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My Collections: Wii and Wii U

Thursday, March 23rd, 2023

Nintendo released the Wii in November of 2006 to followup from the GameCube. It had a revolutionary motion control system and some notable software that was well-engineered to take advantage, and the Wii became a breakout success appealing to players well beyond the traditional demographic. It was a best-seller almost immediately, and would go on to become one of the most successful consoles ever made. When released I had trouble finding one, but Jim used his connections to get me (and himself) one for Christmas that year.

I liked the Wii, but I always felt it was a back step compared to the GameCube and during its lifetime I vastly preferred games for the Nintendo handheld systems. That said I’m happy for the great success of the Wii: it made Nintendo a lot of money and paved the way for the Switch which I feel is one of the best consoles ever made.

During the eight year lifetime of the Wii I bought 59 games, and here are most of them:

My favourites are the first party Mario games, Monster Hunter Tri and Hyrule Warriors (which I would rebuy for Switch years later). But the system lacks nostalgic appeal, the controls these days are clumsy and the graphics on a HD screen are fuzzy. The Wii was a system of it’s time, and I think best left there.

At the end of 2012 Nintendo released a followup console called the Wii U, and it was a disaster!

Even from the first reveal this thing confused customers: was it a new console or an add-on? What was that weird controller with a screen? Did it even connect to the TV at all? Nintendo’s marketing was poor, and the console was struggling even before release.

When it did come out things didn’t get much better. The Wii U suffered from a critical shortage of software (the strange controller made porting games difficult and development costly) and sales were poor. It would go on to be Nintendo’s worst-selling console ever, and a financial disaster.

I bought only 15 games for the Wii U, which is the least I’ve ever bought for any console. While a few of these were incredibly good (Xenoblade Chronicles X, MH Tri Ultimate, Zelda: Breath Of The Wild), many of the others struggled with weird controls or excessive load times. The Wii U may have had a (very) few great games, but it wasn’t a fun or comfortable device to use, and it was inevitable it would be replaced.

In retrospect we can see the Wii U was a stepping-stone on the path to the Switch, so for that I suppose we can excuse it. But it’s now a footnote in Nintendo history, almost forgotten only a few years after it was retired.

I’ll soon be selling my entire Wii and Wii U collections (including hardware and even original boxes). Neither the hardware nor most of the games have any great value these days, and even in good condition – as mine all are – rarely fetch a quarter of what they sold for back in the day. I do have two somewhat collectible Wii games (shown above), but the value of these is dwarfed by some of the NES/SNES games I have already sold (and Gameboy/GBA games still in my collection).

I won’t miss any of this once it is gone, and am happy for my once-loved games to pass to a new collector. I enjoyed the Wii in its time – and less so the Wii U – but as I said that time has passed, and I’m ok with just the memories from now on 🙂

Posted in Blog, Collecting, Games, History, Otaku, Retro, Tech | Comments Closed

Japan Pickups: Wizardry

Thursday, February 2nd, 2023

This will be the last of my Japan pickup posts. While I have a few other items that will eventually be shown here, I’m going to end the series with my favourite items that I purchased during the recent trip: Wizardry games.

As many of you know, I’ve sold off a large chunk of my game collection these past five or so years. Amidst this I chose to focus on collecting one series, and it’s Wizardry, which I’ve been playing since I was a boy! I’ve bought games in the series before in Japan (all the way back to our first trip in 2002!) but this time I really hit the jackpot.

The game on the left is a Saturn port of an adventure-style Wizardry spinoff, which is apparently quite poor. On the right is the Saturn port of Wizardry VI and VII, two of the series best. It’s supposed to be a good port, albeit somewhat slow. I’d never seen either before and was surprised how reasonably priced they both were.

Here’s the PC Engine port of Wizardry 5. I now own four versions of this game! According to what I read it’s a fairly good port, but the slow CD speed makes the SNES version the one to play. This one was about the cost of a brand new game.

Here’s a couple of curios: Wizardry Empire II and Wizardry Dimguil, two Japan-only games. As I’ve mentioned on the blog before Wizardry continued in Japan long after it ended in the west and all sorts of weird and wonderful installments were made. Without getting into needless detail, the Empire games introduced certain innovations without straying too far from the old game design, while Dimguil is a faithful installment in the old style that also added polygon dungeons and enemies.

