Golden Age of Importing

[Tom Salter]

To me, the golden age of importing was the mid-to-late PS1 age. It defined what I loved about importing; since most of the Square RPG's were US-only. Add to that the fact that this was also many developers heyday, such as Namco with RRT4, Tekken 3 et al. And I lost count of the amount of hours I spent with Square's PS1 RPG's.

And this generation has almost became stale as far as importing is concerned. There seem to be fewer and fewer "must have" import-only titles. Due to the accessibility of importing, it's also lost it's "elite" appeal. I'm probably in the minority though

Which were you favourite era's?

[John Beaulieu]

now is the golden era - for no other facts than its easier and cheaper than its ever been.

paid stupid amounts of money for import consoles and games in the past......

[Tom Salter]

Pffffffft, but you have to admit it was worth it, no?

[JibberX]

Also its the easiest generation to rip games to hell and back....aint it?

Like WE7i, the posibilities are endless thanks to the relative cheapness and accessibility to ripping and burning and the Internet for the patches.

[Chadruharazzeb]

I think it's much better these days, being able to cheaply import your own games without handing over enormous amounts of cash to rob-dog extortioners like Colin Dimond...

[Yoshimoto]

For me it has to be the late eighties and early ninties. The years time of the PC Engine, Megadrive and Super Famicom.

In those days it felt like you were in a very exclusive club if you bought imported games and could always find exciting things to talk about other gamers that you met in your local "import shop". Since gaming has become more mainstream and commercial its lost nearly all the atmosphere and sense of community that it once had.

Even though prices back in those days were sky high, somehow you didn't mind paying as you knew that your money was going to someone who was providing the service because of a love of gaming and not just to make a quick buck.

[Yoshimoto]

I think it's much better these days, being able to cheaply import your own games without handing over enormous amounts of cash to rob-dog extortioners like Colin Dimond...

In all fairness though Console Concepts and Raven Games etc did a massive amount to build the grey import market back in the day. Without them i doubt import gaming would be anything like it is today.

[VR46]

My brother paid ?650 for a JPN PS1 and Ridge Racer on launch (from Console Concepts)

Remember Dream Machines & Dream Machines 2 ?, I bought loads of JPN SNES games off them - for example SF Turbo ?85 ouch.

[Yoshimoto]

You do know that Lee who owned Dream Machines / 2 is the same Lee who now owns www.videogameimports.com don't you?

Top bloke.

[hankwangford]

Late Saturn era. Never before has a console suffered such a breakdown between Japanese development and Western stock. Owning X-Men Vs. SF, Radiant Silvergun, Dead Or Alive and being able to simply smile in the slowly dying import shops because you had, unquestionably, some of the best games of 1998 at home sitting on your shelf was a great feeling.

[gingerj]

Due to the accessibility of importing, it's also lost it's "elite" appeal.

You weren't one of those boys in school that was like yeah! I got this 8months before you, hahahah! kinda people? From the sounds of it you need to get your head out of your ass.

Just because its easier to get import games through the internet or whatever else and gaming is even more popular than its ever been so more people get the 'so called' special titles that your commenting on about its a bad thing? Errr i dont quite see how its a bad thing...

[Tom Salter]

From the sounds of it you need to get your head out of your ass.

No dude, but you have to admit that it feels good to get games earlier? Why the **** else would you do it?

Just because I like to be one of the few who gets games earlier, doesn't automatically mean I'm a **** about it.

[marcus]

Id say the SNES era, or should I say, the StreetFighter era. The best time for gaming Ive ever had, we totally adored that game, and it set me on the road to importing which Ive never looked back on. Cartridge prices were in excess of ?100, not forgetting the extra ?30 cartridge needed to get it to run on a PAL SNES, but what the hell, it was nothing in the face of the hours we spent battling away on the incredible conversions.

For financial and accessibility reasons, importers have never had it so good as they do now, online purchasing has really changed everything.

[Pezley]

Ahhhhh... i remember getting Super Street Fighter 2 as soon as it was out on the snes ( US ) and realising the import cartridge i had didnt support it ...... what a lot of money that day cost. bah, i also think we got aero the acrobat the same day..

[nips]

I'm loving it now. Not that I experienced any kind of Dark Age...

Loads of titles, low costs, availability and ease of accessability which is met with a large on-line community and a plethora of information...

It may not be 'elite' but really, who imports to be cool?