I bought some more Sega Mega Drive games, now for my japanese Mega Drive that I recently got ^_^ Mainly shmup’s but also some puzzle and platformers! All in super nice condition (except for Alex Kidd which had some torn corners)
The games were: Dangerous Seed, Puyo Puyo 2, Ex-ranza, Forgotten Worlds, Alex Kidd in Miracle world….
…And an accidental Super Famicom Game, Valken. I was so caught up in the auctions that I didn’t notice that this one wasn’t Sega! haha, but it doesn’t matter since I have a Super Famicom as well, so I can play it ^_^
Tonight I’ve been trying them all out, and I was recording gameplay for about 2 hours, but when I was finished the results looked like this:
All black and white >_< or just weird.. so back to square one, trying to figure out how to record a JAPANESE Sega Megadrive onto my iMac..
All the games were really good though! (didn’t try the Super Famicom Valken..)
Alex the Kidd is a classic, just like Puyo Puyo, it just can’t go wrong ^_^ The other games I had never heard of before when I saw them in the auction. A lot of people were bidding on them though, and they started getting a bit pricey, and that just made me want them more ! :D I’m happy that I really enjoyed all of them! Especially Ex-ranza! Amazing shmup! With great controls, fantastically fast movement, awesome music and just great gameplay ^_^ I wish I could have showed you some screenshots, but you will have to settle for an audio clip that I managed to extract of the intro song for Ex-ranza. It’s great!
I’m really into japanese Sega Mega Drive games now, I’ve already ordered 12 more from Ebay ^_^ Hopefully they’ll arrive soon, and hopefully by then I will have found a solution to yet another recording problem..
Aren’t the Puyo Puyo blobs simply adorable?!! yatta! :D
Retro Video Gaming 
Excellent buys there! Valken is awesome stuff indeed- a side scroll action shooter that I believe was called Cybernator here in the US. Does your Forgotten Worlds work OK? I have a few of them and for some reason, the cart goes to the title screen and then a GAME OVER screen before I touch a button. I’ve played it before in the arcades and on the Turbo Grafx, so I know what it is and I know you’ll like it (although the MD version isn’t as good as the arcade game).
Ex-Ranza (or Ranger-X here in the US) was one of those games that showed off what the MD could do in terms of visual effects and gameplay variety in this sort of game. The US version loses the easy mode and had graphics tweaks to help ease some slowdown, but is otherwise the same. The ending may throw you for a loop, though – it’s a bit weird. Puyo Puyo 2 is SO addictive. I always thought I’d dislike it for being so cute, but I remember losing a few too many hours playing it way too much…
Cool! can’t wait to try Valken! :D
Forgotten Worlds worked perfectly! I made it quite far, but it was hard, since you die and get Game Over immediately, you have no spare lives :(
I only made it passed the first two or three bosses of Ex-Ranza.. I might give it another go soon though, cause I loved it! I just hope I can figure out how to record it simultaneously >_<
Gotta love Puyo Puyo ^^ I actually played Dr. Robotnick's Mean Bean Machine before ever playing Puyo Puyo though o_O I don't know which one was first though.. but I guess Puyo Puyo..
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That’s a good bunch of games. I love seeing you expand your Mega Drive collection! One thing I really love about collecting Mega Drives /Genesis games is that they come in hard cases and are so often in really good condition. They will look brilliant in the collection :)
I don’t have Dangerous Seed and but I’ve always wanted it. You’ll have to let us know what you think of it.
Forgotten Worlds was one of my favorite games from back in the day. It’s true it’s not quite as pretty as the arcade version but it is a lot of fun. It’s not difficult so it might feel a bit short but still a great game. It’s also two player which is a huge plus.
