WTB: Every released US game

[cho_aniki]

   Sorry nodtveidt, I hadn't noticed your post.  I am really not sure how much a complete Neutopia sells for, so I don't really know what to ask for it.  If you are still interested, you can make me an offer you think is fair.  I will only charge actual cost for shipping.   


                                                                                              Regards, Cho_aniki

[SignOfZeta]

Um, I don't understand why so many people are hell-bent on playing only Japanese versions.

Well, its like this. To me, unless a game has a load of text, then the US version is always going to be the one that sucks, and costs more money. I wonder how many JP games some people have even tried to play. Do you realize that games like Street Fighter or Bonk, or just about any shooter a) basically have no text anyway, and b) often have loads of English in them even when there is text? There are almost no shooters with the Japanese language in them for example (on the PC Engine, or any other system for that matter), and are you so slow you need instructions for Gunhead or Ordyne in the first place? To me manuals aren't something I read, I just like them for the pretty pictures...which are more often in full color in PCE games, rather than the cheap-ass b/w US manuals.

Obviously for a non-Japanese speaking American the US version of Y's 1&2 is going to be the best. That's why I have a US version. However if the game is in English anway, then I'd almost always rather have a JP version because only the asthetically retarded (or marketing people) prefer the "brown and manly" US cover art that usually looks like a 5th grader created it. I'm a pretty big fan of manga from around the same period as PC Engine games, but even if I wasn't...man, hard core otaku revolt me as much as the next guy, but I just don't see how people's hatred for ota scum can manifest itself so deeply that they actually prefer the badly drawn shit cover art (which often is so poorly conceived that it doesn't even represent the game itself) to such an extent that they would actually prefer to pay double, tripple, or more to have it. I hate to tell you this, but all these games and systems were made in Japan. Well, Night Creatures and Darkwing Duck were western in origin (and total crap), but for the most part you are already fell for a chunk of Japanese trash culture when you bought a TG-16, you just needed the crappy cover art, or the huge ugly TG-16 case to lure you in, evidently. Hell, many times the only difference in the data on a HuCard is the copyright info at the bottom of the title screen.

Same goes for the systems. The TG-16 is an evolutionary dead-end. If you buy one you are either locked into a library of releases that is a pathetic sliver of the overall NEC picture, or you buy an over priced piece of shit converter, or you pay for/perform some kind of modification, and in the end most of the time people end up with a pile of NEC stuff that is %90 Japanese because...that's the majority of what is out there. Playing through a Japanese RPG is a struggle, but the alternative is...not playing the game at all because if it isn't Y's 1-3, Neutopia, Dragon Slayer, or Cosmic Fantasy 2 (which, btw, really sucks compared to later installments, the US version in particular) then you can be as sure as shit that there is no US version.

The TG16, and its library, is just a f*cked up, aborted offshoot from the PC Engine. No Arcade Card, no six button pad, no Tennokoe Bank, no Spriggen, no Star Parodia, no Dracula X, no Street Fighter, no Tengai Makyou, no Bomberman '94, no Puyp Puyo, no Advanced VG...nothing. The TG-16 sucks.

[GUTS]

What the f*ck does "aesthetically retarded" even mean?  I know you're trying to insult everyone who has preferred American art at one point or another by insinuating their faculties for appretiating aesthetics are retarded, but if you're going to call other people retards at least don't use phrases only a retard would come up with.

[2X4]

Well, you must be one of those freaks I was referring to.  I usually try to remain civil in these discussions, but if you're gonna throw all the pleasantries out the window then so be it.

the US version is always going to be the one that sucks, and costs more money.

Well, why does it suck?  Are you saying that the U.S. version is always drastically changed as far as important content is concerned?

Hell, many times the only difference in the data on a HuCard is the copyright info at the bottom of the title screen.

Hmm.  I guess not.  I am a moron for spending more money on U.S. titles though, you're right about that.  I would much rather spend the extra cash on postage so my game can travel the world more than I can.

are you so slow you need instructions for Gunhead or Ordyne in the first place?  To me manuals aren't something I read, I just like them for the pretty pictures...which are more often in full color in PCE games, rather than the cheap-ass b/w US manuals.

As a matter of fact, no, I'm not so slow as to need instructions (though undoubtedly far less gifted than you),  but I need instructions in Kanji even less.  As I have said, pretty manga doesn't appeal to me, I don't have enough fruit on my underpants to fully appreciate that, but to each his own.  So far the only reasons you have given me for buying Japanese games is to spend less money (which in the long run seems negligable at best) and so my cover art will match my Yu-Gi-Oh! bed sheets.  Oh yeah, plus the color on the inner pages of the manuals which only imbeciles need.

only the asthetically retarded (or marketing people) prefer the "brown and manly" US cover art that usually looks like a 5th grader created it.

