I'm looking to start collecting Japanese releases. Any recommendations for Japan exclusives (or games that are significantly different from their US release) that are worth picking up and aren't crazy expensive like Alien Soldier or Pengo?
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I'm looking to start collecting Japanese releases. Any recommendations for Japan exclusives (or games that are significantly different from their US release) that are worth picking up and aren't crazy expensive like Alien Soldier or Pengo?
Not sure if you want exclusives or not, but if you can get Shi kin joh for a nice price it's a good puzzler.
Also, the Japanese version of Sonic 1 is a MegaDrive must have.
I recommend Tanto-R and Ichidant-R. Only a small bit of language barrier there, but mostly a very Japanese and fun 4-player party game, exclusive to Japan. Very cheap and good to start with.
Wani Wani World and Dangerous Seed used to be cheap, but seem to have crept up in price. Still, both are solid, fun games.
The Japanese release of Marble Madness is terrific, but it tends to go for $50+. Actually it looks like there's a copy on Ebay right now for $49.95, which is a pretty good price, though it's somewhat sunfaded.
Definitely Super Fantasy Zone. You can even go with the PAL release for this one as it works fine in a US Genesis and is probably the cheapest option.
Don't be like me and get the Japanese version of everything you will go broke on shipping alone ;)
I recommend Puyo Puyo 2 wholeheartedly.
Super Fantasy Zone would be my first pick, too, but you need the Japanese version to get the little case. :^) It looks to have come down in price, too, since I've last checked going from completed eBay auctions (under $40). Bare Knuckle 3 seems like an obvious choice, because while it's not "significantly different," the original coloring and outfits look sooo much better by comparison. May not be a first stop, but it's something you'll want soon enough.
The Killing Game Show retains the original game's title and has the intro missing from the Western release (low of $23 on eBay). It's not a perfect port, but it's still an excellent game. The Japanese Landstalker is dirt cheap and includes a bath scene missing from the English release, but are you going to want to play through the game in Japanese to see it? For a little over $10... maybe? Maybe not?
Whatever you end up getting into, know that text heavy games are cheap. You can save yourself $100 plus by picking up the Japanese Ragnacenty over Crusader of Centy. If you're looking to get into Japanese Megadrive games, I'd say your first purchase should be a lot of games. You can find lots for ten or more games for about $3-5 per game, and it'll help you a bit with the combined shipping cost.
Splatter House Part 3, as this version isn't tampered with in terms of changes to gameplay by Namco's localization team. Devil Crash is uncensored and doesn't have the flipper glitch reportedly in the US Dragon's Fury. Ex Ranza includes a hidden 'level' accessed by a cheat code so is the more complete version of the game, although whether or not that's worth the extra dough is up to you.
As for exclusives, Rainbow Islands is worth picking up if it's still sub $50 IMO, but then I'm a bit of a fan. A lot of the other true exclusive action-orientated games are now prohibitively expensive, unfortunately (Pulseman, Slap Fight, Snow Bros, BM Daijinjou etc).
PS the NTSCJ MUSHA Aleste is also a lot cheaper than the US version, or at least is at the moment but it's steadily rising!
My recommendations are Magical Taruruuto-kun and Kujaku-Ou 2 (the original version of Mystic Defender, with the anime references unchanged). I don't know their price now, but got them for cheap about 6 years ago.
Dragon Ball Z Buyuu Retsuden is a good fighting game. Quite cheap too. It got released in France and Spain as well, but the Japanese version is a lot easier to track down.
That level is still accessible in the Western release, but only with a Game Genie or Action Replay. Why they dummied it out, I've no idea.
I've got the NTSCJ version and have to be honest, it's the only MD game where I thought my copy might somehow be broken. The scrolling seemed atrocious and the physics of the characters and the way they moved around just seemed choppy, and the moves sluggish to execute and inconsistent at best.
The music had it's moments and I like the sound FX, but not the game itself :)
IKR, since it was never on by default I don't know why they didn't just leave it. It isn't something that adds a tremendous amount to the game though since it's not really a legit extra level so the JP version isn't necessary really.
YU YU HAKUSHO MAKYOU TOITSUSEN= One of the best fighting games for the 16 BITS!!!
DRAGON BALL Z BUYU RETSUDEN+Turbo Cheat= Very fun game
Definitely rainbow islands.. And also magical flying hat turbo adventure... Great platformer, similar to psycho fox on master system
TWINKLE TALE
pulseman
rockman megaworld
I agree with these guys, both of these games are great. They also happen to be the first two import games that I got for Megadrive. Everything else seemed downhill from there. :p
Others that I enjoyed:
Dodgeball Danpei
F1 Circus MD
Fist of the North Star (exploding heads!)
I think I read somewhere that the Japanese version of Virtua Racing has a battery to save your high scores.
That's the Japanese 32X Virtua Racing that has the memory backup, not the vanilla MD release. Unless I'm missing something (I own the NTSCJ MD game).
And not worth the commanding price ... The prices are barftastic! :yuck:
I would have recommended Sailor Moon but the current asking price is $100 ... not worth it!
Erm ... What about New Zealand Story? If you can get it under $35, I would say yes.
Puyo Puyo & Puyo Puyo 2 are relatively cheap but I would only recommend these titles if you like puzzle like games.
Rainbow Islands Extra is a fun title but I`m sorry ... it isn`t worth 80 bones!
DAHNA Megami Tanjo .. an interesting title but $100 for an okay to mediocre title? If i paid $100 for this title, I would be pissed!
Mamono Hunter Yohko: Makai Kara no Tenkosei is a nice platformer. One of the hidden gems on the Mega Drive. You can get it cheap if you are patient.
Dangerous Seed is a good shooter that is relatively cheap to obtain.
Darwin 4081 is not a great title but if your looking for a shooter to add to your collection, I would pick up this game. I enjoy playing this game once in a while.
If you are a fan of Golden Axe, I`d consider purchasing Golden Axe III. It offers a good enough challenge to warrant your attention. Still ... it`s current value is hovering around $50. :?
I bought a complete boxed copy of this game on Amazon last year for roughly $63 counting shipping. Before that, I would search for the game on eBay, and it was ALWAYS over $200, so I was overjoyed to finally find it on Amazon. However, the current asking price on Amazon is $90, so it's a shame that this decent import can't be had on the cheap (for import standards, anyway). What would your ideal price be?