What TG16 Collectors Need Only Magical Chase?

[SignOfZeta]

Yeah, anyone buying games as an investment needs to learn some basic economics. In the short term, sure, but anyone buying MC for a grand thinking it will someday be worth $3000...its not impossible, but its HIGHLY unlikely. It will probably be $150 in ten years and stay there forever. All collector scenes go through boom and bust. We're near a peak with most of these prices. I sold a Furby on eBay for $140 in 1998 (long story) they now go for less than retail.

I'm interested in seeing if this thing with people collecting only US games (currently TG-16 and Neo Geo, but it might be spreading) will burn out completely or if its here to stay. I find that very strange. It would be one thing if games for these systems were actually made in the US, but they shit's all Japanese by nature. The US versions are tainted, artistically, IMO, in the case of TG-16. As someone who actively imported in the 90s I eventually stopped buying US games completely because the selection sucked. In the case of the Neo they are irrelevant since there is no such thing as a localization of a Neo Geo game (usually). All regions are programed into the original game.

I wonder if there is a US Saturn scene brewing right now in the primordial soup of stupidity...dudes looking for reply cards and copies of Bug Too! with no cracks in the case...f*ck, that would be sad. It would make more sense though, in a way, since there are a lot of US exclusive Saturn games, some actually decent.

[SignOfZeta]

Its a damn shame people will pay $1000+ for the game, because it looks like a great shoot'em up. I love all the vibrant colors in it.

Yeah, I'm one of the people who like cute games in general and enjoy this one for what it is. Make sure you play Cotton, Zonk (HuCard), Parodious, and Hana Taka Daka!?, far more affordable shooters that are also colorful.

[TheClash603]

I am a US Sega Saturn collector, because that was my favorite system growing up.  I was a big fan of the NES as a kid, but then the 16-bit era kinda sucked to me.  At that time, I was always at the arcade, and could care less about home systems.  When the PSX and Saturn came out, Saturn was leaps and bounds better, and home gaming was back.  To this day, this is my favorite system.

I am buying up Saturn games, and my only requests are that they are complete and cheap.  A lot of my games have rental stickers on them, or UPC codes cut out.  That's actually better to me, as long as they play, because I am all about getting games on the cheap.  I am averaging about $5 per game for this system, which is pretty decent.

Anyway, I think US games are better, because I like the story in game and in the manuals, and I like to read what's going on.  I do not read Japanese, nor do I have any intention in doing so, so US games are infinitely better for this reason.  If I were able to read Japanese, I suppose I would be on your side, but I cannot.  I hope that you can...  or else your opinion is confusing to me.

[RoyVegas]

Its only partially the fault of this f*cking prick.

Actually Oldskool could give two shits either way.  He said it in jest.

[Lilgrafx]

I'm interested in seeing if this thing with people collecting only US games (currently TG-16 and Neo Geo, but it might be spreading) will burn out completely or if its here to stay. I find that very strange. It would be one thing if games for these systems were actually made in the US, but they shit's all Japanese by nature. The US versions are tainted, artistically, IMO, in the case of TG-16. As someone who actively imported in the 90s I eventually stopped buying US games completely because the selection sucked. In the case of the Neo they are irrelevant since there is no such thing as a localization of a Neo Geo game (usually). All regions are programed into the original game.

If this group does stay around the price of the US version could stay high for a while =(. I just recently started collecting TurboGrafx games and i guess you could say im part of this crowd. But the reason ive only collected US games is because thats all ive been introduced to here in the US. But I think im going to have to make my first import with cotton. 

[Tatsujin]

I am a US Sega Saturn collector, because that was my favorite system growing up.  I was a big fan of the NES as a kid, but then the 16-bit era kinda sucked to me.  At that time, I was always at the arcade, and could care less about home systems.  When the PSX and Saturn came out, Saturn was leaps and bounds better, and home gaming was back.  To this day, this is my favorite system.

I am buying up Saturn games, and my only requests are that they are complete and cheap.  A lot of my games have rental stickers on them, or UPC codes cut out.  That's actually better to me, as long as they play, because I am all about getting games on the cheap.  I am averaging about $5 per game for this system, which is pretty decent.