Honestly I have never purchased a game so I could stare in awe and wonderment at the cover art.  It's odd though, that you attack the artistic capacity of 5th graders when the brightly colored, pretty manga that you cherish looks itself to be targeted at small children.

I hate to tell you this, but all these games and systems were made in Japan.

I can't thank you enough, for years I labored under the dillusion that these games were created by 'ol Uncle Sam in his super secret lab with Rocky Balboa, G.I. Joe and Ronald Reagan using an American made computer that ran on freedom!  Talk about cognitive dissonance!  I've been living a lie!

for the most part you are already fell for a chunk of Japanese trash culture when you bought a TG-16, you just needed the crappy cover art, or the huge ugly TG-16 case to lure you in, evidently.

Yup, hook line and sinker!  Or could it be that Sears was a little more accessable than any of the stores in Japan when I grew up in the central U.S.

The TG16, and its library, is just a f*cked up, aborted offshoot from the PC Engine. No Arcade Card, no six button pad, no Tennokoe Bank, no Spriggen, no Star Parodia, no Dracula X, no Street Fighter, no Tengai Makyou, no Bomberman '94, no Puyp Puyo, no Advanced VG...nothing.

I will be the first to admit some of the best games never got translated, and I do play those.
The CD games are not region coded, so the majority of the good japanese games will play on my Abomination FAS Bastard Engine (or TurboGrafx) just fine.  In some cases mods would be necessary, but most of those are easy enough if I wanted to do them, even for someone like me who is too stupid and lazy to decipher Kanji just because someone already translated it.

The TG-16 sucks.

I love it.

[Keranu]

I really think people underestimate the amount of good games the TG16 got over here in the USofA. Basically we got all of the best HuCards and plenty of good ones. We did miss out on a lot of great CD games, but we still got some great ones like Ys 1 - 3, Gate of Thunder, Lords of Thunder, Cosmic Fantasy 2, and Dragon slayer, along with decent titles like Exile, Valis 3, Loom, etc... not to mention the great USA only title Beyond Shadowgate. Could've had a much nicer CD line up, but for what we got, it's far from suckage I think.

[Hobo Xiphas]

I would just like to say that 2x4 is an All American and I support his opinion 100% as America is the best country in the world so it is totally worth the extra money to get a US version. 

[Keranu]

AMERICA RULES!

[offsidewing]

Um, I don't understand why so many people are hell-bent on playing only Japanese versions.

Well, its like this. To me, unless a game has a load of text, then the US version is always going to be the one that sucks, and costs more money. I wonder how many JP games some people have even tried to play. Do you realize that games like Street Fighter or Bonk, or just about any shooter a) basically have no text anyway, and b) often have loads of English in them even when there is text? There are almost no shooters with the Japanese language in them for example (on the PC Engine, or any other system for that matter), and are you so slow you need instructions for Gunhead or Ordyne in the first place? To me manuals aren't something I read, I just like them for the pretty pictures...which are more often in full color in PCE games, rather than the cheap-ass b/w US manuals.

Obviously for a non-Japanese speaking American the US version of Y's 1&2 is going to be the best. That's why I have a US version. However if the game is in English anway, then I'd almost always rather have a JP version because only the asthetically retarded (or marketing people) prefer the "brown and manly" US cover art that usually looks like a 5th grader created it. I'm a pretty big fan of manga from around the same period as PC Engine games, but even if I wasn't...man, hard core otaku revolt me as much as the next guy, but I just don't see how people's hatred for ota scum can manifest itself so deeply that they actually prefer the badly drawn shit cover art (which often is so poorly conceived that it doesn't even represent the game itself) to such an extent that they would actually prefer to pay double, tripple, or more to have it. I hate to tell you this, but all these games and systems were made in Japan. Well, Night Creatures and Darkwing Duck were western in origin (and total crap), but for the most part you are already fell for a chunk of Japanese trash culture when you bought a TG-16, you just needed the crappy cover art, or the huge ugly TG-16 case to lure you in, evidently. Hell, many times the only difference in the data on a HuCard is the copyright info at the bottom of the title screen.

Same goes for the systems. The TG-16 is an evolutionary dead-end. If you buy one you are either locked into a library of releases that is a pathetic sliver of the overall NEC picture, or you buy an over priced piece of shit converter, or you pay for/perform some kind of modification, and in the end most of the time people end up with a pile of NEC stuff that is %90 Japanese because...that's the majority of what is out there. Playing through a Japanese RPG is a struggle, but the alternative is...not playing the game at all because if it isn't Y's 1-3, Neutopia, Dragon Slayer, or Cosmic Fantasy 2 (which, btw, really sucks compared to later installments, the US version in particular) then you can be as sure as shit that there is no US version.

