Import Games - Show them off

[drxandy | 3,235]

2 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Thanks.  I just got inspired as I didn't see one here and it felt like a disservice since I know many here have or had such things.  I enjoyed setting up what I did, but it also flooded me with memories of what I consider some catastrophic losses of the big sell off around 2005.  You'd feel awful too had you seen my Super Famicom collection, dozens of them, and I refused to ever buy the games unless they were completee, but then again over 10 years ago boxes and manuals weren't a premium either.   I could very well buy them back, but I'd stick to loose carts because they are now which is sad, yet I do have a SD2SNES but let's be honest, it's just not the same, the motivation just isn't there to use a game you downloaded vs paid for.  Same can be said for some Gameboy games I had too, and TG/PCE CD and card games as well, also still wish I had Rockman and Cotton for NGPC but the prices on those are gag worthy now too.

It got me even thinking last night, I went and ran through the nintendo wikia page of every gameboy game, did the US, then the EU and JP listings.  I know I'm probably missing a few, but I used to own just of gray GB carts over 120 games.  Gameboy Color probably half or more of that too.  GBA I never imported much, still have some as you saw, but I did used to have those bit generations games and they're gone.

 

What you have there and @drxandy that's impressive.  The boxed up games dr there has, sheesh, that's what gave me the SFC feels, because while those are a ton of GC games and N64 games, close enough.  And you, there are some complete SFC games I see as well...and I had some of those like those Parodius games

I do believe I really should get off my ass at least and grab up the Hudson Select Takahashi Meijin (Adv Island) remaster.  I had Lode Runner, didn't do much for me, but then again it's cheap.  I kind of wish I didn't get rid of NIntendo Puzzle Collection but it was so rough, and Mr Driller I would get but it has fits with its saves killing others on memory cards when used off a JP device.

I feel ya, 15 years ago I had a nice little saturn jpn collection of probably like 40 games but when I downsized got rid of everything, really regret that because they are much more expensive now. Miss the days of cheap shipping and easy to get complete games but hopefully it'll come back. I have bought a few cube games lately that were higher priced precovid, and even with higher shipping worked out to a better price than I had seen in years of looking.

I want to get more sfc stuff for sure and regular famicom too but after I finish my current goals. The gamecube hudson selects are definitely high on my list, but always command top dollar so i've been putting em off, wish they were just a little cheaper.

[Renmauzo | 1,202]

10 minutes ago, drxandy said:

I feel ya, 15 years ago I had a nice little saturn jpn collection of probably like 40 games but when I downsized got rid of everything, really regret that because they are much more expensive now. Miss the days of cheap shipping and easy to get complete games but hopefully it'll come back. I have bought a few cube games lately that were higher priced precovid, and even with higher shipping worked out to a better price than I had seen in years of looking.

I want to get more sfc stuff for sure and regular famicom too but after I finish my current goals. The gamecube hudson selects are definitely high on my list, but always command top dollar so i've been putting em off, wish they were just a little cheaper.

JP Saturn is my collection endgame. I'm sitting at about 11 more NA games across all platforms that I'm after, and I'll be done (No full sets, I have no interest in that, just what I want to play). After that, I'll buy every Saturn shoot em' up and fighting game worth playing (and Elevator Action because that game is awesome) and call it good. I used to have Rockman 8, X3, X4, and X-Men: CotA for Saturn, but gave them away since I have the NA releases for all those, but I miss them. Soon...I'll put together my J-Saturn library soon.

[phart010 | 1,708]

46 minutes ago, drxandy said:

I feel ya, 15 years ago I had a nice little saturn jpn collection of probably like 40 games but when I downsized got rid of everything, really regret that because they are much more expensive now. Miss the days of cheap shipping and easy to get complete games but hopefully it'll come back. I have bought a few cube games lately that were higher priced precovid, and even with higher shipping worked out to a better price than I had seen in years of looking.

I want to get more sfc stuff for sure and regular famicom too but after I finish my current goals. The gamecube hudson selects are definitely high on my list, but always command top dollar so i've been putting em off, wish they were just a little cheaper.

