Awesome stuff you've just bought (+pics please)

[WelshMegalodon]

I'm jealous. Gotta love classic Amano art... Final Fantasy II has some wonderful chiptunes as well.

[CIT]

All the Namco folks gave talks at the conference, explaining some of the intricacies of their game design, specifically Pac-Man, Xevious, Druaga and Baraduke. Maybe I'll post some of the insights here.

I also met Seiki Okude (a.k.a. Seiki Sato) there, who was programmer on Strikers 1945, Gunbird and Sengoku Blade, as well as SFC Fire Emblem and Kaeru no tame. Unfortunately, I didn't know beforehand he was going to be there.

Sweet. Did any of the Namco guys say anything about the ports?

Not really, in their talks they only discussed the arcade versions.

Endo and Kishimoto were surprised to see the Namco Museum box and were like "are my games actually in there!?"

[FinalBaton]

Thanks guys

I am indeed pretty excited about this haul. And I think I did find good deals. I'm a cheapskates so I (almost)never buy retro games unless I can get them for below market value

Japanese PS2 - 4800 yen is a damn good price! it's actually the lowest I ever saw for a coloured one. I've been checking japanese auction sites for a little while and when I saw this I jumped on it, lol. I was the only bidder too. The shipping costed quite a bit, but it was still worth it to me. Have I gone with a slim PS2, then the shipping would've been a lot cheaper of course. But I just gotta had that nice Aqua Blue console Plus I prefer fat PS2 consoles anyway
So stoked to finally have a jp PS2! I will finally be able to play import PS2 games (I think the Sega Ages : Monster World collection and Sega Ages : Treasure box will be my first purchases. Anyone have suggestions for PS2 and PS1 import games?). And also my copy(jp) of Symphony of the Night without having to use the swap trick on my PS1, hehe. Always prefereed the idea of a jp PS2 over a modchip. Only thing stopping me was the price, but with a deal like the one I just got, I was finally able to snag a console. And the color on it is soooo pretty too! It's a great piece to showcase as well.

Kage - $32 US is certainly a good deal cheaper than the average price I see copies of Shadow of the Ninja go for : those go more along the line of $50 US. Stoked to have that game, as I am a sidescrolling action game junkie

6 FC cartridge lot - $3.25 US. This lot appealed to me because Dragon Buster 2 looks like a fun game, and having a copy of Ys is never a bad thing . And I mean it was $3.25, I thought "what the hell! I'll just get this". lol. For that price you can't go wrong. I actually don't know what the upper-left and center-right games are.

FFI & FFII - $34.50 US for both. The early FF games mean a ton to me, but especially the Famicom games. My brothers got the first FF right when it came out here in North America, in 1990. They were big D&D guys and so were super interested in a RPG experience on console. But out of the three of us, it would actually be on me that the game had the biggest impact, sparking my passion for video games and changing my life forever. It is, simply put, the game that singlehandedly made me the hardcore gamer that I am today.
Sure there were other medieval RPGs on computers from western studios(never got interested in those). But the cutesy SD characters, the distinctevely japanese flavour of the presentation offered by the Square team, got its hook into me like no game before. The very quick and snappy gameplay (at the time it really was, with the speed setting set to 8 ) and the streamlined menu navigation, as well as the beautiful, memorable music got me spellbound. (I can't stress enough how quick and snappy the game was, in 1990, for a RPG! it just seemed to go along like a breeze! fast and fluid). I since became obssessed with the game, clearing it countless times and went on to also have a love affair with FFIV and FFVI.
FFI was also the game that first got me into emulation. In the early 2000s, I read somewhere that the other Final Fantasy games for the Famicom had been translated to english! You wouldn't believe how stoked I became upon reading this, lol. I HAD to play that. And, like, right now, lol. I immediately (and I mean : 2 seconds later) started to search for an emulator. I downloaded NESticle and the roms for FFII and FFIII. I also started playing FFI rom hacks, as to me, new games using the FFI engine are pretty much the most exciting thing that can happen to gaming, lol (in my mind at least).
FFI also got me into retro gaming. because of what I wrote above, but also because when I moved to the big city for college, in 2001, I brought my NES with me(along with my slightly dated PS1), mainly to play FFI. The game is like comfort food to me, so it was important to have it with me. Never stopped playing retro game since. I had somewhat stopped gaming between 1998 and 2001. But FFI got me back into it.
Needless to say, the game holds a tremendous sentimental value to me, and having beautiful complete copies of I and II fill my nostalgic heart with joy . It's a very good price too! Especially since those boxes are mint (well except for that one piece of tape, hopefully I'll be able to remove that without damaging the box). And yes, that Amano art is stunning. Holy... that's great suff, I love it. his stuff is so fluid, organic and elegant. That makes for killer looking boxes and carts!

