Tag: Nintendo

Some Good News, and……

Well, some of you may remember the post in which I talked about a retro gaming mega-store here in Japan with one of the biggest ranges I have seen anywhere. If not you can take a look at it here:

Retro Gaming Store in Japan

Anyway I had a few minutes over lunch today, so why not head out before the golden week rush for a “junk” run right? I am extremely happy I took the time, as it seems that this shop (the mega-store of all mega-stores in my area) had reduced the prices of all the retro games to sell – this is the good news if you’re wondering. Prices were all the same regardless of titles too! Knowing the stock of this place, the bargains people would have gotten before me would have been insane.

The bad news is that it looks as if they are taking focus away from retro all together. 🙁 Shelving has reduced in size, with some shelves even have disappeared since I was last there. This is sad, sad news for the long term as this place was (past tense used with great sorrow) a goldmine…..

So today I went out in a blaze of glory with over 300 games purchased in one go. Here are a few pics:

Japanese games 1

Japanese games 2

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I did speak with the guy behind the counter asking why there were reductions in prices, and he answered “they were always this price”. Um, no they weren’t. I was there only a week or so ago and they weren’t this cheap. I will go in again soon and ask someone else. I seriously hope they are just making space for more stock, but unfortunately it doesn’t look like it. 🙁

Japanese games 4

Japanese games 5

So as you can see I cleaned up on PCE, MegaCD, 3DO, NGCD, Saturn, and DC. The amount of cool DC and NGCD games I would have missed out on though….

It really is a time of great sadness even though I got so many great games. I feel totally torn – on the one hand I got some great games that I have been after for a while, but on the other hand this place may cease to exist!

I will keep you posted….. 🙁

Nintendo Disk System Card Cleaner

The Nintendo Disk System was an attachment that you would sit your Famicom on top of to play floppy disk based games.

Nintendo actually had game kiosks (vending machines) that would allow you to put in some money, put in an old Disk System game, and then have a new game copied on top of the disk – ahhh, the good ol’ days when piracy was not an issue at all.

But what happens when those disks get covered in grime? Well, you throw it in Nintendo Disk System Card Cleaner for a few spins.

nintendo-disk-system-disk-cleaner

These little units have a tape like substance that you can wind until you found a clean spot, then once your game was placed, you would rotate the disk to clean. Quite simple and it does the trick quite well.

Click to enlarge:
nintendo-disk-system-disk-cleaner-1 nintendo-disk-system-disk-cleaner-2

Unfortunately, the tape like material doesn’t really stand the test of time too well at all, and honestly speaking I probably wouldn’t trust it to clean my Super Mario 2, or my Kid Icarus.

It is a nice little unit to add to any hoard though. 🙂

Nintendo Block Kuzushi – 70s style, but only for Japan

First off, I must apologise for the lack of content recently. I have been insanely busy, and losing a chunk of my roof didn’t help me free up any time, but I am now back with the amazing Block Kuzushi! 🙂

Nintendo were pumping out some great machines back in the late 70s with the ‘TV Game’ series, and although the ‘Block Kuzushi’ was quite different when compared with it’s ‘TV Game’ brothers, it must have been something special as it was the first console that Nintendo decided to put their logo on.

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Released in 1979, Nintendo was trying to break-in to the break-out market (gamers will know what that means), and with design influence from Shigeru Miyamoto this 70s beast was a looker.

It is a single player machine with a range of game modes, but all the game modes pretty much equate to the same thing – break-out. Luckily with instructional graphics included on the control panel, it does have very user-friendly interface for people with no Japanese ability (as shown bellow).

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Nintendo is (and always has been) a forerunner when it comes to compatibility of adapters and peripherals with their range of machines. All the ‘TV Game series’ and the Block Kuzushi use the same adapter and RF switch. Sega didn’t do that Frank! 😉

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In play the Nintendo Block Kuzushi stands up very well with other break-out clones of the period, and honestly is still a great game even today.

It has a very solid wheel that 33 years on feels tough and responsive, and much like the other consoles released from Nintendo in the 70s (maybe with the exception of ‘Racing 112’) once I get it out I can’t help but sit down and play.