Maybe Sleepy Uncle Joe will get our Asia import shipping costs back down again

[drxandy | 3,235]

Just now, phart010 said:

Maybe Sleepy Uncle Joe will get our Asia import shipping costs back down again

Hope so, miss my cheap chinese parts with free shipping. Pretty sure Japan post is back but air only, so things are looking up.

[Tanooki | 4,940]

@drxandy Ugh dude you're telling me.  I had every Sega system but the Pico, got a Saturn off an ex-Sega employee when I was at Midway.  I had some really GOOD domestic stuff like Virtual On with the sticks, and had import greatness like Castlevania, DBZ, and others.  I still prefer Nocturne in the Moonlight over SOTN.  My losses were substantial and would make any half baked collector physically ill considering they went for 2005 values, not 2020-21 ones.  The rates of the last decade make so much of it non-recoverable.

After my last post and also along last evening I started doing two things.  One, I hit the wiki and went through the entire library of Gameboy all regions to see what I had in DMG only style carts, I had over 120 games a good bit imported, tempted to get them back, at least those that aged well.

Secondly I went and since I have the converter(n64) and disc (freeloader) for gamecube I poked around a bit.  I think I'd like to have on N64 Dezaemon, Evangelion, Ragukakids, and Tetris 64+sensor.  And on GC Hudson Selection 1&4(Lode Runner and Adv Island), Kururin, Driller(just have to remember to never save), Nintendo Puzzle Collection back, and Radirgy as well.  I think that 10 games would not be overkill and reasonable.

SFC though, no converter at this time, and well I discussed that, going cart only would be a tad depressing even if I do sorely miss Macross, Lupin, Sailor Moon+R+Sfighter, Zenki, DBZ SB2, Goemon 2, the Parodius games, Popn(and normal) Twinbee and Twinbee Rainbow Bell Adventure, and some others.   I do have those Famicom games though you saw, and I used to have around 20 of them, some have got ugly valued now like Panic Restaurant due to the US release and Bonk too.

I shied away from going down the daunting Gameboy, Color, Advance list as it could get well...huge, both in what I had, but also what I'd like import and domestic.  I'm already running out of space in my antique card catalog drawers for what GB-C-A I do have.

[fcgamer | 4,731]

49 minutes ago, drxandy said:

Hope so, miss my cheap chinese parts with free shipping. Pretty sure Japan post is back but air only, so things are looking up.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a large portion of the postal crap that's been going on has been due to Covid-19, it'll correct as soon as the pandemic corrects, and that's imo out of control of Sleepy Joe, no matter what people believe.

Regarding the China free shipping thing, I honestly hope that goes away for keeps, for those that choose to research into it , it goes back to China scamming us through a loophole that imo should be corrected, even if we do ultimately have to pay shipping on components .

[fcgamer | 4,731]

Regarding imports, my set is not very impressive. I have a few European NES games, a few Canadian NES games, and a few famicom games from Argentina, Thailand and Australia. Oh, I have a few European N64 games too, many thanks to @OptOut

Considering that I'm from the USA, and live in Taiwan, which made a slew of games and then also sold tons of Japanese games back in the day, it's a very very limited range of areas where I have games that would be considered imports considering my situation. I probably have less than 100, maybe 1% of my collection is imports

[Tanooki | 4,940]

Trump or Sleepy JOe is an excuse.  The overload the USPS was dealing with went back to April/May of last year and they handled it just fine until the Christmas shopping season.  Yet strangely once that rush was done and any returns/replacements finished most of it correctly.  Mysteriously though, the NE of the USA is still pretending to care and taking like 1-2 weeks to move stuff between near by/state or two away distance deliveries which is inexcusable.  I've seen a rash of complaints on various sources and they all point to that region.  You can get something from CA shipped to like FL in 3~ days, yet if you want something from like PA shipped to KY where I am, you can wait around 10-14 days.  I've seen plenty of stories so far this year that Japan Amazon gets packages sent from the islands there, to the US in like 3-5 days, 7 tops, and that compared to the NE area is shameful.

