Archive for Game&Watch/Handheld

Gameboy Micro – Final Fantasy Edition

Hollo / 10 February, 2013 / 4 comments

First off, I must apologise for the lack of posts here on SGUG in recent times. My life has been pretty crazy to say the least! Today’s post represents a much needed mini-break here in Japan – as in, I actually get the weekend off. Not only do I get the weekend off though, I also get Monday off (Kenkoku Kinenbi) as well! Yes! :D

There is so much that you guys have missed out on since my last post, but today I will just be posting a short post to warm back up into the SGUG spirit. So what is it I have today? Well, something that I believe is pretty rare (without knowing the exact numbers), or at least rare as in I have never seen one in the wild before this one. This means that it was a no-brainer to pick it up.

The Gameboy Micro Final Fantasy Edition. :)

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Over here in Japan there are a chain of game stores that I really like – Chameleon Clubs. The staff in these stores really care about their gear as if they’re all collectors themselves. What I mean by this is that all items never have prices stuck directly onto them, everything is cleaned and tested, and you never find items in the wrong sections. Also, whenever you buy something, they wrap it up so carefully, and they handle the gear with great care. Often this means an extremely long wait times at the counter, but it’s well worth it.

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Although this wasn’t as cheap as it could have been (by Japanese standards that is), it was a pretty good deal from where I am sitting. I just never see them at all. I was pretty lucky though, as it had just gone up on the shelves.

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I did come out of the store with a heap of other items as well, but this was the pick of the bunch in my opinion. With most of the stores drying up recently, it’s still great to be able to find something like this in the wild! Ahh Japan, you still have it. :D

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Nintendo Mahjong Yakuman – Both the Old and the Older

Hollo / 4 November, 2012 / 6 comments

Nintendo is one of those companies that has seen a lot of history. Most of us in the west know the Nintendo from the 80s. For us, it’s the electronic gaming company that has given us Donkey Kong, Mario, and Kirby, but Nintendo has been around much longer than that.

Today I have two bits of Nintendo history that many probably haven’t seen. The Nintendo Yakuman – both the “computer” version, and the traditional hands-on version. :)

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I think the best way to look at these two bits of Nintendo history is in chronological order – even though I am not actually sure about the date of the analogue version. So with that in mind (the chronological order part) let’s look first at the older of the two.

nintendo-mahjong-board-set

Although I knew of these Mahjong sets from Nintendo, I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so… substantial (for lack of a better word). It really does reflect a time in which manufacturing on a mass scale was done differently. It’s deceptively heavy, has metal hinges, and looks like it will last years and years.

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Unfortunately, I have no idea about when this Nintendo Yakuman of the analogue variety was made. It’s not exactly young though by the looks. If any one has any idea please feel free to chime in and let me know.

Now let’s move on to the Nintendo Computer Mahjong Yakuman. Released in 1983, it was sold along side the Game & Watch series of the same era, but man does this have differences. :)

nintendo-mahjong-gw

The first difference that really struck me is that the machine uses a dot-matrix display. All other G&Ws (if I can actually include this machine along side the Donkey Kongs and Oil Panicks released at a similar time) use little pockets of liquid crystal sprites. I have no idea if there were any other companies with dot-matrix displays in the 80s, but this was the only one for Nintendo. You could say it was a precursor to the Gameboy.

The second difference is that this device can actually be connected to another Computer Yakuman for multi-player! A portable device that could be system linked in 1983?! Amazing stuff, and probably why the Nintendo Computer Mahjong actually cost 2,000yen more than the Famicom that was released in the same year. ;)

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The picture above shows the detail that went into this machine, however the picture also shows one of the faults that is extremely common with the Computer Mahjong; the liquid crystal on the Computer Mahjongs are prone to leaking, and it’s rare to find one that hasn’t leaked in some form or another. Luckily this one isn’t too bad, but some can be rendered useless.

nintendo-mahjong-gw-yakuman

Well, that’s my look at these two pieces of Nintendo history. The only trouble with me owning these two devices is that I have no stinking idea how to actually play Mahjong! :D

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Nintendo Famicom Watch – Timeless?

Hollo / 16 September, 2012 / 3 comments

First off, sorry about the ‘timeless’ bit in the title. The older I get the lamer I get. :D

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So…. A Famicom watch? No it doesn’t play games, no it doesn’t attract women in droves due to it’s super styling, but yes, it will raise your geekiness by at least a factor of 2!

I hadn’t seen one of these before, and I haven’t done a heap of research about it yet, but what I do know is that this is an official Nintendo product produced by BanPresto, and also that it was part of a collection of many. Anything else is pretty much a mystery at the moment.