Ninja Ryukenden III - $35 US. Another nice deal. was looking to add this one to my collection as, like I said above, I love sidescrolling action games. I since the US version has a bullshit no-infinite-continue tweak... I mean I'll probably end up being able to 1cc the game. Maybe even 1 life clear it, like I do with the first game in the series. But to get there you need practice. Play those levels over, and over, and over, and over. And without infinite continues, that just becomes unbearable. You just can't do it.
So yeah, was looking for a copy, and figured that for $35, I might as well pick up a boxed copy. That's very reasonnable. Not sure what's the market value for boxed copies of the game, but I'm pretty sure it's higher than $35! (I'm guessing it's somewhere around $60 or up). Sure it's beat up quite a bit, but I don't care.
That box look pretty rad to boot. Love the illustration on it. And "Tecmo theater"? Come on, that's great stuff

All the items(except the PS2) were shipped together, totalling for $22 US shipping fee. That's a very reasonnable price I think. I really appreciate that the seller managed to offer such a price for combined shipping

[BrianC]

6 FC cartridge lot - $3.25 US. This lot appealed to me because Dragon Buster 2 looks like a fun game, and having a copy of Ys is never a bad thing . And I mean it was $3.25, I thought "what the hell! I'll just get this". lol. For that price you can't go wrong. I actually don't know what the upper-left and center-right games are.

The upper left game is a Doraemon game and the center right game is the JP version of Milon's Secret Castle. I assumed that it was 3.25 each, but 3.25 for the lot is an especially good deal. SMB3 also has some differences from the US version, the major one being that Mario shrinks to small size when hit, no matter how much he's powered up.

Dragon Buster 2 looks similar to the first Intellivision AD&D game. I like the AD&D game quite a bit.

[FinalBaton]

The upper left game is a Doraemon game and the center right game is the JP version of Milon's Secret Castle. I assumed that it was 3.25 each, but 3.25 for the lot is an especially good deal. SMB3 also has some differences from the US version, the major one being that Mario shrinks to small size when hit, no matter how much he's powered up.

Dragon Buster 2 looks similar to the first Intellivision AD&D game. I like the AD&D game quite a bit.

Cool, thanks for the info Brian Yes I'm looking forward to playing Dragon Buster 2! looks like a fun little game to mess around with.
I think I will like the fact that the screen reveals itself only around you in caves. This keeps the level of tension high. Also like the ricochet arrows! This is gonna be fun to use. And the game just looks great. Love the character designs and the colors, it's really colour ful and well balanced.

[BrianC]

One warning about JP Ghostbusters, in case you're patient enough to get that far. It crashes instead of showing the ending after the game is beaten.

[Shoryukev]

One warning about JP Ghostbusters, in case you're patient enough to get that far. It crashes instead of showing the ending after the game is beaten.

You mean you don't get to see this fantastic text?

[Obiwanshinobi]

Kororinpa 2, although, for once, I like the US boxart best of the three I saw.



Either the first one had bombed badly, or such a stealth release was cheaper for Konami (PAL distributor this time; they published A Shadow's Tale over here too). Nevertheless, that's one mystifying choice of a boxart.

[BrianC]

One warning about JP Ghostbusters, in case you're patient enough to get that far. It crashes instead of showing the ending after the game is beaten.

You mean you don't get to see this fantastic text?

It's still in the cart, just not accessible normally. Especially sad since the JP version of the text is mostly the same, but has "great" spelled as "grate".

[brentsg]

Not new per se, but I had the opportunity at a conference to have my Namco Museum boxed set signed by some legends:

Yoshihiro Kishimoto, creator of Pac-Land, Baraduke, Toy Pop, etc.
Masanobu Endo (Évezoô End), creator of Xevious, The Tower of Druaga, The Return of Ishtar, etc.
Toru Iwatani, creator of Pac-Man, etc.
Junko Ozawa, music for The Tower of Druaga, The Return of Ishtar, Sky Kid, Rolling Thunder, Toy Pop, Klonoa, etc.

That's amazing just to look at, let alone own!

[Shoryukev]

It's still in the cart, just not accessible normally. Especially sad since the JP version of the text is mostly the same, but has "great" spelled as "grate".

Haha wow, never realized the english could have gotten worse from where the US version was. Hilarious!

[KennyMan666]

So I had my 30th birthday celebration dinner last weekend (my actual 30th birthday was back in May but there's been a lot of stuff going on so the actual big celebration had to wait). In addition to a bunch of moneys for my PS Vita fund, which was what I primarily had asked for, I also received:


Ayanami Rei wall clock with a plastic front that needs some cleaning.


Super Robot Wars K for DS, Boba Fett cufflinks and some Magic cards.

And at a con about a month back, I won these from placing fourth in the PoFV tournament (which, prize-wise, counted as placing second since two of the top four were tournament organizers and they were ineligible for the actual prizes):

[Shoryukev]

My weekly trip to the local game store brought me Thunder Force III this time!
They've managed to have some great stuff the last couple weeks.

[BIL]

Nice, looks in great shape. I like that they used the JP cover with only minimal changes - it's a good one!

