Cartridge Comparison: NES vs Famicom

July 28, 2013 by stopXwhispering

I don’t usually intend to buy games for various platforms if I already have them for one, unless I know that there are major differences in the game. However, sometimes it happens that I buy a game I already have since the name and label are completely different, making me think it’s a completely different game..

Here are some examples where I haven’t realized it was the same game until I actually played and recognized it! :)

Xexyz VS Kame no Ongaeshi Urashima Densetsu
Xexyz is the american NES release, and in Japan it’s called Kame no Ongaeshi Urashima Densetsu.. I did not see that one coming ^_^ It’s great platforming fun though!

Rockin’ Kats VS Nyankies
Rockin’ Kats is the PAL NES release, and when I got Nyankies (which it is called in Japan) I first thought it was some sort of sports game, since it made me think of the New York Yankees (I think that’s a team in some sport.. not my field of expertise though) ;D Man was I happy to realize it wasn’t a sports game but a fun platformer, a bit less exciting that I already had it though … >.<

The Krion Conquest VS Magical Kids Doropie
Here I actually got the Famicom game first. I had never seen it before and got really excited when I discovered a copy on eBay.. I paid looots of moneys for it >_< It was fun though! Kind of like a female Mega Man, but harder. Just like a month later I found The Krion Conquest, never heard of that one either, and bought it quite cheap at the Swedish Retro Gaming Exhibition.. when I popped it in I realized it was the same game that I had just spent a fortune on >-<

Dino Riki VS Shinjinrui
Here’s another example of the same game bearing a totally different name. In this case however the cover has similar artwork, a boy raging on a dinosaur haha ^_^

Air Fortress VS Air Fortress
Of course sometimes I do buy games knowing I already own another version of it.. just because it’s a good game at the right price, or perhaps because I’m curious to see if there are any differences in game play ^_^ Like Air Fortress, I enjoy it and didn’t mind owning it on the Famicom as well.

RetroN 5: I WANT IT NOW!

July 27, 2013 by stopXwhispering

Yes, I already have all the systems I need to play all the games in my collection, BUT… the RetroN5 would save me so much space on my desk! Right now I have doubles of many of my consoles just to be able to have one hooked up to my computer for recording.. and many of the systems that I don’t have doubles of (or that just doesn’t fit on my desk) I seldom make the effort of recording which means I don’t review them as much..

For those of you that haven’t heard about the RetroN 5 I’ll tell you what it is. The RetroN 5 is a console developed by Hyperkin that can play both PAL and NTSC NES, SNES, GENESIS (MEGA DRIVE), GBA aaaaand FAMICOM games!! *drool* :D
It has wireless rechargable bluetooth controllers, but also ports for your original NES, SNES and SEGA controllers if you prefer that! It can speed up or slow down in game when you’re playing, it can save your game data even if a game doesn’t have that function so you can load and continue later, it has HDMI output but also AV, it enhances the graphics AND the sound of your old games and it’s just freaking awesome!!! I want one.. I want it I want it I WANT IT!!! NOW!!!!!!!

It has been said to release in July this year and it was displayed at E3. I am however hoping it will also get a European release.. I hate having to work with power adaptors >_<

It’s said to be less than 100$! I might even have to get two ;D One for my desk and one for my living room, so I could just pick a game in my Retro Room and play it on the big TV in the living room without having to move all my systems around ^_^ … want…. it…… NOW!

Fami fami famicom games!

July 27, 2013 by stopXwhispering

Added even more games to the Famicom collection now, these are some of the recent additions:

I’ve also just gotten a new batch of Famicom games, I will upload those shortly as well :)

I will also make a review of some of the more noteworthy games here soon, like Magical Kids Doropie and Juju Densetsu :D Really awesome games ^_^

Un-fun games…

July 20, 2013 by stopXwhispering

I’m not quite sure where I’m going with all of my collections for the various consoles I have.. I’ve never really tried completing any collection by owning every single game released for a system, instead I prefer just buying games that I will enjoy, but then I also buy games sometimes without having a clue what it is, because I like getting surprised ^_^ This has however resulted in me owning A BUNCH of strategy games in japanese, LOADS of RPG’s that I don’t enjoy playing and also various other games that are text heavy in japanese or that just aren’t fun to play (like pachinko games, or sports games) >_<

I’ve just uploaded more games to the PC Engine HU card library and also the CD ROM library, most of these new acquisitions are strategy games or various un-fun games, haha… un-fun ^_^
but anyway, here they are:

The problem is that I’m also a bit of a hoarder, I can never get rid of anything! haha So I guess I will just end up owning every single game for every system eventually, since I keep buying stuff that I don’t already have and that list keeps getting shorter… At least when sorting I sort away some of the really boring games, (like JRPG’s and strategy), underneath the desk in boxes so I don’t have to see them and mistake them for something fun ;D

I know that a lot of people are really into RPG’s and especially JRPG’s, and I bet there’s loads of people that enjoy strategy games and sports games too, otherwise there wouldn’t be that many released over the years ;D But everybody must have some type of game that they’re just not that into… What are un-fun games in your opinion?

