''Fangamer'' is a video game merchandising site which was spun out from Starmen.net, an EarthBound online forum. It operates an online store that sells items such as hats, pins, vinyl records and t-shirts and other video game apparel. In recent years the site has also begun selling physical editions of video games.

History

Starmen.net, an online forum, began selling T-shirts and mugs in 2007 as a way to pay for the server costs of the site. One of the creators of the site stated, "Well, the ads weren’t paying the bills, so we thought, ‘What if we took the kinda-crappy print-on-demand stuff we’re making on

CafePress CafePress, Inc. is an American online retailer of stock and user- customized on-demand products. The company was founded in San Mateo, California, but is now headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky along with its production facility. In 2001, Cafe ...

, and we did it at a much higher-quality?''".'' The next year, Fangamer was launched with an initial offering of "two t-shirts, a pin set, and a mug" based on Earthbound. After the success of this initial run of merchandise, Fangamer started to expand into creating items for other games such as ''

Phoenix Wright Phoenix "Nick" Wright, known as in the original Japanese language versions, is the fictional titular defense attorney and the main protagonist in ''Ace Attorney'', a visual novel adventure video game series created by Japanese company Capcom. Ph ...

'' and ''

Chrono Trigger is a 1995 role-playing video game developed and published by Square. It was originally released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as the first game in the ''Chrono'' series. The game's development team included three designers th ...

''. To avoid infringement of the various video game properties they were creating items for at the time, the site avoided using designs with any copyrighted symbols. Fangamer also produced physical copies of Starmen.net's unofficial "player's guide" for ''

Mother 3 is a 2006 role-playing video game developed by Brownie Brown and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It is the third entry in the Mother (video game series), ''Mother'' series. The game follows Lucas, a young boy ...

''. In the mid-2010's Fangamer became known as a fulfillment partner for video game Kickstarters, providing merchandise for the campaigns of games such as ''

Broken Age ''Broken Age'' is a point-and-click adventure video game developed and published by Double Fine. ''Broken Age'' was game director Tim Schafer's first return to the genre since 1998's ''Grim Fandango'', and was released for Microsoft Windows, macO ...

'' and '' Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night''. After partnering with

Toby Fox Robert F. Fox (born October 11, 1991), known professionally as Toby Fox (previously Toby "Radiation" Fox), is an American video game developer and video game composer. He is known for developing the role-playing video games ''Undertale'' and '' ...

to create merchandise for ''

Undertale ''Undertale'' is a 2015 2D role-playing video game created by American indie developer Toby Fox. The player controls a child who has fallen into the Underground: a large, secluded region under the surface of the Earth, separated by a magical ...

'', the site experienced a higher number of sales, with a cofounder saying "I thought there was a glitch in Shopify... ''Undertale'' had become just an incredible phenomenon.”. This success allowed Fangamer to expand into acquiring licenses for other video game proprieties, going on to create merchandise for games such as ''

Hollow Knight ''Hollow Knight'' is a 2017 Metroidvania video game developed and published by independent developer Team Cherry. In the game, the player controls the Knight, a nameless insectoid warrior, who explores Hallownest, a fallen kingdom plagued by a ...

'' and ''Banjo-Kazooie''.

Games released

{, class="wikitable sortable" ! rowspan="2" , Title ! rowspan="2" , Original release year ! rowspan="2" , Developer(s) ! rowspan="2" , Genre(s) ! colspan="1" , Platforms ! rowspan="2" , Release Date(s) ! rowspan="2" , Ref , - , , - , ''

Bugsnax ''Bugsnax'' is an adventure video game developed by independent game studio Young Horses. In the game, players explore a mysterious island and attempt to find and capture the eponymous half-bug-half-snack creatures. The game was unveiled in Ju ...

'' , 2020 , Young Horses ,

Adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

, Playstation 4, Playstation 5 , Q3 2021 , , - , ''

'' , 2017 , Team Cherry ,

Action-adventure The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a storyli ...

Metroidvania Metroidvania is a sub-genre of platform video games focused on guided non-linearity and utility-gated exploration and progression. The term is a portmanteau of the names of the video game series '' Metroid'' and ''Castlevania'', with games in th ...

, Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, PC , May 31, 2019 , , - , ''Later Alligator'' , 2019 , Pillow Fight ,

, Nintendo Switch , Apr 16, 2021 , , - , ''

Stardew Valley ''Stardew Valley'' is a simulation role-playing video game developed by Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone. Players take the role of a character who takes over their deceased grandfather's dilapidated farm in a place known as Stardew Valley. The game wa ...

'' , 2016 ,

ConcernedApe Eric Barone, also known by his alias ConcernedApe, is an American video game developer, video game designer, artist, composer, and musician. He is best known for creating ''Stardew Valley''. Early life and education Barone was born in Los Ang ...

Simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of Conceptual model, models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or proc ...

Role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing a ...

, Nintendo Switch, PC , Nov 6, 2020 , , - , ''

'' , 2015 , Toby Fox ,

, PC, PS Vita, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One , 2017-2021 , {{Cite web, date=2021-03-16, title=Undertale Is Coming To Xbox Game Pass And Getting A Nifty Collector's Edition, url=https://press-start.com.au/news/xbox/2021/03/16/undertale-is-coming-to-xbox-game-pass-and-getting-a-nifty-collectors-edition/, access-date=2021-04-09, website=Press Start, language=en-US

References

Video game websites