MiamiSlice

Well, there it is. I should probably dive into the series at some point.

Only physical is a Japanese special edition. No standard release in any region.

Good news, Klonoa Asian English is back in stock at PlayAsia: https://www.play-asia.com/klonoa-phantasy-reverie-series-english/13/70f7k7 Also I think you can use the code W64 to get free shipping on orders over $49.99. I'm sure you can find something cheap to make that work.

That's a nice selection of games but how is the directional pad? I would get very frustrated if I had to play Pac Man with a bad pad.

This game is really good. I play it with my kids. It’s literally like an interactive Peppa Pig episode. Looks just like the show. Fully voiced. You can visit lots of places and meet lots of characters. Definitely head to the museum and do the part where George imagines being a dinosaur. It’s a riot.

DM’d you

Haven't posted in a while so a lot of stuff to share I guess. Got a CIB Donkey Kong Land 3 at a nice price, seems like there's some nice prices to be had on eBay compared to 6 months ago. The rest are deals from Amazon Prime Day sales. Sealed Dr Seuss is another eBay deal, someone was auctioning off a bunch of sealed GBA games all starting at $49.99 each, and I guess everyone was busy fighting over the real good stuff because I picked this up as the sole bidder. Unravel Two and FE Fates Conquest are both brand new finds from PNP Games Online. Was surprised to see they still have NA region copies of Conquest and with the current exchange rate the price is a good deal. I fomo'd into the AI Somnium Files Nirvana Initiative CE from Amazon, found a nice deal on Metal Slug Anthology (just under $10 shipped), got Puyo Pop in a trade, and the other Wii games were a private bundle deal, a little cheaper than eBay prices. Got another issue of NF magazine in. Found some promo items on eBay, an Animal Crossing City Folk magnet set, a DSi home screen icons pin set, and a lanyard for the Pac Man Party lanyard variant. Also got the Super Mario Strikers bag from My Nintendo. Still on track for a full set of that stuff. So many bags, so many disappointing rewards compared to what they get in Europe... but we soldier on! Got the Sunbreak CE because whatever, Alex Kidd was another Amazon Prime Day deal, finally pulled the trigger on the Deal or No Deal SE bundle for DS, (ignore the black blob, I accidentally included something I had posted before!), and then the Susan G. Komen DS Lite and the Guitar Hero handheld are pulled from a recent local haul. These drawstring bags are also from the same haul. And this lamp. OK a couple more small pickups: Zack and Wiki with rare lenticular puzzle. I have no idea what is the story behind this variant, it doesn't say anything about being a retailer exclusive or anything else. And this Toys R Us exclusive variant of The Smurfs Dance Party. Sometimes these variants would have the same disc as the standard version and just have a paper insert that tells you a code to unlock the bonus track. This one doesn't go that route, instead it has a different disc and UPC code from the standard version. Imagine that level of effort! OK I think that is all for now.

Fire Emblem memo pad is up: https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/hrdg-notepad-fe-warr-hopes-mnr/

Oh wow! A NintendoLand guide! I need that

Sigh, saw the GameFly sale and I had Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World in my cart for a very nice $14.99 but by the time I got to checkout it was sold out

Oh right, that’s what I paid. $29.99

I'm definitely copping some of these Switch deals. Alwa's Collection for $24, Cotton Reboot for $24, Smurfs Mission Vileaf Collector's Edition for $39.99 $29.99 and I'm keeping an eye on some other games I will buy if they drop more. But even at $19.99, I just can't convince myself to buy Taito Milestones. That price for a bare bones compilation of just 10 games... still feels wrong.

I appreciate the advice everyone but I’d really like advice on getting the infrared communication to work

Basically. There used to be more distinct differences back in the day when companies would print different manuals in each region and potentially even have different translations on carts / CDs. But nowadays it's really up to the publisher. In some cases publishers have even used the cover art with the ESRB rating for regions that didn't have any ratings requirement like Southeast Asia. In other cases, the cover art will vary from one region to the next (Final Fantasy games are an example of this). With Klonoa, it looks like the cover art is the same in every region, with the only differences being the title text (Japan has it in Japanese, Korea has it in a mix of English and Korean, China has it in a mix of English and... Mandarin?) and rating. Oh and maybe the Bandai Namco logo, not sure about that. Seems like some regions are getting the newer logo. Of course the back side of the cover art might have differences where all the legal fine print goes. But I will say in the case of Mr Driller Drill Land, another Bandai Namco game that didn't get a North America release but at least had a Southeast Asia release with all English on the cover art and no rating, the backside looks exactly how a North American release would, with nothing indicating the region other than the release code (which actually says JPN for the region).

