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Japan Pickups: Gamebooks

Tuesday, January 16th, 2024

As always I was on the hunt for books for my gamebook collection during the recent trip, and I’ve become better at finding them in the various collectors and used book shops I visit. I bought some interesting items this trip!

The above are the standard gamebook finds. Only one original Fighting Fantasy book is fewer than the last few times I was in Japan, but my collection of Japanese versions is becoming quite complete now and it’s not easy finding ones I don’t already have!

The middle book is the Japanese imprint of volume one of Cretan Chronicles and the rightmost is the Japanese version of the Maelstrom RPG written by a gamebook author and released to the same market in the 1980s.

To my great surprise – and happiness – I also found a brand new copy of the first box set of FF reprints from 2020. As I understand this was only available via a Japanese crowdfunding campaign and I assumed I’d never get a set. Now I have one! I already owned the second and third box sets, and the fourth is out in a few months. I’ll look for that one on future trips 🙂

Amazingly, after my great surprise finding a single issue back in June, I found thirty-one issues of Japanese Warlock magazine. This was not an impulse buy – both weight and cost were considerable – and I deliberated for a few days. Lunacy won out though, and they’re now in my house!

I now have about half of the 63-issue run of this magazine. This is a collection that merits more attention, and I’ll probably feature it in a future blog post one day.

The above were a surprise since I didn’t even know they existed. They’re AD&D modules based on FF books! Eight were printed in english (and they’re quite expensive now!) but the numbering on these Japanese ones (the above are 1, 6 and 7) don’t match the english versions and it’s hard to find information about them online.

They’re impressively designed with lots of nice art, and they make me want to try and get one of the English versions….

The last – and by far weirdest – item I found was this gamebook based on the 1980s horror film House. As you can see it was called Goblin in Japan, probably because there was a famous Japanese fantasy-horror film called House already.

This book is super strange. I though the Back To The Future gamebook I bought on a previous trip was weird but of all the films to based a book on why on earth was this one chosen?

It seems like a fully featured book with hundreds of entries, but it’s also very puzzle heavy, possibly in lieu of a normal combat system. Art is stills from the film. I’ve seen the film somewhat recently so I may have to get the translator and give this one a play through just to try and understand what the story could be?

Incidentally the publisher is the same that released the video game licensed gamebooks in Japan, including the two Wizardry ones I showed in the last post. And yet this is from a different series. As you can see it’s number 4 in the series. What were the others? Unfortunately finding info online about these is almost impossible, so for now I can only wonder.

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

Japan Pickups: Wizardry

Friday, January 12th, 2024

My Wizardry game collection ever-increases, and with the acquisition of the above three on this recent trip there’s now only two games in the series I don’t own. While neither seem especially rare or expensive, the fact remains I’ve never seen a copy of either in years of looking so the search continues!

I was very happy to find the above on this recent trip: a beautiful boxed copy of Proving Grounds Of The Mad Overlord for the MSX2! Note that the original (1987) price was 9800 Yen – about $65 – which was about two or three times more expensive than a computer game cost in the west in those days.

The game is on a cartridge, and from what I read only works on expanded versions of Japanese MSX computers. I daresay there’s not many of them left working, so there’s no question I’ll ever be able to play this. The box contains all sorts of goodies, but notably the miniature metal dragon statue that was originally included is missing.

The above are three hints guides for various Wizardry games. I found these in Osaka which was good because at about $15 each they were considerably less expensive than they would have been in Tokyo.

As with others I’ve previously shown here, the guides are beautiful books, packed with art and maps and lots of colour. It’s clear the authors of these books loved the games!

This small hardcover book is an oddity! Titled Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Wizardry it seems to be a sort of lore book of items and equipment from the first six games. Almost every entry also features a nice piece of line art. It seems to have very limited (if any) use as an actual game guide, but could perhaps serve as a RPG manual of sorts. While I love it, it’s hard to see why this was even published!

Speaking of RPG manuals, the above was an exciting pickup for me: it’s the monster manual for the original Wizardry RPG from the 1980s. It’s a small-sized paperback with a lovely cover by Jun Suemi, and I dearly wish I could read it since the machine-translations suggest it’s very lore-heavy on the monsters from the games.

As you know I also collect gamebooks, so I was extremely happy to find the above two for sale. Both are from the Futabasha Famicom Gamebook Series and are based on the first and third Wizardry games.

These are very traditional one-player gamebooks in the Fighting Fantasy mold featuring manga-style art and what appears to be a complex system based on the size of the adventure sheet! There’s almost 80 (!) books in this gamebook series including two other Wizardry ones; I wonder if I’ll ever find them?