[phart010 | 1,708]

1 hour ago, fcgamer said:

Regarding imports, my set is not very impressive. I have a few European NES games, a few Canadian NES games, and a few famicom games from Argentina, Thailand and Australia. Oh, I have a few European N64 games too, many thanks to @OptOut

Considering that I'm from the USA, and live in Taiwan, which made a slew of games and then also sold tons of Japanese games back in the day, it's a very very limited range of areas where I have games that would be considered imports considering my situation. I probably have less than 100, maybe 1% of my collection is imports

Thanks for the reminder. I forgot about South American imports.
 

I got intrigued by the NES scene in Venezuela. I don’t know this for sure, but my guess is that Venezuela had some limited form of “quasi-official” Nintendo presence. My speculation is that this may have been due to the time period, Venezuela was an oil rich capitalist nation transitioning into a government-controlled economy. I would imagine they probably had import tariffs for non-domestically manufactured goods, so they have their own Venezuela-made NES controllers (with yellow buttons) and Light Guns. They also have their own “official” games that came in  neat looking boxes. The actual cartridges inside are just Japanese Famicom carts. I got the sealed collecting bug for Venezuela NES games some time time ago

 

Their market appears to have had both NES and Famicom style-carts in circulation. Because of this, they had an “official?” NES-cart to Famicom-console converter. I don’t know whether Nintendo was really behind this, but it has a Spanish language version of the official seal on it for what it’s worth. I wish someone who understands this market would shed some light on the history of the Venezuela NES market.

“compatible with 76% of Nintendo 72-pin games” at least they are honest

Lower left: ”Ensamblado en Venezuela 
Por: Nintendo C.A. Caracas - Venezuela”

Translation: Assembled in Venezuela for Nintendo C.A. Caracas - Venezuela 

 

The seal reads: “Este sello es su seguridad que Nintendo a evaluado y aprobado la calidad de este producto”

Translation: This seal is your assurance that Nintendo has evaluated and approved the quality of this product.

Edited February 1, 2021 by phart010

[Jicsan | 589]

5 hours ago, DorkOverlord said:

Here are some of my recent pickups.

Nice, those are the exact same FDS games I'd want in my collection!

[fcgamer | 4,731]

@phart010 I'll likely send you a pm about this sometime later, as I'm currently at work, but I'd love to discuss these Venezuelan games more with you, as I've toyed with the idea of collecting a lot of them (I have a few already) off and on, but ultimately decided against it.

The general consensus that I've seen is that it's just a company that illegally used Nintendo's name. All the games are just bootlegs coming out of Taiwan, one of the reasons I haven't collected these seriously us because I'd literally be buying them just for the boxes, as the carts are identical to what I already have.

The ones with the number L## were made by a notorious company here in Taiwan, Ive even got some for sale in my sales thread.

 

[phart010 | 1,708]

5 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

@phart010 I'll likely send you a pm about this sometime later, as I'm currently at work, but I'd love to discuss these Venezuelan games more with you, as I've toyed with the idea of collecting a lot of them (I have a few already) off and on, but ultimately decided against it.

The general consensus that I've seen is that it's just a company that illegally used Nintendo's name. All the games are just bootlegs coming out of Taiwan, one of the reasons I haven't collected these seriously us because I'd literally be buying them just for the boxes, as the carts are identical to what I already have.

The ones with the number L## were made by a notorious company here in Taiwan, Ive even got some for sale in my sales thread.

 

If that’s the case, then it’s a big bummer. They did a halfway decent job at making them look uniform and somewhat official.

On the box for the converter, it says assembled for Nintendo C.A. I wonder if Nintendo C.A. was ever a legitimate legal entity that existed in Venezuela in the late 80’s. That would probably answer some questions.

[fcgamer | 4,731]

1 hour ago, phart010 said:

If that’s the case, then it’s a big bummer. They did a halfway decent job at making them look uniform and somewhat official.

On the box for the converter, it says assembled for Nintendo C.A. I wonder if Nintendo C.A. was ever a legitimate legal entity that existed in Venezuela in the late 80’s. That would probably answer some questions.

Oh that company existed, but we need to keep this in mind (I have no idea how trademarks work in Venezuela).  There used to be a company in Taiwan called NTDEC, short for Nintendo Electronics Company, they even registered the Nintendo trademark here, legally, since Taiwan didn't recognize international trademarks at that time, I guess.  I could easily see something going on there with the Venezuela one too, legal there, but not elsewhere.