And here we have Wizardry Xth, Wizardry Alternative Neo and Elminage III. The first was the game that ‘modernized’ Wizardry and would eventually lead to the Class of Heroes RPG series (and it’s own spin-offs!). Busin-0 is the Japan-only sequel to the last Wizardry game ever released in the west (Tales of the Forsaken Land) and Elminage III… well let’s say it’s an important ‘Wizardry adjacent’ game 😉

None of these – or the preceeding PS1 games – were cheap, and in some cases cost more than a typical new game. All are in fantastic condition, complete with box and all inclusions. If you’re keeping track then no, I can’t play any of these since I don’t have the Japanese consoles. Except for Elminage of course (I still have my PSP), which I plan to play one day.

I also found these four hint guides! Two of them are for games shown above, but the other two are for games I don’t have. Throb of The Demon’s Heart is a SNES game, and if I ever see it for sale I don’t doubt the price will bring a tear to my eye. Likewise for Wizardry Xth 2, the PS2 sequel to the one I bought. Why are Wizardry games so expensive! It’s not like there could be many collectors focused on this series?

The books are all great, packed with details such as dungeon maps, monsters, items and strategies for building your party. The latter ones are full colour (and fairly lengthy) but the SNES one – almost 30 years old now! – is all black and white. The above pic is an example page, which shows a fiendish dungeon that appears to be mapped on the face of a cube!

Speaking of books, when I saw the above packaged as a set I was literally speechless. They were in one of Mandarake’s glass cases, tightly bound together, and I didn’t know what they were at first. The price was high, and when I asked for a look the cashier misunderstood me, took them out, and rung them up! Of course I bought them, and I’m happy I did.

They are a six-volume series of hint guides for the first four Wizardry games. The books seem to be written for computer players (they reference Japanese systems of the day such as the FM-7 and PC-88) although I’m sure they work with any versions of the games. The interior and cover art is beautiful, the the detailed contents astounding!

The first and third games have two books each, and the other two just one. The extra books (for games one and three) are dedicated ‘monster manuals’ with two pages for every beast! These books are magnificent and such an incredible find: a ‘grail’ item I didn’t even know existed.

Speaking of treasures, I also bought the Wonderswan version of Wizardry 1. This was expensive: in fact it was the 4th most expensive game I’ve ever bought, at about thrice the cost of a new game. This is because it’s very rare, and because it was complete including an unused sticker sheet:

I have a Wonderswan, and plan on playing through this one day. Yes it’s in Japanese, but google translate these days is a wizard (no pun intended) and will more than suffice.

And the bonanza didn’t stop there! I found the above trio at Mandarake Nakano, and spent at least one minute deliberating before handing over my credit card and buying the three most expensive games I’ve ever bought. These are the (Japan-only) Gameboy Color versions of the first three games in the series, and are in fantastic condition. One of the biggest deciders in me splurging on these is the fact I can play them all on one of my many GBC’s, and will.

With 12 new (old!) games and 10 books my Wizardry collection expanded a lot this past trip (here’s an old post about it)! And yet I didn’t buy everything I saw, since even for a no-budget Wizardry collector some items were a bit too pricey, such as a factory sealed Empire II (the same one I bought for ~$40) for $300+, a 3DS Elminage game for $130 (which I couldn’t play since the 3DS is region locked) or a ‘greatest hits’ version of Busin for $100+ (I own the USA version).

And then there was the above soundtrack CD for about $220, which suggests that it is spectacularly rare.

Or these metal miniatures for tabletop RPG play. Give they are sealed, and probably insanely rare, I was a fool for passing on them at ~$70. If they’re there when I next visit (they won’t be) I’ll get them for sure.

Despite this bounteous haul, the two items I was really after – both of Jun Suemi’s Wizardry art books – eluded me. Both are very expensive now, so if I ever do find one I’ll be paying out the nose.

And when I do, you can read about it here 🙂

Posted in Blog, Books, Collecting, Games, History, Otaku, Retro | Comments Closed

Japan Pickups: Model Kits

Sunday, January 29th, 2023

One category I hoped to refill in Japan was model kits, since I’d built all the ones I had and needed new ones. They’re also usually much cheaper to buy in Japan than in the USA. However I had no particular kits in mind, so what did I find?