You should seriously Play: Spin Pair (PC Engine)

July 20, 2013 by stopXwhispering

Seriously Play are games that I think you Seriously Should Play! In this post I will re-visit a game I wrote about a while ago, but only briefly, namely Spin Pair for PC Engine!

Spin Pair is an HU Card game, so you don’t need the CD unit or a duo to play it. It’s a puzzle game in the style of Tetris or Columns where you have shapes falling down, which you can flip or move left or right. However, in Spin Pair the shapes are very different and it makes the game more complex. Not only can you switch places of the pair of shapes falling down, but with the second button you can also rotate the contents of these two shapes! So basically what you need to do is get half a shape to fill up the opposite half of a shape in the same type/colour.

There is also another aspect of Spin Pair that I really like. If you have shapes of the same colour/type lining up horizontally in the same row and you remove ONE, then ALL of them will disappear! This makes for a great way of being able to plan ahead and arrange your shapes so that you can easily remove them all in one drop ^_^

Another trick I’ve learned is that you can separate the pair that is falling down, if you get the first one to land on a higher row then you are free to move the remaining shape to the side and also rotate it :D

There’s a story mode you can play, where each level gets a little bit harder. You will have to remove certain amounts of each shape, and this number will increase for each stage, also the amount of shapes will increase making it much more difficult since you will have to survive longer. You’re not always lucky to get the shapes you need either.

Each stage also has new shapes, they go from being quite normal shapes like squares, triangles and circles to really complex shapes.

Allt he different shapes represent various object. Everything from animals to robots and vehicles. Sometimes it can be hard to know which one it is you’re lacking. Since you can rotate the content of the shapes in four different directions it’s easy to make mistakes.

Once in a while the game will speed up, making it more difficult, and the only way to get it to slow back down is to remove shapes!

There is an endless mode instead of story mode where you just play to see for how long you can survive. It starts off easy with few objects and then increases. There is also a 2 player mode where you battle each other. Every time you remove a row with several shapes of the same type your opponent will get punished, having a pair of 3 or 4 objects falling down in their next move.

Already from the start I really liked this puzzle game, but I found it to be quite difficult. The more I played it though the better I got at it. Now I’ve managed to beat the story mode and it’s still a lot of fun to play! The final stage comes as a surprise with the words “COME ON BLACK WIZERD!!” lol… and then you have to remove loads of the same shape but in different colours, and you’ll see two cute little wizards fighting with their broomsticks.

I recommend anyone who’s into puzzle game to try this little gem out. The music is good, the animations are cute, it’s a challenge and most of all very different! You should Seriously Play it! :D

GAME COLLECTION: My Retro Room re-visited

July 9, 2013 by stopXwhispering

2015-08-24
Edit: My room has been updated since this post. Check out my latest collection pics here >>

Recently I got interviewed by Ant Harper from Retro Games Collector :D So for this feature I needed to take some more recent pictures of my Retro Room containing my game collection :) It was quite a while ago since I last shared pictures of my game room, from when I upgraded to a bigger room, so I thought I would share the new ones here as well so you can all see what it looks like today!

So this is more or less what it looks like today! :D

This is the lighting of the room, it’s very cosy and warm with mainly red lights ^_^

Here’s my desk, where I’m sitting right now and blogging ^_^ haha!

A close-up of the shelf over the desk. There’s mainly boxed Super Famicom games (There’s more of them now, it’s basically full so I can’t fit any more in there >_< but there’s still sooo many SFC games I want!!) And there’s boxed Famicom games, in the two middle shelves and the bottom right. I haven’t really collected boxed Famicom games that much, I have over 600 loose carts. On the bottom left are my Atari 2600 games, I have a few more doubles stacked away somewhere and a few boxed ones elsewhere. BTW I loooove my Pacman neon signt ^_^

Behind the desk are 4 shelves, the two to the left are filled with Famicom cartridges, neatly organized by colour and by type! :D The top 5 rows are only platformers arranged by colour, below is one row with the few carts that have end labels (also platformers mainly), and below that is three rows with only shooters and then a row with puzzle games and lastly sports and other playable stuff that I don’t really care for. I have 4 boxes stacked away underneath the desk with all the RPG’s and various other text-heavy games that you can’t really play unless you’re fluent in japanese (also I don’t really care for RPG’s…..). The two right shelves contain all my boxed GB, GBC and GBA games and on the bottom 2 rows with boxed NES games.

