Yet Another Game Haul Post….

Sorry to do it to you again guys, but I have another photoblog that highlights just how cool retro hunting in Japan is. I know I’ve said it before that Japan is starting to dry up for retro gear (at least near where I live), and that still applies – even so, you just don’t get this kind of luck anywhere else in the world! ๐Ÿ™‚

So what gear do we have today then….

Before I get into that, I have to say that the post today is brought to you by a pretty horrible head cold. I was at the desk, and there was no way I could finish off the official work I had on, so why not head home and put up a post.

Hopefully I didn’t leave any snot on the gear, but if you do see a few specks let me know. ๐Ÿ˜€

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OK so first off….

A TaTaKon (Taiko controller) and a few games for the PS2. I’ve actually wanted one of these Taiko controllers for ages, but I always thought they were a bit pricey – however this weekend luck was on my side! I managed to score this controller for the hefty sum of $3 in one of the junk bins of HobbyOff. Most of the PS2 games there were in the junk bins too, so there are a few scratches, but for the prices I can’t complain at all. Katamari Damashi was a game that I had borrowed, so I’m happy to finally have my own copy without having to pay $20 – I got this for only $1.

*Click on any thumbs to enlarge*
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Next up, a bunch of PCE titles. These weren’t actually obtained from the wild – well, unless you count Yahoo auctions as ‘the wild’ that is. There were a few that I needed in the bunch, so I basically bought this heap just for about 3 or 4 games.

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Some little figures for SNK vs Capcom. There were another thing gotten from the auctions that arrived over the weekend. They were pretty cheap, so I thought why not – not like I could get them outside of Japan very easily right?

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Not into real life Pachinko/Pachislo a great deal, but I do like the controllers and games for the TV. I have one of these controllers for the PCE, and to see one for the Famicom in the wild was a first, so I grabbed it. Managed to score a few boxed Famicom games as well, plus some new PCE and Saturn titles.

All of these were gotten from one of the HardOffs I frequent – unfortunately this HardOff has some of the rudest staff members you’ll be likely to meet in Japan though. Those of you that have been over here know how rare it is to get rude sales staff, so it’s a bit disappointing to hand over the cash, but hey…. they’re cheap! ๐Ÿ™‚

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Yet another thing that I am now hooked on getting… Game related Manga! I found out about these recently while searching for something else online, and now it’s looking like I need to get the whole set – not easy to find though. I got this one from a BookOff that’s really close to my place (the first one I looked in incidentally), and then every other book related place I’ve been in came up with nothing. Have to persevere though!

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A few N64 and Nintendo related items. Got these from a BookMarket (not related to BookOff/HardOff/HobbyOff etc.) – you wait till you see what else came from this shop later in the post!

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PS2 special editions. I had one of these before (the Love Songs one), and sold it on. As this was only the second one I have seen in the wild, I thought I’d grab it just in case someone wants it back home.

Check out that pocket-watch in the Grandia set though! Won’t be long before they don’t even give you disks with the games you buy – stupid digital distribution….

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A nice Final Fantasy Wonderswan Color. This was about $5!!! My jaw seriously dropped when I saw this for that cheap. A few posts back I talked about a cool game shop that is absolutely meticulous in the way they wrap and store games which you may remember. Well, this was bought from that same chain – Chamelon Club. Really great stores made even greater by finding this for $5!

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Some Gamecube manuals bought from Book Market, and although these are related to the very cool item I mentioned previously in this post bought from the same place, these are not it. Also another DK G&W, as you can never have too many. ๐Ÿ™‚

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And finally…. The pick of the bunch!

A Metal Gear Solid Gamecube limited edition! I have only seen one of these once before, and as I didn’t know what it was, I went home to look it up on the web (before smartphone days), and by the time I got back it had been sold…. Like I said previously in this post, I got this – and some other great stuff – from BookMarket. This was the first time I had checked the store out too, so needless to say I will be going in there again! To top things off with GC, it was literally half the price of the last one I saw!

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So, not a bad trek into the Japanese wild (plus a few auction finds thrown in). Ahh Japan. ๐Ÿ˜€

Just a Quick Post – Laser Disk Frenzy

Based on a conversation in another post regarding Laser Disks, I stopped in and grabbed a bunch of the Anime related ones. I am not a huge Anime fan by any stretch, but I thought friends might be interested in them, and the art work on them is pretty darn cool if I get stuck with them. One thing that struck me about having so many in one bunch was the weight of them though – these together were so heavy that by the time I got home, the bag was stretched and deformed.