This is a stylish female robot kit that was designed for pose-ability. It was manufactured in many different color combinations and I had my pick. I remember seeing this in Australia for about $100 back in June but bought this at Yellow Submarine in Akiba for under $20!

I don’t know the character but I thought the kit was cute and the price – about $8 – was too good to resist. Visiting Japan at new years and taking advantage of the sales turned out to be a good thing!

The Umamusume anime – about horses anthropomorphized as young women – is very popular in Japan right now and there’s loads of merchandise available. Early in the trip I saw this kit in a glass resellers case in Akiba for a too-high price and vowed to find an affordable one. Despite my best attempts searching the many shops that sold new kits I never succeeded (which is weird; why isn’t a Bandai kit available?) but then on the penultimate day found a new one for a great price (about $30) at Akiba Mandarake. This one will be fun to build 🙂

There’s a wide range of Ultraman kits available now, and I’ve already made a half dozen of them. The above was a new release, and a no-brainer pickup at under $20.

Despite the low cost and light weight of these things they take up a fair amount of luggage space! This was one of the reasons we bought a new suitcase in Japan. In total our four suitcases weighed over 140 lbs!

Lastly I found the above on our unexpected last day. It was very cheap, was the only time I’d ever seen it, and it called to me so I got it and found space for it in our already-packed suitcases! Just now I built it:

It only has about 20 pieces including creepy rubbery gums. The mechanism to open the jaw is impressively simple and it works very well. It only took me a (fun) half hour or so to assemble:

This one will go to work and be displayed on a cabinet next to my dinosaur skeleton kit.

Posted in Crafts, Miscellaneous, Models, Otaku | Comments Closed

Japan Pickups: FF Books

Thursday, January 19th, 2023

The Fighting Fantasy series was popular in Japan in its heyday, and the first 33 titles were translated and released in the early to mid 1980s. As a diehard collector of FF books I’ve been lucky enough to obtain a few of these Japanese versions over the years, but this past trip was by far my most successful in terms of new additions.

The above four were purchased at RPG bookshops (yes, that’s a thing in Japan) in Nakano and Akihabara. Collectively they cost me about $130, with half that being Creature of Havoc (the lower right book). All are in exceptional condition for 35+ year old books, and the (2nd edition) of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain even included a small cardboard ‘postcard’ that can be used to make dice if you don’t have any handy:

Incidentally the obi (paper wraparound) on the cover of Warlock identifies it as a worldwide bestseller, which was absolutely true when this 1984 edition was published.

Creature of Havoc includes images and writeups of the preceeding 23 volumes, as well as adverts for other gamebook series the publisher also licensed (such as Tunnels & Trolls and what looks to be a Japanese book called ‘Dice Fantasy’). It also includes the above advert for a Japanese release of Tasks of Tantalon! I wasn’t aware it had ever been translated; I suppose it now gets added to my ‘list’ 🙂

In addition to the four original FF books, I also bought 4 books in the Sorcery! series: original 1984 imprints and reprints from 2002. As an offshoot from the FF line these are a little bit less expensive these days, and the four in total cost me about $70. As with the FF books these are in pristine condition, with nary a hint they’ve ever been read.

Each of the original books includes a pull-out adventure sheet printed on ‘vellum’ paper with this lovely translated map on the back!

The Shamutanti Hills included this! One of the delights of buying used books is often finding unusual bookmarks from the previous owner inside, and in this case it seems they were using what seems (according to google translate) to be a coupon for a student discount on a ticket to see the Ghibli film Nausicaa upon its original cinematic release in 1984!

One thing I love about Japanese imprints of the FF books is that they are physically smaller than the western ones (even the US versions) and therefore a bit more pocket-sized. And yet the print quality is exceptional and the fine line-art characteristic of the books is reproduced beautifully. In 2000 the (new) Japanese licensor started reprinting some books in a much larger format, and I have to say they look even prettier! You’ll also note an inclusion in the above photo of one of the 2002 reprints: a quick-reference for section numbers on the left side! Why didn’t English versions ever implement this?

