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. 

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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...

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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!

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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!

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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!

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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.

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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*.

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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.

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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.

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