I actually delayed my schedule by almost an hour this morning by deciding to blog about this machine! 😀

If I was to complain about it at all I would probably say that the switches are a little bit on the twitchy side. I find I have to move switches a few times for them to register properly, but other than that I have no complaints, specially when you consider the age of the machine.

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The 70s styling of the Nintendo Block Kuzushi makes it one of the best looking consoles around (in my opinion anyway). Everything from the art work in the manual, to the buttons and dials scream flared pants and plastic furniture! Just wish I had an orange TV to go with it.

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Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh the 70s!

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The Nintendo Block Kuzushi commands a fair price these days (from $60 – $200), but it’s well worth the money for any serious game collector. 🙂

Epoch Bubble Bobble LCD – Arcade in the palm of your hand?

I picked this Epoch Bubble Bobble LCD up a few weeks back, and I thought it was well worth a post as I’d never seen one before achat viagra 10 mg. I can’t actually recall where I snagged this from – which shows you that I may have a buying problem – but was cheap enough, and the fact that it’s still sealed and unused definitely made it a must buy.

bubble-bobble-lcd-game-epoch

Epoch released some great LCD and VFD based games in the 1980s, but this particular game was released in 2005. Even though it’s not exactly vintage it’s still quite sort after, and it’s not unheard of to see them selling for around the $60.

I have not cracked this one open to try it out, and in all honesty I probably won’t, but if you’re keen to see it in action, a great Youtuber by the name of ‘Showagamer has a video of it running.

Not quite the arcade classic by any means, but neither was Nintendo’s Donkey Kong Game & Watch – that didn’t make it any less of a great handheld. ?

Retro Gaming Store in Japan

There is the quaint little retro gaming store in Japan that sells the odd Famicom cart, the occasional Saturn disk, or even a few systems or two, then there are super-ultra stores like the one I am going to show you today.

This particular shop is about 20 minutes from my house, and it’s one of the biggest places I’ve ever seen here for retro gaming gear. There are others that are similar in size, but this shop actually has prices you want to pay. It is almost set up like a supermarket with isles, a little basket to carry around, and even a taster section with four or five systems setup for people to play.

Before I put any photos up, it has to be said that people managing stores in Japan are very reluctant to have photos taken. I took as many photos as I could, but it was impossible to get photos of everything. I missed not only the hardware section, but also the PS2, Gameboy, Megadrive (Genesis), MegaCD, Saturn (the list goes on actually) and most of the boxed games sections.

Anyway, now onto the photos….

I would love to get my hands on this giant Mario – Hmmm that sounds slightly odd now that I think about it. 😀

japanese-game-shop-mario

One of the loose Famicom cart Isles (pictured bellow). Yes I say ‘one of’, as there are a few. You can see at the end of the isle there part of the boxed games section for Famicom too.

japanese-game-shop-famicom

Another really great thing about this place is there is a GameCenterCX section if you want to play the games that are featured on the show. If you are wondering what GameCenterCX is, then I suggest taking a look on Youtube. It is one of the coolest retro game shows anywhere! Unfortunately I couldn’t get any photos of the GameCenterCX section.

Mind boggling range of Super Famicom carts. Again, this is only one of the Super Famicom Isles.

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Again I couldn’t get great pictures of everything, but what you see here is just a part of the cased PCE games they have on offer. You can pretty much find everything here.

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Bellow is just a part of the DreamCast section. If you’re wondering, that whole top row is for NeoGeoCD, and you may notice that there are some big empty spaces in the NeoGeo section – this is mainly because I bought 20 odd on this particular day. 🙂

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This terrible photo (bellow) is trying to show you one of the toy racks dedicated to game related merchandise. They have all sorts of gear here, from recent Mario themed board games, through to figures of Ken in Street Fighter.

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A closer look at the boxed Famicom and Super Famciom section (bellow).

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I really wish I could have shown you everything. Just looking through the pictures there is so much I missed. This place has so much stuff that I know it will bring a tear to any retro gamer’s eye – specially the guys I know back home who feel great joy just finding a dozen or so carts in the wild.

And just before I go. This place doesn’t only sell games too! There are huge sections for toys, clothing, electronics, and pretty much any other type of used goods you can think of. Not bad considering I actually live in rural Japan! 😮

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