The TG16, and its library, is just a f*cked up, aborted offshoot from the PC Engine. No Arcade Card, no six button pad, no Tennokoe Bank, no Spriggen, no Star Parodia, no Dracula X, no Street Fighter, no Tengai Makyou, no Bomberman '94, no Puyp Puyo, no Advanced VG...nothing. The TG-16 sucks.

Wow.  The stereotypes never change.  I guess Turbo Grafx v. PC Engine circa 1993 is 20/20 in hindsight.  Looking back, the Japanese covers look better. However in 1991 NEC chose not to use Japanese covers in the US because only a small percentage of guys living in their mother's basements would really appreciate the art work(and still to this day).  I probably wouldn't have wanted to associate Blazing Lazers with the folks at an Otacon either.  

The marketing folks at NEC/TTI at the time were clearly not as highly evolved as you.  Obviously the cash-flow constraints, business environment, and marketing strategies would all have been different with "Zeta" at the helm.  Christ, if only you were there I could have been playing Altered Beast on at TG-16!  (Welcome to your DOOM!)  I'm glad to see the superior artwork in Manga/Anime has come a long way in the US the last 15 years.  Instead of $80 bootlegs in SLP on VHS, there's 4 hours a night on Cartoon Network!  TOONAMI!!  Are they still showing 3 hours of Dragon Ball a night??  Woo-hoo.  The last time I looked for Venus Wars on DVD at Best Buy, I did notice the Anime shelf had grown from 3 shelves to 4 in the last two years.  They must have had to make more room for the Sailor Moon box sets and the butchered Samurai X discs.  

If you're going to start calling people retards (personally, if I was as aimlessly fired up about this as you, I would have used the word 'plebian') because they prefer a localized version of an otherwise unknown art form from a distant society, then perhaps you're the one missing a couple sets of chromosomes.  Doing it ex-post-facto (or after the fact) could be viewed as ignorant rather than superior.

Next there will probably be a forum fight over who's the bigger Anime fan.  "Oh yeah, well I had a master copy of Nausicaa in 1985 BEFORE anybody else show it on HBO in 1986."  "Oh yeah, I liked Golgo 13 before it came out on the NES!"

I hope latter installments of any game should be better than their predecessor because it would be pretty pointless to put out the successionary titles otherwise.  Look at the PSX version of Deep Blue!

No one is going to debate that the Japamation artwork on the PCE games is better.  Looking back it is, I mean shit, the The Japanese cover art of Dragon Slayer just puts the US version to shame.  Just be a little more tolerant of those who prefer the cover art we learned to love 15 years ago.  We can't all disect the world in the hyper-intelligent manner in which you do, so just be a little more receptive to us with an affinity for all things Turbo, Fan-boy.

[nodtveidt]

   Sorry nodtveidt, I hadn't noticed your post.  I am really not sure how much a complete Neutopia sells for, so I don't really know what to ask for it.  If you are still interested, you can make me an offer you think is fair.  I will only charge actual cost for shipping.   


                                                                                              Regards, Cho_aniki

Yeah, it seemed to have gotten buried in the forum war. I also don't know its value but I know it's not worth a whole lot. I see some jokers trying to sell it for $50 on ebay, but it seems to usually go for less that a third of that. Neutopia II is currently going for $100, but I think I'll pass on that one for now. Anyways, I'll send you a PM.

[offsidewing]

   Sorry nodtveidt, I hadn't noticed your post.  I am really not sure how much a complete Neutopia sells for, so I don't really know what to ask for it.  If you are still interested, you can make me an offer you think is fair.  I will only charge actual cost for shipping.   


                                                                                              Regards, Cho_aniki

Yeah, it seemed to have gotten buried in the forum war. I also don't know its value but I know it's not worth a whole lot. I see some jokers trying to sell it for $50 on ebay, but it seems to usually go for less that a third of that. Neutopia II is currently going for $100, but I think I'll pass on that one for now. Anyways, I'll send you a PM.

I don't think I've ever played Neup Deux.  How much different is it than the first iteration??

I just picked up Cadash and Parasol Stars, so my Working Designs collection (included Dungeon Explorer 2) is complete.

[nodtveidt]

I don't think I've ever played Neup Deux.  How much different is it than the first iteration??

One immediate thing you'll notice is the art style was drastically changed from the first. The original lacked style cohesiveness, but the sequel has a definitive style to it that stays with it from beginning to end.

