Post here every time you get something new!

Pyongyang

EnterNow wrote: »

Even if it had Jap text? No thanks, much prefer to know whats being said in games

Yep. Even with Japanese text, one of my collection 'rules' is buy NTSC-J wherever possible because that's what I want for my collection. Obviously I don't buy NTSC-J RPG's, that's just pointless. Or, Othello and Go! or Pachislot games for that matter.

It doesn't matter for shooting games anyway, noone cares about the plot! :pac:

o1s1n

That's the great thing about shmups/run n guns and platformers too to a certain extent - you don't need to know Japanese to play them. And there's something oddly enjoyable (for me anyway!) in trying to navigate your way through some Japanese menus.

The only game from such a genre that I've had a little difficulty with so far is Assault Suit Leynos 2. It's a **** hard game, so being able to read the menus would be handy.

Still, when the game actually kicks off, language really doesn't matter.

Myrddin

Pyongyang wrote: »

Yep. Even with Japanese text, one of my collection 'rules' is buy NTSC-J wherever possible because that's what I want for my collection. Obviously I don't buy NTSC-J RPG's, that's just pointless. Or, Othello and Go! or Pachislot games for that matter.

It doesn't matter for shooting games anyway, noone cares about the plot! :pac:

Fully apprereciate what your saying. What is it though about having JAP versions that attracts you to owning them? I can understand when there's functional differences like 60hz optimisation & regional exclusivity etc, but when its the same game only in Japanese I never understand why people would want it. Enlighten me

o1s1n

Japanese games smell nicer?

Myrddin

o1s1n wrote: »

Japanese games smell nicer?

Ahhh, that's it, forgot this was Pyong

I suppose after doing so many region mods on consoles, I don't really see the differences between say the SFC & the SNES. The SFC has 5v applied to pin x of the PPu chip, while the SNES has that pin grounded. The cart innards are also exactly the same, with only a different CIC chip in order to match whatever one is in the console.

As I said, when there's an optimisation or some gain to be got from it then that's understandable...I just don'[t get it when the two games are identical why would someone pick the JAP one instead? Discounting box art etc, I know the JAP stuff tends to be better equipped in the art department also.

Also, I'm not dismissing why you do it by any mean, is it just simply a thing for wanting JAP versions, more of a personal habit thing like?

Pyongyang

Yep, it's just my preference. Like, I dunno, some people only collect Lalique plates. Or some people only collect 00 gauge model trains. Some collect PAL only video games.

I try to collect NTSC-J only. I prefer the art, the presentation, the uniqueness, the limited editions are nicer etc etc. It's just personal preference really. For me it's NTSC-J only. Unless it's something text heavy at which point I would buy PAL or NTSC-U.

Myrddin

Pyongyang wrote: »

Yep, it's just my preference. Like, I dunno, some people only collect Lalique plates. Or some people only collect 00 gauge model trains. Some collect PAL only video games.

I try to collect NTSC-J only. I prefer the art, the presentation, the uniqueness, the limited editions are nicer etc etc. It's just personal preference really. For me it's NTSC-J only. Unless it's something text heavy at which point I would buy PAL or NTSC-U.

Yep, I see what you mean. A lot of the artwork is much better, & as you say, special edition goodies tend to be much better.

Pyongyang

That's not to rule out PAL releases at all. Some are really collectible and valuable. Some titles only ever saw a PAL release too. I can't think of many, if any shooting games that fit this criteria, although the PAL Darius II for Saturn I believe is worth a few bob.

For me though, I just like NTSC-J. Some of the limited edition items available in Japan only are simply smashing. Not to mention the gashapon ships, Gunpla, RC kits, artbooks, guides, posters, soundtracks, deluxe boxes the list goes on.

johnny_ultimate

TBH, as much as I love Japanese stuff (which will come as a huge shock to anyone who knows me) if you don't understand it then there's little to no point in buying it. There are exceptions, granted: a cheap rarity or a game that was never released here, maybe (I know I was tempted to pick up a copy of Ni No Kuni just for the collector's book). But if it ever gets to the point when you're buying JRPGs or other text heavy games in Japanese, I'd personally recommend taking a step back.

