My Own World

30/11/2014

That's all for now folks!

In the next few posts, I'm going back to the present with some of the newest editions for the current consoles. Cheers!

What can I say about this game? It's another title in the awesome Darius series and it acutally made it to Europe. It's not on the same rarity level as some of the games I've posted before but still deserves some attention, specially considering it was not released on Nintendo's Virtual Console in Europe (I think?). There isn't much I can talk about it. The reason why I bought it? Because it's Darius. Yup. Now, let my quest for Syvalion begin...

I've got them all, finally :D

The gargoyles trilogy, finally completed! After finally obtaining Demon's Crest a few months ago, Gargoyle's Quest II was the last game in the trilogy that I was still missing. Not anymore. It's not in a wonderful condition, but the price was also less than usual. Can't really complain. Yay!

Meet George Jetson!

Seriously, kids can be some of the worst consumers ever. Back in those days, much before you had several TV channels displaying cartoons the entire day, you probably did the same as I did: you had to wake up very early during weekends to catch the morning cartoons. And then, out of all those shows, there were always some that you'd like the most. And you obviously wanted to get the games, toys, cloths and all sorts of related crap... and of course, videogames. Pretty much like the current hardcore Assassin's Creed collectors on eBay, who would probably pay hundreds if Ubisoft released a limited run of used toilet paper with the AC logo printed on it. No offense to AC collectors out there though.

2D cartoon-based videogames back in those days were great. Well, at least most of them, specially if they were based on Disney movies. There were many cartoon games that weren't as great and a few that even sucked but it didn't really matter that much if they were based in my favourite shows, so I had to get them. Sometimes it would be best to buy some other game instead and deep in my head I knew that but I was so focused on getting that particular game from that particular show that I wouldn't even care. When I finally got home to play it, my first reaction was: "This game is ok. It's kind of cool". This is actually how a fanboy describes a crappy game based in one of his favourite shows. Several years later, you finally have enough maturity to admit you had some fun playing it but it sucked.

But then you have Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Battle 22. That game was so bad that even the most hardcore DBZ fanboy would trow up while playing it. It's probably the most horrible game I've ever played. I do remember a PS1 demo I played that was in the same putrefaction level as UB22, and it was a cartoonish boat racing game. I am glad I don't even know its name.Yuck!

All that crap to say that I've only bought this game because it was based in one of the cartoons I enjoyed back in the days: The Jetsons, for the NES. I don't even know how good or bad the game is because I haven't played it yet but I wanted to get it anyway. And this is not your cheap-ass NES game either. 20 years later I still behave like a kid. Damn! Adulthood is overrated anyway.

Insert creative title here, 'cause my brain can't think of anything original.

And this is another classic gem that took me years to get a hold of. This game came from the arcade and it's a fantastic beat'em up by Capcom. Unfortunately it was another victim of a poor and rushed translation to English and that might be one of the reasons why it was exclusively released in Germany I believe. I haven't played it yet, but I've been wanting to for a long time. It's not easy to find at all, so I'm glad I have it!

These games were so awesome

It took me some time to find out about some of the SNES gems out there. And this game is literally a gem. It looks beautiful and plays as good as it looks. The 16bit era actually had some of the most amazing genres: these 2d beat'em up sidescrollers are fantastic!

The background makes me nuts.

This shockingly good game was still missing from my collection and it wasn't an easy catch. For some weird reason its value just went sky rocket high in the last few years. A couple of years ago I've had my chance to get it for like 60 euros and I didn't want to spend the money on it. Well, that was a lame decision. I'll try to forget how much this costed me was...

The box itself is not in that great condition like I usually prefer but... at least it's the official thing. I am still a little confused about what I think of repro boxes. Until I make up my mind, I prefer to make sure that I'm buying original boxes, even if that means sacrificing their condition a little bit. When I see an older game with a mint box, I am always unsure. I usually don't like to pay tons of money for a single game but when I do, I want to make sure I'm paying that cash for a fully original release. I would feel terrible if I paid the market value (the legit value, not the BIN BS) for a complete game just to figure out it came with a repro box instead. That's totally not cool.

Computer broken. No money. Now what?

My poor laptop can't handle photoshop very well... now what? I guess I'm stuck with freeware programs that aren't as heavy as photoshop, so the next results might not be as gorgeous (ha!) as before. I've got a ton of things to show. Let's get this rolling with some older games first! =)

I've got a few posts ready and they will be here tomorrow :D

Videogame Bushin no Jutsu

I used to like Naruto a lot. I originally started watching the anime and reading the Manga in 2003 and went as far as this game covers from the original story. I skipped the fillers because they're horrible.

