The Turbo List Digest Archived

[Lost Monkey]

Since it appears mindrec's Turbo List is still down, I wanted to share this link.

http://www.megalextoria.com/forum2/index.php?t=thread&frm_id=20&

Not easy to search through, but there appears (at first glance) to be a large chunk, if not all, of the content...

It isn't my site  - I just found it tonight...

[jtucci31]

Something I've heard a lot about but have never actually seen. This is cool. I'm sitting at work right now sifting through random things.

I stumbled upon a discussion about rare games in 2002. Xanadu II was, I guess, rare back then and supposedly was hard to find for under 3 digits. That's so crazy since now it can be had for about $15-20. Less if you're patient. I'm sure there are plenty of other instances of this that I can find if I dig deep enough. Or if some of you who were active on the Turbo List then can remember.

[esteban]

Something I've heard a lot about but have never actually seen. This is cool. I'm sitting at work right now sifting through random things.

I stumbled upon a discussion about rare games in 2002. Xanadu II was, I guess, rare back then and supposedly was hard to find for under 3 digits. That's so crazy since now it can be had for about $15-20. Less if you're patient. I'm sure there are plenty of other instances of this that I can find if I dig deep enough. Or if some of you who were active on the Turbo List then can remember.

A lot of games were like that...pretty crazy, I agree.

Since it appears mindrec's Turbo List is still down, I wanted to share this link.

http://www.megalextoria.com/forum2/index.php?t=thread&frm_id=20&

Not easy to search through, but there appears (at first glance) to be a large chunk, if not all, of the content...

It isn't my site  - I just found it tonight...

I haven't looked through this, but this is a nice find.

[Black Tiger]

I paid $93 for my first complete copy of Tengai Makyou II with a crinkled map. I think that was around 1999.

jtucci: Was that LoXII discussion from 2002? Because it was $30 - $40 and not as hard to find by then.

[jtucci31]

I paid $93 for my first complete copy of Tengai Makyou II with a crinkled map. I think that was around 1999.

jtucci: Was that LoXII discussion from 2002? Because it was $30 - $40 and not as hard to find by then.

http://www.megalextoria.com/forum2/index.php?t=msg&goto=4300&&srch=%22legend+of+xanadu%22#msg_4300

Someone talks about how they found it for $42 and that they were incredibly lucky.

I remember DragonmasterDan (I think) telling me how TMII went for big bucks back then. If the Tengai Makyou's and Xanadu II were expensive, am I right in assuming the trend in RPG's being expensive back then is true? Or just those few specific games? Were the Cosmic Fantasies, Dragon Slayer II's, and something like Gulliver Boy expensive too?

[johnnykonami]

Oh man, I searched for my old e-mail address to see some of my old posts... embarassing!  I had to stop where I apparently sold Exile 2 for $15.  According to the message I must have really disliked it more than I remember.  Sad thing is I would buy it again for $15 easily now.  I can't stomach any more poor business decisions on my part!

[Lost Monkey]

I found my first post to the list  - August 1997 - looking for codes for the US version of Godzilla... 

[majors]

Code: [Select]

From: majors
Date: Mon Oct 13 01:29:24 EDT 1997
Subject: FS: TG games


Bonk's Adventure (loose)                $3
Blazing Lasers (loose)                  $5
Dungeon Explorer                        $8
Battle Royale                           $5
Sidearms                                $8
Vigilante                               $5
China Warrior                           $5
Yo' Bro                                 $5
Maniac Pro-Wrestling (PCE Hu) $20
Lords of the Rising Sun                 $10
Art of Fighting (import ACD)            $25
Fatal Fury Special (import ACD) $50

   Interested in trades, cross-platforms. Email majors@netmcr.com for
details. Thanks.
 
---  .-.-.     .-.     .-.     .-.     .--.     .-.   |  majors
    /     \   /   \   ._\ \   /   \   /    )  _<  _)  | ANSI/VGA
   (__<^>__) (_<^>_) (_____) (_____) (_/\_<  (____>   |  )( '97

Selling games cheap since '97. The list was a fav of mine back then, lot of good trades made.

