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

[pestro87]

Also picked up Astro Boy on GBA (JP) but haven't gotten it yet... I used to own Sunset Riders on PAL MD as a kid and loved it. I suddenly felt like replaying Soul Hackers, I played through the 3DS port and thought it was absolutely incredible so was curious of how the original Saturn version played. The only ones of the other games that I had played before were Odama (managed to beat it around the time it was new) and Circle of the Moon (one of my favorite metroidvanias, I was looking forward to replaying it so I've already beaten it again, didn't feel like going for 100% this time though). I was pleasantly surprised by Star Soldier and the Super Monkey Ball games, looking forward to clocking some more hours on them. Really looking forward to playing the MM Zero games and Gunstar Super Heroes! Looking forward to trying out Kururin Squash as well, I used to own Kuru Kuru Kururin on GBA and loved it back in the day, used to do the vs mode via the link cable with my friends.

[soprano1]

GBA JP boxes are fucking amazing. The Zero games look awesome.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Super Monkey Ball Jr. for GBA is a very playable port as well, against all odds. I like the PS2 PAL Viewtiful Joe boxart best, though.

[pestro87]

GBA JP boxes are fucking amazing. The Zero games look awesome.

Agreed! Yeah, I was blown away when I saw the boxart on the Zero games, the picture doesn't fully do them justice I missed out on the Zero games when they came out so I'm really looking forward to giving them a go.

Super Monkey Ball Jr. for GBA is a very playable port as well, against all odds. I like the PS2 PAL Viewtiful Joe boxart best, though.

That's cool! Haven't tried Jr, is it a straight port or does it have any additions?

[MintyTheCat]

I just bought the batsugun manga that includes a music CD. It is not bad and was sent quickly.
I will have a look at it some time this week.
Just bought a load of graphic novels too.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Haven't tried Jr, is it a straight port or does it have any additions?

Something of a remake as faithful as it made sense on the GBA hardware (nowhere near 60 fps, no textured polygons, sprites for characters etc.), which is, nonetheless, pretty playable & quite challenging. Only the voices & music (seemingly downsampled straight from stationary versions) disappoint. Some (I think) GBA-exclusive minigames, brand-new staff roll one included. Last but not least, it's one GBA game where its 3D capabilities get made worthwile use of.
Approximation rather than straight port: fewer bananas on the floors and it takes only 50 to earn extra life, accessing bonus floors no longer takes a no-miss run - just not continuing - but then again - digital controls and ~20 fps (if that), so it comes as re-ballanced rather than condescending.

[BIL]

Oh shit son, you just HIT TEH BOOST Ain't the Japanese cover a beautiful thing?

[Obiwanshinobi]

As a matter of fact, at first I liked the PAL cover better, but that was, my, how many years ago? Nowadays, I can appreciate the Polyphony Digitals' (or whoever was responsible)... whatever's the word. I'm liking it as is.
Now, onto giving the sobwoofer some workout...

[zak]

Nice, eh?

A man with good taste

[BrianC]

GBA JP boxes are fucking amazing. The Zero games look awesome.

yeah. I have a few. I also like the unique boxes JP had for the Famicom mini series. NOA missed the point and just used standard GBA boxes for the NES Classic games. They also had too similar of a retail price to the JP versions, despite JP games usually being more expensive.

[soprano1]

yeah. I have a few. I also like the unique boxes JP had for the Famicom mini series. NOA missed the point and just used standard GBA boxes for the NES Classic games. They also had too similar of a retail price to the JP versions, despite JP games usually being more expensive.

The horizontal look makes them better, i think. The SNES Final Fantasy Advance trilogy has a clean look with some nice Amano art. So do the Metroid games:

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[BIL]

The Dracula (or rather Dracula/CV/CV) trio look good too. They used the same artwork in the West, but as with SNES boxes, the aggressive standardised bordering cramps their style.

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Dammit! This is almost making me regret settling for a GH print of HOD. At the time I had serious misgivings about buying that game at all so just I bolted down Konami's ugly reprint before regret could really set in. TBH though, jarring ugliness is a legit part of HOD's entire aesthetic, so eh.