Puyo Puyo rocks! I beat Puyo Puyo 1, yeah that’s right :P Although I know you did too on the Sonic Ultimate Collection! I don’t think it’s harder than the US version Mean Bean Machine but I think it might be longer. You will love the insane characters that you’ll encounter in these games :)
From your picture it looks like Puyo Puyo 2 has a tab on the case. I’ve started noticing that the newer Mega Drive games have these. It’s interesting that Sega of Japan made this switch so late in the game. I always love the tab free cases. They’re so much easier to stack and display.
After you next 12 games arrive I’d love to see an updated picture of your Mega Drive games in the collection!
Dangerous Seed is good ^_^ Ex-ranza was better though, but they’re completely different games..
While I’m recording my japanese and NTSC systems I need to have them connected to an old TV to be able to see what I play, and the TV displays it in black and white, while the recording usually turns out in pretty colors (except for this time) and I’m actually quite amazed at how well I was doing on Puyo Puyo, considering I had no colors! haha, I had to look at the shapes of the blobs lol! Love Puyo Puyo <3
I actually bought the Sega Ultimate Collection again, but for PSP this time, just to be able to get to play all the games and beat it again! ;D
The new order of games were shipped today! wohoo!!
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Nice to see the MD games. I’ve been looking to buy some from Japan but they are relatively expensive and the boxes are heavy to ship… but maybe some day… or I’ll just buy loose ones and try them out first. :)
The ebay store Hit-Japan pretty regularly sells lots of 100 Mega Drive carts for $100.
That many carts might cost a fair bit in shipping… but it is 100 games! Keep an eye if you really want to dive in.
http://stores.ebay.com/Hit-Japan-Video-Games-and-Anime
Wow, have I spent a lot of money with this online store! :)
I recommend them.
Thanks for the suggestion :) It seems those bins usually contain mostly junk, from what I’ve seen, lol. But I am familiar with the seller.
By the way, do I need to import Japanese consoles too? Or what other convenient way do you play Japanese games (on PAL…)?
Yup, I love Hit-Japan ^_^ Got a few Famicom games from there :)
Never seen that bundle though.. but the shipping probably wouldn’t be worth it since it’s probably mainly crappy games..?
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I love that they have hard boxes! It makes them stay prettier ^_^ I only buy boxed SMD games. It looks prettier on the shelf :D
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I can’t change my comment so I’ll just add another one, perfect at 3 AM. Anyways I had to check out the auctions you won, wow, if I knew I could sell them for those prices I would buy, haha, but it’s difficult if you don’t know… takes time..
Most Japanese Mega Drive games are region free. It seems to me that only the later games (some of the last released) are region protected. I would guess that 90% of Japanese Mega Drive games are region free and play fine. Keep in mind my only experience is in playing Japanese Mega Drive games in a North American model 1 Genesis. I’ve never tried in a PAL Mega Drive. But if I were to guess the same is true for PAL.
nope.. I tried it and the Japanese games didn’t fit in my PAL Mega Drive. I also tried playing a PAL game on my Japanese Mega Drive and that didn’t work either.. :( But at least I have both region consoles now so I can still play both ^_^ I haven’t tried the NTSC ones though..
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hehe, I just got sucked into the auctions, since a lot of other people were bidding it up to those amounts I just figured they were worth it O_o haha
I would love to see some Japanese SMD games on your auction site though! :D
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If you want it, I’ll get it. Others have been asking me about it too. I’ll soon have some earlier Sega stuff meanwhile. :)
I suspect that NTSC games won’t work with PAL. It’s kind of important how to play the games…
I just read in my list that I have an NTSC Sega Genesis in my possession! I wonder where it is…..
Anyway, Sega Master System is much appreciated too ^_^ I collect it all!!! hahaha
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stopxwhispering! You’re right! I completely forgot that my Genesis has it’s slot opening shaved so that it’s a little bit wider. Wide enough for a Japanese Mega Drive cart to fit. I’m still using my original Genesis from back in the day and I completely forgot about the size difference in the carts.
For the Genesis nothing else is needed except to make the opening wider. No electronic changes are needed.
