What was the first import game you bought?

sylvie · Jul 10, 2018

GohanX said:
I hope it wasn't MK2, the Saturn port made me want to stab people. More than usual.

explain? I bought it because I needed a version of MK2 to play and the jap version was wayyy cheaper than the US longbox (big surprise). Other than the loading times and hanging before Fatality animations, it seems like an OK arcade port to me. But I honestly don't have any idea as I haven't played the original arcade hardware in years. Actually that's a lie, I played it a few months ago at a convention, but the control panel was so fucked up on the cab that I could not play it properly and it felt worse than a port due to that.

BanishingFlatsAC · Jul 10, 2018

Sylvie said:
explain? I bought it because I needed a version of MK2 to play and the jap version was wayyy cheaper than the US longbox (big surprise). Other than the loading times and hanging before Fatality animations, it seems like an OK arcade port to me. But I honestly don't have any idea as I haven't played the original arcade hardware in years. Actually that's a lie, I played it a few months ago at a convention, but the control panel was so fucked up on the cab that I could not play it properly and it felt worse than a port due to that.

Along with what you mentioned it's missing a ton of animation and sound effects. A good portion of combos from the arcade version will not connect either.

sylvie · Jul 10, 2018

DecepticonZero said:
Along with what you mentioned it's missing a ton of animation and sound effects. A good portion of combos from the arcade version will not connect either.

oh, that's fucked up. shows how much i care about Mortal Kombat on a technical level though. Now that you mention it i was aware of the missing animations, but combos not connecting is not good and maybe that explains why I seem to have such a hard time playing it every time I try. I used to just MAME it and I felt like i kicked ass on MAME and the SNES port.

BanishingFlatsAC · Jul 10, 2018

Sylvie said:
oh, that's fucked up. shows how much i care about Mortal Kombat on a technical level though. Now that you mention it i was aware of the missing animations, but combos not connecting is not good and maybe that explains why I seem to have such a hard time playing it every time I try. I used to just MAME it and I felt like i kicked ass on MAME and the SNES port.

Midway Arcade Treasures 2 (PS2/XBOX) and MK Arcade Kollection (PS3/360) both have decent emulation driven versions of MK2. People bitch that even Mame is technically off too, but fuck it, game plays good to me.

andsuchisdeath · Jul 10, 2018

To be fair, there are some saturn exclusive MK II combos too.

GregN · Jul 10, 2018

100proof said:
Would love to hear any interesting stories you might have from that place. My friends and I were friendly with the guy who owned/owns (?) eStarland back when it was just a local import game store/small chain and he, understandably, was not a fan (him saying "those guys are ASSHOLES" in broken English was one of our favorite inside jokes for years afterwards). Worked out great for us though... went from paying $80-$90 for import Saturn/PSX games from Starland/NCSX/etc. to $50-$60. Discovered a lot of games I probably would've never had the chance to play otherwise because I could afford twice as many games.

Bought KoF '99 English AES New from there. It was shipped in a box that was used to hold a case of NGH games and it was shipped without bubble wrap if my memory serves correctly.
Also bought Cosmic Smash for Dreamcast from there. Same story. It was packaged so badly that it was shipped with a crack on the side of the case. Ask most of the olde tyme members here and they will probably tell you a buy rite experience.

Taiso · Jul 10, 2018

sylvie · Jul 10, 2018

Taiso said:
View attachment 50720

ooof, i had to look this game up. what's it like? language barrier...? It looks attractive.

Taiso · Jul 10, 2018

Sylvie said:
ooof, i had to look this game up. what's it like? language barrier...? It looks attractive.

Back in the 90s, it was a fairly steep curve. There is a movement phase, a building phase and a battle phase. The movement phase is fairly simple-move your ships and mobile suits and deploy them as you desire. The ship menus require some trial and error for non-Japanese speaking/reading audiences-options like 'Sortie' and 'Descend' or 'Ascend' or 'Disperse Minovsky Particles' took a little figuring out. I can read Katakana and Hiragana pretty well, so a lot of times it was more trying to figure out when it was a Japanese word I had to find a translation for (not easy to do in those nascent days of the internet) or when it was an English word I had to sound out to eventually understand. It's no exaggeration to say that this game probably taught me how to read Japanese.

The battle phase is pretty straightforward, especially if you let the mobile suits fight on their own (which I always did because controlling them made it too easy).

The building phase was the real challenge. Because you had so many resources, you had to decide what to build, where to build and eventually how to evolve mobile suits in order to get more advanced units. That was the most complicated part.

I sank so many hours into this game.

sylvie · Jul 10, 2018

It sounds really fun but I'm not sure if I can handle the language barrier. fUCK

Taiso · Jul 10, 2018

Sylvie said:
It sounds really fun but I'm not sure if I can handle the language barrier. fUCK

If you're looking for a SD Gundam experience in English, SD Gundam G Generation Genesis for the PS4 is in English if you buy the Asian version. There are some wonky translation issues, but it was never meant to be localized for the West. Things like character names being spelled differently based on which chapter you are playing. They're noticeable but extremely minor.

If you're a big Gundam like I am (it's hard for me to decide if it or Berserk is the greatest thing ever...it's definitely one of those two), and you're into the Universal Century (I.E. the only Gundam timeline worth a damn), SD Gundam G Generation Genesis is a must own.

sylvie · Jul 10, 2018

Sold my PS4.

Maybe I'll just play Super Robot Wars games since they've been translated as ROMs. I'll admit I don't know much about Gundam, but I'm attracted to mecha so I'm always open to dabble in the series. When I was a kid there were lots of Gundam action figures to be had, and they were some of my FAVORITES due to their detail, joints, weapons, etc. I had SD Gundam figures too!! AND I LOVED THEM. There were 2 gold ones I had, of Burning Gundam and Master Gundam. I had two others. I forget their names. One was a female knight and the other was a male Samurai with two katanas.

