Japan-only gems

[Smacktard]

My replacement Saturn was to arrive today, and... the FedEx truck carrying it got into an accident so it's been delayed until Saturday. Called the delivery guy to check on the status, and he told me his tire blew out and he got into a crash. Thankfully he's fine, but I'm not sure about the state of my Saturn. I guess we'll see Saturday.....

 

[Crystal]

My replacement Saturn was to arrive today, and... the FedEx truck carrying it got into an accident so it's been delayed until Saturday. Called the delivery guy to check on the status, and he told me his tire blew out and he got into a crash. Thankfully he's fine, but I'm not sure about the state of my Saturn. I guess we'll see Saturday.....

So typical, ah well, fingers crossed for Saturnday

 

[Fool's Requiem]

My replacement Saturn was to arrive today, and... the FedEx truck carrying it got into an accident so it's been delayed until Saturday. Called the delivery guy to check on the status, and he told me his tire blew out and he got into a crash. Thankfully he's fine, but I'm not sure about the state of my Saturn. I guess we'll see Saturday.....

you seem to have annoyingly bad luck

 

[Smacktard]

IT LIVES

sort of. I need to find a nut that holds the Kaico power cable in place because they forgot to ship one and it's tough because most nuts aren't the right size because they're too chunky. So, yeah, fuck. If I don't have one, the power plug-in slips inside the console and I'd have to unscrew it and fish it out again

But hey, progress so far! Yay! Maybe I'll be playing Super Tempo and Tryrush Deppy by this weekend

 

[Crystal]

IT LIVES

sort of. I need to find a nut that holds the Kaico power cable in place because they forgot to ship one and it's tough because most nuts aren't the right size because they're too chunky. So, yeah, fuck. If I don't have one, the power plug-in slips inside the console and I'd have to unscrew it and fish it out again

But hey, progress so far! Yay! Maybe I'll be playing Super Tempo and Tryrush Deppy by this weekend

 

[MC74]

I'm still thinking of getting a Sega Saturn down the line. I really want one.

 

[Smacktard]

I'm still thinking of getting a Sega Saturn down the line. I really want one.

Personally I find the system really cool because it's like this treasure trove of retro games I'd never heard of before. It's like I fell into this whole other parallel universe filled with the sort of games I'm into.

The game prices though, goddamn.

 

[Crystal]

Personally I find the system really cool because it's like this treasure trove of retro games I'd never heard of before. It's like I fell into this whole other parallel universe filled with the sort of games I'm into.

The game prices though, goddamn.

Yeah, spot on, amazing console, severely underrated and SUPER EXPENSIVE.

 

[MC74]

Personally I find the system really cool because it's like this treasure trove of retro games I'd never heard of before. It's like I fell into this whole other parallel universe filled with the sort of games I'm into.

The game prices though, goddamn.

Much agreed, plus the Saturn is one of the very few consoles I've never played on. I'd like to have the chance to play some games on it.

But the prices though, they're ridiculous. One of the games I wanted to get for the system is Magic Knight Rayearth, but that seems to be out of the question.

 

[Smacktard]

@Crystal you might know this. If I buy a CRT TV with a British plug, would it's refresh rate be 25fps, or is that only for British/Euro TV shows/movies/consoles? Will this affect my gaming at all?

 

[Crystal]

@Crystal you might know this. If I buy a CRT TV with a British plug, would it's refresh rate be 25fps, or is that only for British/Euro TV shows/movies/consoles? Will this affect my gaming at all?

From what I understand it shouldn't impact your gaming at all, BUT I'm not 100% certain on that. I wonder if fellow collector and Brit @Crazy Jamie might know when he's next around?

 

[Fool's Requiem]

Get a SCART cable and a device that can take SCART. Or S-Video if SCART is too difficult a set up. There might be SCART to Component our there.

 

[Smacktard]

Get a SCART cable and a device that can take SCART. Or S-Video if SCART is too difficult a set up. There might be SCART to Component our there.

Will straight component cables just not work or something. I've never heard of S-video or scart

 

[Fool's Requiem]

Will straight component cables just not work or something. I've never heard of S-video or scart

You need some kind of adapter for component. A COMPOSITE cable is typically available for everything made after the NES. But composite looks like ass, even on CRTs unless the game was specifically designed around CRTs and composite cables.

 

[Smacktard]

So I don't really have the luxury of shopping around for an ideal TV. I found one today that was good enough:
-it had component cable inputs (though lacking stereo sound)
-it was like fifteen bucks
-it worked when plugged in
-it was 48°C outside and I didn't want to spend any more time walking around

Ta-da:


I still just need to get a thin nut to hold the replacement power cord in place. I COULD just start playing now, but I just don't want to go through the process of opening it up again when I finally get a suitable nut.

 

[Smacktard]

Just tried my Wonderswan today, and it's not working. Spent a decent fucking chunk of change on it, too. So, that's 2/2 systems I've bought in Japan (that I tested) that don't work. Moral of the story: don't buy systems in Japan from retro game stores. At this point I'm betting my AV Famicom and Disc reader don't work, either.

WAIT NO, SUCCESS IT WORKS

wait no it doesn't, i get a glitchy screen and weird sounds. shit.

wait no, the Wonderswan does work, the contacts are just a bit weird so the cart can't be fully inserted lmao apparently this is a typical problem with Wonderswan Colors and Crystals.

