Video tour of my Game Room!

August 4, 2013 by stopXwhispering

So I made a video… it’s a bit awkward and I couldn’t get the freaking formats to line up the way I wanted them too >_< and the lighting in my room is very … red!! But still, I hope you’ll enjoy it!! ^_^

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.

Hector ’87 and Starship Hector

May 14, 2013 by stopXwhispering

From May 10th until May 17th HiscoreHeroes are hosting a competition on Instagram to celebrate Hudson’s 40th anniversary! This is the main reason why my interest and also frustration has grown for this game called Hector ’87, also known as Starship Hector in the US.

The goal is to get the best score in the 2 minute score attack mode in either the Japanese version of Hector ´87 or the NTSC NES version Starship Hector. I had the Famicom version since before, never paid much attention to this game until I saw this competition, but I decided to give it a go!

Another very important rule to the competition is that you are not allowed to use any type of turbo fire, you must button mash! So, the right button fires bombs to hit ground targets and the left button fires shots to hit flying targets. After several evenings of button mashing until my entire arm was sore I managed to reach a score of 296.000. But other people have over 350.000!! I know how I could get at least 30.000 more, but the problem is THIS BASTARD:

I’ve tried playing the game with turbo fire just to see if he’s even mortal, and yes he is, but he takes soooo many shots! I haven’t even been able to kill him a single time without turbo fire!! The second problem is the letters.. There are hidden letters under little mud piles that you can collect by bombing with a LOT of bombs, and the last letter will give you 100.000 points! Here’s where you will find them, what the piles looks like and what it looks like when the letters are revealed:

However, the last letter is located right next to the mid-boss-bastard, so without turbo fire, even if I would be able to kill the bastard, I would have no time to collect the last letter! >_< THIS GAME IS STUPID! IT MAKES ME SO ANGRY! I don’t understand how it would be possible to do both, unless you can button-mash in an incredibly stabile and super-fast-turbo-auto-fire speed! Can you???
I sure as hell can’t… :(

After seeing photos on instagram of all the people reaching scores way above 300k I realized they were all playing the NES NTSC version, Starship Hector. This made me wonder if there were any differences between these two games. Maybe I was playing the more difficult one?? :D So, when going to the Swedish retro gaming exhibition this saturday I only had one big objective, which was to find an NTSC version of Starship Hector. AND I DID! :D

That evening me and my friend NinjaBrite played Starship Hector with big hopes of reaching even higher scores . but.. it was just the same. Just as hard, same enemies, same fire rate, same speed, same ship, same damn score, same everything! >_< I give up…

If you have a copy of Hector ’87 or Starship Hector and you want to compete, then you can read more about the competition on HiscoreHeroes instagram :) I hope there will be more competitions soon, this was great fun, even though it has been incredibly frustrating o_O

Some other advice for people trying to reach the high score (cause I’ve given up..)
Don’t kill the bunkers immediately, they will keep spawning flying spike-bombs that explode, however if you manage to shoot and kill one it gives 2.000 points!
There are hidden triggers in the ground that will make everything on screen on the ground explode if you reveal and destroy the triggers with 2 bombs. (You will still get the same score as if you would have shot the enemies) I have found 4 of them and they are in these locations:

And here’s the points you get for various enemies:

1st letter 10.000 2nd letter 20.000 3rd letter 50.000 4th letter 100.000	Mid-boss 20.000	This guy 10.000
Mr. Guy’s tiny friend 5.000	Big Amoeba 5.000	Spike-bombs 2.000
Squiddy 2.000	Angry crab-head 2.000	Boss Cannon 2.000
Bunkers 1.000	Tiny Amoeba 1.000	Ship thingy 500
Round ship 500	Cannons 500	Boss 500 points (x4 for each bomb-thingy)
Health bars (if you have full health) 500	Boss shots 0 points :(

At least this is what I could figure out when watching my replays. Feel free to correct me or fill in if I missed something ^_^

Retrospelsmässan 2013 – Sweden’s yearly retro gaming exhibition

May 12, 2013 by stopXwhispering

Yesterday I went to Gothenburg with my friend NinjaBrite to attend Sweden’s yearly retro gaming exhibition ‘Retrospelsmässan‘. This is the 4th year in a row that they’re hosting this exhibition and I think it’s a GREAT initiative! I was there 2 years ago as well, last year I missed though since I was in Japan. It has grown immensely in these past years, and it will probably be even bigger next year. The amount of people who came was way more than they had anticipated, even though they had hired larger facilities people were still quieing for hours to get in! I myself had to que about 4 hours (arriving at 12, two hours after they opened). It was ok though, since Nintendo was hosting a Streetpass competition everybody had brought their 3DS and so did we, so we kept busy ^_^ And also met some awesome cosplayers, like Pixelninja dressed up as Megaman :)

