polygonal game like Star Fox, or something that uses the dual D-pads in a unique way (3D Tetris) or really utilizes the stereoscopic 3D. Hyper Fighting is nice, but I don’t think it completely hits those criteria. That’s just my opinion of the VB’s hardware though. Someone might consider the VB more like a more powerful red SNES. In that case, I would say Hyper Fighting is a good showcase of power. In some ways, I think it’s a better port than Street Fighter 2 on SNES.

You’re not the first to want Hyper Fighting. We even have someone with a “WTB: Hyper Fighting” thread over in the Marketplace. Maybe someone will post a copy here at a community price. You could also save up and buy one at the going rate. Just be patient, you never know what might float by.