Code: [Select]

-- .-.-.    .-.    .-.    .-.    .--.    .-.  | majors - ANSI/VGA/Games
  /     \  /   \  ._\ \  /   \  /    ) _<  _) | )( '98 -=- WEDOCA Prodz
 (__<^>__)(_<^>_)(_____)(_____)(_/\_< (____>  | io.orxysoft.com/~majors
Wedoca in efx back in '98...along with "HaRDCoDE", our little demo scene.

[DragonmasterDan]

I paid $93 for my first complete copy of Tengai Makyou II with a crinkled map. I think that was around 1999.

Yeah, in the late 90s finding import 16-bit games without going to Japan was extremely difficult. There weren't a large number of Japanese ebay sellers for a few years so only a small number of people actually had these to list on North American ebay.

 I acquired Tengai Makyo II and Kabuki-Den around that same time frame for like 90.00 for II and 60 or so for Kabuki-den.

Added in edit: I should probably also add that beyond places like NCS that had new old stock of some PC engine games. Ebay was really the only option for finding this stuff in North America. It was old enough that most mail order places specializing in imports (or even brick and mortar stores) no longer carried it, and obscure enough to where it wasn't going to pop up in specialist stores or websites.

[DragonmasterDan]

http://www.megalextoria.com/forum2/index.php?t=msg&goto=3885&&srch=DoxPhile#msg_3885

Proof that I've been spamming DoxPhile since Y2K!

So that's why everyone thought the world was going to end back then.

[geise]

Man that's crazy about Tengai Makyo II's price.  I got mine in 93 from BreSoftware of all places for $15.  They were getting rid of anything Turbo.  Surprised they had some import games, cause they usually never dealt with imports.

[esteban]

Man that's crazy about Tengai Makyo II's price.  I got mine in 93 from BreSoftware of all places for $15.  They were getting rid of anything Turbo.  Surprised they had some import games, cause they usually never dealt with imports.

Is BreSoftware a regional chain?

I never heard of it...too lazy to Google ATM.

[DragonmasterDan]

Man that's crazy about Tengai Makyo II's price.  I got mine in 93 from BreSoftware of all places for $15.  They were getting rid of anything Turbo.  Surprised they had some import games, cause they usually never dealt with imports.

It was a game that had a lot of noteriety, I had seen it mentioned a few times in magazines back in the day and then it wound up showing up in developer interviews as an influence, etc. So it was sought after and there weren't good channels to get older generation Japanese games in the US. So it remained pricey until the flood of foreign ebay sellers came and we discovered the game was plentiful and cheap in Japan.

[BigusSchmuck]

I vaguely remember paying $70 for Dragon Ball Z for the Duo back in 98ish? Yeah imports in those days were expensive unlike nowadays.

[esteban]

Man that's crazy about Tengai Makyo II's price.  I got mine in 93 from BreSoftware of all places for $15.  They were getting rid of anything Turbo.  Surprised they had some import games, cause they usually never dealt with imports.

It was a game that had a lot of noteriety, I had seen it mentioned a few times in magazines back in the day and then it wound up showing up in developer interviews as an influence, etc. So it was sought after and there weren't good channels to get older generation Japanese games in the US. So it remained pricey until the flood of foreign ebay sellers came and we discovered the game was plentiful and cheap in Japan.

Yes, indeed. It even made it into TurboPlay Magazine (April/May 1992) in the "Games Around the World" regular feature on Japanese games:



I am certain that stores that imported games would see what games were covered in MAINSTREAM gaming  magazines of the day (so, sadly, NOT TurboPlay, but EGM/GamePro/Game Fan/VG&CE, etc.) and try to obtain titles...coverage in mainstream mags drove interest.

Also, popular existing game/anime franchises were always targets.

I can't tell you how many times I dreamed of getting "import" games back in the day, starting with NES/Famicom.