WOW! I can’t believe it has been nearly two years since my last blog post. I certainly haven’t had a lack of games join the collection in that time. I’ve simply been super lazy with documenting everything when it shows up. In an effort to try and hold myself more accountable I am going to start blogging about my pickups once more. So without further adieu here are the games I’ve picked up over the last month!
The pandemic is still raging and the skyrocketing prices of retro games has made it tough to find things locally. In an effort to satiate my collecting tendencies I’ve stuck mainly to eBay over the last few years and I’ve been able to pick up some nice imports that way. These first few games and accessories all came from the same seller.
The first is Magic Sword for the Super Famicom. It is one that came out in the West but being the cheapskate I am, I decided to pick up the Japanese version instead. I paid about 75% less than the going rate of the North American release so I think I can deal with a few minor Japanese menus in order to save some money. Anyway, this is a hack n slash beat ’em up by Capcom that was originally released to the arcades and ported to the Super Nintendo. It isn’t a game I ever remember seeing in the arcades or reading about in magazines as a kid so it will be a fresh take on the genre for me. I did reach out to burst_error and he told me that the game was fun and I should have no problems navigating the Japanese release so I am excited to check it out at some point.
Next up is a game I am already familiar with. The Firemen is a title I have wanted to own for over a decade now but just never found the right time to purchase it. I remember finding out about it’s existence way back in 2010 on a PC Engine forum and decided to play a little through an emulator at the time. It is a cool overhead style game where you go around putting out fires and rescuing people. The graphics are really cute and the story looks interesting. I have plans to stream this one in it’s entirety down the line so I look forward to finally playing through it. Maybe I will even share my thoughts in a review?!
The last game I picked up in the Japanese auction was Sugoi Hebereke. I am not too familiar with this one at all. I have picked up other games in the Hebereke universe before (namely Hashire Hebereke) and it was a really cool runner/racer style game. In Sugoi Hebereke it looks like you battle up to three other foes at once. Play happens on different battlefields and the game really gives off Super Smash Bros. and Power Stone vibes. You have to remember this was released long before either of those franchises were in existence so the formula is probably not too polished. All I can say is that the game has bright colors and cute characters.. what is not to love here?!
Finally, the seller was selling some super cheap Famicom Dog Bone Controllers. I was able to bundle these in with my purchase and it didn’t change the shipping price (score!). Now I already have a few NES dog bone controllers but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have a few of these in case friends ever came over and wanted to try out some 4 player NES titles. The Famicom dog ones are nearly identical to it’s NES counterpart, however they sport a very short cord that makes the NES classic controller length blush. These are all in tested working order but definitely have seen their fair share of UV rays (the pictures don’t do it justice how yellow they truly are). It might be a fun blog project down the road to see how well we can refurbish them to their former glory and possibly lengthen the cables.
Sticking to the import theme I was able to get a few for the first system I ever owned (the Sega Master System). When it comes to my game collecting the Master System is the platform that I have been beefing up the most (I am close to 200 unique titles now). I’m constantly on the look out for more imports and I was able to score a few via eBay auction wins.
Terminator 2 is a game I had been looking at getting for awhile. I had a few copies dangled in front of me in the past but just couldn’t pull the trigger at the time. Well, I am glad I waited because I saved some money on this copy. It doesn’t have the manual but at least it has the case (and will look good on the shelf). This one is a side-scrolling game which makes it different from other versions of the game (which mimicked the light gun of the arcade version). Curious to try this out soon!
Renegade for the Master System is a port of the mid 80’s beat ’em up. I’ve never played the arcade version but I do own the NES port and played through it some. I remember it being a very difficult game and I didn’t make it very far before turning it off. The SMS version seems to have totally different art than the NES port so I am hoping the Master System version is a little less difficult than the NES game.
Last, but certain not least is a brand new (still sealed) copy of Final Fantasy IX on the PlayStation. I was made aware of a tweet that Chris Kohler posted about Square Enix still having copies available for sale on their website. Now I must admit I have only ever played the original Final Fantasy game (and Mystic Quest if you want to count it) but I did watch my friend kitsurrito play the PC version of this and it looked like a lot of fun. I’ve never been big in to RPG’s or characters from the genre but something about Vivi has always intrigued me and for $7.50 I couldn’t say no to picking it up!
So there you have it! I still can’t believe it has almost been two years since the last time I documented my game collecting. It has been therapeutic writing this and I now feel like I have the motivation to get back into doing this. So what have you all been up to? Any awesome pickups you’ve gotten recently? Please feel free to share them in the comments below!
Link to my collection: https://vgcollect.com/sirhcman
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/sirhcman
a real blessing since it helps me get over hurdles that in the past would make me turn off the system and give up on the game forever (I am looking at you A Link to the Past). So on April 3rd, I began my foray into the wonderful world of Faxandu! I began by reading the manual and immediately felt overwhelmed. Weapons, Shields, Armor and Magic upgrades littered the manual’s pages. There was an Experience score which designated your “Title” in the game. What was I getting myself into? As a self described noob to RPGs I felt like I was already in way over my head! I immediately stopped reading the manual and decided that it was best to just dive into the game head first on stream.
enemies and immediately moved to the next screen without realizing I had just walked past a door that was key to my progression in the game. There was also the issue of the cryptic and maze-like nature of the game. There were a few times when I would talk to NPC’s in a town and still have no idea where to go or what to do next. There was one especially frustrating part where you need to find an old man hidden in the sky (maybe I missed a clue?). I know for a fact I would have never found him without the help of my stream chat! The last thing that frustrated me to no end was the key system. Some doors can only be opened with specific keys and they are 
the game. You have somewhat cheerful, questy songs when you are in the towns but venture out into the disruption of the World Tree and things tend to be more somber and serious. One song that really stuck with me was in the section of the tree that has developed a smokey mist. The music here definitely captures that uneasy and wavering feeling about what is happening to the world around you. Seriously its a song you could easily hear in your nightmares! That said, I really can’t do the music justice. I can only implore you to 
my rambles into cohesive sentences. I hope I didn’t miss anything too critical but if you have any suggestions on what I can do better for future blogs please feel free to lend me your suggestions!
sirhcman's gaming blog 