Considering I had already bought both CEs from the previous game and this one is pretty much equal to those, I thought it would be a good purchase. The statues included in these editions are very decent and they look good for display purposes, although mines are staying inside their sealed boxes - which doesn't make much sense but you can't expect to find logic within many collectors do you?

I don't know how far into the Juubi fight this game goes into but I assume that, with so much crap happening in the same battle, they could produce 3 or 4 games that fight alone. The main problem is that they'll continue having these CEs and I will buy them... derp... Anyway, enjoy this new Samurai Edition with a failed attempt at "Super Saiyaning" Naruto on the cover.

Dynasty Link

I don't really feel like writing about this so I'm just posting a random paragraph and the picture. The game doesn't excite me that much. I wish it was a brand new Zelda game instead of this sort of crossover spinoff. I bought it because it's Zelda and it's limited. Can't go wrong with that. The Japanese version was way better than this edition that only includes a scarf. I don't find that particularly fascinating. In fact, the latest Nintendo editions seem nothing more than the game and a preorder bonus item in a proper package...

Wow! A Lego videogame about Lego!

I don't really care about those Lego games about movies or super heroes. I know they're good, but I don't really like them. Yes, I've tried to play a couple. It's not my style, honestly. That's why I'm skipping most of those small limited editions with the figurines.

I wanted a Lego game without any of that stuff. Just Lego. There were some in the past, but nothing tastes as good as Lego City Undercover. I originally finished the game on the 3DS and loved it. The other day I had the urge to play the Wii U version, so I picked this used copy for a decent price and I'm loving it!

Gotta find the balls

France has always been the number one door for Japanese animation and games in Europe. Nowadays that's no longer true because Japan's influence over the entire world is creating a new generation of kawaii baka-chan teens (which are basically the only words most western people who select Japan as their location on Facebook know).

It's hard to imagine a game based on an anime series named Dragon Ball being released in France before the 90s (and 4 years later in Spain). And they even had that show on TV. That is very impressive. Of course, the game was also catastrophically released in the US at about the same time. I don't know what those guys in the US had in their heads, but they had to screw anything good that was brought from Japan. That tradition still seems to remain nowadays (Evolution... yuck!). The US version of this game is called Dragon Power and suffered a major editing. I wonder what they named Goku... Sam? John? Ritchie? And I don't even want to imagine the rest of the names. Edit: meanwhile, I already learned that they kept Goku's name...

This is how they did back then: you replace the cute Japanese covers with some horrific artwork that shows general stuff like a karate kid wearing a bandanna. Then you replace the main character that actually looks fun and cartoonish with an atrocious freak that has absolutely nothing to do with the character on the cover. You take away the boobs and the pixelate-suggested sex content. Finally, you remove some interesting parts of the game to make it more Americanized. I find it hard to believe that they replaced the rice cakes in Alex Kidd with... burguers... Also, it's okay to hit on Chun Li, Sonia and basically all other female characters in fighting games. However, it was completely unacceptable to hit Poison in Final Fight because it's a women. "Yeah, let's also hide some of the additional pixels that show too much of her body and accept the poorest excuse ever invented by the makers of the game (the one about her being transsexual)..." Well done!

And yet Europe missed Chrono Trigger...

Now this is one game that's totally worth owning. Unfortunately not that many people seem to know about this game, except those who know the Mega CD games well enough. The Space adventure is based in a Japanese cartoon series mostly known as Space Adventure Cobra (or simply Cobra) that started out as a comic book. I'm pretty sure you're already searching for it on Wikipedia. Right? Are you? No? Hey... whatever...

The Mega CD has all sorts of games (not really...), some of which are quite amazing(ly terrible). There are however several exceptions to that rule and those are the exact reasons why you should consider getting one if you don't have it already. I'm not going to list what it's worth or not, but I have to focus on one particular game called Snatcher. If you search my blog, I've already posted a picture of it.

That game is probably more popular for being made by Metal Gear creator's Hideo Kojima than for its great quality. It's a graphical adventure, a genre that doesn't really suits all likes. As you know, some Mega CD games have tried to be more creative by introducing actual video footage but the truth is.. it was still an underdeveloped technology and the result is not very satisfactory - at least in my humble opinion. Some games do it right, but most fail miserably. Mega CD was a system that should not relay on 3D graphics or actual video footage. The games that took advantage of the 2D graphical capabilities of the console did it right. Not just Snacther but many others, such as Sonic CD. And The Space Adventure is yet another example of a game that picked up a rather unknown series in the west, went as far as receiving an european release (that's very surprising if you ask me!), gave it the anime look and voila! You might not get something as good as Snatcher but this is definitely something to look out for. It's not as expensive but definitely rarer. This was on my wishlist for a few years now. Another tough one scratched off that list!