Luckily, shooters and a handful of other genres like fighting games, racing games and (certain) platformers tend to be import friendly. Even within that there's exceptions though! I picked up a cheap copy of Bangai O-Spirits in Japan, making the incorrect assumption that since it was Treasure it would be fairly self-explanatory. How wrong I was, and the second I hit a weapon select screen my foolhardy purchase become all too obvious. Nice to have, granted, but a waste of money it certainly was

Games aren't made to be put on a shelf, or bought just because they're Japanese. They're made to be played. And if you can't play it, IMO it's a waste of money!

Trevor451

Just stumbled upon my SNES + 13 games

http://i.imgur.com/A4ZGo.jpg

Retr0gamer

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

TBH, as much as I love Japanese stuff (which will come as a huge shock to anyone who knows me) if you don't understand it then there's little to no point in buying it. There are exceptions, granted: a cheap rarity or a game that was never released here, maybe (I know I was tempted to pick up a copy of Ni No Kuni just for the collector's book). But if it ever gets to the point when you're buying JRPGs or other text heavy games in Japanese, I'd personally recommend taking a step back.

Definitely wouldn't buy a japanese game if it was impossible to play without understanding it. However sometimes the japanese releases are much better. Case in point Super Aleste which had all the story cutscenes cut out for the western release. Streets of Rage 3 is practically unplayable in it's western release state but the japanese one is much better.

johnny_ultimate

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Definitely wouldn't buy a japanese game if it was impossible to play without understanding it. However sometimes the japanese releases are much better. Case in point Super Aleste which had all the story cutscenes cut out for the western release. Streets of Rage 3 is practically unplayable in it's western release state but the japanese one is much better.

Not denying that at all Indeed, I'd often go for the Japanese version if the language barrier is going to have no effect on the game.

And the boxart does tend to be nicer

o1s1n

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Games aren't made to be put on a shelf, or bought just because they're Japanese. They're made to be played. And if you can't play it, IMO it's a waste of money!

Games are meant to be whatever the purchaser wants them to be

I buy games all the time for other reasons than just playing them. Does that make me insane? Possibly!

It's back to the whole stamp collecting thing. Do stamp collectors buy stamps to use them to post things? Nope, they buy them for collection sake. Some people do that with games too.

As for the Jap language thing, I rather have games as close to their original vision as possible. It's not just language, a lot of the time things get censored out when released in the west.

It's the same with film too.

Unfortunately I don't speak Japanese so any genre outside of shooters I usually have to pick up in English.

If I could speak Japanese I'd be NTSC J for everything.

Myrddin

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Definitely wouldn't buy a japanese game if it was impossible to play without understanding it. However sometimes the japanese releases are much better. Case in point Super Aleste which had all the story cutscenes cut out for the western release. Streets of Rage 3 is practically unplayable in it's western release state but the japanese one is much better.

And are those cutscenes in English or Japanese text? How is SoR3 next to unplayable? Surely that's an exaggeration :eek:

o1s1n

EnterNow wrote: »

And are those cutscenes in English or Japanese text? How is SoR3 next to unplayable? Surely that's an exaggeration :eek:

Japanese text cutscenes is better than none at all!

Cybernator/Assault Suit Valken is the same...if you have the Japanese version (and can actually make it to the end of the game) you'll get to see someone commit suicide..obviously removed from the Western release.

Streets of Rage 3 is playable, and it's not so bad, but a lot of the fun seems to have been taken out of it. The difficulty level was ramped up for one, to stupid levels. As a result it's a challange, but nowhere near as enjoyable as a romp through SOR 2.

Plus one of the best sprites in a game ever was edited out!

Myrddin

o1s1n wrote: »

Japanese text cutscenes is better than none at all!