I feel bad for giving incorrect information :(
If you have more than one PAL Mega Drive maybe you’d be willing to try. If you have a dremel I bet you could do a really nice neat job at it too.
I found a youtube video of someone performing a Mega Drive Slot Widening
Hey guys – you know you don’t have to butcher your consoles unless you have an extra one or don’t mind taking a hot X-Acto knife or Dremel tool to deface it.
Just look for and BUY a MEGA KEY cart converter (the one with the dip switches). Not EVERY NTSC game will work on a PAL system and vice versa, so this assures you’ll have no issues with any games you buy from anywhere in the world. I had one for a while until I ended up with a few extra US and Japanese systems, but I wish I’d have kept it, as there are about three PAL games I own that won’t run on either console…
And yeah, Hit-Japan IS awesome, aren’t they?
I have a super key myself and from seeing them from time to time they don’t seem to very cheap. But you’re right it’s a good solution.
Would a Game Genie do the same job?
I do like the idea of cutting the slot opening for a more perminant fix. But I don’t have much experience with a PAL Mega Drive and NTSC games. For me the slot carving has worked very well.
I actually have two Game Genies around here in a crate full of accessories (one of too many crates, actually!), but I’ve never used them at all. I think they do work, as I can recall a friend saying he used his when I lent him some loose MD carts I had.
Back in the early 90’s on my first Genesis, I actually did take a heated X-Acto Knife to the system to play imports, but that was before I knew about convertor carts or buying an import console (well, Mega Drive systems were really expensive back then to import and I was always broke, soooo).
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I think I have an NTSC games for the Mega Drive somewhere.. i’ll look into that.. I think they might be the same size as the PAL games.. question is whether they are region free or not! :D
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exactly! :D I’ll have to start looking for one of those!! I only have one of those converter cartridges for my SNES.. but it only works for the NTSC games (on my PAL system).
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no.. :( I don’t want to “destroy” (even if it is to enhance) my systems.. I’m the kind of collector that wants to keep everything in its original shape and forms ^_^ I don’t even have a modded PS1, PS2 or xbox lol..
And I already have the PAL and Japanese Sega Mega drives, and according to my inventory list there’s a genesis here somewhere too! Gotta go look that up… I don’t have the correct power supply or an adaptor for it probably though..
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I understand not wanted to mod a console. We work so hard to get systems and games in great shape it almost seems backwards to change them! But… but, I do like what some of the mods do. In my case I have a bunch of Gensis and SMS consoles that modding one or two doesn’t feel as bad.
To have one that could play any cart no matter does appeal to me.
It is convenient, however, I have a whole room with several TV’s so for me it’s not necessary ^^
I would rather look for some kind of new console, you know those clones, where you can play both SMS, SMD, SNES and NES in. That would be convenient to have in my living room ^_^
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Just in case anyone still cares… hello, anyone? :P
I found an old ebay post that shows one of the auctions that Hit-Japan did for 50 loose carts. I was wrong; it was a lot for 50 carts and not 100 but the shipping is listed as free. So each game is $2.45. That’s pretty good. And if you look close you can see there are many good titles… a bunch are crap too but it’s not all bad.
Hit-Japan 50 cart lot
A few highlights are Sonic 1 and 2, Space Harrier, E-SWAT, Hertzog, Puyo Puyo 1 and 2, Ragnacenty, Ecco, and Mystical Defender.
If it turns out that those were the only ones worth while then yeah, I guess that’s a bit much at $12 per cart but those large lot auction seem like they’re worth keeping an on.
But I’m getting the impression that stopxwhispering is loving nice boxed SMD games too much to settle for carts :) Can’t blame ya.
I’ll comment directly thanks to my irregular sleeping habits…
Yes it would be an okay price but I have heard they only show the good games at the top.
Selling junk is really tough. I sell junk games for less than 50 cents (incl commission) if at all. And sitting with 50 baseball or whatever junk there is on MD is not too much fun, lol.