In 2021, the Japanese licensor (Group SNE) published a box-set of five new imprints of classic FF books. I really wanted to find this in Japan but failed. Happily though, I found this:

It’s the second box set, which was only released very shortly before we arrived! It reprints Appointment with F.E.A.R., House of Hell, Deathtrap Dungeon, The Port of Peril and Stealer of Souls. It’s a beautiful box, and it’s obvious this collection was produced by a company deeply respectful of the series heritage and importance. It cost ¥8250, or about $64.

The inclusion of Stealer of Souls is notable, since this was book 34 of the original FF line. Japan stopped at book 33 (Sky Lord), so this is the first time this one has even been translated.

Each book includes a pull out ‘vellum’ character sheet and the print quality and ‘feel’ of the volumes is magnificent: many levels above the recent Scholastic versions. Japanese fans of the series are receiving a real treat with this release!

It also includes a small booklet history of the FF series, as well as a general critique of the books and their historical importance. This is the first time I’ve ever seen all the books – including the new ones published in recent years – numbered together in one chronology. This book (which is entirely in Japanese but google translate is magic these days) also mentions that the 2021 box set was ‘printed to order’ and sold out due to ‘high demand from loyal fans’ which explains why I couldn’t find it.

Lastly – and most unexpectedly – I got the above. It’s a Back To The Future choose-your-own-adventure style gamebook published by the licensor of the FF series and using a similar trade dress! It’s rare that I ever discover a book not on gamebooks.org, but here you go! I would imagine this would be of a lot of interest to many different collectors, and yet this was dirt cheap (about $6) compared to everything else in this post.

The entries – 565 in total – are accompanied by stills from the film, and the blurb on the back suggests the goal of the player is to essentially do what Marty accomplished in the movie. It would be interesting to see how the author invented a gamebook out of the plot, but to give you an idea here’s a translation of a random page:

As I said google translate is a wizard these days, and I suspect I could actually play this entire book via the translator. Maybe I should?

I bought every FF (or related) book I saw this past trip, and these are amongst my most prized possessions. They’re not cheap (for books I can’t technically read) but I’ve developed a new approach to my collections recently after having sold out of MTG and a good chunk of my video games. It makes me wonder, had I found myself once again faced with the bounty of pricey Japanese books I saw in 2017, how much less daunting those prices would have been…?

Posted in Books, Collecting, Gamebooks, Otaku, Retro | Comments Closed

61 More Hours Of Ultraman!

Saturday, November 19th, 2022

I said it would be a year between updates, but I haven’t slowed down in my watching of the entire Ultra franchise. So here, reviews of the last five series/movies I’ve watched.

Ultraman Tiga (1996, 52 episodes 20.4 hours)

Ultraman Tiga was the first new series in 15 years, and was a relaunch of the entire franchise in Japan. It was a phenomenon when it came out and to this day Tiga remains one of the more popular Ultramen of all time.

Set in a new universe from the original Ultras, Tiga tells a familiar story of Earth threatened by giant monsters and aliens. A defense force called ‘GUTS’ works to save humanity, and one member (Daigo) has the ability to transform into the giant Ultraman Tiga and send the aliens packing.

The writing is very abbreviated, because they try to fit hour-long stories into half hour episodes. The characters know nothing about the enemies one episode and the next say something like “oh that must be the true devil from the hell realm” seconds after sighting a foe. It’s all a bit bonkers and out-of-control but it’s heart is in the right place and it grabbed me fairly quickly. The second half is much better, with a fantastic episode featuring the original Ultraman and a very strong series ending. I loved the romance in particular, which is expanded upon in the various films in which Tiga would eventually appear.

As a late 90s show the early CGI effects are slightly embarrassing today, but this series is acclaimed for its music with a notable theme song and track reserved for the romantic scenes.

Tiga was the first Ultra series I watched on TV, since it was dubbed and screened in the US in the late 1990s. In time I bought a few DVDs (which I still own), but the licensor in those days changed the characterization and didn’t release every episode so this new release of the series was long-awaited.