Cybernator/Assault Suit Valken is the same...if you have the Japanese version (and can actually make it to the end of the game) you'll get to see someone commit suicide..obviously removed from the Western release

But you won't have a notion about what the context is, or the backdrop/story to the cutscenes? Maybe it doesn't matter in some games ie shmups etc though.

johnny_ultimate

o1s1n wrote: »

It's the same with film too.

Unfortunately I don't speak Japanese so any genre outside of shooters I usually have to pick up in English.

If I could speak Japanese I'd be NTSC J for everything.

Again your preaching to the long since converted I think dubbing - games and films - is a horrific waste of resources. People who insist on not watching subs are frankly wrong.

But i still wouldn't watch or buy a film that I wasn't going to understand. That's all Im saying. Again you're not going to find many Japanese culture obsessives as i am. Still wouldn't buy a Japanese language JRPG though

Pyongyang

I think dubbing - games and films - is a horrific waste of resources. People who insist on not watching subs are frankly wrong.

110% agree. I always buy subbed (where applicable), I've been doing it for years. When I was a nipper I'd save up my allowance and paper round money etc and buy the AnimEigo subbed VHS releases. Same with HK movies and any world cinema really.

I love collecting R3 Korean limited editions. At the lock-up in the UK I have the R3 super limited edition versions of ...ing, Il Mare and Natural City. Lovely presentation sets for cracking good movies. I have a nice Man Bites Dog VHS limited edition too somewhere. Another fine movie.

But i still wouldn't watch or buy a film that I wasn't going to understand.

Depends. The Darius movie I have is understandable (just about, it is Darius after all). Back in the day I used to get unsubbed anime sent to me. I recall having both Silent Mobius movies sent to me on VHS from a friend in Germany. I got sent translations (fanscripts) on a separate floppy disk to print out!

Still wouldn't buy a Japanese language JRPG though

Ditto.

o1s1n

EnterNow wrote: »

But you won't have a notion about what the context is, or the backdrop/story to the cutscenes? Maybe it doesn't matter in some games ie shmups etc though.

Ah yes but here's the thing, there are a few of reasons for watching cut scenes.

The obvious one is as part of the narative. If it's in a different language, you can still sometimes make out what's going on by the imagery. Stories can be told with pictures alone.

Then there's the fact that it's meant to be in the game. By playing a game with them removed, you're playing a game which is lacking some of the original content.

Then there's the simple fact that I love animation and drawing. I like looking at well drawn things, even if they are plastered with Japanese text I don't understand

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

But i still wouldn't watch or buy a film that I wasn't going to understand. That's all Im saying. Again you're not going to find many Japanese culture obsessives as i am. Still wouldn't buy a Japanese language JRPG though

Have you never watched/played something you don't understand purely for the experience of its oddness (which is made even more odd by not understanding it)? That can be an enjoyable thing in itself.

I don't mean watching daytime tv in Japanese though, more along the lines of that PS1 game LSD. The sheer amount of 'wtf?!' moments are enjoyable.

Myrddin

o1s1n wrote: »

Have you never watched/played something you don't understand purely for the experience of its oddness

Isn't that an experience solely limited to people who visit Amsterdam a lot?

o1s1n

EnterNow wrote: »

Isn't that an experience solely limited to people who visit Amsterdam a lot?

I assume you're talking about how odd an experience the Anne Frank House/Museum is? :pac:

That place is one buzz killer, I'll say that much.

Dr Bob

EnterNow wrote: »

And are those cutscenes in English or Japanese text? How is SoR3 next to unplayable? Surely that's an exaggeration :eek:

Is SOR3 the same as SOR 1? in that the contents of the cart on all regions are basically the same, and depending on the region of your console you get different text/titles/content etc?
(region modded meg ftw , you can literally swap between bare knuckle and SOR's text at the flick of a switch without resetting )

o1s1n

luas_dublin wrote: »

Is SOR3 the same as SOR 1? in that the contents of the cart on all regions are basically the same, and depending on the region of your console you get different text/titles/content etc?
(region modded meg ftw , you can literally swap between bare knuckle and SOR's text at the flick of a switch without resetting )

Unfortunately not no They completely removed the content from the western cart.

