Which Arcade Card game should I get?

[nat]

Sapphire.

Also, I hear Madou Monogatari is fan-f*cking-tastic.

I am going to get Sapphire as soon as I can figure out this issue on bootlegs. I don't really care if I get a boot as long as it is factory-like quality. I hooked up with this guy named Tobias at anime4ever which I found out about on these forums a month back. I think he's going to hook me up for less than $150. Is this a good deal, and does anyone know if he is trustworthy?

He is 100% trustworthy, but..... $150 is too much for one of these reprints. He keeps nudging the price up year after year and now it's so high it's half the price of a "real" copy.

Keep in mind, this very same guy was selling this EXACT product a couple years ago for $40. I'm sure "his price" on these hasn't increased by $110. I'd be surprised if it's increased at all-- I find it far more likely he's still selling copies of the original run, on which he didn't seem to have a problem making some $$ at the $40 price point.

[Tatsujin]

it's kinda shaky. the only thing I can imagine of is the fact that he is running out of his own boot copies and he's not able to make new ones. so now he is slighlty increasing the price with every copy left his stock.

[SignOfZeta]

Yeah, he's probably down to his last couple of copies of Sapphire.

$150 is a horrible price. I'm not sure I remember anyone paying that much for the boot unless they thought it was real. Hold out for $60, although that seems kind of crazy IMO as well. I payed something like $40, I think.

As for what your first Arcade Card game should be...its tough if you don't like Geo games since those are its strong point. At least get Fatal Fury Special since its cheap as hell and one of the best.

Strider will not blow your mind. I'm not a big Strider fanboy, so I haven't compared all the versions, but you might as well have the Megadrive version from what I've seen.

Sapphire is the best overall game for the AC.

Popful Mail underwent a massive transformation for the MegaCD. The PCE version is a lot like an old computer game. The characters are square and the screen is cropped and all that. I'm not saying to not buy it, I'm just letting you know.

3x3 Eyes has the most impressive 16-bit cinemas (the opening at least) I've ever seen. If you can get it for $10 or whatever, do it, just for that. Its a digital comic though, so don't expect to have much fun with it, regardless of what languages you speak.

Honestly the Arcade Card is kind of like a less sucky version of the SuperGrafx. They both do some impressive stuff, but the best PC Engine games are Super CDs.

[shubibiman]

Fatal Fury Special is a very good conversion but I honestly think that World heroes 2's port is the best of all the Neogeo ports for the ACD. But I think gameplay-wise, nothing compares with Kabuki Itouryodan which is a bit more expensive but not that hard to find.

I was a bit disappointed by Metal stalker. I love mechas but the gameplay is not that good.

[Gogan]

I agree Sapphire is a must. I have dealt with Tobias before and from my exp., you can trust him. Funny the game would be 150 tho as I picked it up not long ago (2-3 months) for 45 or somethin like that.

[termis]

Sapphire -- It's actually really good shooter in its own right, and it truly is a technical tour-de-force for the PCE.  However, as a game (not a collector's piece) it's definitely not worth triple digit+ prices in my opinion, original or not.  I have no shame in saying that I downloaded this game, and will probably never own the original.

All NG ports are pry the best of the 16-bit versions, you can't really go wrong with any of them, if you're into those kind of games. 

Kabuki Itoryodan isn't bad, though I don't think it's spectacular either. 

Strider's gameplay is a bit broken and the graphic color choices are a bit strange compared to other ports, but the PCE version's red book audio BLOWS AWAY all other versions.  The BGM music alone is almost worth the purchase in my opinion.

[Necromancer]

There's no such thing as a hidden gem among the Arcade Card titles (there's only a dozen of 'em), so here's the easy answer: get 'em all!  Madou Monogatari is cute, fun, top notch.... and expensive; Sapphire is a great shmup but even pricier; so I'd start off with Kabuki Itouryodan, as it's a pretty choice fighter, not a port of something you've probably played to death already, and best of all - it's rather cheap.


My Sapphire boot also came from that dude, so you needn't worry about him being a scammer.  I wouldn't buy one now though, as $150 is just nuts for a fake; I'd rather blow a few more bucks and get the real deal or wait 'til someone sells their boot for a good price.  Alternatively, his website still lists $45 copies sans manual and with 'discolored' discs.

[Mathius]

What does he mean by discolored discs?

[Necromancer]

What does he mean by discolored discs?

Look at the last two pics on his page - what should be a dark blue band is purple and what should be blue text is cyan.

[Mathius]

What does he mean by discolored discs?

Look at the last two pics on his page - what should be a dark blue band is purple and what should be blue text is cyan.

That's cool. I was just hoping that it didn't mean that the disc was a CD-R.

[Mathius]

It looks like I was confused on the pricing. The "discolored" boots are $45 and that's the one I am going to have him set me up with.

[Gogan]

Actually, that's the one I got, it works great, still a pressed boot, not cd-r. The manual is just a front, back, and spread inside. Great deal imo.

[BlueBMW]

Who do I contact to get one of these cheap reprint copies of Sapphire?

[Mathius]

http://sapphire.anime4ever.de/

I just sent my payment.

[BlueBMW]

http://sapphire.anime4ever.de/

I just sent my payment.

Excellent!  Thanks for the tip!

Now to locate an Arcade card and region mod my duo.. hmmm