 

Courtcase:

https://web.archive.org/web/20040516203941/http://www.tsj.gov.ve/decisiones/scc/Abril/RH-0016-050401-00993.htm

 

I'll message you after work about this, and some more thoughts of some possibilities regarding the company.

Sorry to make you feel bummed out. I think you may be looking at it in the wrong way though, as the truth could possibly be wilder and for a much cooler story than the initial thought.

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

6 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Trump or Sleepy JOe is an excuse.

It's also political. Plus "Sleepy" is a derogatory. So all I can say, without saying more, is that conversation should be continued in the political topic. 

Plus I feel bad for those who live in the NE part of the U.S. I have a family member that is still expecting a Japan Post package that was sent by sea mail. Since December. And even that feels less stressful than those who are expecting games during any incoming winter storms.

With that said... I'm going to go silent while I look into ideas that I got from this game room.

 

Edited February 1, 2021 by FenrirZero

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

5 hours ago, phart010 said:

Thanks for the reminder. I forgot about South American imports.
 

I got intrigued by the NES scene in Venezuela. I don’t know this for sure, but my guess is that Venezuela had some limited form of “quasi-official” Nintendo presence. My speculation is that this may have been due to the time period, Venezuela was an oil rich capitalist nation transitioning into a government-controlled economy. I would imagine they probably had import tariffs for non-domestically manufactured goods, so they have their own Venezuela-made NES controllers (with yellow buttons) and Light Guns. They also have their own “official” games that came in  neat looking boxes. The actual cartridges inside are just Japanese Famicom carts. I got the sealed collecting bug for Venezuela NES games some time time ago

 

Their market appears to have had both NES and Famicom style-carts in circulation. Because of this, they had an “official?” NES-cart to Famicom-console converter. I don’t know whether Nintendo was really behind this, but it has a Spanish language version of the official seal on it for what it’s worth. I wish someone who understands this market would shed some light on the history of the Venezuela NES market.

“compatible with 76% of Nintendo 72-pin games” at least they are honest

Lower left: ”Ensamblado en Venezuela 
Por: Nintendo C.A. Caracas - Venezuela”

Translation: Assembled in Venezuela for Nintendo C.A. Caracas - Venezuela 

 

The seal reads: “Este sello es su seguridad que Nintendo a evaluado y aprobado la calidad de este producto”

Translation: This seal is your assurance that Nintendo has evaluated and approved the quality of this product.

Not to slam Super Potato, but that percentage is more accurate than the grade they gave a CIB I bought from them in 2017. 

Edited February 1, 2021 by FenrirZero

[drxandy | 3,235]

@FenrirZeroI lost 4 packages during that time, pretty bummed about 3 of them.. just bought the 4th again. Lost only 80$ I guess but still.

[Tanooki | 4,940]

Oh hey all this stuff, the pic taking, I got inspired.    +2 Gamecube games coming my way, thankfully the better price and domestic too.   But what could they be?

 

Oh and also looking at a debate, opinion on this as it's import old vs domestic new:  I know Mr Driller on the Gamecube(JP) will fry (wipe) a save card if you're using anything but a hacked system or a Japanese one and I would be using a Freeloader 1.06 as I always do. This came out also on Switch digital, but you can find it physical. What would be the best option really on this? I don't care about the save issue, just remove the card on GC.  $30-35 GC-J, $30 Switch rental, $45-50 Switch physical.

[Sumez | 2,968]

5 hours ago, Tanooki said:

This came out also on Switch digital, but you can find it physical. What would be the best option really on this? I don't care about the save issue, just remove the card on GC.  $30-35 GC-J, $30 Switch rental, $45-50 Switch physical.

The Switch port is phenomenal, there is no reason to bother with the GC one if you ask me. Just getting it in English is a great improvement, even if it's not central to the gameplay.

Whether you prefer physical or digital is subjective I guess. I went with the physical release. It's $37 on Play-Asia.
I'd get Mr. Driller G on PS1 as well, it's still the better core game of the two, but it doesn't have all the fun modes from Drill Land.

