fcgamer

Nah I didn't feel it, though I did experience Taiwan's strongest earthquake in 25 years.

Here's what I would personally get, given the information you provided:

Buy a boxed Famicom (original model) and a stuffed Pikachu doll. Or grab one of those pre Famicom tv game machines that Nintendo did, again boxed. Throw in a set of Nintendo playing cards and a few brochures/adverts from the time you're visiting, featuring something Nintendo* related. Then call it a day.

If you like Nintendo, then imo this is likely what got you to where you stand with Nintendo. It represents the company, as well as Japan, is iconic yet would also be something that you'd likely use, which would then just bring back more memories from the fun trip you and your wife had.

*When I was in Japan, I happened to see some adverts at a train station with a Mario in a Japanese outfit or something like that, so I took a few. I also know often times there's cool Nintendo related stuff at the convenience stores.

2 hours ago, Mega Tank said:

You going to throw a fit when he says no? 

If you want me to, it can be arranged...

On 4/3/2024 at 9:38 AM, Ankos said:

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?

I just can't get behind this way of thinking, sorry. It just leads to increased competition, smaller supply, higher demand, and then resellers and others jump on the bandwagon making it quickly turn toxic. 

I have no issues sharing information with friends who are also following such pursuits in a niche, or friends in other niches who won't be competing; however, posting ambitions, goals, and your "top tier" items for a bunch of randoms to see is just gonna be shooting your foot in the future, and that's something I personally try to avoid.

Edit: it does prove kind of funny though when I'm  inspecting something carefully like a date code or trademark, and the reseller squirms knowing I'm checking for something rare, yet has no idea what it is I'm possibly looking for.

On 3/15/2024 at 3:17 AM, RH said:

I always enjoyed DuckTales for the NES when I got to play it at a friends how, but I enjoyed my GB version better.  I don't know, maybe it's because I owned that version.

It's mostly the same but the level designs are simpler, no doubt due to cartridge size constraints.  Neither game is truly shorter, but it does make the GB version some what shorter.  Still, if I have an itch to play that game now, I tend to reach for the GB version over the NES one, both of which I now own.

I always preferred the GB one too, thought the controls handled better.

1 hour ago, a3quit4s said:

I saw NA signage but not VGS signage lmao

We're you able to get Go Collect Jeff's autograph for me?

8 hours ago, NintendoTwizer said:

If memory serves me correctly that user was "Mr. Nintendo".  He was/is a cool dude, from Alaska I believe, it's been years since I talked to him.  He had rows and rows of Game Boy carts on his attic ceiling with custom built shelves.

Yeah I remember him (I think his name was Rocky?) very much, I used to sell him all my GB multicarts. 

Never was much of a sports guy, likely due to my older brother being terrible at sports - as a result, we spent our time gaming, instead.

In highschool I did distance running up until 2015 or so. I ran w half marathon here locally, the second one, but I felt a much harder recovery period compared to the race I ran just a year prior, so I hung up my shoes so to speak.

I took up cycling since the and truly love it. I'd love to do some of those virtual cycling experiences at home but just never bought the equipment.

As for the average sporting game, no desire at all. Even watching sports on TV does nothing for me, though I can get the appeal if your friends are all into it. 

Watching in a stadium , I'd do that any day of the week, totally different experience.

2 hours ago, Sumez said:

I don't usually regret purchases, but if I end up spending too much money on something that wasn't what I thought it was, or I buy stuff that takes up a lot of place but which I end up never using, that's pretty much an immediate regret.

In recent memory, two games stand out to me, both were my own fault for not doing some basic research:

Devil May Cry Trilogy on Switch. I bought a physical copy because I wanted to own the game, and a real copy of especially the Switch port of DMC3, which by most fans is regarded the ultimate version of that game.
What I didn't realise at the time, is that the physical release only includes the first game, and the other two are download codes. Completely useless garbage.

Uncharted Waters on SNES. I've never been interested in this game on any platform. But @Reed Rothchild's insane praise of the game in his SNES Rankings list (better than TNWA? must be really fucking great) convinced me to shell out for a game that's unfortunately an import exclusive, meaning absurd shipping, customs, etc.
Buuuut it turns out there are apparently two Uncharted Waters games on the SNES, and the game he praised was the other one, which is also an import exclusive. Sucks. I'm never going to play this game.

Buy the other one and send @Reed Rothchild a bill? 

14 hours ago, Ankos said:

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

Maybe it was a roach

Here's some pictures I've seen circulating around, parts of the east have some major damage it seems

Tomorrow is the start of a four day holiday too.

I was lying in bed this morning thinking how I should get up and start preparing for work, then te shaking started. It was quite scary tbh, usually I don't get bothered by earthquakes anymore but this one did feel strong.

Where I live luckily is shielded from the worst of the effects from earthquakes and typhoons, though on the other hand the air pollution can get bad.

As a pioneer in game collecting, I generally don't show off my tops as I don't want to create unnecessary competition for myself from copycat collectors.

Therefore, at the moment my top five things (to get rid of) are 

1. Xbox 360 games

2. Xbox games

3. Modern Famiclones

Ehh, that's only three but it works.

1 hour ago, GPX said:

Not sure why you’re arguing like the seller sounds like a swell guy?