Darklighterx · Jul 14, 2018

First import?
Traded into a copy of Rushing Beat Ran for SFC.

Bought?
X-Men vs SF
Radiant Silvergun
Deep Fear

cyriades · Jul 14, 2018

Vampire Savior on Saturn, 1998. Remember having to buy some kind of cart to get it to run on my US Saturn. Man, I sunk a lot of time into that one... Gallon / Talbain has always been my fave from the series. Second imported game I bought was Capcom Vs SNK 2 for Dreamcast. Still garbage tier at the latter, but like to play it whenever I see it at an anime con.

beigemore · Jul 14, 2018

I can’t 100% remember, but I’m thinking it was it SF2CE that I ordered from Turbo Direct... if not that, then it was some random psx or Saturn game from either Buyrite or ncsx.... hard to remember when there were just so many cdrs!

coreykun667 · Jul 15, 2018

I'm pretty sure it was either Rockman X3 on the Saturn or the Japanese version of Sonic CD years ago. Can't quite remember which one came first though. I didn't start importing Saturn games again till recent years due to my first Saturn having the memory card slot stop working so I couldn't use my Action Replay. Once I bought my second Saturn I started trying out some of the Japan exclusives.

streetlights · Jul 15, 2018

first import purchase was probably my CPS2 Street Fighter ZERO 3 board...i got a pretty good deal on it off ebay...

Neogeoman106st · Jul 15, 2018

my first game i paid for was Bio hazard Code veronica for Dreamcast with the Red slip case.in game stuff is in Japanese but all the cut scenes are in english. Got it in a small game shop in Chinatown(NYC). Then i went to the Chinatown arcade and played King of fighters and a few other games on a Neo 29 also my first time to use that arcade cab.

Heinz · Jul 15, 2018

Taiso said:
If you're looking for a SD Gundam experience in English, SD Gundam G Generation Genesis for the PS4 is in English if you buy the Asian version. There are some wonky translation issues, but it was never meant to be localized for the West.

After playing the Asian version of Super Robot Wars V on the Vita I'm not sure if it being in English was a benefit or not, the entire game is full of absolute bullshit chit chat. Cool battle sequences that get annoying after the 20th time you've seen them. Also this particular game is too fucking easy, there's nothing 'tactical' about it as a result.

Back to Front Mission...

Taiso · Jul 15, 2018

lachlan said:
After playing the Asian version of Super Robot Wars V on the Vita I'm not sure if it being in English was a benefit or not, the entire game is full of absolute bullshit chit chat. Cool battle sequences that get annoying after the 20th time you've seen them. Also this particular game is too fucking easy, there's nothing 'tactical' about it as a result.

Back to Front Mission...

It's a fair point, but I look at it more from a fan service perspective with G Generation Genesis. The game is a love letter to UC Gundam and I think that's all it's expected to be. It's barely more than a mobile game but honestly, as a UC Gundam fan, I was delighted by the experience. It wasn't very challenging though. I'll grant you that.

The thing I liked the best about it is that with all of the dialogue translated into English, I was finally able to understand some of the context and nuances of the various Gundam side story video games that have been released throughout the years. This has pretty much every UC Gundam video game represented in it, so as a fan, that was a thrill for me. And while I wouldn't call the game difficult, I still enjoy playing it.

Gentlegamer · Jul 15, 2018

I'll follow up with the last games I imported...

Jap D&D Shadows of Mystara / Tower of Doom collection: I wanted this on disc, then found out it's in moon runes with no English option - mad

PCE Shinobi - glad

andsuchisdeath · Jul 15, 2018

^

My lifestyle is far from modern but it's 2018.

The correct term is JPN.
You are posting from the internet so you could have researched this port...which is widely known to be FAR from arcade perfect for years and years. You're just expecting a jpn title to automatically be in english? Ok. I had to look up your "moon" term I am not a fan of that! "I wanted this on disc" seems like a rather plain set of criteria for desiring a game. I mean..don't get me wrong...I understand the intense rush of holding a game...but you know.
So anyways, yes be mad at yourself for being foolish.

Fuckwit1200 · Jul 15, 2018

mushihimesama on the ps2.
[edit]
JPN import.

caldwert · Jul 15, 2018

Metal Slug on Sega Saturn. Played it on an MVS cab and had to own it. Saw an ad for Japan Video Games in the back of EGM with Metal Slug for Saturn in it. Called them up and asked how do I play the imports? Dude said you put the converter in the cartridge slot and it boots to the CD menu, then just hit play. Needless to say my mind was blown, that easy huh? So a few weeks later I scraped up some money and I had bought a Saturn at Funcoland and bought Metal Slug. Of course I didn't know better to buy the Action Replay 4 in 1. So i kept trying to get the game to work. Call up Japan Video Games and explain whats up, and the girl on the phone was like hold on, dude gets on and goes ok, see those rings around the play logo on the CD screen, hit play, and when those stop spinning, rip out the converter and jam in the 1 meg ram cart. Boom, we were in the game, and I probably took years off that Saturn's life, lol.

What was the first import game you bought?

NG.COM TEMPTRESS

formerly DZ

NG.COM TEMPTRESS

formerly DZ

General Morden's Aide

aka The Grinch

Remembers The North,

NG.COM TEMPTRESS

Remembers The North,

NG.COM TEMPTRESS

Remembers The North,

NG.COM TEMPTRESS

J. Maximum Fan Club President

Super Spy Agent

Camel Slug

Galford's Armourer

n00b

Crossed Swords Squire

Parteizeit

Remembers The North,

Sakura's Bank Manager

General Morden's Aide

NAM-75 Vet

Mr. Big's Thug