Lets end with a story about ‘one that got away’. The above pic was taken in Osaka a few weeks ago, and shows me holding one of my holy grails: one of the two Jun Suemi Wizardry artbooks. This is the older and more expensive of the two, and the sticker price on this used book was about $170.

Normally I would have thrown my money at the cashier but I had already bought the book on Amazon a month earlier. The amazon order – coming from Japan – was to arrive while we were away but never did. A followup with the seller led to a refund, and no book. So I held one of my grails in my hand and didn’t buy it, and still don’t own it. 🙂

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

The Strong

Saturday, December 16th, 2023

We’re in Rochester for an early Christmas and today visited The Strong museum. We’ve been here before but they’ve had a major expansion so it was time to see the new attractions.

This included a massive room housing the Video Game Hall of Fame, as well as a fantastic interactive exhibit on gaming in general. We played lots of games and had a lot of fun but it was the many, many displays of toys and games and associated paraphernalia that I particular enjoyed. Here’s a selection of only a few of the interesting things we saw:

That’s a prototype table for the official Lord Of The Rings pinball, as well as the actual (playable) table on the right.

Here’s the Vectrex 3D accessory, which is famously rare. I’ve never seen one, much less a boxed one!

The above are two examples of overproduced Atari cartridges once buried in New Mexico. Long considered an urban legend, this was proven to be true after they were dug up a few years ago and the city donated a few to the museum.

An actual World of Warcraft server ‘blade’ that housed one of the realms for several years! This is physically about as big as a skateboard.

An actual Atari store display from the early 1980s, stocked as how it would have been in those days. I wanted to grab one of the catalogues!

The above is a fascinating item. Those of us that have been around for a certain vintage recall these home-packaged games but to think this one has survived for so many years!

An original piece of hand-painted art that was scanned and used as a backdrop for an early Leisure Suit Larry game! They also had other prototypes and original art examples, including of consoles and arcade games.

Speaking of original art, that’s a hand-drawn sketch of Sonic The Hedgehog done by the original designer!

A lcd game based on those Japanese ‘nammeyano‘ delinquent cat art photos from the 1980s. This is an example of how varied the museum collection is. (Needless to say I’m not showing any of the vast display of more common game or toy items.)

Esoterica like the above I love seeing: an ancient McDonald’s happy meal box (from the late 1980s) and a series or Japanese World of Warcraft scratch-off cards that came with meals over a decade ago!

Or this unopened box of Pac-Man candy. This (which is about the size of a playing card) is 40-odd years old.

And some Donkey Kong ‘action figures’. I imagine the one on the right wasn’t a big seller!

A variety of game-related books. I’d love to read the two on the left, and last year I actually bought and sent the calculator one to Bernard!

Bridging video games and other pastimes, look at these two sets! Kristin recalls she even had the one on the right and put them on her bedroom door.

Here’s some rpg miniatures from decades ago. The grenadier ones even came painted! They also had lots of early D&D products and even an original photocopy of one of the earliest design documents co-written by Gygax and Arneson!

Look at this absolutely beautiful (not to mention unusual) board game based on the BBC Narnia series! I’d love to play this one.

A Wonder Woman trio: artwork for an unmade Atari pinball, a box of colorforms and a funky looking record with ‘songs and stories’ on it.

This is a talking doll invented by Edison and produced in the late 1800s! It’s a little retro-futuristic isn’t it? It’s also in extraordinary condition for something that is over 130 years old. I wonder if it still talks?

Speaking of dolls, the above is apparently the world’s most glamorous ‘teenage doll’. This is another fantastic condition and sealed-in-box item that is decades old and full of nostalgia.

Can you guess who the above doll is? It’s a pretty good likeness for when it was released (the 1970s)…

The above toy set of ‘missiles’ was released in 1958 and appears to be cardboard cutouts. I googled this and it was popular and rereleased (and updated to plastic) several times into the 1970s! What boy wouldn’t want to play with world-destroying nuclear missiles?

The museum was incredible, and there’s so much to see. It’s bigger and better than ever and I’m glad we visited it again. I hope you liked seeing some of the many wonders we saw.

Posted in Art, Blog, Books, Books & Comics, Games, Retro, Toys | 2 Comments »

2023 In Games (Part 2)

Tuesday, December 12th, 2023

This past year I kept a list of all the games I played as well as how long I played them. My notes also included short reviews/thoughts, and here they all are.

With two exceptions (noted after the game name) every game was played on Switch. The time I played each for is in parenthesis at the end (X hours) but for games that I played less than about three hours this is excluded.