There are quite a few technical differences between the two games. The most obvious one right away is N2 utilizes 8-way movement and animation for the player character. When you get the fire staff, you'll notice a glaring coding flaw...when you hit an enemy with it, they will fall back in the direction you are facing, unlike in the original where they would fall back in the opposite direction they were facing. This means you can no longer shoot-and-retreat, because the enemy will come flying back at you if you're running away from it. The sound engine is improved, the music sounds better and the sound effects are a bit clearer. Also, the game isn't arranged into "spheres" like the original, it's more of a land mass type of setup. Quite a bit longer gameplay too. A few other technical details include items...the Rainbow Drop allows you to enter spaces even if there's nothing on the other side (unlike in the original where it would only activate if you could completely cross it), giving you new attack strategies...the Medicine Of Vitality doesn't freeze the action (meaning you can take free hits while recharging your life!)...the Boom Bombs take longer to explode (don't know why they decided to do this, they're now almost useless for attacking)...the Bell Of Heaven no longer opens all doors regardless of room state (in the original, you could open doors even with enemies in the room...no longer can you do that). Another stupid but for some reason irritating flaw is when you get a treasure box...the chime goes off as soon as the text is finished, rather than when the player character holds up the item. Just a small unprofessional flaw but gives the impression that the game didn't spend as long in production as it should have. One thing I miss from the original is hitting trees with the fire staff...they would burn up, but they don't do this in the sequel, though I understand why from a coding perspective.

All in all, it's solid but suffers from a couple of bad flaws. If you can overlook that (an expert player will use the staff flaw to their advantage), you'll like it if you liked the original. Also note that these flaws exist in the Japanese version as well, so it's not like it was a localization screwup.

[MrFulci]

Dredging up the Zeta stuff from a few posts up....


Zeta, you appear to have quite a dislike for the TG-16

I bought the TG-16 not due to artwork on the boxes. I bought it because of certain games (Bloody Wolf and Splatterhouse in particular). I had a thing for the system, i recallt he commercials, the in-store demos, magazine pics/reviews, and playing it at a friend's. I had a good first impression with the system, which led me to purchase the system when the opportunity presented itself.

Some stuff I import, though I don't do it because the US version is crap, if I own a PCE game chances are the reason I own it is because it's not available in the US. Sometimes I do it for the surprise factor, go into the game clueless.

Similar to DVD's. I import stuff I can't find in the US, or has better quality picture/uncut/etc outside the US.

Instructions.... I need them sometimes. Some games are pretty easy to figure out, other times I need to know how many buttons are required in the game, and special moves. This is especially true of fighters. I need to flip through the book to see what buttons are used, what combos are available, etc. I had to do that with Flash Hiders, to get an idea as to whether it was 2, 4, or 6 button attacks. Cyborg Justice I recently had to flip through the manual to get an idea for combos, how to rip off other robots body parts, fun stuff like that. I enjoy thorough instruction manuals.

The TG-16 is a nice system, though it's library is limited, is a different size than the PCE, and has different sized controller ports. Other than that, it's the same stuff, and I work with the system as best I can.

[runinruder]

No Arcade Card, no six button pad, no Tennokoe Bank, no Spriggen, no Star Parodia, no Dracula X, no Street Fighter, no Tengai Makyou, no Bomberman '94, no Puyp Puyo, no Advanced VG...nothing. The TG-16 sucks.

Haha, no Advanced V.G.  Yeah, I know a lot of players in the US who lost sleep over that one, wondering what might've been had the Turbo featured more mediocre games about waitress fighting tournaments. 

[offsidewing]

I don't think I've ever played Neup Deux.  How much different is it than the first iteration??

(an expert player will use the staff flaw to their advantage),

Thanks for the insight. 

Hmmm, a fire staff/sword two hit combo.  Nice!

Yeah.  As soon as I see it for less than $50 I'll pick it up.

[Necromancer]

Well, its like this.....rant rant rant rant.....TG-16 sucks.

Wow.  Did a TG-16 beat you up when you were a kid?  Such burning hate for a machine with only trivial differences from its Japanese counterpart.  The increased size was the product of additional required shielding and misguided marketing, neither of which affect game play.  There were US releases of most of the best HuCards, and CDs were region free anyway (as 2x4 noted).  Boo-hoo, no Arcade Card for the US.  Big f'n deal.  It's not like it was supported with a plethora of quality, original games anyway (excepting Kabuki Itouryodan and Sapphire - which is as expensive as any US release).  I don't understand why the 'artwork' should even be considered.  If I'm looking for art, I'll buy art.  Otherwise, the game is the most important part, and the manual is just the icing on the cake.  The higher cost of some US releases is not that big of deal to me either, nor is the high price of many Japanese releases.  I don't drive a four cylinder shit box Hyundai, 'cause I can afford better.  Does that make me retarded?

Now that my ranting is over, thanks for the post SignOfZeta.  The boards need a good fork jab every once in a while.