Ultraman Dyna (1997, 51 episodes, 21.5 hours)

Ultraman Dyna followed on from Tiga – literally starting the week after the final Tiga episode! We have a new team (Super GUTS), a new hero (Asuka) and a new Ultraman (Dyna). At first I was a bit put off: Asuka is a very different character from Daigo in Tiga, but the writing is strong and the charm of the characters won me over fairly quickly.

The effects are better, the quality of the writing better and in general I’d say this is a better show than Tiga. Despite Tiga resurrecting the series for a new generation (and let’s be clear, this is very much a kids show), many of the Dyna scripts dealt with adult themes including aging and loss and the pathos was high. The ending was magnificent, and it may have even brought a single tear to a 50-year-old eye. Overall one of my favourite Ultra series so far.

Superior 8 Ultra Brothers (2008, 1.5 hours)

This film was a monster hit when it was released in Japan and tells the tale of an alternate Earth in which seven very normal men learn than in an alternate universe they are the hosts of Ultramen. When a threat comes to their Earth, can they transform and save the world?

I loved the hell out of this. It stars the original actors from the first four Ultra series as well as the from Tiga, Dyna and Ultraman Gaia. They all play their original characters, and it’s great to see them all interacting as ‘normal’ people in what seems to be our world. The slow-burn before they transform into their respective Ultras is fantastic, and the 8 giants defeating the mega-villian is very satisfying. It’s basically just two hours of fan-service for anyone that has ever enjoyed Ultraman, and an easy recommendation.

Ultraman Zearth 1 & 2 (1996/7, 2 hours)

Here we have a two-film series of a ‘joke’ Ultraman! He’s afraid of dirt, uses an electric toothbrush to transform, and the secret team that defends earth uses a gas station as its base.

Everything about this show is silly, and it’s incredible that it was made as a cinematic feature! There’s a lot of very dry jokes, and I suspect many more than were lost on me since they’re based on Japanese culture. Was it funny? No. Was it good? No. Did I enjoy it? Yes, but only out of a bizarre fascination of its weirdness.

Ultraseven X (2007, 12 episodes, 5 hours)

This was a ‘darker’ series made for adults that played late-nights in Japan. It’s easily the strangest Ultra series I’ve seen, given that there’s very little actual Ultraman and most of what is happening isn’t explained until the last episode.

In short: a dystopian Earth is being controlled behind the scenes by weird aliens, and when they open a portal to another Earth and try to invade Ultraseven comes through, possesses a dying man, and fights the aliens. The show is a bit like Ultra-Q since it’s a series of monster-of-the-weeks with the true villains only being revealed at the very end.

Even stranger are the fight scenes: when Ultraseven turns up, he usually defeats the monsters in seconds. One quick beam or blade attack and they’re dead. No wrestling; very few punches. His strength is off the charts and he doesn’t mess around! This is very interesting for an Ultraman show, and I liked they took the chance to do this.

Ultimately the show once again seemed to have a bolder idea than it could convey, but it wraps up fairly well with some nice fan-service in the final episode.

Ultraman (2019/22, 19 episodes, 10.5 hours)

This Netflix series is based on the Ultraman manga that has been running for over a decade now. It’s yet another retelling: now the Ultraman are not ‘giants of light’ from another star, they are suits worn by young men that seem to have extraordinary abilities. Or are they…?

This cgi-animated series is fantastic, with tight storytelling and incredible fight scenes. At first I was (very!) put off by the Ultra’s being suits, but this becomes a non-issue fairly quickly as the intrigue and mystery – not to mention action – caught me. The characters are great, especially Ultraseven and the unusual Bemular, and I couldn’t wait for season two.

And then, last year, it arrived. While it was half the length of season one, it ramped up the stakes and action tenfold and even added a few new Ultras. I binged the whole thing in one go and absolutely loved it. A third and final season has been announced, and I can hardly wait!

So what’s next? Well I’m already well into Ultraman Gaia, have about 5 or 6 other series already in-hand ready to watch, as well as more on the way. But what I really want to see is the film Shin Ultraman, which has only recently been announced for a US cinematic release in January. Will it be the film that finally gets me into a cinema again, or will I watch it while I’m in Japan. Wait and see…

Posted in Miscellaneous, Otaku, Retro, TV | Comments Closed

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