8th October 2014, 6:35 PM
TI 99/4A
--
Car Wars - $5, cart only. This is a version of Sega's Head-On, also known as Dodge 'em on the Atari 2600. Seems like a good port of this pre-Pac-Man maze game.
Genesis
--
Taz in Escape from Mars - $3, cart only. A lot better than the first Genesis Taz game, this one has fewer blind jumps and some interesting settings, being mostly set on Mars. It's still definitely average, but I do like it more than the not-too-great original Genesis Taz.
Also I got another Performance-brand N64 controller pak for $5. Those battery clips, Performance N64 memory cards are the best!... so long as you stick to their 1x cards and ignore the compressed ones.
In addition, I got a few games imported from Japan. Shipping for the four things was about $25 (prices below don't include the shipping).
Playstation
--
Goemon: Space Pirate Aoking - $8, complete. This is the first PS1 Goemon game. It's a SNES-like one, with entirely 2d graphics. Oddly, Sasuke and Yae aren't playable, and an old guy and a burly guy are instead. What? Well, the change must have been unpopular, because neither character ever appeared in a Goemon game again, and after this Konami went back to Sasuke and Yae as players three and four. Other than that, this is another of the isometric-style Goemon games, with some platformer bits. I now have three of the four PS1 Goemon games, which is pretty cool! Only missing that creative misfire, Goemon New Age.
Turbografx-16 (PC Engine)
--
Zipang - $11, complete. This is a good Solomon's Key-style platformer licensed from Taito. The graphics are small but good, and the puzzle/platforming action's fun. The game has password save, too. Unfortunately the passwords are sequences of six kanjis, but that's better than nothing, as in the original Solomon's Key!
PC Engine Arcade Card Pro - $43, card only. This is the last major piece of PCE hardware I didn't have -- an Arcade Card! Now I finally have teh complete system... well, apart from a second 6-button controller. I'll get one eventually. But the Arcade Card was the main thing, and it's really fantastic to finally have. The Arcade Card is a CD system bios card released only in Japan in 1994 which you use instead of the regular or Super CD cards, and it has over 2MB of RAM on it for large amounts of animation. I have several of the Arcade Card fighting games, so I wanted this too. Of course the Pro version (for regular TG16/PCE systems like mine) is a bit harder to find and more expensive than the Duo version (for PCE Duo, Duo-R, and Duo-RX systems), but ah well. I got a decent price for this; they're expensive, which is why it took this long for me to get one. Oh, in addition to several fighting games, I also have two games which support, but don't require, the Arcade Card. I know that 3x3 Eyes has better animation with it, but I'm not sure about Brandish... I presume better cutscenes, but I'll have to see if I can tell the difference!
Dreamcast
--
Vermilion Desert - $5, complete. This is a turn-based strategy game with a somewhat anime/military theme. Not a game you hear mentioned much, but I like strategy games and thought it looked interesting, and this copy went for cheap, so I picked it up.
--
Car Wars - $5, cart only. This is a version of Sega's Head-On, also known as Dodge 'em on the Atari 2600. Seems like a good port of this pre-Pac-Man maze game.
Genesis
--
Taz in Escape from Mars - $3, cart only. A lot better than the first Genesis Taz game, this one has fewer blind jumps and some interesting settings, being mostly set on Mars. It's still definitely average, but I do like it more than the not-too-great original Genesis Taz.
Also I got another Performance-brand N64 controller pak for $5. Those battery clips, Performance N64 memory cards are the best!... so long as you stick to their 1x cards and ignore the compressed ones.
In addition, I got a few games imported from Japan. Shipping for the four things was about $25 (prices below don't include the shipping).
Playstation
--
Goemon: Space Pirate Aoking - $8, complete. This is the first PS1 Goemon game. It's a SNES-like one, with entirely 2d graphics. Oddly, Sasuke and Yae aren't playable, and an old guy and a burly guy are instead. What? Well, the change must have been unpopular, because neither character ever appeared in a Goemon game again, and after this Konami went back to Sasuke and Yae as players three and four. Other than that, this is another of the isometric-style Goemon games, with some platformer bits. I now have three of the four PS1 Goemon games, which is pretty cool! Only missing that creative misfire, Goemon New Age.
Turbografx-16 (PC Engine)
--
Zipang - $11, complete. This is a good Solomon's Key-style platformer licensed from Taito. The graphics are small but good, and the puzzle/platforming action's fun. The game has password save, too. Unfortunately the passwords are sequences of six kanjis, but that's better than nothing, as in the original Solomon's Key!
PC Engine Arcade Card Pro - $43, card only. This is the last major piece of PCE hardware I didn't have -- an Arcade Card! Now I finally have teh complete system... well, apart from a second 6-button controller. I'll get one eventually. But the Arcade Card was the main thing, and it's really fantastic to finally have. The Arcade Card is a CD system bios card released only in Japan in 1994 which you use instead of the regular or Super CD cards, and it has over 2MB of RAM on it for large amounts of animation. I have several of the Arcade Card fighting games, so I wanted this too. Of course the Pro version (for regular TG16/PCE systems like mine) is a bit harder to find and more expensive than the Duo version (for PCE Duo, Duo-R, and Duo-RX systems), but ah well. I got a decent price for this; they're expensive, which is why it took this long for me to get one. Oh, in addition to several fighting games, I also have two games which support, but don't require, the Arcade Card. I know that 3x3 Eyes has better animation with it, but I'm not sure about Brandish... I presume better cutscenes, but I'll have to see if I can tell the difference!
Dreamcast
--
Vermilion Desert - $5, complete. This is a turn-based strategy game with a somewhat anime/military theme. Not a game you hear mentioned much, but I like strategy games and thought it looked interesting, and this copy went for cheap, so I picked it up.