Ankos

Oh neat, a new game in the Final Fantasy Adventure series is getting made

I don't think I have a clear top five in my head but I came up with a few carts that might make it into that for me Zook Z: A very fun Taiwan original for Gameboy. It's sort of a hybrid of classic Megaman and Megaman X. It was the first unlicensed Gameboy game I found ever since I decided to make that my main category for collecting Top Secret: Gowin is my favorite company for Taiwan originals. Their first seven games were ones they bought the rights to, and some (all?) of those had versions released by companies prior to Gowin getting the rights. This is one of those pre-Gowin versions, so it is pretty old, and I view it as representing a sort of starting point for Taiwanese Gameboy games HTG Multicart: Probably the coolest cart I've ever discovered. It's a multicart with a pirate hack of a Gowin game that previously had not been preserved (at least not in an emulatable form). As far as I'm aware multis by this manufacturer were not documented at the time I found this, at least not in the West English Crouching Tiger: This was the last Gowin game known to get an English release. It's also one of the last Taiwan originals to have a USA release planned (not sure if it ever got out the door here though, the US company selling it just had it listed for pre-order). Top Secret works for a good starting point, while this one makes for a good ending point for unlicensed Gameboy games Pokemon Jade: Prior to collecting unlicensed Gameboy stuff I was very interested in a game called Telefang. Specifically I wanted an English language pirate cart of it, because the idea of playing an unofficial English release of a game seemed really cool to me. I had a friend who I'd ride the bus to classes with who was willing to sell me a copy he owned, but when he couldn't find it he gave me this cart free of charge. I later on gave him a cart or two as well. I'm no longer in touch with him, but it's still a nice memory to go back to

thanks. I could tell by the emoji it a joke. I get why people like the NES version, especially it they are playing on CRT. the fuzziness and warm colors almost make it feel like sitting around a campfire. Have you tried the Famicom version? It has some changes from the NES version, like how any hit will send you back to small Mario, even if you have a fire flower

1. The e-reader levels are super cool. They're a hybrid of the first four Super Mario Bros games (not counting Special and SMB2J). They've got capes, and turnips you can pull, and level 1-2 from og SMB 2. Which models of GBA have you tried it on? All of them angle A somewhat, but GBA SP has some nice perks. Easily has the best d-pad I've ever used 3. The cape is surprisingly fun to use assuming you don't cheese the entire game with it (though pretty much any flight item in Mario games can be used to cheese the game to some extent. Calling the cape bad because it is overpowered is like calling warp whistles bad because you can skip the game with them). You've got a few seconds of free movement followed by main part of the flight. If you toss an item you can catch it during the main part of the flight, but this is kinda hard. The free movement gives you enough time to make adjustments and change direction, so if used properly it can be used to reach about as many places as the tail. Once you get to the main stage of movement you can go up, down, speed up, or slow down. You can also ram into the ground for an attack, or you can tank one free hit. It allows for magical moments, like weaving through a fortress and then carefully preserving the flight to take out a bunch of enemies All these SMB3 fans talking about how SMB3 is better just because you cannot save. You don't have to save in the GBA version, you can still play the game in one sitting. Same goes for Super Mario World

Makes sense. I grew up with GBA SMW, so the colors to me seem normal

I prefer the GBA version for both

I'd say this is my second favorite Mario platformer behind Super Mario Land 2. Having a continuous overworld unravel in front of you as you beat levels makes the game feel more like you are exploring a world. That world being packed full of secret exits also adds to that sort of atmosphere. It's definitely a different vibe from charging for the flagpole level after level, but it is one I enjoy 9/10

