30th June 2022, 9:44 AM
I've been using buyee.jp to snag a lot of Japanese auctions. It's been the cheapest way by FAR to get PC Engine games, even with the rather hefty shipping fee the company tacks on, namely the ones that either never were localized in English or where localization frankly doesn't even matter. It's how I got Splatterhouse cheaply, for example. (That game doesn't have a word of Japanese in it's Japanese incarnation, and it's entirely uncensored to boot. The terror mask even keeps that white "hockey mask" appearance they'd keep in later games. Speaking of, Splatterhouse 2 and 3's Japanese versions both feature fully english text for the storyline so importing those will likely end up the far cheaper option as well. Thing is, I'm going to need to cut away some of the cartridge slot on my Genesis to fit those Megadrive carts in... Unlike the SNES and N64 mods, this will actually be visible on the outside of the system. I'm not looking forward to it, but what must be must be. The only alternative would be importing a Megadrive and well... no thank you.)
So, it won't be how I get Neutopia (which is a must since I understand it's a pretty good Zeldalike), but I've just snagged the full Bomberman trilogy for PC Engine for about $60. I checked out some details on a Bomberman fan site and it seems that out of the whole trilogy, the only bits in Japanese are 94's world stage names and '93's descriptions of stages and boss tactics. I consider this an acceptable snackfrifice.
Oh, and somehow or another a copy of that 3 in 1 game ended up on a ridiculously cheap sale here in the US, cheaper than Gate of Thunder by itself, so now I own Gate of Thunder (as well as CD versions of the first two Bonks and Bomberman via some cheat code, but I'll stick with the Hucard versions of those three). What's nice is it seems this pack-in comes with full manuals for all three (alright, not Bomberman so I don't get that hilariously ugly box art), so it's currently sitting on my shelf with Gate of Thunder's manual slipped in the case. Yes ABF, I finally have a "shmup", and wow is this a good one! I'd never played a game where I'm a valkyrie fighting robots to a metal soundtrack, but this is certainly that thing I said.
So, it won't be how I get Neutopia (which is a must since I understand it's a pretty good Zeldalike), but I've just snagged the full Bomberman trilogy for PC Engine for about $60. I checked out some details on a Bomberman fan site and it seems that out of the whole trilogy, the only bits in Japanese are 94's world stage names and '93's descriptions of stages and boss tactics. I consider this an acceptable snackfrifice.
Oh, and somehow or another a copy of that 3 in 1 game ended up on a ridiculously cheap sale here in the US, cheaper than Gate of Thunder by itself, so now I own Gate of Thunder (as well as CD versions of the first two Bonks and Bomberman via some cheat code, but I'll stick with the Hucard versions of those three). What's nice is it seems this pack-in comes with full manuals for all three (alright, not Bomberman so I don't get that hilariously ugly box art), so it's currently sitting on my shelf with Gate of Thunder's manual slipped in the case. Yes ABF, I finally have a "shmup", and wow is this a good one! I'd never played a game where I'm a valkyrie fighting robots to a metal soundtrack, but this is certainly that thing I said.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)