I also like the unique boxes JP had for the Famicom mini series.

Quite cute, those - the tiny inner boxes that contain the cart remind me of after dinner mints. ^__^ The generic cartridge labels and pamphlet-only manuals are a compromise, but I'm not that bothered... as budget aesthetic goes these are neat. I nabbed up all five of the FDS first-party action game releases (SMB2, Zelda 2, Metroid, Nazo no Murasamejou & Hikari Shinwa) recently. Skipped Dracula because I've got the FC cart and tbh, I'd do the same for the aforementioned five if they weren't sadly disk-only in Japan. Woulda totally gone for Dracula II... also, why all the visual novels in the FDS mini lineup? Eh, I won't begrudge the Japanese fans their nostalgia, but cmon. :[

[FinalBaton]

God bless Amano. And Ayami Kojima too! I'm so happy I went with the JP SotN, it has a nice illustration booklet by Ms Kojima inside, with her lush watercolor designs for the game. It also includes her 8 page manga.

Amazing cover too. and the same art is stamped on the disc. Now that's a good looking compact disc

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[soprano1]

Oh, the times when Konami wasn't a shitload of fuck...

[Sumez]

Doesn't that go for all PS1 releases that aren't platinum though?

[wgogh]

My setup is getting better, slowly. Now with a good crt to rotate that ive got by a very good price, compared to other options. Its only s-video, but very good picture. Theres a small burn in though, only noticeble in some ocasions, sigh. Anyway, new life to the games. Everything seems organic, alive. Mushihimesame looks beatiful. It is a LG LSM, professional video monitor. Not popular everywhere, but they showed up after a big TV Channel (Rede Globo) started selling their old analogic stuff. Analogic TV will finally end in Brazil, so thats a major reason. That was the best one in my state (conservation and price). Good stuff.



After all...

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Considering I was playing like this just a year ago, not bad.

[Obiwanshinobi]

On the left hand side - my replacement for the (originally) missing 2nd Haibane Renmei DVD. Now I have one 1st spare, gonna auction it at some point. On the right hand side is an example why, sometimes, I prefer DVD to Blu-ray - the cover art in this case.

[Udderdude]

.

[Sumez]

Closed off some titles that have been on my wishlist for a while

[wgogh]

Don't know about the game, but the art is really interesting and with a strong nostalgic feel to it.

[cj iwakura]

On the left hand side - my replacement for the (originally) missing 2nd Haibane Renmei DVD. Now I have one 1st spare, gonna auction it at some point. On the right hand side is an example why, sometimes, I prefer DVD to Blu-ray - the cover art in this case.

That's how I felt when I bought the It Follows DVD for the slip cover that was only with the DVD, lol. (I later got the blu-ray when it had that awesome 1980s style cover done for it.)

[BIL]

Moon Crystal

Nice! WTB that myself. Weak bosses but the stage action is superb. Reminds me of a certain favourite ninja sidescroller, in that sense.

[Sumez]

Usually the comparisons I see are the more "weighty" adventure platformers, such as Prince of Persia or Flashback, but this game obviously has a much more Japanese feel to it. It's probably not amazing, considering it's not more well known, but I'm really looking forward to trying it out.

Funny fact, I just bought the cart. I already had the manual for some reason. I must have gotten it in a batch of 50+ random Famicom titles (+ assorted manuals, with a lot of them not matching up to the game) that I bought a lot of years ago for $100. I wonder how much that manual alone would fetch today. It's very rare to see a boxed Moon Crystal on eBay.

[Ghegs]

Moon Crystal is definitely a game worth playing, but the very sub-par boss fights make me sad.

[AKRATEN]

I bought some Vinyl Dye and took the yellow out of my New Net City.

[opt2not]

^ looking good! Got a "before" picture?

[AKRATEN]

^ looking good! Got a "before" picture?

Thanks .
I added the before image.

[emphatic]

Slick! Paint?

[AKRATEN]

Slick! Paint?

Thanks . Vinyl Dye

[SuperPang]

Works well that stuff but keep in mind it's not as scratch resistant as paint.