Edited February 2, 2021 by Sumez

[Tanooki | 4,940]

5 hours ago, Sumez said:

The Switch port is phenomenal, there is no reason to bother with the GC one if you ask me. Just getting it in English is a great improvement, even if it's not central to the gameplay.

Whether you prefer physical or digital is subjective I guess. I went with the physical release. It's $37 on Play-Asia.
I'd get Mr. Driller G on PS1 as well, it's still the better core game of the two, but it doesn't have all the fun modes from Drill Land.

I'll have to check that I guess, the ebay price sucks.  I usually use yes-asia, they're usually nicer on price if not the shipping alone these days as I've got an account there and got a couple Switch games before.  And I still do own the fun little GBC original, used to have #2 on the GBA and may have to get that again (had it on DS as well back in the day too.)  Driller is nuts, but it's fun.


I got a pile of yummy GB games coming from Japan it seems most likely.  I used a broker service to bid on something on yahoo japan and no one went after it but me thankfully.  Primarily just wanted 2 games in the bundle given what they sell for alone, I'm pleased, anything else in the lot playable is a bonus...the rest I'd probably do a cheap dump on ebay to get a few dollars back from some collector or person who can fluently handle Japanese.

[Sumez | 2,968]

18 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

used to have #2 on the GBA and may have to get that again

If you're at it anyway, and in the context of "import games", I'd recommend Mr. Driller Ace on GBA.

It's a lot less common than #2, but the GBA version of #2 is overall super barebones. Ace is usually considered the one to get.

Edited February 2, 2021 by Sumez

[drxandy | 3,235]

10 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Oh hey all this stuff, the pic taking, I got inspired.    +2 Gamecube games coming my way, thankfully the better price and domestic too.   But what could they be?

 

Oh and also looking at a debate, opinion on this as it's import old vs domestic new:  I know Mr Driller on the Gamecube(JP) will fry (wipe) a save card if you're using anything but a hacked system or a Japanese one and I would be using a Freeloader 1.06 as I always do. This came out also on Switch digital, but you can find it physical. What would be the best option really on this? I don't care about the save issue, just remove the card on GC.  $30-35 GC-J, $30 Switch rental, $45-50 Switch physical.

Yeah I wouldn't do the freeloader option because it's not fun to not save. Switch version is the sane choice because otherwise you gonna have to add a region switch to yer cube (which is only 1 soldering point if you wanted that route and I know you like to tinker)

Using the region switch rules though, just flip it and boom jpn bios. Separate mem cards, no problems.

[Tanooki | 4,940]

I remember Ace, can't recall if I ever had it, might have, seeing that I remember having both an english and Japanese driller game on GBA.

I know not being able to save would blow, and I'll hit that one one game I have coming in the mail, not that I care, it's for high score table stuff, not like anything of real value that would suck to lose.  I'm never going to chop my cube, the only mod I've done is the zeldaxpro external HDMI mod adapter, damn it's beautiful when you get a game where someone really put some decent effort into the game engine and visuals.

I was plugging away at some import Gameboy games earlier and a few days ago, I don't take pics as I never remember to but I really should drop into that thread and get them added since I put the effort in anyway.

[Sumez | 2,968]

It's not just high score table stuff. Mr. Driller Drill Land has a progression structure where you need to beat a level in each of the game's modes to play a boss stage, after which the next difficulty level will be unlocked.

To my knowledge there is no other way to access the higher levels, and the lowest level that you start on is pretty laughably easy. And some of the modes might not be your favourites. I'd definitely want to save, personally.  

Edited February 3, 2021 by Sumez

[Tanooki | 4,940]

Fair enough, I already decided against it.  I may just leave it be or get the physical media if I can find it for a bit less.  Not liking jerks jacking up the price $20 over the digital rental so I'll ride it out for interest to fall off and buy a used one if at all.  I remember enjoying 2/Ace on GBA anyway the more I thought about it anyway so I'd be fine revisiting that.

I usually hate action puzzles of the sort, but Driller I really get into.

[Inzoreno | 102]

My current collection of import PS4 games.