Castlevania rhymes with 'lots of money'

Here I am, sitting in front of eBay, trying to find two copies of the last two European Castlevania games that I am still missing... they are Castlevania and Castlevania II for the NES. Yup, I'm just missing two of the most common Castlevania games ever. Why? Because most of the times they end up more expensive than I want to pay. They are crazy common and people never stop buying these things. Why?? I even managed to get Castlevania III in mint condition, which is by far much harder to find than those two titles, for less money. Heck, even Castlevania Legends was cheaper.

And then we have Kid Dracula, which took me some time to find out it was a Castlevania spin off that had an European release and is just as great as most of the other Castlevania games. "Let me search this on eBay to see how much it sells f... WHAT THE F*** £220 WITH OVER 20 BIDS!?". Yup, that was my reaction. I knew I'd be screwed.I obviously didn't pay anything remotely close to that. I was a little bit luckier this time, even though it wasn't necessarily a bargain.

And what is wrong with that cover? Why did they change the original character design from the Japanese version? I'm not sure who was responsible for this stupidity, but I assume it was the american Konami counterpart trying to make the cover more appealing to the western audiences, just like they've managed to disgrace Megaman in the original NES cover and a few other atrocities... At least this one isn't that bad. But it's still a shame cause the original japanese design of the character on the cover is much better looking. Akumajou Special FTW.

Went to hell to get this and came back

This is yet another nightmarish game that took me ages to get. Why? Because it's impossible to get a boxed copy of this thing in good condition for less than 200 euros. Damn, what the hell? And this is just one of like 15 SNES insanities I still want to get. Not to mention its prequel or whatever it is, released for the NES. I already have the GB game too. Even though the NES version is not as expensive (most of the times), it's even harder to get *brain malfunction*.

I've spent so much 'Mana' in this game

Yeah, being a fan of JRPGs and cool looking games with fancy characters can really make your wallet drain. This is yet another game that took me ages to get, mostly because it was very expensive. I know I buy press kits and limited editions that are worth quite a bit and these old games are amazing, but for some reason I don't always feel like spending much money on them. Maybe because they are just regular games that you have the chance to play through other means, or maybe because a single cart costs much less that the complete thing and I don't think a box and manual are worth so much... I don't know.

I already have the 3rd game for the Super Famicon as well as the 4th title for the PS2, both original japanese versions. But the most important one, the original Secret of Mana 2 (in Japan) and the only of the series to see the daylight in Europe was still missing from my collection. Not any longer.

SNES games are so hard to collect that for many times I've though of just getting the carts alone and find some repro boxes and manuals. Seriously. I've always wanted to have everything official, but this is too much. Finally, I've decided to get this game at all costs and I've managed to track down a dutch version in good condition and complete with all the stuff for an acceptable price (but still expensive). The text in this cart is in English, so hurray.

Knuckles the weird hedgehog

I know, he's an echidna. And he's on steroids in the next Sonic game...

The 32X console is deffinitely not my favourite system, hence why I only own a handful of games up to now. I could tell the same about Mega CD. These two systems weren't much of an upgrade to the already great Sega Mega Drive and they deffinitely were not worth spending so much money on back in the days.

I am glad that I already have two nasty exclusives for this console, but there are others equally tough to get. A few years back I've managed to find a brand new copy of Kolibri but Knuckles Chaotix was a pain in the butt to find. I never really managed to see one for sale except on eBay and I seriously hoped to find a cheaper copy some day, somewhere. It's only normal that you get tired of waiting for a copy of this after 7 years of search. So it's here now. It's in a really good condition, thankfully.

Life can be tough...

You know those moments in life when the world seems to be against you and you have so many serious problems going on at once? Especially when they only tend to get worse with no solution at sight? Well, that's my life right now. And I'm not joking about this. My life's pretty messed up, so much that almost brought me down to depression. I always overthink too much and that doesn't help at all when thinking can't really help you finding a solution. I eventually have some break downs that lead to depression and sleep privation. I'm doing my best to keep my head straight up... kinda... sometimes I don't do a good job and I just let myself fall a bit, but heh I'm only human after all.

Unfortunately, some of these problems will take some time until they get fixed and there isn't much I can do about them but wait. I had some plans for the rest of the year but now I feel I stopped in time. Oh well... I guess this is what we call life.

Over the years I have been collecting all kinds of rarities and special editions. I have a huge wishlist that keeps growing and growing with no end at sight. There's just too much money involved on collecting games with all this seriousness like I've been doing for so many years straight but I need to slow down. Before I do that, I need to catch the big fish and leave the tiny ones for other (hopefully better) years of my life.