Good news @RegularGuyGamer, VGNY might be able to help you: https://videogamesnewyork.com/klonoa-phantasy-reverie-series-english-nintendo-switch/

Bamco, man

It is showing as out of stock @RegularGuyGamer: https://www.play-asia.com/klonoa-phantasy-reverie-series-english/13/70f7k7 I had ordered it weeks ago and my order shows as shipped. So I'll let you know if I get it. I would imagine they will eventually get more in stock, but I guess there's no guarantee =/

Oh uh.... @RegularGuyGamer now it's not listed on PlayAsia. It was a few days ago! Gah

Yep

Recently I picked up a V-Tech Socrates system. The seller told me he couldn't get it to work. I spent my free time over the past week fixing it up. Unfortunately, there's still something wrong with it, but I was able to get the unit to boot up and it was very nostalgic. I had one of these back in the day, spent a lot of time with it (I also had the mouse accessory). Unfortunately I didn't get too many pictures of the process, but I did get a few. Firstly, the system was filthy. I had to clean it all over with alcohol. The color of the plastic actually turned lighter due to a layer of dirt being removed. Second, there was A LOT of battery corrosion, and one of the battery compartments is deep inside (you can slide the batteries in but you can't reach the spring to clean it) so I had to open up the console and take it apart just to clean the corrosion off the contacts. Backside: The compartment I had to open up after removing the shell: The contacts I was finally able to reach & clean: The level of filth I had to clean on the shell and keyboard: I guess at one point this was sold for $34.99 at a thrift store? The keyboard before cleaning, there was dirt even in the compartments under the pop-out controllers: After cleaning: (I used a toothpick to get an alcohol-soaked paper towel into the grooves) The unit fully cleaned: (The magic marker did not come off completely, that would probably require a magic eraser) I took a video of the system booting up. It's RF-out only, but IMO it still looks really good on my CRT. And yes this is a proper console. It has built-in games, but it also has a slot for cartridges for more games. So on to what didn't work... the keyboard isn't being read by the base unit. The keyboard is wireless and uses an infrared transmitter to talk to the base. The base's receiver lights up, and the keyboard lights up when I press buttons. I can even see the transmitter blinking when I press buttons (using my iPhone camera), so I know it's sending something. I don't know where the problem is... it's possible that a wire inside the base isn't connected, so the receiver isn't talking to the rest of the board. But I don't think I'm going to be able to fix this. It's too bad, I was really hoping to be able to play it.

Sorry for the mouthful of a title but I am investigating this and there seems to be zero information about this online. The game Deal or No Deal for Nintendo DS, developed by Gravity-I and published by DSi, is apparently a broken mess. From this IGN Review: https://www.ign.com/articles/2008/01/19/deal-or-no-deal-review-2, "You know what else makes games not fun to play? When they're freaking broken! Deal or no Deal has the number values preset to certain briefcases, which means that every time the player turns the game on, the money is in the same damn briefcase. If you play multiple rounds without turning the system off, the game randomizes the cash values, but once you shut it down, the money goes back. Briefcase 3 always had the cool million, and Briefcase 13 always had the penny." Well that's terrible and maybe makes this a contender for the of the Worst Games of All Time. But then along comes "Deal or No Deal Special Edition," which was published by Zoo Games. Unfortunately there's no details on what is different about this version. Was it developed by Gravity-I? It doesn't say. I think the ROMs are different but I don't know how. I'm wondering if it at least fixed the issues with the first version. Does anyone know?

I’m looking forward to almost all the games that were mentioned

The following games are $9.99 new at GameStop: Story of Seasons Friends of Mineral Town sakuna of rice and ruin cris tales

For no good reason. I’m getting the Asia English release with no rating on the cover.

Here's some more pics of the $500 pile 'o stuff. The biggest box was just chock full of random controllers: I plan to keep some of these... really like the Gamester floating steering wheel and the arcade sticks for Genesis and PS2. Will sell all the stuff I don't need. If anyone is interested in anything just holler at me. There was also these two drawstring bags. My drip is going to be unparalleled: Here's the N64 consoles. None are mint but if they all work I'll be happy. Will probably keep the ice blue and sell the rest, not in a hurry to sell them though: The Susan G. Komen pink ribbon DS Lite is missing the cardboard tray and the charger, but those should be easy to replace. The console seems unused, has the stylus and slot-2 protector. Lovely set, I will be keeping it.