This year on the exhibition they had all the old consoles displayed and connected to TVs so you could try everything out, everything from old Pong consoles and Odyssey 2001 to the Atari Jaguar and everything Nintendo and Sega of course. They also had a corner for speedruns where you could watch some of Sweden’s fastest gamers ;D They had a Doom LAN, Cosplay competitions, arcade and pinball corner, game competitions and stands with companies and people selling retro gaming stuff and of course games! :D

Of course I had to pick up some games ^_^ I was looking for one game in particular, which was Starship Hector, but I’ll write more about that in a later post, that’s a looong story ^^ But I found it at this exhibition! And I also found Ninja Kid, Power Blade, Castle of Dragon, The Krion Conquest and James Bond JR. All were NTSC NES and I didn’t previously have them! (I am proud of myself that I brought a PDF of my collection in my phone, because I always tend to buy doubles unintentionally when attending places like this)… ;D
So here’s a little photo shoot I had of my latest pickups ^_^

NES controller + camera + photoshop!

November 6, 2012 by stopXwhispering

I have another photo shoot that I am working on, it’s all my various Game Boys playing outdoors! :D Coming soon, meanwhile here’s a NES controller I also took a pic of and played around a bit with ^_^

Original picture and photoshop cutout:

Finished results:

My Castlevania Collection!

October 10, 2012 by stopXwhispering

So what’s on this shelf.. well I have scanned all of my Castlevania games, so let’s start with the 8-bits and move forwards ^_^
edit: now my collection is taking up two shelves ^_^

edit: Now I’ve moved into a bigger game room and my Castlevania collection takes up an entire glass cabinet ^_^ And I’ve gotten this pretty Castlevania bit art frame from Cave of Pixels :D

Castlevania Collection

Castlevania Simon Belmont pixelart

Nintendo NES Castlevania games

Castlevania
The first Castlevania adventure for the NES. I have found a nice complete copy ^_^ I also have a rental box copy from Yapon that was released here in Sweden.

Castlevania II Simon’s Quest
I got a complete PAL version of the second Castlevania adventure for the NES, Simon’s Quest :)

Castlevania III Dracula’s Curse
This one is complete in box and in quite nice condition.

NES – Castlevania

NES – Castlevania Yapon rental case

NES – Castlevania Simon’s Quest

NES – Castlevania III Dracula’s Curse

Castlevania reproduction / hacks

Castlevania Blood Moon
This is not an actual release, it’s an NES reproduction cart with a fan-made hack of the Castlevania game.

Castlevania Chorus of Mysteries
This one is also an NES reproduction cart with a fan made hack.

NES Hack – Castlevania Blood Moon

NES Hack – Castlevania Chorus of Mysteries

Famicom & Famicom Disk System Castlevania

Akumajou no Densetsu 悪魔城伝説 (Castlevania III Dracula’s Curse)
The third Castlevania game, released for the Famicom.

Akumajou Special Boku Dracula-kun 悪魔城すぺしゃるぼくドラキュラくん
A cute platforming spinnoff of the Castlevania series. Released for the Famicom by Konami. I have it complete in box in really nice condition but just scanned the cart for the Famicom collection.

Akumajou no Dracula 悪魔城ドラキュラ (Castlevania I)
The first Castlevania adventure for the Famicom Disk System. I have this one complete with the outer plastic box and manual, but scanning the complete package with that box looks terrible >_< So I just scanned the inner case with the game and inlay.

Dracula 2 The Accursed Seal (Noroi no Fuuin) ドラキュラII呪いの封印 (Castlevania II Simon’s Quest)
The second Castlevania game on Famicom Disk System. Same here I have it complete in box with manual, but scanned the inner case with game and inlay.