The whole story and intro was changed too.

In the case of SOR 1, it's only really the start up screen that changes. Streets of Rage 3 on the other hand has been sprite censored and everything. To have both versions you'd have to have both versions of each sprite etc. The sprites are massive as it is to fit on the cart. I doubt there'd have been room for both unfortunately.

Atavan-Halen

I've been known to buy a few Japanese games where I haven't a clue what to do r what's going on. Bio motor unitron for example and more recently animal crossing on the cube but with some navigation and trial and error of pressing buttons I usually can figure out what to do. I prefer buying jap games as to me there feels like there's a certain charm to them that you don't get with the western versions.

In other news got gran turismo 2 in the post sent to me for free from a lovely bloke on retro collect. Possibly my favourite gt in the series.

Retr0gamer

Got Chocobo Dungeon on the wanderswan today. Whoever put it in the list of games you can enjoy without english is a lying toe rag. Haven't a clue what to do in it.

If you don't like various remixes of the chocobo theme it's also one to avoid.

At least it cost me less than a tenner.

Steve X2

o1s1n wrote: »

I assume you're talking about how odd an experience the Anne Frank House/Museum is? :pac:

That place is one buzz killer, I'll say that much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUMOrh-M5JQ

.

pdbhp

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Got Chocobo Dungeon on the wanderswan today. Whoever put it in the list of games you can enjoy without english is a lying toe rag. Haven't a clue what to do in it.

If you don't like various remixes of the chocobo theme it's also one to avoid.

At least it cost me less than a tenner.

Was that on my list?
my bad then

Retr0gamer

It's grand, I know you got it from somewhere else Not like you could have played all the wonderswan games there anyway. It's a rogue like so I know it will be fine once I get into the Dungeon, it's just getting there is the problem!

Doge

The cheapo Mega Drive 1 I bought from Retrogamewiz on ebay came today.

This Model 1 lacked the High Definition logo,
so could it possibly be the dreaded VA7 Board Revision I feared? :eek:

There was only one way to find out for sure...





Hallelujah! I have been spared from the torture of muffled, hissy audio!

Turns out it's either a VA6 or VA6.8 with the original Yamaha YM2612.

There's meant to be no rainbow banding in these models also, unlike earlier ones.

Does anyone know how to tell the difference between a VA6 and VA6.8 revision?

The only difference i know of is some VA6.8 boards have a Fujitsu video encoder chip instead of a Sony CXA114.

Mine has the Sony chip so there's only a slightly higher probability its a VA6.


After cleaning out some feathers and dog hair, I noticed a little copper trace sticking out out the side of the PCB since the board was cut in the factory:






I also noticed this "M" shaped screw holder loose on the board,
does anyone know where it's meant to go? (Probably didn't noticed it when I was unscrewing! )





I think its a cute little thing, it's like an "M" for "Mega Drive!"


I am waiting on carts to come so I can test it.

For now it seems to power on okay, the red LED lights, and I can hear some light hissing coming through the Headphone port which is a good sign.

Myrddin

60Hz mod that bad boy

Doge

After seeing the case up close and personal for the first time in years,
I have to say, the Mega Drive is such a sleek, modern and beautiful looking console!

I think the raised and slanted edges bare a subtle resemblance to an F117 Stealth Bomber or something:!





There's something really cool about the ribbed vent on the left hand side of it also.


I had the Model 2 myself as a kid but had to get the original this time,
for the better sound and additional headphone output as I'm a bit of audio freak.

Tis in good nick for such a cheapo, only few light marks and some yellowing on the white portion that holds the LED which was all described.

I can see though how a camera flash can easy cover up yellowing
for the collectors who are trying to get a really mint one.