Anyway, I think US games are better, because I like the story in game and in the manuals, and I like to read what's going on.  I do not read Japanese, nor do I have any intention in doing so, so US games are infinitely better for this reason.  If I were able to read Japanese, I suppose I would be on your side, but I cannot.  I hope that you can...  or else your opinion is confusing to me.

But how could you love the Arcades but not the PSx and JPN saturn games? Because that was exactly the only place, high quality 16/32-Bit arcade games were released. The US and Europe got a shit piece of that whole cake, next to almost nothing.

[SignOfZeta]

But how could you love the Arcades but not the PSx and JPN saturn games? Because that was exactly the only place, high quality 16/32-Bit arcade games were released.

Yeah, that's what I was going to say. The the things the Saturn was best as were...16-bit games! The one released in arcades in the late 80s to mid 90s. CPS1, CPS2, System 16, Neo Geo...all 16-bit, mostly all during the MD/SNES/SFC/PCE era. A lot of great non-ports on Saturn were also extremely 16-bit-ish in nature; Princes Crown, etc. The US releases were...Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam...some good stuff came out, but with covers like this:



and



also



And of course, the US cases are about %60 smashed at this point. Giant fragile space hogging shit. The Lincoln Navigators of the gaming world.

Anyone who claims that they collect US games specifically because they need the manuals in English is being obtuse, probably only pretending to be obtuse. Its takes me 5 minutes to read a single sentence in Japanese but I still beat Radiant Silvergun. Am I psychic? A genius? Hell no, I just played the f*cking thing. I think some people just see foreign language text and subconsciously think "Oh now, I'm not allowed in here!" and run away. If there was ever a universal language its the video game controller.

I can see paying big bucks for Panzer Dragoon Saga just because of the language, but these examples are few and far between on Saturn (pretty much like the TG-16) and by not buying JP games you are missing out on...most of the good Saturn games, I'd say. Most of the great games that did get a US releases were the Sega stuff, like VF2 and Daytona, and those are the ones that have aged the most poorly. Meanwhile Marvel Super Heroes versus Street Fighter and Astra Super Stars and DoDonPatchi and Batsugun and Pocket Fighter are off limits. Instead you have...FIFA 97...um...Criticom?

[shubibiman]

OMFG! I didn't US Saturn games had shitty covers too! What's with the US artists of the time? Were they amateurs or did they think that US gamers had shitty tastes?

[TheClash603]

I agree that the best games on the Saturn were 2D, but it is 2D that the previous generation of systems were unable to handle.  With that said, these games were arcade only, until the Saturn was able to bring that fun home.  Since the Saturn was the first system to bring the arcade feeling home, that is why it is my favorite.  On top of that, the Saturn was able to bring a game home like Marvel Super Heroes and make it play a lot better than the shameful PSX version.

Cover art on the Saturn is nowhere near as bad as the TG16, and it is a great improvement over the Master System days.  That point in moot to me, because the content of the games is what counts.

You are right, there are a lot of games that can be played without being able to read Japanese, but you don't get the full effect.  It'd be like if a minor character in a movie didn't speak English...  probably wouldn't ruin the plot, but would be annoying.  I recently watched half of a George Lopez stand-up comedy special, and he would switch from English to Spanish frequently during the show.  Although 98% of the jokes and punch lines were in English, I was completely taken out of the show.  Maybe I am being overly dramatic, but language barrier truly hinders my enjoyment of a game.

[shubibiman]

To me, the Sega Saturn (jap version) is one of my favourite systems thanks to all its 2D arcade hits that were perfectly handled. I bought mine just 2 years ago and even if I played a lot of Saturn games back in the time witrh friends of mine, I just realised when I got my own Saturn how cool it really was. I don't care wether the arcade ports were basically 2D games : they're excellent and that's what matters to me.

[SignOfZeta]

You are right, there are a lot of games that can be played without being able to read Japanese, but you don't get the full effect.  It'd be like if a minor character in a movie didn't speak English...  probably wouldn't ruin the plot, but would be annoying.  I recently watched half of a George Lopez stand-up comedy special, and he would switch from English to Spanish frequently during the show.  Although 98% of the jokes and punch lines were in English, I was completely taken out of the show.  Maybe I am being overly dramatic, but language barrier truly hinders my enjoyment of a game.