Though I do I understand to some extent  where you’re coming from. The issue is with the SMS game cases is that there are small crevices that dust or very small insects can enter if left in storage for a long time. If the game cases have cracks  then that increases the chance of unwanted entries. 

So I wasn’t majorly angry with the bug found inside a common game, but more so the response I got from seller. Bearing also in mind that I’m not usually the type to bad mouth sellers. 

 

I was just explaining why I assumed it was a random guy clearing out his attic than a collector, hence the difference in expectations.

Anyways, if it is a collector, he should know better and we should burn him at the stake for his transgressions. 

Either way, thanks for the clarification, and I apologize if I came across as antagonistic.

Nice, I just grabbed one of these! Hopefully it'll arrive and the seller won't swap it for a different one.

Turkey rice bento....so delicious!

This is likely the best turkey rice shop I've found in my area. The turkey rice in Chiayi is so much better though, as that's where turkey rice originated. The guy who invented instant noodles was also born and raised in that same area.

This lunch cost about $2.65.

2 hours ago, GPX said:

Why would you assume A?

That's quite simple really. Games were being sold together in a lot, conditions weren't described properly, and there was a dead bug in a cruddy -looking cartridge. This doesn't really sound like collector territory tbh

31 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

How the crap do they have the Famicom version for sale in their store but you didn’t get a kickstarter copy??

https://projectblue.bigcartel.com/product/project-blue-famicom-cartridge

I think it's because some backers (like myself) backed a higher tier that came with extra crap. It's been so Iong I can't even remember what all was supposed to come with

5 minutes ago, Gloves said:

Have you contacted them through Kickstarter itself? Frankengraphics hasn't visited VGS in over a year now, so the ping is probably floating in the aether.

I've contacted various people regarding the project off and on throughout the past several years, I think the last time I got a response from First Press Games themselves was roughly a year ago, but only after threatening to leave a bad review. Until then, all emails went unanswered.

From my understanding, due to COVID-19 supplies got messed up and therefore since FPG wanted to source everything from Japan to maintain their made in Japan image, things got delayed. But COVID-19 was how many years ago now? Similarly, the game Project Blue is available for sale on Famicom format on some sites, some people have it, yet Kickstarter backers still don't have theirs (well at least I don't, and in the somewhat near future I'm hoping to move house).

The whole situation, it's just crap after spending about $100 or whatever, and I think the only way anything will come from this is to make the situation known publicly. I'm sure the devs received their money years ago, so what does it matter to them if Kickstarter backers like me received our game? That said, suddenly there's a bit more skin in the game if the situation is made public.

It's something that honestly needs to be addressed, sooner than later, rather than just sending countless emails into a black hole year after year and getting the same similar replies.

1 minute ago, Ankos said:

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?

I think sometimes people just get greedy, sadly enough. The friend knew I had been the first in line for the lot of games, but he pressured the seller after not following instructions. It's a situation where I pretend that I don't know he's the one who did this, to maintain friendship and relationship for buying/trading things from said friend in the future, but at the same time I've definitely lost some respect for the person.

Anyone actually get their copy of Project Blue for the Famicom? I backed the Kickstarter for the game years ago, still received nothing. 

@FrankenGraphics and others involved in the project, thoughts? This has dragged out for way too long at this point...

I love the asshole sellers who put a list of specific instructions in their listings, such as "Do not directly but, contact me first" and what not. 

On two occasions I've followed instructions and was first in line, with the seller agreeing to sell me said items and open up a custom listing for me. Then along comes some plonker that doesn't follow the seller's instructions, and directly buys and pays. Instead of refunding them, the seller on both occasions just rolled with it, then told me I was shit out of luck. I made sure to point out to the seller later when said buyers started reselling the underpriced goods for 100X the cost only days after receiving said items.

Man I'm still salty about that bullshit, and the most recent time the buyer that screwed me was a so called friend.

6 hours ago, GPX said:

That’s not the point. Firstly, the listing was arguably deceptive. If the game(s) come in poorer condition, and included a  dead bug with some cart rot, the seller needs to take some responsibility. Instead I got called “petty” without that ass even wanting clarification from what I meant by “dead bug found in cart”. The pic was later shown to him via the eBay refund process, and no apology given whatsoever by him. 

The seller is likely the type to pull other dodgy stunts as in the theme of this thread.

Did the guy just pull the set of games out of his garage and throw them up on ebay whilst cleaning house, or was it a collector? If the situation was A, then I honestly don't think he did much of anything wrong. Yeah he could have perhaps wiped the games off better or taken more pictures, but I wouldn't call it shady not doing so either.

24 minutes ago, JamesRobot said:

Yeah probably reused the password.  But FB is 2 factor.  It's seriously the only thing I've ever had a problem with.

I had issues with the 2 factor crap as well, and got locked out about a month back. 

A few years back my company was running ads on FB and the process was horrible, they kept restricting our ads due to bots sending up red flags.

The only reason I'm still on FB / still use it is because I've got a lot of friends and contacts around the globe.

1 hour ago, GPX said:

Rare game missing vs common game with a dead bug. 
Still in keeping with the theme shonky sellers and big lots!

I think it comes with the territory of large untested lots, actually.