I no longer have that patience to search intensively for many items at once because that consumes a lot of time. So now I am extensively searching for a bunch of games while ignoring most of the others. The top priorities are a few SNES exclusives I've been wanting to buy for so many years. I'll move on to other priorities once I'm done with these. I expect to fill the blank spots on my wishlist in less than a couple years with a few dozens of tough-to-get titles. I don't need (in fact, I don't want) to get all the rarities and crazy rare games so I'll just stick with those that I consider to be important. Once I'm done with that, I'm also done collecting retro games. For good.

My quest for the toughies already started and I already nailed a handful of these games. You can expect a new update soon with more pics, but this time there will be nothing out of ordinary like press kits or unusual editions - mostly regular games.

Cheers.

Road to the 4000

Exactly 15 years ago, my father told me I was spending too much money on videogames that I would get rid of before I reached an adult age. It was basically his kind wat to tell me I was wasting money on useless things instead of saving for my future. At that time I was only buying 5 to 7 titles per year and my collection had less than 50 games. I said that I wouldn't get rid of the games so easily, considering how much I liked them. I am pretty sure he already recognizes he was slightly wrong...

I was very surprised to find out that my collection is close to reach the impressive number of 4000 games/items. It's been 10 years of intensive collecting. Even though my older games date from 1997, I only started collecting more seriously in 2004. Unfortunately, the growth was much slower during the last couple of years, but still, what an impressive number!

Some time ago I had a problem with the excel file where I list my entire collection and lost all the updates I had been doing for an unknown number of months. I had to restart from an outdated file and, unfortunately, I've never managed to completely update the list. Basically, I wasn't really sure about how many games I had but I knew they were over 3000.

For the last couple of weeks I've been focused on making great updates to the list. It's not easy to update thousands of items in an excel file... it takes a long time and lots of patience but this was something I was wanting to do for some time. I finally found the patience for that. I had to check all the message board entries, this blog, all my e-mail accounts, every picture I've taken and the older store receipts I kept in order to find out every game I had bought in the last few years, including the estimate year of purchase (and month, when possible). Unfortunately I can't know for sure the year of purchase for several games, so I had to resort to my memory, which was reasonably accurate. How do I know that? I randomly picked several titles from my list which I had proof of purchase and tried to guess the year to see if it matched the excel entry. I missed a few but got most right. But the thing is... the number was much bigger than I expected and I'm already over 3800.

When I've reached about 2000 games, I never knew if I would actually go much further. Yet now I have almost twice as many and never felt so determined to keep going further, except that money is becoming a serious issue at this point of my life. Hopefully, things will turn around for the best some day soon and I will keep pushing my collection forward.

There are still well over 100 titles until I reach the definite number of 4000 but I am very impressed to have come this far. According to my estimates, when I reach a number of 5000 games, the goals I've set to my collection will finally be accomplished. However, it's particularly bothersome when a majority of the titles I am still missing for the older platforms are the really expensive ones. I don't know what I will do about it but at my current financial condition it won't be easy to be paying over 100 euros for every title I'm still missing, let alone those that are worth 3 to 5 times that much... Spending that much money on a regular retro game is something that I don't do more that a small number of times per year. But every year that goes by, eBay resellers succeed in increasing the value of the already expensive games to the point that it's almost impossible for me to collect them. On top of that it's nearly impossible to find many titles outside eBay, which became the House of Speculation flooded with overpriced Buy it Now deals.

Now to talk about this blog... This blog never had a big visibility - it was never intended to have anyway because I like to keep a low profile. When I originally started it, many people were unaware of the existance of certain editions and press kits. Nowadays it's completely different. Everybody knows about or has access to press kits, so there is nothing really impressive that I can show to you right now. I can't even keep up with all the important stuff coming out and sadly I have to sacrifice most of the newer press kits. Still, this is really the only way I have to list pictures of my collection and I do appreciate the presentation I've given to it. I've put a lot of efforts behind this blog over the years. I hope that the old visitors still have the time and patience to read through all the crap I write :D.

A new update will be coming soon with a few items that were left behind and some newer things. Stay tuned :)

You really though I'd miss the fun? You were right...

(title) ... because I'm keeping this sealed :P. But yeah, you can't miss special editions from Nintendo when there are so few released. I say this, but I skipped Bravely Default because it was stupidly expensive and now I can't get it because there are resellers everywhere. Everywhere. People should be ashamed of reselling such items. I'll eventually get one in the future, it just takes patience.

This Mario Kart actually boosted Wii U sales quite a bit. It really needed. Well done, Nintendo. Now release Xenoblade and Zelda please. Thank you.