[FinalBaton]

Nice pickup kev!

[FinalBaton]

KennyMan I like that clock

[Shoryukev]

Thanks guys! My shmup collection is pretty weak, so I try and swoop on titles whenever I can. I'm terrible at shooters in general, but they are fun LOL

[BIL]

Thanks guys! My shmup collection is pretty weak, so I try and swoop on titles whenever I can. I'm terrible at shooters in general, but they are fun LOL

No idea what it goes for, but Elemental Master (same dev+vintage as TFIII) is one of the best-designed introductory STGs ever. I can't think of many that are so accessible, yet remain so absolutely breakneck manic no matter your experience level. Was just getting back up to speed with it a few weeks back, it never disappoints. JP version was cheap-ish last I checked, and should be region free.

[Shoryukev]

No idea what it goes for, but Elemental Master (same dev+vintage as TFIII) is one of the best-designed introductory STGs ever. I can't think of many that are so accessible, yet remain so absolutely breakneck manic no matter your experience level. Was just getting back up to speed with it a few weeks back, it never disappoints. JP version was cheap-ish last I checked, and should be region free.

Looks like it's on the expensive side for the Genesis (about $60-80 on evil-bay), but it looks like a badass game. Giant bosses and interesting enemy patterns, and the cutscenes are pretty impressive for it's time. I'll keep my eyes peeled for a good deal on a copy!

[Bar81]

No idea what it goes for, but Elemental Master (same dev+vintage as TFIII) is one of the best-designed introductory STGs ever. I can't think of many that are so accessible, yet remain so absolutely breakneck manic no matter your experience level. Was just getting back up to speed with it a few weeks back, it never disappoints. JP version was cheap-ish last I checked, and should be region free.

Looks like it's on the expensive side for the Genesis (about $60-80 on evil-bay), but it looks like a badass game. Giant bosses and interesting enemy patterns, and the cutscenes are pretty impressive for it's time. I'll keep my eyes peeled for a good deal on a copy!

It's an incredible game - one of the best on the genny

[Domino]

Got a Thinkpad! x260. Always wanted to own one and I believe I did it right!

Has two batteries for almost 15 hr battery life, the best i5 processor I can put in this sucker, backlit keyboard, 8 GB RAM, Win 10 Pro, 1080p 12.5 in IPS screen, and durable as hell.

As soon as I got it I swap out the HDD with a 1 TB SSD.

Sorry for poor pics but the laptop can already do a lot for me already. Even games using Integrated graphics:






If I want I can put the laptop on its side for TATE. So far got Raiden IV and other 3D shmups to work just fine on it. But how good it is only time will tell......

[Kiken]

I recently picked up Thunder Force Gold Pack 2 and the Ratchet & Clank movie on Blu-Ray.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Hardly awesome, glad it was cheap, I'm not keeping this...

Spoiler

Here I was tracing crypto-Fascist undertones in Boomerang Family, but the 2008 Speed Racer takes the biscuit. Makes me wanna hug Tron, then pat Redline and The Last Starfighter on the back for at least trying.

Everything this film gets right (much of the acting, the depiction of PTSD symptoms - Speed's the type; obvious if you've met such a person before) only serves rubbing the horriblity of the rest in. It is not merely BAD like any bad movie and I do wish I knew how its actors feel about it now. Like, would they want their very kids to watch it, really?

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

80s villains unite!

[BIL]

Aw nice. I had to make do with GoBots episodes and shows (er, figures and shows) for much of my childhood, my country couldn't afford Transformers! Also, I remember one ep where Turbo vomited out all this rainbow wire shit, it scarred me for years!

[atheistgod1999]

Aw nice. I had to make do with GoBots episodes and shows for much of my childhood, my country couldn't afford Transformers! Also, I remember one ep where Turbo vomited out all this rainbow wire shit, it scarred me for years!

Didn't you grow up in the USA? I'm pretty sure you only know about GoBots because of CWC.

[BIL]

lmao nice attempt to get dox, Chris.

Almost as nice as that time you took it up the ass from Jerry and Dino at summer camp.

[DQ187]

Got this SNES sign recently! always wanted this sign since i was a kid so its awesome to finally own! A few other items i picked up recently. Had an oppotunity to pick up an Virtual Boy with all 14 US games so i got that, a NEO GEO CD with about 10 games, a little NEO GEO Pocket bundle & some Xenoblade items & other knick knacks. Been a bit since i posted so this is all my most recent stuff!

[atheistgod1999]

God fucking damn. I wish I had a Neo Geo CD and Pocket Color

[Kiken]

Ah, I see you purchased King Of Loading 95.

Quick tip for Neo-CD Pulstar... turn OFF the Visual Mode in the Options. It disables the cinematics before each level which require about 30 seconds of loading time (the cinemas are normally shorter than the time that it takes to load them)... then you have to sit through another 30 seconds or so of loading for the stage.