Tactics Ogre Reborn: The original is a masterpiece, but this remake – while pretty – is unfortunately hamstrung by some questionable balance adjustments. I gave up when it became exceedingly grindy. (11)

Rogue Legacy 2: A 2D roguelike so addictive I had to delete it lest it suck up too much of my time. Is it better than the first one? Undecided. (15)

Katana Kami: Weird controls and floaty combat mar this C-rank rogue clone. (10)

Live A Live: This remaster of the beloved SNES multi-scenario RPG is perhaps not as good as its reputation deserves. I beat it, but had no desire to see all the multiple endings. (25)

Picross X: Picbits vs Uzboross: Not enough Picross in this frenetic puzzle game. A good time-waster regardless. (5)

Dragons Dogma: Dark Arisen: I first beat this open-world RPG on PS3 eleven years ago, and KLS beat it about five years ago on PS4. Since I’d never played the expansion I returned for another full playthrough and had an absolute blast. One of the best RPGs of all time. (95)

Crystar: Tedious combat and half-baked gameplay loop failed to salvage a somewhat interesting story in this budget action-RPG. (20)

Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line: A fiendishly addictive rhythm/RPG hybrid bathed in Final Fantasy series nostalgia. Potential game of the year! (65)

Megaman Legacy Collection: Indisputable value, but holy cow are these old games punishing! (This collection contains nine old NES Megaman games; so far I’ve only played the first one briefly.)

Arkanoid Eternal Battle: A terrible online battle royale. Almost no players meant I could barely begin a match. Emulation of the original game is poor with a warped screen and bad controls. This should have been a free download.

Dragon Quest Treasures: A fun treasure hunt game with roots in mobile games that didn’t outstay its welcome. Would have been a great 3DS game. (35)

Mary Skelter 2: Competent but ultimately repetitive dungeon crawl. Lots of systems but itemization isn’t interesting and I would have preferred pixel art monsters. (12)

Demon’s Tilt: Nearly unplayable due to overly tiny graphics and erratic screen movement. I feel this digital pinball is misplaced on Switch and is probably a much better game than I experienced.

Octopath Traveler 2: A great sequel loaded with content, fun ‘systems’ and combat. Possibly overly long! (80)

Final Fantasy (GBA): Extremely replayable and always fun. I played this one on my GB Micro during my Oz/JP trip and beat it with an unconventional melee-only party. (17)

The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom: Sequel to one of the greatest games ever made that somehow manages to top the original! This game possessed me until I unlocked everything. (165)

Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed: Amazing conclusion to the entire Xenoblade saga. A perfectly condensed Xeno experience full of nostalgia for long-term fans. (30)

Beholgar: Fun but frustratingly buggy. I ended up watching it completed on Bard’s stream. (5)

Diablo 3: A contender for the greatest game ever made. I’d already played for hundreds of hours over the last eight years but the cravings had returned… (55)

Labyrinth of Zangetsu: Very loyal to retro dungeon crawler design including punishing difficulty. Visual style is the main appeal but wears thin quickly. While it was thin on content and a bit grindy toward the end, I still enjoyed beating it. (25)

Vampire Survivors: Insanely addictive but very repetitive. I had a great time unlocking everything and moved on. (40)

Black Tiger: A 1980s arcade favourite of mine. I downloaded this one for cheap and had a great time beating it for the first time in years.

Exed Exes: Another nostalgic favourite. I remember have strong memories of playing this one in fish’n’chip shops. It would make a good score competition game.

Progear: I’m not a fan of the graphics, or of the fact it’s a bullet hell without an avoidance/bullet eating system. Also the perspective is weird and the point bonuses should move left not down! Not one of my favourite Cave games.

Giga Wing: Amazing bullet hell shooter with a great risk/reward system. Scores in the trillions are silly though!

Varth: Fun but pedestrian shooter with an unusual shield multiple system that adds very little to the game. A relic of an era before bullet hell.

19XX: The War Against Destiny: Very fun shooter with fluid motion and lots of popcorn enemies. Weapons could have more variety. I think the scoring system has practice potential.

1944: The Loop Master: Amazing graphics but very difficult even on the easy setting. I prefer extra lives to a power-based system, and with only one life this one feels particularly punishing.

Wargroove: An Advance Wars wannabe that didn’t grab me. Feels like a fan game.

Alwa’s Awakening & Alwa’s Legacy: Retro-style Metroidvanias that are both too slow and clunky. Probably ok if you give them time, but neither grabbed me.