Akumajyou Densetsu (Castlevania 3)

Akumajou special Boku Dracula-kun

FDS – Akumajou Dracula (Castlevania)

FDS -Dracula II (Castlevania Simon’s Quest)

Castlevania on MSX

Akumajou Dracula
I just bought this from another Castlevania collector. Since I’ve recently gotten myself an MSX system I thought it was time to invest in a copy of the Castlevania game for it ^_^ I’m not sure however whether my MSX is an MSX 2 or not.. I hope I will be able to play it o_O

MSX 2 – Akumajou Dracula

MSX 2 – Akumajou Dracula back

Castlevania on Sharp X68000

Akumajou Dracula
I just got Castlevania for Sharp X68000, I’ve been hesitating a lot on this one since I don’t own the system to play it on. I’ve also heard that the Sharp X68000 is quite rare, expensive and difficult to obtain. So I won’t be able to play it for probably quite some time :( But at least the beautiful box is now gracing my Castlevania Collection shelf..

X68000 – Akumajou Dracula

Castlevania handhelds

Castlevania II Simon’s Quest Tiger handheld
Here’s a handheld version of the Simon’s Quest Castlevania game. It’s really nothing like Simon’s Quest for the NES, it’s a very basic sidescrolling beat ’em up, but still a nice edition to the collection ^_^

Castlevania Symphony of the Night Tiger handheld
Much like the Simon’s Quest Tiger handheld, this is also just a side-scrolling beat ’em up game, though a bit more advanced with more options.

Simon’s Quest Tiger Handheld

Castlevania Symphony of the Night Tiger handheld

Nintendo Game Boy Castlevania

Dracula Densetsu トラキュラ伝説 (Castlevania Adventures)
The first Castlevania game for the Game Boy. I wrote a bit about this game here. One thing that baffles me about this game is that hearts = health, where is the wall chicken?! I have this game in PAL edition as well, however only the loose cartridge.

Dracula Densetsu II トラキュラ伝説II (The Castlevania Adventure II Belmont’s revenge)
The second Castlevania game for the Game Boy. Great adventure, great music. Shouldn’t be missed out on, all the Castlevania Game Boy games are completely new adventures, not just ports of the NES/Famicom games. I have this in PAL as well, but just the cartridge.

Akumajou Dracula Shikkokutaru Zensoukyoku 悪魔城ドラキュラダークナイトプレリュード (Castlevania Legends)
Probably my favourite Castlevania adventure for the Game Boy. I made a video of where I finished it here. Really hard final boss! But thanks to the password system I managed to go back and finally beat him ^_^ Great music in this one! Like most Castlevania games ;D You should really check out my video just to listen to the first stage song, a great remix of the Daylight music from Simon’s Quest! Also the Final Boss brings back the Vampire Killer theme song but in a new version, it’s kickass!! What are you waiting for? Go put on that video in the background to listen to those awesome tunes! ^_^

Castlevania Legends
I also have the PAL edition for Game Boy.

Castlevania II Belmont’s Revenge
This is the same as Dracula Densetsu II, but the PAL release :) I’m still missing the first one in PAL release, but it’s still the same game so I can play the Japanese one meanwhile ^_^

GB – Castlevania Adventures JP

GB – Castlevania Adventures II JP

GB – Castlevania Legends JP

GB – Castlevania Legends

Game Boy – Castlevania II Belmont’s Revenge

Nintendo Game Boy Advance Castlevania

Akumajou no Dracula 悪魔城ドラキュラ (Castlevania)
The Famicom Mini Edition. Castlevania re-released for the Game Boy Advance in Japan.

Castlevania NES CLASSICS
The NES Classics edition for the Game Boy Advance. Also contains a re-release of the first Castlevania game for the NES.

Castlevania Harmony of Dissonance
The third Castlevania adventure for the Game Boy Advance. There was a Game Boy Advance release that contained both Aria of Sorrow and Harmony of Dissonance but I haven’t been able to find it yet in decent condition.

Castlevania Aria of Sorrow
My favourite Castlevania adventure for the Game Boy Advance. You can collect the enemies’ souls and gain their powers! :D IT’S AWESOME!

Castlevania Circle of the Moon
Also for the Game Boy Advance, also a great adventure with some memorable tunes ^_^

GBA – Castlevania Famicom Mini

GBA – Castlevania NES Classics

GBA – Castlevania Harmony of Dissonance

GBA – Castlevania Aria of Sorrow

GBA – Castlevania Circle of the Moon

Super Nintendo SNES Castlevania

Super Castlevania IV
The first Castlevania game for the Super Nintendo and I’ve finally found myself a complete copy ^_^ Haven’t gotten around to scanning it yet.. but I will :)

Akumajou Dracula 悪魔城ドラクラ (Super Castlevania IV)
The first Castlevania game for the Super Nintendo / Super Famicom. This is the Japanese release.

