I think I knew one person and one alone that had a CD unit (and that's a maybe, it's a blur), but I know he gained my copy of the
first Nintendo Power issue because I left it at his place and when he went back to California, his dad thought it was his so he mailed it to him... I knew another guy in High School that had just a TG-16 and I believe I got Air Zonk and/or Bonk III from him when he was trying to get rid of it. But yeah, other than one possible example, I didn't know anyone with a CD unit so I had to buy every game for it; if a videostore existed in the Chicagoland area that offered CD games for rental, I sure as hell never knew about it.
Tangent1: I remember calling Working Designs and asking about "Cosmic Fantasy 2" and whatever other games they had for sale. I think the asking price was $34.99, but I didn't wanna spend that much, so I bought it used for $19.99 or something from retailers I found on the last ad pages of EGM, GameFan (most likely), etc. The WD lady also told me she had "Parosal Stars" for $9.99, so hey, I bought that one direct!
This was another reason I liked WD, most people I spoke to in the past when hunting for games to buy were all business. She actually spoke with me a bit; I remember being told about how they had already started work on Cosmic Fantasy 3, but given the uncertainty of TTi's future, etc. they had to stop. Something like that...
The only other time I had an interesting chat in the hunt for games was when I was looking to buy Dracula X, which incidentally, I blame GameFan for, that is, getting me interested in import PC Engine CD games, what with them always teasing us with their "Games we never got!!!" series, etc. They had a certain portrayal of the system, as this cool, edgy, rogue Japanese counterpart, they made the SuperGrafx look so friggin' cool too! Anyway, I called a few places about Dracula X, and this one guy who told me he had just sold his last copy talked to me for like half an hour about how I should keep looking for it, and, "OMG! It is Castlevania times 10!!!!!", etc. Heh. But yeah, generally, everyone else was all straight business, not much small talk or say insider info, etc.... Just another one of the reasons why I remembered and liked WD.
Tangent2: I was reminded of something else on the subject of my Dracula X purchase, a little tale from my boyhood. Being a teen at the time, I didn't have a credit card of my own, so in order to buy stuff from these retailers, I had to use somebody else's card, so naturally, my dad's! So, we had an understanding of how that would work, if I'd buy a game or something using his card, the next time I'd see him, usually the next weekend, I'd give him the cash. No big deal, but he knew how much I was spending on games as a result. Well, in the case of Dracula X, the retailer was being strict and made it clear to me that he had to ship the game to the billing address, so that's what happened; it was shipped to my dad's house, thus I wouldn't get to play it until the next weekend when I'd visit him.
Alright, so the weekend comes, I go there all excited knowing it had arrived (the UPS guy just dropped the box off in front of the house), I give him $85 cash ($79.99 + $5 S/H) and let him know that that's what he was gonna see on his next CC bill, etc. I then quickly set up my Turbo Duo in the living room area where he would reside most of the time cause I wanted to play it on his 25" TV screen and he wasn't watching anything. So I'm playing along, so far so good, he's watching me play on and off, and eventually the first Richter death occurs with his signature death cry,
http://www.ysutopia.net/special/richter-aaaaah.wav and then another, and another, etc. Some time later, he gets up to go to the bathroom and he decides to get a little joke in there as he's walking away,
"$85 dollars, Nick... http://www.ysutopia.net/special/richter-aaaaah.wav
" Heh-heh! So yeah, he teased me for spending $85 on the game with his impression of Richter's own death cry... He did it a couple of times too, got a real kick out of it!! (
That was the most I ever spent on a game, till Lunar 2 with its Gold pendant or the Arc the Lad collection, same price though.) Well, there ya go, that's my story, a NEC family bonding moment from the past, courtesy of my late father!!
Even if Cosmic Fantasy 2 wasn't purchased by all owners of TG-CD, at least we have a base number to work with.
Yeah, just a rough figure. The interviewers hoped he had inside info from TTi, but that was the best he could do.
But was Cosmic Fantasy 2 a top-seller? I wonder what other TG-CD games (Ys???) were big-sellers. If only we had those numbers, too.
It must've been for WD. I would think so. I know it was RPG of the Year in either EGM or something else which was one of the reasons I was looking to buy it. But, I started getting comfortable buying used games, so I didn't feel like paying full price - maybe though I should've bought it direct from them, nice and new, when I had the chance. I wasn't counted!!!!