Found some more good stuff, most notably the English release of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon by Gowin (ID code GS17E) GS17E is hard to come by. It used to be straight up impossible to come by (for like...two decades after its release nobody was finding any cartridges of it) but nowadays the number of known copies has been steadily increasing, so wherever all the copies were holed up, they seem to have finally been shaken loose. It still doesn't grow on trees though Some cool stuff about it is that it was officially licensed by the wife of the author of the original novel (who tragically passed away much earlier than her). So, it is based off of the book, not the movie like the GBA game. Also, it starts adapting from an earlier point in the story than the movie. The game begins with Li Mu Bai meeting Yu Shu Lien, which I believe is a plot point from the second book, Precious Sword Golden Hairpin (the movie starts on book four, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon). I say I believe because I don't know Chinese, and the books are not translated into English. I have all the comics, but those are known for being unfaithful (towards the end of them Li Mu Bai fights Satan, who is depicted as a green owl). Oh, also there was a distributor in the USA who on their website listed it as up for pre-order, but there is no archive on the Wayback Machine that says "for sale" for this cart, so I'm not sure they were ever able to get it out the door. That distributor did not have the best reputation based on what I have read. If you decide to count that though, then this would be one of the last "Taiwan Originals" to ever get a USA release (If my understanding is correct, those kinda stopped being a thing in 2003, though companies in Mainland China were still making stuff) My copy came from Indonesia. There aren't any good shopping agents that help Americans buy from there, but there are agents that help people in Mainland China shop there, so I got some help from a friend to buy it. The seller had a condition that they would only sell if the buyer bought ten carts at a time, so I picked out the ones at the bottom of the picture. Four are multis by NGCA, one is a multi by JY, and there are two more multis that I'm not sure what company made. Also a neat sticker variant of Pokemon Adventure (a title hack of an infamous Makon game) and Digimon 2 by Makon As for stuff from Mainland China, I picked up two carts by "SeegaStation". I do not know the story behind these. Apparently the trademark for them is owned by some shopping mall, so maybe they were intended to be carts that could be rewritten at some kiosk there? One looks like it fits into a SFC, while the other is too thick to fit into any of my consoles. They have a bunch of dip switches on them, which is kinda neat. Crossing my fingers that I can figure out how to use them Finally there is the other big ticket item, a light colored Mega Duck cart. Early ads for Mega Duck carts in Taiwan showed them with light plastic and ridges on the sides of the cart, but most carts use darker plastic with no ridges. The PCB looks different from the ones most Mega Duck carts use. I'm not sure what the exact story is on this, but I'm hoping to find out. Now all I need to do is find a Mega Duck. If anyone here is looking to part ways with one then please let me know

To me its worth the risk. Being the one who introduces people to the niche sort of gives an opportunity to influence who is going to get interested and how they are going to approach things. Makes it easier to convince them to not overpay needlessly by warning them about resellers. It will make it grow faster, but I tend to assume it will grow eventually, so I may as well give it a nudge in the direction I want I do see your point though

I kinda get what you mean, but I think part of that is just the natural escalation most collectors experience after sticking with the hobby for a while. Lot's of people go in with price ceilings way lower than what they end up with, so they wind up passing on stuff that they wouldn't a couple years down the line. I don't think that's a bad thing though, it's a sign of becoming experienced enough to know what is worth more to you. I have regrets like that, but I'm kinda glad I have those regrets

As far as co-op is concerned I mostly stuck to Nintendo/Nintendo adjacent stuff growing up. I played a lot more on handhelds than on home consoles though, and while though you can play GBA games on the TV with the right stuff, I did not Off the dome I'd say that New Super Mario Bros, Kirby's Return to Dreamland, and the event matches in the Smash Bros titles were some stand out co-op stuff. Spelunky is also real fun, as far as non-Nintendo goes, I'd give it a strong recommendation. You sort of have to watch out for other players when doing co-op, but it isn't like Battletoads where its considered a big part of the experience

I think you are joking, but since this kinda goes against my mentality when it comes to niche collecting, I'm going to respond anyways In my opinion it is more worth it to try and get more people into a niche you're trying to carve out. Ideally you can get some passionate people into whatever niche you're in and they can help document and discover new things. There's only so much info and stuff one person can find. It'll increase competition, but since it is a new category for collectors, the strategies are not as fleshed out as older categories. Therefore you can find good deals so long as you stay ahead of the curve on finding the stuff Short Version: If a traveler never has anyone follow in their footsteps, then are they truly a pioneer, or are they a wanderer who disappeared in some unknown place?

Was it a cool looking bug? Maybe you could try spinning the "It's not a bug it's a feature" angle and flip it

1. The cartridge 2. The box 3. The manual 4. Note 1 5. Note 2

I'm sorry to hear that happened to you. Was there some kinda of misunderstanding or the friend didn't know, or was it intentional?