Much like the last time I was in Japan, this current outing in Japan is for relatively serious business, what with it involving a study abroad gig and all. I'm here primarily to make my language skills more competent and lay the groundwork for what will probably be a career revolving around international, particularly Japan-centric, work. That doesn't mean I'm left lacking when it comes to time for fun and games, though, and that's what this list is for: detailing my purchases made while overseas, as well as any and all impressions I might have. I never come to Japan with the particular intention of buying a lot, but invariably, whether it's because I find something that's just absolutely difficult to track down in the States or is just plain dumb/cheap/both dumb and cheap, I wind up expanding my collection far more than I ever initially expect. Let's watch together and see how bad things end up getting by the end.
Showing 1-10 of 50 items
This was my very first game purchase in Japan this time around, although it's for the expanded edition that's aptly titled Love Plus+. (Two plusses!) There are a few reasons for this, most of them having to do with morbid curiosity, but I also just wanted to see first hand what makes the games so compelling to certain types of Japanese men. Unlike pretty much every non-Japanese gamer who can only stare at it from afar and (pretty justifyingly) wonder why it exists, my Japanese skills are more than good enough to actually dive in and find out what's actually what with the game. I came away actually learning quite a bit and while I don't think the game itself is actually compelling, there are reasons why it has the following that it does. I want to spend some time actually detailing my thoughts about it and what lessons more mainstream games, both Japanese and Western, can take from it. There's more to it than the hyperbole might lead you to believe.
The first of many games bought on a whim because it was dirt cheap in a random bargain bin. I haven't actually gotten around to playing the game and I don't expect it to have actually aged particularly gracefully, but 70 yen wouldn't otherwise nab me much else in this economy either, so no big loss.
This one was 100 yen (so cheap that a currency conversion isn't really necessary), complete with the box and manual. My attitude towards the series in general has been pretty apathetic, but I'm slowing making an effort to try and find what other people see so highly in the games. I might not get a delightful localization out of it, but I'm willing to pay that price if it means I get a cheap classic in another language I know anyway.
Another 100 yen game. My interest in Kirby games in general has risen again thanks to Mass Attack and I always wanted to see the interesting technical feats the NES game pulled off first hand, since I heard HAL got the system to do things it was certainly not designed for seven or eight years prior to the game's release. My Famicom collection is also in dire need of good games that aren't just Yoshi's Cookie, so this beggar won't be a chooser.
When I bought Final Fantasy IV, I was intending that to be a one-time purchase because, again, I'm generally not keen on Square/Square Enix games. But then I found copies of V and IV that were also 100 yen each with the box and manual and I figured, "Well, I already went down the rabbit hole. Might as well go further down and have the entire SNES set." And so I did. Considering that the games retailed for something like 9000 yen even back then, 300 for a set of games that would probably take me 100-plus to complete isn't a half bad deal.
See the entries regarding IV and V. I swear, it was an accident that I wound up just getting all of them. My Atlus allegiance hasn't shifted one bit. No sir.
God dammit. Those bargain bins. Every time. Every time.
So the real story behind Chrono Trigger, Nights, and the next couple of games on this list is that while roaming around a random town that's more or less in the boonies, I stumbled across a tiny book store that was selling off its entire game stock. Nearly everything, regardless of age, was 10 yen (no more than 20 cents) and much of it, like Chrono Trigger and Nights, still came in the boxes and manuals. I wound up doubling my collection of games here in Japan for no more than 120 yen as a result. It felt great to find such a boon of classic games going for so cheap, but reminded me of how bitter I'll be at myself once it's actually time to pack all of them up and get them hauled back to the States.
Sadly enough, I already owned a copy of this for the Saturn because I found it for cheap back home and was like, "Well, that PS2 one that came out in English wasn't terrible." As will soon become clear, this might have started another inadvertent buying trend of sorts that might persist in future purchases. This was one of the 10 yen games that was complete with box and manual.
Yep. Found this in the same 10 yen bin and was like, "Well, this won't be a bad, unproductive idea to start up a collection for another series I'm apathetic towards." I can't wait for when I finally cave in and buy the legitimately terrible horse-riding PS2 spinoff action game!