Akumajou Dracula XX 悪魔城ドラクラXX (Castlevania Vampire’s Kiss)
One of the rare Castlevania titles. This is a japanese release, complete and in great condition. The PAL version is really hard to find.. but I’m looking ^^

Castlevania Dracula X Evil Trevor
This is a hack of Castlevania Dracula X featuring the sprite of Trevor Belmont from Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse. I just bought this one from another Castlevania collector, and it’s sealed. Quite annoying since I’d like to try it.. but I will most likely open it up soon ;D

Super Castlevania IV

SFC -Castlevania 4

SFC -Castlevania Dracula XX (Vampire’s Kiss) JP

SNES – Castlevania Dracula X Evil Trevor

SNES – Castlevania Dracula X Evil Trevor back

Sega Mega Drive / Genesis Castlevania

Castlevania The New Generation
This Castlevania game was only released on the 16-bit sega. This one is PAL for the Sega Mega Drive, complete and in awesome condition ^^ It was also released in Japan and for the Genesis. It also goes by the name “Bloodlines”.

Castlevania (The New Generation)
I also got this Russian pirated version of Castlevania The New Generation. I think the cover is really cool ^_^ That image from the first Castlevania is one of my favorites :) The case is much smaller than regular Sega Mega Drive boxes.

SMD – Castlevania New Generation

SMD – Castlevania The New Generation Pirate

SMD – Castlevania The New Generation Pirate back

PC Engine Castlevania

Akumajō Dracula X: Chi no Rondo 悪魔城ドラキュラX 血の輪廻 (Castlevania Rondo of Blood)
This is a rare Castlevania game called Rondo of Blood for the PC Engine! :D I also have a PC Engine duo (which reads CD’s) now so that I can play it, great game! Super hard! I uploaded a video of the intro here >>

Akumajō Dracula X: Castlevania Rondo of Blood
This is a reproduction of the PC Engine game made by PCE Works. Beautiful packaging ^_^ They also had a limited edition box that was stunning a while back, but I heard about it too late so it was sold out :(

PCE – Castlevania Rondo of Blood

Castlevania Rondo of Blood third boss

PC Engine – Castlevania Rondo of Blood reproduction

Nintendo 64 N64 Castlevania

Castlevania
The first Castlevania game for the Nintendo 64. Definitely not a favourite.. Castlevania games really should stay in the 2D platforming genre…

Castlevania Legacy of Darkness
When I finally bought Legacy of Darkness for the N64 I realized it was the same game as Legend of Cornell in Japan.. XD

Akumajou Dracula Mokushiroku 悪魔城ドラクラ黙示録 (Castlevania)
I have the N64 Castlevania game in it’s Japanese release as well.

Akumajou Dracula Mokushiroku Legend of Cornell 悪魔城ドラクラ黙示録レゲンドオブコーネール (Castlevania Legacy of Darkness)
This is the Japan release of Legacy of Darkness for the Nintendo 64, same awkward 3D adventure as most N64 games>_<

N64 – Castlevania

N64 – Castlevania Legacy of Darkness

N64 – Castlevania JP

N64 – Castlevania Legend of Cornell JP

Nintendo DS / 3DS Castlevania

Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow
The first Castlevania game for Nintendo DS. It’s decent and back to 2D platforming ^_^

Castlevania Portrait of Ruin
Another Castlevania game for the DS, I got this new (that’s why it’s scanned with plastic around). Also a good 2D platforming Castlevania adventure :)

Castlevania Order of Ecclesia
This one is also brand new, another Castlevania game for the DS. This one however I had the game cartridge for previously so I have played it and got pretty far, and it was great! But then I got stuck >_<

Castlevania Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate
Got the new 3DS Castlevania game which is a spinoff of the Xbox game Lords of Shadow. They added excessive use of 3D in this game, they could have just stuck to the traditional 2D platforming experience, it would have been better!

DS – Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow

DS – Castlevania Portrait of Ruin

DS – Castlevania Order of-Ecclesia

3DS – Castlevania Lords of Shadow Mirror of Fate

Sega Saturn Castlevania

Akumajou Dracula X – Gekka no Yasoukyoku (Castlevania Symphony of the Night)
This is Symphony of the Night, which was also released for the Playstation 1. It also came out on Sega Saturn in Japan.