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The first thing I am going to post a picture of though (sectioned off as to not intrude on the LD-ness of this post), is this original 70s Japanese Starwars record I got my hands on. Total fluke to find this one! It was mixed in with the Anime LDs and was priced low. ๐Ÿ˜ฎ

*Click on the thumbs to expand*

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Enough of the non-LD related, now moving onto the LDs. As I bought the LDs you see bellow purely based on if the LD had cool cover art (from my subjective viewpoint of course), I’m really not sure what I have here, so if there is anything worth while let me know – looking at you Ji-L87. ๐Ÿ˜‰

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These Evangelion LDs pictured bellow are actually still sealed. This may be an indicator of just how crap they are, or just how short lived the format was – either way, I’m sure being sealed will appeal to guys out there collecting these sort of things. ๐Ÿ˜€

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*Cough* Nothing to see here bellow, nothing to see here…. ๐Ÿ˜€

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I really like the artwork of the this one bellow (first picture showing the front cover, and the second showing the inside). No country does Robots like Japan!

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Slayers seem to have been licensed to pretty much every format. Definitely make for good LD covers though.

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The one pictured in the bottom right hand corner bellow is pretty unique (as far as I know anyway). It’s a rental version, and the disk is actually gold. This is the first time I have seen a gold LD, but I have to admit that doesn’t mean much, as I owned only two LDs before buying this lot. ๐Ÿ˜€

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Well, I think I managed to get all the pictures up. Like I said, I know nothing about these from a collectors standpoint, so any info. would be great. ๐Ÿ™‚

Another Retro Haul Post

Due to time being in short supply for the past four months or so, I haven’t been able to really get out there and hunt like I used to. I was getting withdrawals bad, so luckily, the past week or two I have had time to get out there and see what’s been on offer. Some may say that I’ve gone overboard with this latest lot, but the gap between hauls meant that I had no choice but to buy everything I saw that was worth while – regardless of whether or not I had it already. ๐Ÿ˜€

First up, the Dreamcast lot. I got this off the auctions for an absolute bargain – about 5,000yen all up after fees and shipping. In the pictures on the auction there wasn’t a great deal of detail – not all boxes were shown, and the condition explanation was iffy to say the least. I decided to bid on it anyway, and I’m glad that I did! Everything had their baggies, instructions, and inserts, plus some of the items are 100% new-old-stock – meaning unused. Got a wheel, twin sticks, console, controller, fight stick, keyboards, and of course, a console itself.

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Next comes the Game & Watch Fire (bought as junk from HardOff for next to nothing, but may not work…), SF Memory carts which I have been after for ages, a couple of 3D Systems, and a final fantasy toy. Looking forward to testing the G&W!

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Definitely one of the gems of the lot is the white Gameboy original you see there in the picture bellow. I didn’t know anything about it, and I hadn’t seen one of these before, so I grabbed it (I remember that philosophy worked well when getting that Jusco N64), and to top it off, it was found in an unlikely place too. I will probably do a single post about it when I get the chance. Those Sakura Pockets are unused and sealed too – pretty happy about that as I didn’t know that when buying.

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Bellow is just a few of the PS2 and Xbox disks. Pretty happy to get the KoF as I didn’t have that version before. Also a couple of Megadrive carts as well. **Click on the thumbs to expand**

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Moving on to the next few pictures bellow, we have the PC Engine Duo (yes another one), and a box of PCE goodies. Although I have everything I see here already, I couldn’t bring myself to leave it all in the stores that I found them in. I know there are always guys back home after these, so hit me up if you’re keen.

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Here we have a random pile of goodness – Some NeoGeo CDs, a Saturn Bomberman controller (don’t see these often at all), and some NeoGeo Pockets. Also have some Wonderswan Color games, a MegaCD disk, and a N64 cart. Crap, that was a random pic… ๐Ÿ˜€

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Some more great NeoGeo CDs, and a few DC disks that I couldn’t let sit there. A few of these titles (NGCD) I didn’t have before either, so to find them in the wild was very nice indeed! **Again, click to enlarge**

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Anyone up for 1960s slotcar action? Not really something I want to try and plug in and get power into in all honestly – early electric goods are something that should NOT be used on a tatami floor in a wooden house. I know nothing about slotcars though, so if anyone knows their slotcar sets, feel free to chime in and let me know what I have here. All I know is that it’s old…

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Also got myself a few spare Famciom Disksystems from one of the HardOff stores. Cosmetically they look pretty nice, but I doubt very much the rubber bands will still be intact – never know your luck though.

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And the final picture contains a bag of random Starwars figures. Unfortunately these aren’t the original 70s/80s items, but they do have all accessories and they were pretty cheap – cheap enough that I couldn’t leave them there anyway.

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Well, that should tide the addiction of retro hunting over for at least a few more weeks. I’m pretty happy with this lot, and hopefully there is more around the corner – at least until the rest of the stores close down. Doing my part to keep them in business, but they are definitely drying up fast these days. ๐Ÿ™

Something a Bit Different – Playstation 2 Linux Kit

Occasionally, you come across gear of the more unique variety while in Japan, and although this isn’t the weirdest bit of gear I have picked up in my time here, it’s definitely one of the cooler things I’ve picked up – specially as I’m an avid Linux user. The Sony Playstation 2 Linux Kit. ๐Ÿ™‚

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This particular Linux kit is unused, but the person who had it before me decided that they wanted to keep the VGA cable. This was a downer, but as the rest of it is all sealed up (and considering the bargain price I paid), I can’t complain too much. According to the web, the VGA cable isn’t exactly the greatest anyway, but it still would’ve been nice to have it included though….

