Archives for May 1998
May 25, 1998

All sale lists updated! Lots of goodies for everyone! Famicom fanatics should note that I now have complete in box 3D glasses available.  Square people take a look at the Game Goods page for the Square Maniax 98 Mook from Famitsu which includes lots of candy on a PSX disk including Japanese TV commercials for a bunch of Squaresoft titles.  FX'ers rejoice! More games are now listed as well as PC-FX systems.  PC Engine & Turbonauts take note of new systems and games.  I didn't forget about Neo Freaks either, new CDs & cart games are listed on the Neo Geo page.  Neo Freaks should also take a look at Game Goods for "King of Fighters 96" mouse pads.

Went hunting w/ G out in Kawasaki today.  Not bad.  The best finds came from a flea market here in Harajuku though.  Not entirely true, I scored myself a copy of Battle Ace for the SuperGrafx hidden away on top of a shelf behind some dusty old point of purchase displays in a store out on the Den-en-toshi line.  Any of you hardware hacker types know how to hook up a SuperGrafx or Duo to do S-Video? Email me if you do.

Those of you who ordered games from me and found something extra in the package might want to know that I am just following a Japanese business tradition.  Something extra which comes free with a purchase is called "o-make" (oh mah-kay) or "o-make mono" (oh mah-kay mono).

Do you have a system page which provides good information? If so, email me and maybe we can trade links. I don't have the time to list the details of every system I carry and some of y'all have done a much better job than I ever could so I would like to have a links section which would answer many of the questions I receive every week.

May 21, 1998
Sometimes BiraBira smiles on us!  I've been working on filling out my collection of the Dracula series lately and came across a nice clean copy of the Famicom title "Boku Dracula-kun" (Kid Dracula in the States).  Not much more before I finish out this series.  Me and another gaijin who lives here have been traveling far and wide hunting down older games.  Last Sunday we crossed three different prefectures (Tokyo, Saitama & Chiba) but had relatively minor results.  My best score was a bag of famicom disk system games including one weird unauthorized game.  On another note, I have expanded the PC Engine section to include PC-FX games as well.  All you anime freaks should be happy about that!  I'll try to keep the stock up, but please, no special requests on FX.  Just so you all know, used FX titles are not really any cheaper than new ones and very few stores outside of Akihabara carry FX titles at all.  Squaresoft fans take note:  I got some more copies of the Famitsu Wave mook which features Parasite Eve and includes a PSX CD with some very cool video footage interviewing the Square LA team and a bunch of Japanese TV commercials for Squaresoft games.
May 18, 1998
It's been more than 2 weeks since my last update, but they have been really busy weeks.  I have been working at a new office during the day and had some other issues taking up my time.  I've updated the FAQ to include more information about payment and shipping.  For those of you who have written in asking for Duo systems, the last boxed one I saw was going for $195.  I'm running late posting the Famicom Network System info, but I will have it here soon.  Interesting acquisitions since the last update include: a boxed Barcode Boy, some more Famicom barcode stuff, and some of the early Konami Dracula (Castlevania) games.

Attention all non US resident customers:  I am receiving lots of private money orders and bank checks which I can not cash here in Tokyo.  If you send me something other than an international postal money order, I will either return it or you will have to wait for it to clear my bank in the US before I will ship your games.

May 1, 1998

Information update on the Barcode Boy from one of our readers.  Price indexes remain relatively stable, the only significant drop being the PC Engine LT which has gone down to $700.  Dracula X is in short supply, but prices have not changed.  I came across a stash of Famicom Network Systems which I will cover in depth in the next update.  Those of you who read David Scheff's book "Game Over" will remember that Nintendo once ran a dialup value added network which subscribers could use to get news updates, stock prices and other information using their Famicom.  The Famicom Network System features a 300/1200bps modem which attaches to the Famicom by the cartridge slot and allowed access to the dialup VAN.  I will post pictures and scans of the manual pages very soon.  A limited number of these will be available for sale, but be warned that the FNS is not a game and is not in anyway useful or fun, it is just a collector's item at this point in time.
 

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