Sega Saturn – Akumajou Dracula X – Gekka no Yasoukyoku

Sega Saturn – Akumajou Dracula X – Gekka no Yasoukyoku back

Playstation Castlevania

Castlevania Chronicles
A PAL edition of the Castlevania Chronicles for the Playstation 1 (PS1)

Castlevania Symphony of the Night
A mint complete edition of a PAL SOTN. Here’s where the Metroidvania style of Castlevania games began. I like it alot ^_^ I especially love that they went back to 2D platforming instead of messing around with awkward 3D..

Akumajou Dracula X Gekka no Yasoukyoku (SOTN)
I recently bought a Japanese copy of Symphony of the Night from a fellow Castlevania collector.

PS1 – Castlevania Chronicles

PS1 – Castlevania Symphony of the Night

PS1 – Akumajou Dracula X Gekka no Yasoukyoku

PS1 – Akumajou Dracula X Gekka no Yasoukyoku back

Playstation 2 Castlevania

Castlevania Lament of Innocence
First Castlevania adventure for the Playstation 2. Here they went back to 3D, however I must say it looks better than on the N64 ;D

Castlevania Curse of Darkness
Another Castlevania game for the PS2. Forgot to remove that stupid sticker on the front before scanning >_> too lazy to scan again..

Castlevania キャッスルヴァニア
This is Castlevania Lament of Innocence from Japan. I don’t usually collect the same game for various regions, I’m usually satisfied with having just a copy of the game so I can play it. However, this was a Castlevania game and I got it pretty cheap so I couldn’t resist it ;D

Castlevania Lament of Innocence
The same goes for this NTSC version of Lament of Innocence. So now I have three XD It’s interesting though to see how different the three artworks from various regions are :)

PS2 – Castlevania Lament of Innocense

PS2 – Castlevania Curse of Darkness

PS2 – Castlevania Lament of Innocence JP

PS2 – Castlevania Lament of Innocence JP back

PS2 – Castlevania Lament of Innocence US

PS2 – Castlevania Lament of Innocence US back

PSP & PS3 Castlevania

Castlevania The Dracula X Chronicles
Mint PAL edition for the PSP. This one I was particularly happy about when I got since I would be able to play the rare Rondo of Blood adventure that had been released long ago on the PC Engine, but NOW that I HAVE a PC Engine I am looking for the actual Rondo of Blood for the PC Engine. Soooooon it will most definitely be a part of my Castlevania collection :D edit: I now possess the PC Engine version too ^_^

Castlevania Lords of Shadow Collection
I found this collection for PS3 on a sale, had to get it since it was Castlevania, even though I hardly ever play on my PS3 ;D

PSP – Castlevania The Dracula X Chronicles

PS3 – Castlevania Lords of Shadow collection

Nintendo Wii & Xbox 360 Castlevania

Castlevania Judgement
This is the only Castlevania game I know of for the Wii. I don’t really play the Wii that much, but now I have to try this game out ^_^

Castlevania Lords of Shadow
And finally a Castlevania game for the Xbox 360 (achievements!! :D). I’ve played it a bit, and it’s like all other new games, an adventure game in 3D.. I really do prefer my Castlevania games to be 2D :(

Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2
I also have the second game in the LoS series. Haven’t even bothered trying this one out yet though… I miss the oldschool Castlevania games >_<

Castlevania Belmont Limited Edition
My latest Castlevania acquisition was this Belmont limited edition for the Xbox 360. It was just so pretty ^_^

Wii – Castlevania Judgement

Xbox 360 – Castlevania Lords of Shadow

Xbox 360 – Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2

Xbox 360 – Belmont Castlevania limited edition

Castlevania Soundtracks

Castlevania Circle of the Moon Soundtrack 悪魔城ドラキュラ白夜の協奏曲オリジナルサウンドトラック
The original soundtrack for Circle of the Moon to Game Boy Advance. This one is amazing! Here are some of my favorite Castlevania songs! :D

Castlevania The Dracula X Chronicles Soundtrack 悪魔城ドラキュラ Xクロニクルオリジナルサウンドトラック
I also have the original soundtrack from Japan for the PSP game: Castlevania The Dracula X Chronicles. This is a 2-disc collection, quite nice ^_^ It bugs me that they put the cover image in the wrong direction..

Akumajou Dracula Famicom Best Soundtrack 悪魔城ドラキュラファミコン・ベスト
This is a collection of all the soundtracks from the first three NES/Famicom games. Some of the best Castlevania tunes ^_^