fcgamer

I'm also curious for PS2. I've started buying every PS2 Asian release that I see here, if it's about $5 or less. Don't have a lot though, the buggers aren't the easiest to find.

As for the other ten volumes, I believe I have about six volumes worth of content already more or less written out, and a few of the volumes that I don't have written out will be easy to write, so let's say that probably around eight volumes are more or less in the bag. Each volume is estimated to be around 320 - 350 pages in length. The first volume I am finishing up as we speak, I plan to release it around May or June, with another book in the series to be available by December. I asked the affable @OptOut to write the forward for the first book, so here's hoping... I'm really excited seeing this finally become a reality after so many years, and for anyone who has any interest in the Famicom (or even the NES), I think you'll enjoy these books, as they offer an in-depth, new perspective on the machine and its software. Think the Nintendo Age database, only for Famicom, with all the obscure and rare crap gathered into one place, scattered across a series of thick, hardcover books. Basically encyclopedias, that's how I see this

Alright everyone, time to give you an update. I sent @OptOut a sketch this morning a rough sketch of how the book should be (in my mind, anyways). I sat down over the Taiwanese New Year holiday and spent some real time looking at what I had already written years ago, before I had initially shelved the book due to scope reasons. I reorganized things, redesigned the layout of the book itself, and then set about working on the damned thing again. Due to scope, I envision Family Bits to be a series of books. As I sat down and sketched out the different sections today, I honestly believe that I have content for around 15 volumes... The last four or five volumes will focus on the licensed Famicom stuff, it's definitely the least of my priorities as I personally feel it's the sort of thing that either already exists, or something that others could produce as well, perhaps even better than I could.

I totally agree. I learned long ago, those are dangerous words to say "the only one in the world"

@Tyree_Cooper Hey man, any news on that Micro Genius book? Thanks

I guess we'll find out in the (relatively) near future, lol

$120 - $200.

Just let me know a time and place, I'll join you

I've been collecting the Asian PS1 releases, does anyone have a complete / comprehensive list of what exists?

Gotta throw a hot pot in there somewhere, guys.

Looking good

I enjoyed the video as background entertainment as I was editing images for my Family Bits book. In terms of actual content though, I felt it was lacking. I enjoyed the Dutch collector and the Swedish one. In a sick, twisted way, I enjoyed hearing the voice of Eric, and similarly, watching the Deniz sections. Complete contrast. My issue though is that I wish there'd be more of the Swedish/Dutch collector types on there. I'm tired of always hearing the stories of the same old YT personalities plus Wata crew. Throw dreamtr on there, or Martin Nielsen, hell I'd even like to comment a bit. But with the same ole folks everytime, it gets to be a bit predicable and boring

Sachen's Mahjong Trap counts it as a loss. Timer runs out and you match a pair, sadly you aren't going to be seeing any naked ladies.

So is that a "yes" or a "no" ? edit: Yes or no on whether I am understanding what you meant previously.

So what you are actually saying is the following? I'm not sure the people spending six figures on North American video games are the same people complaining about bilingual signs in shopping plazas. But you could be right, and I could be wrong. Only time will tell.

Furthermore, who is spending six figs on Japanese video games at the moment?

You need to get the other players to buy into it. I don't think many outside of the States are buying into the whole idea of graded games and the value as well. Good luck convincing the nation of Japan in buying into it. Again, that's the big problem with your speculation, who knows what's even over there. On the short term, yeah sure, might convince a few idiots with more money than common sense, though in a few years time, nope. Even in the short term, it would have been basically manufactured due to pipeline issues with the grading companies themselves.

One other situation that we have is that of markets across countries, which is another reason why it's not going to happen.

You still have to convince the folks buying the stuff that the quirky Japanese versions are the ones they want to buy. No offense to America, but if people hate seeing bilingual signs in shopping plazas, convincing them that some game with Japanese text on the box, in a market they know even more than nothing about, is rare - well yeah, sorry bud, I honestly don't think that's where the market is at.

@AdamW: Right, so you are saying the following: Games that were made and released first in Japan are undervalued; however, games that were made first in America and have Japanese counterparts (i.e. whatever Marvel did make it over there) shouldn't be worth anything much. Essentially, you are grasping onto the hope that Famicom games, for example, are viewed as the first print of the game, for stuff like the Marios, and therefore are currently undervalued. It is a very big stretch to view the Famicom versions as first prints, and the NES versions as second prints though. As for the seals, basically everything cartridge-based wasn't sealed, the disk stuff was.

Just got to the dentist, yup I'm definitely jealous of him.

Just started watching now while doing some other things, had to devote my full attention when the angelic voice of Deniz came on.

The Japanese prints aren't particularly desirable though, and that's coming from a guy that exclusively collects Japanese. Those trying to "get in" the game by snapping up Japanese prints are failing to look at some of the obvious points, but before I address those points, I just want to inquire why you feel that "Either the NA prices have to crash...or the JP prices have to come up..." These are two totally different markets, two totally different things. Not really related to each other at all. Now then: 1. Most Japanese games were never sealed. So what we are really discussing is CIB games* *yes an unopened game is still a CIB game 2. As much as reseals are a problem for buyers / grading companies, unopened CIBs are an even larger headache. There's a reason the "qualified" games or whatever they are called don't go for the same premium. 3. There is little to no nostalgia for these games, from the West. If you actually look at the games that shot up in price, they are the same games that went to astronomical prices in the West...Little Samson, Panic Restaurant, etc. The folks that were buying these as Japanese versions were doing so mostly as gamers, with some speculators and Japanese sellers jumping in on the situation, though this has nothing to do with the WATA / Dentists crew. 4. The libraries are too different, at least for the Famicom / NES and N64J / N64USA. A lot of the stuff that would be desirable to the investors never even made it over there, i.e. the Marvel crap. It's funny, licensed Famicom stuff is basically worthless in Taiwan. The Japanese are way beyond the stage of nostalgia for collecting that stuff, at least I'm under that impression, and the Taiwanese only care about the bootlegs / homemade originals. On the latter, I have seen a drastic increase in interest and price since ten years ago, but it is starting to wane again imo; I think many are just opting for cheap reproductions and emulators, with even more losing interest with the nostalgia boom dying off a few years after it started (around 2016). 5. So Famicom games aren't desirable anymore in regions that grew up using them, often featuring foreign / unknown characters / franchises and unreadable text, yet somehow these are supposed to be the next big thing for investors? Especially since they never came sealed? Lol. Even if someone could sell it to the numpties, it still doesn't even address one other huge issue: How many people in the West know about the actual market of unopened CIB Japanese games? Are we basing it off what's available on Yahoo Japan Auctions? Word of mouth from Western collectors, who likely wouldn't have access to the whole Japanese market? Word of mouth from Japanese sellers, who just as easily could sell used items as "NEW CIB", or hype up rarities just for their own selling needs? The whole idea is laughable, basically it will be a repeat of the situation of games in Korea? Lol.

Also, if the seal doesn't match the seal on, which is basically known to be authentic, then perhaps this one is even a reseal. Unfortunately many folks didn't realize that EA manufactured their own games AND started out unlicensed, thus their sealing methods likely wouldn't be the same as those used by companies that weren't involved in either of these things. Sloppy reseals by folks that didn't know better? Oops.

I definitely need to get one of these, are they really going for about 1K though?