Post any time you get ANYTHING retro 3.

[fuse]

Latest proxy lot came in and had a few other bits from local auctions, but now to be on my best behaviour for a bit.





Immediately rushed off to get that Mahoromatic VN game upon discovering it has a full Beatmania IIDX minigame within it. And heck, if that front cover for Street Golfer doesn't speak to you, I don't know what to say.

Probably most excited though about these two posters - been waiting a while to find this Silver Case one;



... and man, I love SMT IV so much, and the art is incredible. Love it.

[egparadigm]

That Crazy Taxi 3’s a bit posh compared to PAL version: just look at all that glitter! 🤩

fuse

[Tobal]

I didn't know Mahoromatic got a game, i assume it's a either minigame collection or an action hack'n'slash.

[Baseley09]

The start of another journey down a dark well. Can't get over how short famicom controller cords are, worse than PC Engine!!

[wakka]

How do you get on with the MX4000 Baseley09?

I think the thing with the controller cable lengths is that they envisaged it being played like this:

[egparadigm]

What’s that box you have between the Famicom and TV (with composite in), Baseley09?

[Baseley09]

How do you get on with the MX4000 Baseley09?

I think the thing with the controller cable lengths is that they envisaged it being played like this:

Yeah indeed I thought that I'll have to do the same or get a controller for the ext port. Love the MX4000 I have that and an MX4002 with the rotating stand. They've seen off my PVMs etc prefer the classy style to industrial units!

[Baseley09]

What’s that box you have between the Famicom and TV (with composite in), Baseley09?

It's a bandridge scart selector, 5 RGB inputs on the back and a handy comp/svideo on the front. It's never missed a beat no issues with sync etc highly recomended had it forever.

[wakka]

Yeah indeed I thought that I'll have to do the same or get a controller for the ext port. Love the MX4000 I have that and an MX4002 with the rotating stand. They've seen off my PVMs etc prefer the classy style to industrial units!

Nice, man. I've really been thinking about getting one, mostly for PS1 and Saturn. I agree the aesthetics are vastly better than PVMs, and I also think the 800 TVL ones are actually a bit sharp for my tastes. Kind of prefer the pixel bleed of a consumer set.

Do you have any problems with lightguns? I hear mixed reports about the glass contrast screen affecting their accuracy, particularly in the corners/edges of the screen?

Also, is yours firmware 3.1 or above - i.e. do you have the ability to adjust convergence etc from the remote?

Sorry lots of questions 😅

[Baseley09]

Heh no bother, I can't actually attest to light guns I've never tried on them and don't have any gun games at the min despite having a guncon, sorry!

And yeah these models you can get i to the service menu from the remote, I have had ones where you have to bridge 2 pins with the back off to enter service, which hasn't been a huge deal tbh.

[egparadigm]

It's a bandridge scart selector, 5 RGB inputs on the back and a handy comp/svideo on the front. It's never missed a beat no issues with sync etc highly recomended had it forever.

Sounds great. Hard to get one these days (based on recent research). I have a couple cheapish ones from eBay and TBF they do the job well. I’d like a posher one but when I looked again realized it costs £100s.

EDIT: out of interest is it a powered and/or auto switching one? The powered Philips one I have doesn’t like my N64 (in particular) and my Dreamcast for some reason (dim image). Think in N64’s case cos it has an old-style rgb mod with amp. But I am hoping to get a newer modded console soon. 🤞🏻

[Baseley09]

It's not powered or auto switching, that's done manually via buttons on the front. It must draw a trickle of power over the scarts as it does have a light to denote signal. One of my pals uses one of the knock of versions of the posh switchers off aliexpress havnt heard any grumbles.

[Baseley09]

It would be helpful if my FDS system hadn't sh*t the bed in shipping, still hoping to sort it out and of course had ordered stuff in the meantime getting round the silly Famicom controller leads with a third party and extension, Mario 2 actually has Zanac on side B. Of course if you get FDS you have to get Doki Doki Panic for prosperity

[Yakumo]

Nice bonus on side 2 of the disc 👍

[Hirst]

Yeah yeah this is a long post for a single game, it's very self indulgent, I'm sorry in advance. But it's worth it, maybe it could be used as a psychological study about people buying stupid junk because they're an idiot.


The Yakyuuken Special (SS): So long as they're interesting, I love bad games! This total honker is basically strip janken (rock-paper-scissors) with video clips of women, dancing very badly to atrocious music full of synthesized dog barks or something, half of the time in what looks like a cheap hotel room, while somebody's dad films it with a consumer-grade video camera. The combination of low production values, auntie-in-a-Working-Men's-Club-function-room dancing, the worst music ever... it's amazing. When Edge magazine used to bang on about games being art, this game is what they meant. However, it's a game that sells for low triple figures. I don't even buy good games for that! I'd never own it.

Meanwhile, I'm on holiday in Bangkok and go past a shop (I won't name it) that sells used junk from Japan, not just games. Their prices are delusional - at least triple what you'd pay, even with haggling built in. Anything unpriced, they'll deliberate for about 30 minutes on their phone, then say it's worth about 1000% what anyone would ever pay. As it's in a tourist-filled area, you can draw your own conclusions. I saw some American guy excitedly digging through their Dreamcast pile and considered warning him that he was going to waste hours of his life to eventually find out a scruffy copy of Virtua Striker 2 costs the same as a beachfront condo, but he was a bit annoying with his giant backpack and stupid hat so I left him to it.

Anyway, I've been past quite a few times and I only ever briefly glance at their stuff out of morbid curiosity at this stage. The game selection, whilst large, is mostly combed-through schlock. Not necessarily bad games, but common/uninteresting ones for daft money. Missus was looking at clothes somewhere else, so I dug around for a while for something to do. "Ha ha, The Yakyuuken Special! Ho ho, they'll never sell it- hold on, it's priced up at ฿1299. That's like 30 quid!", my brain said. This is a game that goes for about £100 in rough condition, but this one was nice, no sunfading throughout, no obi admittedly, jewel case was junk but I replace them anyway, I'd appraise it at about £150 off the top of my head. But... it's £30. What?! I sat there going over it with a fine toothcomb, checking it was counterfeit or damaged (it wasn't), researching on the Internet to see if the price had bombed or something (it hadn't), trying to figure out why this shop, of all places, would price a game this low. My guess is that they'd meant to put ฿12999 (£300 - feasible for this shop) and missed off the last 9. Ah!

I shoved it behind a load of copies of Gotha/Turf Wind/Sankyo Fever, retreated to the food court to gather my thoughts, explained the position to my missus (who was actually supportive of my urgent need to own the dreadful dancing lady game). Then I decided to make a move, knowing full well at this place that they often decide to research prices again when you get it to the counter, so there was a good chance they'd go "ah, actually" and then I'd be walking away empty handed. It was quiet being a weekday, the counter was manned by an aloof-looking young guy. Got my money ready, placed the game down, he checked inside it, typed a bit into the messages on his phone, a long pause where I think he was trying unsuccessfully to confirm it with somebody else who wasn't there, then he just grabbed a calculator and typed 1299 onto it and handed it to me (which can mean either "this is the price" or "this is the starting price for bartering"). Great stuff! As not to sound suspiciously keen, I made a half-hearted attempt to barter it down to ฿1200 (denied!), then just stuffed ฿1300 into his hand. Then I took my game and my ฿1 into the food court and just stared at it for a while with a giant iced latte. Finally, it's back home and placed in a nice new jewel case, my dream is complete. Also, my dream is bad and you shouldn't ever buy it.