This particular one is unused (as you might be able to tell due to the protective strip still being present), and based off images I found on-line it is unfortunately missing an outer box.

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I can kind of tell why this particular one was never used… It’s one ugly little machine! Still, there must have been some cool otaku (oxymoron? I think not!) somewhere with one of these, roaming around wearing it with a huge amount of pride.

I got this for about the equivalent of $20, and I’m not sure if I got a good deal or not, but it’s different and that’s good enough for me. :D

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If any one can point me in the direction to gain some more information about it, I’d love to hear from you. *Click on the thumbnails bellow to enlarge*

famicom-watch-nib nintendo-famicom-watch

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Category: Game&Watch/Handheld, Nintendo / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Tomy Retro Handhelds – LCD, What LCD?

Hollo / 11 September, 2012 / 4 comments

The 70s were great weren’t they? The movies, the hair cuts, the clothes, the music…. Ahh those were the days. Games may have required huge amounts of imagination to suspend disbelief, but once suspended, games were nothing short of amazing (may have gone too far with the ‘amazing’ bit, but you get the picture).

So what do we have here then? Just the closest thing to real sports that Tomy had to offer, that’s what! Tomy Black Racer, and Tomy Basketball. :D

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The Tomy Black Racer (cool name hey?) was released in 1978 to critical acclaim (not sure if there really was critical acclaim by the way), and even though it says “Digital” on the front of it, I don’t think there is much in way of digital internals….

Basically, there are just multiple tapes inside that simulate the road whizzing by, and by changing the gears you make the tapes move either quickly or slowly, thus giving the effect of breakneck speeds (breakneck speeds might be going to far, but it makes for good reading right?).

Although the forward movement of the car is simulated, the track doesn’t exactly have many corners simulated, but you need to steer left and right to avoid the other cars.

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*pictured bellow*
I believe that this game may have been the first handheld game to break censorship rules by the simulating enormous amounts of blood when you crash (this could be my supreme 70s child imagination kicking in though). :D

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You will see on the bottom left of the machine there is a lap counter (bit strange considering that you drive in a straight line, but what can you do hey?). The aim is to complete the largest distance in the time allocated. Crashing merely takes up precious time.

And no (before anyone asks), there isn’t force feedback on this bad boy.

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Bellow are the instructions. Gotta love the early Japanese manuals. :)

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Next up we have a Basketball sim that paved the way to classics like NBA Jam (don’t take my word on that one though) – Tomy Basketball. :D

The interesting thing about this one is that the players do not actually run around, which in many ways gives this game more similarity to Netball instead of Basketball (imagination was/is useful). You basically just pass, defend, and shoot.

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The LEDs represent the ball, and you score just like you would in real life (by pressing a button). The crowd screams during tight points, the cheer leaders are blistering hot during the half-time show, and the ref isn’t always fair (imagination working overtime once again), making this the ultimate in handheld basketball!

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I’m not actually sure when this one was released, but it definitely sports superior technology than that of the Black Racer. If any of you guys know when this came out, please fill me in so I can add it to the post.

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Although it may look like I am poking fun at these two machines, they really are quite fun to play. I would say my pick of the two would be Black Racer, but that’s purely because I’m not a huge basketball fan. Definitely recommended picking them up if you’re into collecting handhelds.

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Epoch Hang-on LCD – Not Quite Arcade Perfect….

Hollo / 2 July, 2012 / No comments

First off, I have to apologise for not getting more content up recently. Life has been absolutely crazy, and that’s putting it mildly… Anyway, I am back now – if only for this small post.

You guys may remember the ‘Epoch Bubble Bobble’ post I made a while back? Well if not, it was pretty much the Bubble Bobble version of what you see here – a small LCD handheld that someone would buy if they were spending too much cash on the arcade equivalent (‘equivalent’ used lightly), only to get home, rip off the wrapper and realise that it was nothing like the arcade machine.

Well, here we have the Hang-on handheld! Another handheld that is sure to disappoint those who expected the arcade in the palm of your hand. :D

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As I mentioned in the Bubble Bobble post, these particular LCDs aren’t exactly retro by any stretch of the imagination. The release dates for these don’t go that far back at all (2005 being the year of release), but that doesn’t make them any less sort after. Over here in Japan they come up reasonably often, but the prices vary wildly. I got this one sealed/unused for about the 1,000yen mark if I remember rightly, which I believe is a great deal.

I haven’t cracked this one open to try it out, so again I will turn to the great ‘Showagamer’ on youtube to demo this little LCD beast. :)

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