Final Fantasy (Pixel Remaster): Yes I beat this twice in 2023! This is a great remake for modern consoles, and I’m sure I’ll return to it again one day. (12)

Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society: This wizardry-like started strong with a good, solid first section (40 hrs) but then restarts with a half-finished procedural grind (hundreds of dungeon levels?!) that sucked the life out of it. Should have been half what it is. (67)

Heroes of Hammerwatch: Content rich twin stick RPG roguelike. I played for hours and hours and felt like I’d only dipped my toe in! I beat the game with one of ten characters and barely explored the dlc. I’ll return to this one… (60)

Kotodama: The 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa: Very mundane visual novel with boring characters and boring-after-one-go match 3 puzzles. I gave up quickly.

Harvestella: Much better than expected action RPG combined with a fun farm simulator. Very deep with fun boss fights. A genuine surprise that occupied me five times longer than I expected! (95)

Fire Emblem Engage: Ironically not as ‘engaging’ as previous games in the series. Too many systems that don’t offer enough to make their inclusion worthwhile. The story feels dialed-in, but the female characters are exceptionally cute. A rare FE title that I just couldn’t get into. (22)

Boulder Dash 30th Anniverary & Boulder Dash Deluxe: A bit of fun nostalgic distraction, but got frustratingly difficult quickly. Loads of content!

Gal Guardians: Acts like a metroidvania but it’s more like an old school castlevania clone. And ultimately, a not very good one with boring enemies and unsatisfying controls. A failed attempt that I gave up on early.

Final Fantasy II (Pixel Remaster): Initially off-putting due to the weird leveling system but the boost mode of the remakes made it bearable and ultimately the game was fun (if flawed). (13)

Trinity Trigger: An action RPG that starts well but rapidly becomes a simplistic by-the-numbers game that has less ambition that many mobile games. The bosses are damage sponges to an almost absurd degree. (15)

Super Mario Bros. Wonder: Every level is unique and fun to play, and it’s hard to imagine this isn’t the peak of 2D Mario games. The ‘secret’ levels can be fiendishly difficult but are so satisfying to beat! I finished this one quicker than expected, and was surprised to find that many thought it may be too difficult! (14)

Paranormasight: Fun visual novel about people using curses to kill each other in 1980s Tokyo. It’s got a great style and the story keeps Kristin and I guessing as we play it together (we haven’t beaten it yet). Recommended! (10+?)

Final Fantasy III (Pixel Remaster): A wonderful evolution of the series, with a fun job system and a nicely paced quest. (20)

Baten Kaitos HD Remaster: Didn’t entrance me like the originals did two decades ago. I may give this a second chance one day.

Ultra Kaiju Monster Rancher: I was looking forward to this one! I bought it in Japan but sadly – despite what I read online – it didn’t have any English so I couldn’t play it 🙁

Needy Girl Overdose: Misogynistic game where you play the boyfriend of a female streamer. Basically a text adventure with a slight graphical overcoat. Vaguely interesting but many abrupt endings and it has the stink of unprofessionalism. Some will find this offensive.

Metallic Child: Short and forgettable action roguelite not even 1% as good as Hades. Tightly designed though, and notably of Korean origin. (8)

Blacksmith of the Sand Kingdom: A very fun JPRG with extensive crafting. Easy to get into but complicated at the high end. Just the right length as well. A genuine surprise! (27)

Cat Quest 2 : Entertaining RPG-lite that was a bit too easy. Very similar to the first one, but no less fun. (10)

Silent Hope: Diablo-like with multiple classes but repetitive dungeons. And yet it grabbed me hard and didn’t let go until I’d beaten it on all three difficulty levels. An unexpected joy. (48)

Monster Train First Class: Too addictive. Similar but inferior to Slay The Spire, with not as many long term goals. I unlocked everything and moved on lest it grabbed me too hard. (20)

The Messenger: Starts off as an 8-bit style platformer but becomes a 16-but style Metroidvania after a couple of hours play. A well made game with a good sense of humor but I found it a little boring and gave up. (6)

Batsugan: Insanely difficult shooter even on easiest setting. Enemy shots move almost too fast to react to. It feels like it should have a bullet-eating mechanic (but doesn’t). Ideal for the arcade; not so great at home.

Steamworld Quest: A graphically and mechanically impressive RPG that lost me quickly due to its boring story and characters. Also I feel the card mechanic (to the combat) didn’t live up to its potential.

Afterimage: A fun Metroidvania with beautiful graphics and a nice challenge level. (12)

Puzzle & Dragons (iOS): 2023 was the year I surpassed 10 years of consecutive logins (3843 days as of this post) and I still play it every day. I can’t even guess how many hours I sunk into this one in 2023, but I’m positive this is and will ever remain the game I play most in my entire life!