It just sounds like some sort of strange xenophobia to me. If you can't play a game like MSH vs SF because the endings and instruction manual (both of which I've never read in any language, despite having playing it for hundreds of hours) then you've got some psychological issues. Also...bad taste. George Lopez f*cking sucks...although I don't think him putting %2 more anglo in his shit routine is going to help.

[termis]

Just like the folks who make a big deal out of collecting US-only titles, I find those who make a giant deal out of cover art even more strange.  I mean, when you're playing the game, how does the cover art make any f*cking difference whatsoever?

Basically, there's a happy medium -- I mean, I'll buy the US version if the price-premium isn't that much higher, as I'd much rather understand the manual, understand the plot background (however simple it may be), read the taunts in English after a fight in Street Fighter, etc -- these things certainly provide more enjoyment than looking at a pretty cover art.  (And this is coming from someone who actually speaks moderate level of Japanese). 

I mean, if the US version is ridiculously more expensive than the JP version, sure, I'll buy the Japanese version, but to deride US versions simply for shitty cover art, then going to gamefaqs for gameplay info is more ridiculous.  You want good art, then go buy a good poster/painting piece instead.

[SignOfZeta]

There is no English version of MSH vs SF on Saturn or at least half of the good Saturn games. Mostly we're talking about library here. These people are so xenophobic that they'll avoid the best games on the system just to purge all the foreign text from their house. When people ask "Why did publishers in the 90s throw away perfectly good art and substitute shit", well, this is why. These guys want to play Japanese games, but don't want to ever be reminded that they are made by Japanese people. Perhaps these publishers really did know what they were doing and the US cover of CF2 moved more copies that it would have otherwise.

As for the language: all Capcom fighters have about a page of text in it, hardly important. I've played tens of thousands of rounds of Street Fighter in my life, easily, and trust me; reading the win quotes isn't important. The endings are even less important since you only see them in 1 player mode, which I rarely use. In KOF that might be more important...but again, there is no US version of KOF on Saturn.

The game is the most important thing, I agree, and that's sort of my point too. US collectors go out of their way to obtain the shittiest version of a game...mainly because of a manual that they'll flip through once.

When it comes to Neo Geo MVS the only things I care about are if the cart functions and it isn't a bootleg/conversion. I don't care about the kit, the sticker, the smell, etc. I just want the data.

But when it comes to something like a CD console game where i can reasonably expect to have a case and such I prefer to have the best one possible. I'm only going to look in the manual for the pictures, and those are in b/w in US manuals (if not deleted completely). The cover doesn't have much purpose, but it servers more of a purpose than a manual I'll never look at.

As for buying a poster...come on, I have something like 300 games...where am I going to put 300 posters, and where the hell would I find them?

[Tatsujin]

I agree that the best games on the Saturn were 2D, but it is 2D that the previous generation of systems were unable to handle.  With that said, these games were arcade only, until the Saturn was able to bring that fun home.  Since the Saturn was the first system to bring the arcade feeling home, that is why it is my favorite.  On top of that, the Saturn was able to bring a game home like Marvel Super Heroes and make it play a lot better than the shameful PSX version.

This isn't true, the PSx brought arcade into the own four walls first and much better. The saturn had a lousy starter lineup and couldn't compete against a ridge racer, which was so to speak, damn close to the arcade version for its time.

As for 2D games, so it is kinda toss-up, since most of the BeU are better on the SS, the PSx has some strength on the shoot'em up side (e.g. donpachi series, kaitei daisensou..).

Since both systems have their great exclusives, it is very necessary to own both or em.

I wouldn't want to pass on a gradius gaiden or harmful park, so I wouldn't on a Batsugun.

[Tatsujin]

Just like the folks who make a big deal out of collecting US-only titles, I find those who make a giant deal out of cover art even more strange.  I mean, when you're playing the game, how does the cover art make any f*cking difference whatsoever?

With that attitude you can also play MAME and other emulators all day long, or go with that new non-physical media trend. I mean, when you're playing the game, how does anything beside the game make any f*cking difference whatsoever?


As for me, I'm loving to take a nice case with nice artworks shown in its purest origin of its creation out of the shelf, taking the cart/card/cd out of it, put the game into the console and play it. For me, the packaging and everything around the game is part of the gaming as well. You "play" with your eyes first!