Recent Pickups 15/4 2012

I was in town today with a friend and visited some stores. Picked up Giga Wing & a rumble pack for the Dreamcast and Burnout 2 for my “new” Gamecube. I got it quite cheap of eBay, it’s a bit roughed up but it seems to work, so hopefully I’ll have some good times with it.

Also got the Orange Box from a friend who got it from a friend who managed to buy it twice – lucky me! – so I’ve finally played Portal. It was about as awesome as everyone said it was.
Speaking of awesome, I watched Ghibli’s Laputa for the first time the other night and I enjoyed it very much. The animation was superb and it had a very adventurous feel to it, not to mention a fascinating setting.

Also, there was some kind of market fair going on in town and one guy was selling electronics. I was on the verge of picking up a GBA SP & a Gameboy Color, but I didn’t because wasn’t sure of their condition and I didn’t have that much money on me, after the previous purchases. I also saw some other systems there as well some minidisc players (!).
Sadly, they were in quite bad condition (one didn’t even want to open up properly), which was a shame because I’ve been looking for another minidisc player to carry around. Anyway, I just love it when there’s electronics and games just lying around, if I’d went alone I would still be there going through all that stuff…

I forgot to mention…

…that I also got another Dreamcast. An NTSC-J unit, to be more precise. I totally forgot about it when compiling that last loot-post.

A new seller appeared on Tradera, which is the Swedish equivalent of eBay (actually, it’s owned by it, IIRC) that sells Japanese systems and games, ranging from the Famicom to the Dreamcast.
He had some loose DC units that were sold for quite cheap so I had to pick one up, seeing that I probably had most stuff needed to hook it up.

It’s got a few scratches and scuff marks but it works fine. I also picked up Deadly Skies for it, but I haven’t really had the chance to try it out thanks to me sticking it next to my PAL unit, which is a bit too far away from the step down converter and powerstrip I use for import systems. That sounds like a very stupid reason, and it is, but I’m planning on moving some things around, should I get my hands on the things I need soo…we’ll see. Happy to have it, anyway!

On and ending note, there’s an interesting little difference in details between the two units, besides the color of the swirly logo. The upper part of the inverted triangle shape near the top front edge is solid grey plastic on my PAL unit, while the NTSC-J unit sports one made out clear plastic.

Intriguing.

PCE – All opened up

After hearing a rattling noise inside my Duo-R, as if something was loose, as well as wanting to see what shape the capacitors were in*, I opened it up. Turned out the noise came from a loose bit of plastic of unknown origin and the capacitors looked fine to my untrained eyes. However, one of the small stick-things that keeps the CD-unit in place had snapped, some glue did fix that though. The box the unit came in was a bit roughed up, perhaps that was the cause…?
Anyhow, I thought I’d post the pictures I took of the inside of the unit, should anyone find it interesting :p

Unit seems to work fine otherwise, I need more games for it!

* A common problem for normal Duo’s are that the capacitors go bad. Duo-R and RX’s are usually not effected as often and are generally seen as more reliable but you never know…

PC Engine GET!

A PC Engine Duo-R was waiting for me when I got home today. Mmmmmmm yes. There are some slight scratches not visible in the picture but overall it seems to be in very good shape, sans a faint yellow tint :p
What really surprised me is how “small” the system actually is, just slightly bigger than the old PlayStation.

I wanted to get another system, preferably something 16-bit…ish (I know wether the PCE is a true 16-bit console or not is technically debatable). At first I was after the Model 1 Mega Drive but that dang CD-add on is somewhat elusive, not to mention expensive :> Then I went to hunt down the Super Famicom. I was this close to getting one. But then, suddenly I couldn’t contain my desire to own a PC Engine any longer and, even though it might’ve been the most expensive of the three, I quickly took action. Truth to be told, I’ve wanted one pretty much since I “discovered” it’s existence a year or two ago. Ah well, I can get the others some other time.

I bought it through Game of Japan but weirdly enough, they sent me Galaxy Fraulein Yuna 2 instead of the first game : / Hmm…I don’t really mind, I mean, The Galaxy Fraulein-games aren’t exactly expensive or hard to find*…not to mention I already have the first one…on the Saturn. AND what a horrible version that is! That, however, is a rant for another day.

: )

* With the possible exception of Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire, but whether or not it’s really a part of the Yuna-franchise, I don’t know.

Oldschool l00t of excellence

(Warning: thumbs are a bit screwy thanks to me not resisting captions)
During the time when my old blog was getting ignored by me, I did get a way of income and that has naturally resulted in some loot. First up was something of an impulse buy where heart went before all reason:

キタ━━━(゜∀゜)━━━!!!!!

And as a result of that, this:

Yes, I’ve started to collect Laserdiscs. I realize DVD might be better in many ways such cheaper per episode and generally less cumbersome but LOOK AT IT. IT’S SO AWESOME. I mean, it’s certainly not very economic to buy each episode loose as often seems to be the case with anime LDs but it really feels like you’re getting something for your money spent. High quality artwork on the front (and often back) of the big sleeve and then a gigantic disc that weighs quite more than you’d initially believe. And in all of LDs I have collected so far (not a very big collection but slightly bigger than pictured) there’s usually an insert of some kind, sometimes a folder, with interviews, comments and character/vehicle design/sketches.
Really cool stuff.

Some stuff that I bought together with the LDs also deserves special mention. Like, for starters, this B-Club Special Bubblegum Crisis artbook. I wasn’t expecting that to float around the interwebs for an affordable price, really happy to pick that up. My camera does suck though, apologies for that.

Fuck. Yes.

I also picked up the first artbook for another guilty pleasure of mine: Agent AIKa. Sadly, I didn’t take any special pictures of aside from the one above.
In the same batch, there were also two volumes of Namco Game Sound Express.

The 80s says "hi!"

And last but not least additions to my game collection:

I also got Rockman Dash (Mega Man Legends) and Tokimeki Memorial 2, pictured in the loot above.
Phew! I believe that’s most of it. I don’t have any more pictures, anyway :p