So what’s in the box? A full set should include a USB keyboard and mouse, a HDD unit, a PC card network adapter that connects to the PS2’s PCMCIA, a VGA cable, and a DVD-ROM containing the dev libraries.

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The card that connects via the PCMCIA slot has inputs for both Ethernet and HDD connections. The 40GB HDD is one heavy little unit actually. At first I wasn’t expecting the weight of this thing!

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Unfortunately, for us that are used to English keyboards, the keyboard is just your standard Japanese format keyboard. It does proudly have the Playstation logo on it though which is pretty cool. As this unit is sealed I can’t give you any impressions of how the keyboard feels, but through the plastic it doesn’t seem too bad. Both the keyboard and mouse are standard USB, so I assume that using your other keyboards and mice is an option – anyone chime in that may know more about that though.

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Although there isn’t a great deal of information online anymore (since the removal of playstation2-linux.com/), you can still find the repositories for the forum posts and content from here bellow:
http://psx-scene.com/forums/f167/links-www-playstation2-linux-com-archives-repository-89005/

Personally as this unit is still sealed, and there is the chance that it might be sold on depending on my energy levels, I am not going to be opening it up to test it out. There are just too many people out there that see it as a really interesting piece of gaming history to open it up at this time.

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Well, this may be the last mainstream console to actually give users the tools to really tinker – at least in a legal unhacked kind of way. I doubt very much you’ll see anything similar for the next gen Xbox or Playstations. ๐Ÿ˜‰

Mandai – Massive Japanese Retro Store!

Mandai is a pretty big chain of stores here in Japan. They specialise in almost everything retro, used, or quirky in some way. The only trouble with these stores is that the prices vary dramatically, and to get a good deal it can be rare. Still, I have bought some very nice items from this place in the past, but on this trip it was not to be.

It’s always a good sign of an interesting store when there is a giant robot out the front right?

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And it’s even better (as a sign of a place I want to go into) when the giant robot is sporting a game controller as a belt buckle. ๐Ÿ˜€

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The range this place carries is nothing short of amazing, but the stock doesn’t seem to rotate all that often unfortunately – mainly due to the prices. Don’t get me wrong, the prices are quite fair on average, but they’re just not the usual jaw-droppingly cheap that a game hoarder becomes accustomed to here in Japan.

This item bellow is something I hadn’t seen before. Maybe Sean from the Famicom blog can shed some more light on it. It is a Karaoke unit for the Famicom of all things. I would love to hear the 8-bit renditions of 80s J-Pop that would come with it! I was very tempted to pick this up, and in all honesty I might go back and grab it if anyone can fill me in on it.

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A few N64s for the taking. ๐Ÿ˜€

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There is so much here that getting everything in a single shot is pretty much impossible. Bellow we have a few pics of the Super Famicom sections.

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As you can probable tell this far into the post, this particular shop is large, very large, but the pictures really do not give the size away. Even when there in person, the front door of the shop opens up to almost a Tardis like experience. The first thing you notice is a massive Pachinko/Pachislo parlour, then the place opens out into a myriad a colours and sounds in an almost seizure inducing mess.

Some Saturn,Dreamcast, NeoGeo, and VirtualBoy stuff.

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Here we have one of the isles. This one has a fair bit of the N64 stuff, and some more Super Famicom carts.

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Sorry for the blurry picture on this one guys. As I have mentioned before, taking pictures in Japanese stores isn’t looked on too kindly, so I had to rush around to get these pictures. Unfortunately this means that the Famicom carts ended up being a bit on the blurry side. ๐Ÿ™

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OK enough of the games for a second…. Like I mentioned above, this place is massive, and stocks so many different things that you will never get through the lot in one go – that is not an exaggeration! I usually get into complete meltdown after about 50% exploration. Bellow I have taken some random pictures of stuff that I thought would suit fellow geeks. ๐Ÿ˜€

A life sized Yoda! Yes, I understand that Yoda is not real, but if he were, this is how big he’d be. ๐Ÿ˜€

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Hentai section for all that is cute, fury, tentacle-like, or a combination of all three. ๐Ÿ˜€

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Yes, Godzilla is in fact smaller than DarthVader – always knew this was the case.

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I was not expecting to find Coneheads toys!

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And finally we have the Megadrive section on the left and game books/tutorial on the right. The picture bellow that is an area of the PS2 section that would fit into the frame. I kid you not, that would be less than 20% of what’s there for PS2!

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Just looking through these pictures makes me realise just how much game gear I have missed! I missed the GameCube, Handhelds, any current Gen machines and games, plus so many other interesting sections of the store. This place is amazing to walk through for any serious Otaku, but I would definitely recommend going on a weekday if possible – people just add to the claustrophobic feeling of the place.

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