Crystals! Always causing problems

 

[Crystal]

Crystals! Always causing problems

 

[Fool's Requiem]

@Smacktard Whenever you get a chance, can you see how Outrun plays on the Saturn and what options are available. The version attached to Outrun 2 on the Xbox has harder than balls and has no difficulty sliders. It's like a direct arcade port.

 

[Smacktard]

@Smacktard Whenever you get a chance, can you see how Outrun plays on the Saturn and what options are available. The version attached to Outrun 2 on the Xbox has harder than balls and has no difficulty sliders. It's like a direct arcade port.

I'll try. Still waiting to find that final component to hold the power cord in place. Been a real pain in the ass so far might be a while

 

[Smacktard]

Finally found a nut that works well *enough* to hold the power cord in place. Saturn put back together, hooked up to the CRT, and....... For some reason my CRT doesn't pick it up. No clue what to do. I'm just cursed never to play Saturn games.

 

[Smacktard]

View attachment 20240730_164415.mp4
bros... it's finally fkn happening...

 

[Fool's Requiem]

fuck yeah

 

[Smacktard]

So I finally was able to play Outrun, Tryrush Deppy, and Super Tempo.

Outrun was awesome! I loved the ability to change settings so easily, and it's cool that there's lots of hidden features and easter eggs. Me and the wife loved playing this, but I couldn't help but wish there was some sort of 2P split-screen.

Tryrush Deppy was really fun too. I liked the idea of collecting gas to power forward, but it did make exploration more difficult, which is otherwise encouraged. The animation was FANTASTIC. The bosses were fun too. Good game. I could see myself going back to it. If it were longer, I could see it wearing its welcome thin because coursing through the levels can get a bit repetitive.

Super Tempo was more inconsistent. There were a lot of highs, but a lot of lows, too. There was WAY more text and reading in a mascot platforming game than I was expecting. The game also had way more variety than Tryrush Deppy. There was a shmup-controlled music quiz entirely in Japanese that was definitely... unique. Very frustrating for a non-Japanese speaker, but I eventually got through. There are a few other sections that are a real pain, too. In one section, if you choose the wrong elevator from a choice of three, you're sent back to the beginning of the stage and you have to spend about 10 minutes getting back to where you came from. Some annoying stuff like that. Bosses were really easy, though, and the last boss tube-style shmup was pretty fun and unique. Nice art style though, and some laughs: a waterfall you can't climb at the start of the game turns out to be an enemy urinating. Weird Japanese humor, but I'm here for it.

I'll do Steamgear Mash and Silhouette Mirage next. There's not much info on the former, and the latter gets sort of mixed reviews.

 

[Crystal]

Super Tempo was more inconsistent. There were a lot of highs, but a lot of lows, too. There was WAY more text and reading in a mascot platforming game than I was expecting. The game also had way more variety than Tryrush Deppy. There was a shmup-controlled music quiz entirely in Japanese that was definitely... unique. Very frustrating for a non-Japanese speaker, but I eventually got through. There are a few other sections that are a real pain, too. In one section, if you choose the wrong elevator from a choice of three, you're sent back to the beginning of the stage and you have to spend about 10 minutes getting back to where you came from. Some annoying stuff like that. Bosses were really easy, though, and the last boss tube-style shmup was pretty fun and unique. Nice art style though, and some laughs: a waterfall you can't climb at the start of the game turns out to be an enemy urinating. Weird Japanese humor, but I'm here for it.

This is fairly annoying to hear, but understandable. Glad you got the at least try it out, though. Still on my dream list, lol

 

[Fool's Requiem]

Outrun was awesome! I loved the ability to change settings so easily, and it's cool that there's lots of hidden features and easter eggs. Me and the wife loved playing this, but I couldn't help but wish there was some sort of 2P split-screen.

If you have an Xbox, I suggest looking out for Outrun 2. It doesn't have split screen either, but there's a lot of extra goodies in that game, too. The last unlockable is a direct arcade port of the original Outrun. However, since it's a straight port of the arcade version, the difficulty is set to the quarter muncher difficulty.

IMO, Outrun 2 is the best obtainable Outrun game. Coast2Coast is said to be even better, but it's outrageously expensive on Xbox (PS2 and PAL I ports are cheaper), and the stripped down version of C2C, Outrun Arcade, was made unavailable from Xbox and PS3 stores due to Sega losing the Ferrari license.

 

[Smacktard]

I finished Steamgear Mash today. Pretty nice game. It's only about 1-1.5 hrs long, but if it were any longer, it would probably overstay its welcome. It has a couple of isometric shmup sections, which were a nice break from the main game, if a bit simplistic. One of the bosses in that section is no joke, though. The rest of the bosses and enemies kind of suffer from that "early 5th-gen 3D games" thing where it's really easy to cheese their AI and make the game a bit of a joke. If you don't cheese them, it can become pretty difficult, but more tedious than anything.

Still, I recommend giving it a play-through. It's pretty easy to grasp for non-Japanese speakers, and it's still quite cheap. It reminded me a bit of Bomberman 64 tbh, but not quite at that level of quality.