Facing my desk is a cool couch I got from my grand parents, it folds into a matress if you put the back on the floors facing it ^^ It’s like a puzzle :D

On the couch is also one of my three Virtual Boys, a Pacman Pinky porcelain piggybank and an official Nintendo wooden box where you can put a Zapper, two controlllers and a bunch of games inside ^_^ I put some of my favorites in there :D

I also have a really cosy gaming chair that holds my Famicom pillow and temporarily also this Amiga 500. I have found a better place for it now underneath one of the TV’s.. ;D

In this corner I have my PAL NES, with some Zappers on the wall ^_^

Above that there’s some PAL SNES games and N64 games, also some of my Virtual Boy games on the bottom shelf (I have a bunch of doubles stacked away in a drawer as well, I’m only displaying the playable ones that are opened). There’s also some video game related board games like Centipede, Pac-man and Donkey Kong and various other games like boxed Atari 2600 games and games for the Intellivision that I can’t play since I don’t have that system yet :(

On this shelf I have my Famicom Disk System games, some boxed Atari’s and in the left corner all my Star Wars related stuff and games ^^

Underneath that shelf I have my favorite painting that my friend Arri made for me ^_^ It has all my favorite game characters! :D

Here’s the mess.. the main TV that has almost all the consoles you see below connected to it! lol I did this using scart splitters (one outtake turning into 4) and also composite cable splitters for some systems that have the red, yellow and white cables. It’s not optimal, I’m gonna work on making it prettier so that you won’t see all the chords as much, but I’m still quite happy that I was able to connect all of these: NTSC NES, PAL SNES, Twin Famicom, PAL Sega Mega Drive, PAL Sega Dreamcast, PAL PS2, PAL Sega Saturn, PAL N64, Super Famicom, and a japanese Sega Master System ^_^

This is the third TV, and here I have my japanese Sega Mega Drive and all the 30-40 something games I have for it, and my PC Engine Duo and the Atari 2600 Junior ^_^

Here’s a small shelf I painted and decorated and it holds all my Famicom Konami games, and two Game Gears and the Wonderswan color ^_^ I also love my Nintendo neon sign :D

On the floor here are some of my PC Engine games.. I’ve re-organized these now onto a smarter CD stand with double sides that stands on my desk, looks much better! :D

On top of this shelf are more PC Engine games.. this collection has been growing really fast since I discovered this awesome system :D

Here’s an overview of this wooden shelf that contains a bunch of stuff. Below you’ll see some close-ups. In the bottom are magazines, like Retro Gamer, Nintendo Power etc. And my Sega Saturn games.

Here are my Castlevania games, this collection is now taking up two full shelves ^_^ You can see all my Castlevania games in my Castlevania Collection post, where I scanned them all :)

Below the Castlevania games are some other random stuff. Like Chrono Trigger, a factory sealed SNES Zelda, Mario Bros for Atari 2600, factory sealed Doom for Atari Jaguar, Darius Twin for SFC, Super Mario RPG, Life Force for NES, Rockman X, Donkey Kong II Game & Watch, Ninja Baseball Batman ;D and much much more..

Here’s the Sega Saturn games, and a few Atari Jaguar games.

Various bead art and my Sega Mega Drive collection ^^ I basically can’t get much more games for this system cause I’m running out of shelf-space! LOL

On the top right are my NTSC NES games, all the way down to the half row with Dreamcast games, below those are PAL NES games. Then PS2 in the bottom. In the left shelf are PS1 games, then some of my favorite Famicom games and all my Sega Master System games (I have finally gotten around to fixing shelves now for those poor games stacked on top of each other) ;D

Here’s a closeup of the Famicom games, mainly puzzle, platformers and shooters ^_^

Last but not least I have my Commodore 64 on a small table with a fourth TV on a bureau next to my desk ^_^ There’s also a boxed PAL SNES, another Super Famicom and a black Atari 2600 underneath it :)

I have a lot more games stacked away in various places.. I have 73 game consoles in total (counting a few doubles, over 50 are different systems though) and just got over 3000 games, and I’m seriously running out of space again and probably need to take over our living room for my retro game collection soon! Just gotta run it past the boyfriend first ;D