So there you go, a record of considerably over 1000 hours of gameplay this past year alone. I guess I’m still as much the gamer as I ever was 🙂

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2023 In Games (Part 1)

Friday, December 8th, 2023

2022 was an interesting one in my game-buying hobby, since I only bought games for the Switch. Things were quite different in 2023, mostly due to two Japan trips during which I bought lots of games. In several ways, this would prove to be a historic year for my game collection.

Before I get to the purchases, I made another game sale this past year. I sold off my Wii, Wii U, PS3 and PS4 collections: a total of about 270 games. I made much less than my previous sales, but I had little attachment to any of the games and it was an easy decision to make since it freed up considerable space and helped me consolidate my remaining collection (still >1000 games) into one part of the house.

In terms of adding to the collection, I bought 95 games for 11 different systems in 2023. Here’s the breakdown by quantity

The Switch saw by far the most purchases: 65 in total (in addition to a second console). Second was the Playstation 2 with 5 games, and the remainder had only 1 – 3 games each. Here’s the breakdown by dollars spent:

An interesting result, since the Switch had nearly 70% of the purchases but only 63% of the dollars spent. The reason why will be discussed later.

Unpacking the above graphs with some actual values: in 2023 I spent ~$3900 on games (about 40% of which was in Yen). This is by a wide margin the most I have ever spent on games in a single year, and also the third most games I have ever bought in a single year (2006 and 2009 were both higher). The average cost per game – $41 – is also the second highest ever, only beaten by a whopping $51 average all the way back in 1993 (when I bought 14 games). These are astounding numbers, but what if we focus on Switch games only? Even then I spent $2480 on 65 games, both of which are considerably higher totals than 2022 or in fact any year since 2007!

I suppose 2023 was the year I doubled down on the ‘collecting’ part of my collection 🙂

The above two games were blogged after Japan trips but I’m including them again here because they’re notable: At about $163 (for Black Onyx) and $148 (Wizardry) they are the two most expensive games I have ever purchased. During the pandemic the prices for ‘retro’ games have skyrocketed, and while this is one reason I have sold out of large portions of my collection, it also makes buying such games an expensive proposition. As I have sold my collections I chose to focus subsets of each, such as basic lands for Magic, R2 units for Star Wars figures and Wizardry video games. And to paraphrase what a retro store attendant in Japan told me in June: “Only maniacs collect Wizardry games!”

That said I more or less have the Wizardry games now (unless I venture in computer versions…), and while a lot of the purchases in 2023 were Wizardry related – 22 of the 95 games were Wizardry – I daresay there won’t be any more going forward. I think it’s a given that 2024 will be less than 2023 both in the number of games bought and dollars spent, but I’m still fairly sure the Switch collection – now over 200 games – will continue to grow 🙂

Time for my three favourite games of the year, in no particular order:

Diablo 3 (Switch)

A return from a game that made a similar ‘best-of’ list way back in 2015? I had a craving to replay this one, so I bought it (for the 4th time…) for the Switch and played it like a monster for a few weeks. I started with a Sorceress, and once she reached the maximum level I then switched to a Barbarian and maxed him in one day. I went on to earn over 1000 paragon levels while hunting best-in-slot gear for both, and ended up reaching the highest levels of difficulty I ever had in the game. And I loved every minute of it 🙂

The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom (Switch)

In some ways this was a ‘more of the same’ sequel, but considering it followed one of the best games ever made it wasn’t at all surprising that the latest Zelda was a masterpiece. This was another game I dove right into and that owned me while I was playing it. I saw everything, found everything, unlocked everything, and when I finally finished it about 100 hours later I wished another game in the series was already available!

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line (Switch)

Another sequel, but this time to a DS game from 2014. This is a rhythm game based on Final Fantasy and was an absolute joy to play. Once again I unlocked everything and enjoyed every second of it. It’s an enormously satisfying game to play, especially when you do well, and I think the engine would lend itself to many other games (such as a Zelda or Mario version). As much as I loved this one, I have to say I’m humbled watching videos online of players beating the seemingly impossible highest difficulty levels. I think they’re probably the greatest levels of video game skill I’ve ever witnessed!

This was a difficult trio to select, since I played a lot of very good games in 2023. In fact I played a lot of games in 2023, which is one reason why this post is titled ‘Part 1’. For the first time ever I’m following up with a bit of a crazy second part, but it’s going to take some work to complete. Watch for it in a few days…

Posted in Collecting, Games, Miscellaneous, Retro | 1 Comment »