Also, shipping for those items will take 2-4 months.
Thanks for the link but I have better ways of getting decent games. :)
I wonder if Mega CD games are worth it? Do they require a Japanese system too? They don’t seem too expensive really, I think they might even be cheaper than carts. I hope most games are decent too.
Yes, you make a good point. There is no way of knowing what junk is hidden in there. From the picture I can see there were at least two doubles. And I know for sure some of the games were sports games… gross
HATE sport games >__< damn it!
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As far as I know, Japanese Mega-CD games require a Japanese Mega Drive/Mega-CD setup. The nice thing about the MCD library is that it’s overall, pretty small compared to other CD-based games libraries and most titles (save for some rarities and key RPGs) can be had dirt cheap.
As for the quality of the library… it depends on what you’re looking for and how much of the language you speak. Obviously, RPGs such as Shadowrun, Illusion City, Shin Megami Tensei, Arcus I-II-III, REcord of Lodoss War, Fhey Area and others are no-brainers if you’re able to play them, but there are a bunch of other titles in a few categories that are worth picking up.
I don’t really enjoy RPG’s.. they’re just too time consuming, and not enough animated action!! :D
Also, when it comes to the japanese ones, it’s just too much work trying to understand WTF is going on >_< even though I studied the language for 4 years!
Are there any gems (that are NOT RPG's) for the Sega CD that makes it worth picking one up?
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Thanks for the answers. :) The interesting question is always the ration of playable vs non-playable games. RPGs isn’t the most important category, so we’ll see…
exactly! More shooters, action platformers and puzzlers! :D
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Here’s my small Mega-CD library: fanboydestroy.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/gallery-mega-cd-library/
and the Wikipedia list of what looks like every game released worldwide:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sega_Mega-CD_games
There’s a HUGE error in the Wikipedia listing that confuses Lords of Thunder, a shooter ported from the Turbo Duo with A-Rank Thunder, a weird adventure/RPG hybrid game from Telenet and Riot. Amazing how anyone can slap something up there and be WRONG in such a bad way…
Ahem, anyway… there are some decent games for the MCD, but it seems the best ones were the RPGs and strategy games. That said, I’d recommend the few shooters such as Lords of Thunder, Silpheed, Bari-Arm, Robo Aleste, Sol-Feace, maybe Night Striker (if you don’t mind that it’s a bit pixely compared to the PS1 and arcade versions – you do get a nice Redbook soundtrack, though). Some of the other arcade translations such as Final Fight CD are fun, but flawed for a few reasons. There are some cool laserdisc arcade games like Road Blasters/Thunder Storm and Time Gal and anything by Core Design is great, because they really “got” the hardware and experimented with “3D” sprite scaling extensively,
I think the best games from a technical perspective were Flink, Keio Flying Squadron, Lords of Thunder, Soul Star and Battle Corps, but everyone else who’s a fan of the MCD will have their own favorites…
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49 games! that’s cool ^^ It seems from the list though that many games were re-released on the CD that were already out on the Mega Drive. Kind of like the Famicom Disk games for Nintendo. Is there a big difference then? Except longer loading times? ;D
woah, most of them are quite expensive, and you can’t find very many of them even on Ebay.. also it was quite evenly divided between NTSC/PAL and Japanese releases, so I would have to get the add-on for all three >_<
I have Flink as a cartridge, is there a big difference?
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… I wish I knew your ways!!
but then again it doesn’t matter, cause you’re my favorite seller at decent prices! wohoo! ^_^
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cool ^_^ I want it but, I’d still prefer it if they had boxes.. and manuals…. it’s a storage issue.. even though, they DO have labels on the top edge! hmm.. free shipping… But yeah, I doubt that the lot consists of a majority of “great” games..
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You’re right about the cases. They feel so much better in the collection when they’re complete :) If Hit-Japan did more of those and said there were no sport games in those loose cart lots I’d be more interested.
Definitely! ^_^