The seller has another one up for sale that looks very similar to mine with no bids and 2 days to go if anyone else is looking to buy a bare unit cheap.

Doge

EnterNow wrote: »

60Hz mod that bad boy

Was having a look at that mod and couldn't get over how easy it is,
love the easily exploitable JP1-4 pads.

Do you find the majority of games are meant to played at 60Hz?

I need a list or something that shows which frequency each game "should" be played at.

I was playing Black for the PS2 @ 60Hz on the Sony Tritron via composite lately and supported it fine in colour, so might be worth a shot alright!

o1s1n

There are literally a handful of Megadrive games that were optimized to run in PAL.

EVERYTHING else runs better in 60hz. Everything. It's the same with the Snes.

A Trinitron (and any other TV with RGB scart) will run 60HZ in full colour. You only run into black and white if you're using composite or non RGB cables. RGB totally bypasses that whole colour issue.

Doge

Thanks a lot for the info lads!

Optimus Prime

Got these for nothing off my cousin today.. cant complain for free!

Doge

Nice collection for nothing there!

Especially the Atari joystick, it looks like it's in mint condition!

Optimus Prime

its not an original, its one of those plug in to the tv yolks. great for free though! was delighted.. they all came in a ps3 box too, and i had thrown mine out.. bonus!

Doge

keithgeo wrote: »

its not an original, its one of those plug in to the tv yolks. great for free though! was delighted.. they all came in a ps3 box too, and i had thrown mine out.. bonus!

Ah! In my sleep deprived state I didn't even notice the composite cables, and thought the insulation looked a bit skinny also but just assumed that's the way it was!

They did a really good job of keeping it like the original.

Professey Chin

Crazy Frog Racer = Jackpot

o1s1n

The Great Chinholio wrote: »

Crazy Frog Racer = Jackpot

Imagine being one of the poor bastards who had to work on that game.

Or even worse, the poor bastards who had to test it!

Atavan-Halen

Or even worst case scenario, the poor Sod who paid full whack for it.

Professey Chin

o1s1n wrote: »

Imagine being one of the poor bastards who had to work on that game.

Or even worse, the poor bastards who had to test it!

atavan-halen wrote: »

Or even worst case scenario, the poor Sod who paid full whack for it.

You realise these are probably all the same people?

o1s1n

The Great Chinholio wrote: »

You realise these are probably all the same people person?

FYP :pac:

Something I always wondered - how the hell did they get away with giving him a knob?!

Professey Chin

A simpler time man. A simpler time
/nostalgic reflection

Atavan-Halen

The Great Chinholio wrote: »

A simpler time man. A simpler time
/nostalgic reflection

What, 2004/2005? :pac:

Professey Chin

atavan-halen wrote: »

What, 2004/2005? :pac:

sigh.......:pac:

Myrddin

atavan-halen wrote: »

What, 2004/2005? :pac:

Do you even remember those years?

CiDeRmAn

I do, I was dad to a 2 year old at the time...
I had more hair too.
I sometimes had some blonde highlights in it.
I had a nipple ring as well, being down with the hip kids an'all...
.
..
...
Maybe I'm sharing too much

Myrddin

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I do, I was dad to a 2 year old at the time...
I had more hair too.
I sometimes had some blonde highlights in it.
I had a nipple ring as well, being down with the hip kids an'all...
.
..
...
Maybe I'm sharing too much

From the above, it's easy to see who Cidey is

o1s1n

Just after buying one of these superguns. Had a good chat with the guy who makes them, seems really sound. By far the best price for something like this I've come across.

http://annonces.ebay.fr/viewad/Supergun-Neo-Geo-MVS-Atomiswave-CPS2-CPS3-PCB-arcade/5045358379?bu=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.fr%2Fi.html%3F_trksid%3Dp4939.m570.l1313%26_sacat%3DSee-All-Categories%26_from%3DR40%26cmd%3DBlend%26LH_PrefLoc%3D0%26_nkw%3Dsupergun