Greetings, I have some something pretty sweet here.
This just arrived from Japan and I get these every so often whenever I have a little bit of extra cash to spend on something cool that I can't get here in the U.S., or even ebay, you know.
There's Japanese stuff that I want and I figured I may as well just show you guys what I got this time around because there's some exciting stuff in here for me.
If you like the kinda stuff I like, you're probably going to think that there's some cool stuff in here, too.
I did actually end up getting this stuff from just bids on Yahoo Auctions Japan, which pretty much like their version of ebay.
And, uh, all these cool Japanese newspapers. I always like when they package them with these.
They're fun to look at. I just like looking at ads from other countries.
So, uh, oh look at that - golf clubs!
They packaged this up pretty nicely.
This is a lot of the items I just got separately.
There's one big one down in here down at the bottom; we'll get to that in a moment.
I use a service called "Noppin."
It is a proxy service. They'll put the bids in for you, take care of getting together, packaging it up nicely, and dealing with the sellers
because a lot of them won't ship to America
and so these guys make that way easier.
Here's one that I just got mainly for the box.
I think this basically translates to "eternity master/virtuoso," something like that.
It's not actual wood, but man, it looks like it. It's just such a classy package.
I believe this is a game of Shogi or something like that.
I've never played anything like this, but really I just wanted it for this package and presentation.
I mean, look at that. A nice little cut-out area for the for a 3.5" floppy disk.
That is just pure class.
This is such a cool design. I like unusual boxes and art, so even if I don't know how to play it... heh.
I also grabbed this here. This is: "Take the A-Train 3."
Which was released over here in the U.S. back in the day as just "A-Train"
but it was actually the third one in the series. I actually reviewed this quite a while back
and I just wanted the original Japanese version here. 1991 by Artdink.
This is another one of those with a super classy package. Look at this.
How cool is that!
This is just nice.
Such a neat floppy disk holder there. Documentation.
Very cool. As a Maxis fan, there are several things in here that are Maxis sort of releases.
Even though this one wasn't Maxis over in Japan; it's Maxis over here - and so of course I'm interested in getting it.
This is actually the original PC 9800 version.
So this won't work on a normal personal computer, IBM standard.
This is awesome. Raid on Bungling Bay. This is Will Wright's first game.
Before Maxis was even a thing and it was released over in Japan with this really just ominous cover art here.
This is for the original Famicom by HudsonSoft. It's got the cartridge in there and all that kinda stuff.
This is probably the best condition one of these I've ever seen.
You occasionally will see them in the U.S. ebay auctions, but this was 400 Yen or something, so really
cheap and looks better than any of the ones I've seen here in the U.S.
Something else you just don't see over here, at least not in this version, is "Over Drivin' 3: Hot Pursuit."
And "Over Drivin' 4: High Stakes" more or less. Which is Need for Speed 3 and 4 for the Playstation 1.
I don't believe these actually got PC releases in Japan, but they all got them on the PS1.
Some of the earlier games were on the [Sega] Saturn, I have the earlier ones Over Drivin' 1 & 2
as well as Skyline GTR, Memorial; there's just a bunch of interesting Need for Speed versions from Japan
and these were two that I did not have. In fact, I think they stopped calling them Overdrive
and after this, I could be wrong, but I believe they went over to another naming scheme entirely.
Sim City 200 Special Edition; the Japanese edition.
Other than the box, there's not a whole lot different about this, but this is great. One of my favorite games of all time.
It's got that really nice shiny reflective surface there.
Engraved signatures of Will Wright and Fred Haslam. As well as this system requirements sticker
that's just very cool. This is actually the Windows version.
at this point the previous Sim City games that had come out of the NEC PC series. I believe the 88 for
the very first one and I think there was one for the 9800, but this is one is Windows 95 so it should
work really just fine on any of my computers that run Windows 95.
Again with that very classy packaging there, right in the middle. I just love that stuff.
Very cool registration card.
Urban renewal kit. This looks absolutely brand new.
It always impresses me how many games are just so incredibly taken care of.
They're really cared for, apparently, in Japan. I find way more luck finding good quality PC game boxes
that look pretty much immaculate inside and out.
Alright, more reflective surfaces! Look at this.
"Sim People." It's got that sort of holo-foil thing going on there.
This is "Sim People Deluxe." Happens to come with the first two expansions, which would be
"Livin' Large" and "House Party" or whatever the Japanese name equivalents are.
I have actually tried this out with my other version of Sim Deluxe, or Sim People Deluxe, and it's really no different
other than the Japanese characters and some sounds and things like that,
but it's just cool to have these things as a collector. Oh shiny things, oh shiny things.
That's just a neat presentation there, I like that. It's a little thicker, wider I suppose, than the American releases.
Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh cool! Alright, look, I'm a huge fan of this game "Pod."
This has the cover art straight from the intro video to the game, but it's in high-resolution.
This is the only time I have ever seen this particular art in higher resolution and just look at the back of this box.
Isn't that amazing? Well maybe it's not to you, but to me this is the coolest.
I actually still run the fan site POD PhReak [www.thebasingers.com/0706milbs/pod/] I've had that thing going forever and
I have SO many versions of Pod and this is one of my most-wanted, so as soon I saw it come up I had to have it.
You've got the lettering and everything here above and below.
Do you think someone could translate that for me? It's kind of hard to see, but I think that's so cool.
Here we go, now this right here. I was not really going to get this until I noticed that
this is a hard clamshell case. This is ridiculous. So this is "Sim Town"
for Windows 95, obviously. It's interesting to me though because I also have this in another form.
It was called "Sim City Jr." and that was for the consoles. And this, the PC version, is apparently called "Sim Town."
I'm not sure why the console had it as "Sim City Jr." and this one is just "Sim Town."
Maybe this is a later release? No idea. But it was put out by Imagineer over there and otherwise it's really
just the same game as far as I know. I haven't actually played this version yet, so I hope to.
Look at this, this looks like a big case for Neo-Geo game or something; it's huge.
Nice little users' manual there.
That's really neat.
More registration goodness and a quick-start guide.
I assume this is pretty much going to be the same. This is the start screen auto-run splash screen that's identical.
I just like how this is made; look at this, this is unbelievably sturdy. (laughs)
There's little plastic everywhere and it's thick and, you know, this is just like the most indestructible
game box I have for PC games ever - it's crazy.
Alright.
So the rest of this is probably going to be, yeah this looks like it, uh I will show you here in a moment
soon as I get this unwrapped.
Basic power cord there - nothing special.
This, on the other hand, oh yeah. Alright, so if you know what this is then you know what's coming
in the rest of the box, probably, but look at this gloriously brown keyboard!
Feels pretty good, too. Very Commodore-esque is what that feels like.
Same style of keys, too. The shape and everything in there.
That (laughs) why, why are the coils so big?!
Oh, that's ridiculous - holy crap that is overbuilt. Look at this thing.
Okay, let's see the rest of it.
This service doesn't play around with shipping things internationally.
They do a very good job shipping computers, large things, small things.
I've never had anything come to my doorstep broken or anything.
Look at that. It's gorgeous!
(laughs) Comically huge cord.
That is so funny to me.
Again, look at this thing. Isn't this great?
I mean, it's hideous, but at the same time I think it's really classy.
So this is the "NEC Personal Computer." The "PC 8801."
Again, like the 98 and other games I had over there that are not quite IBM compatible,
neither is this, but it does run its own version of DOS, Basic, and MicroSoft stuff like that,
but this one I'm not as familiar with as some of the later ones.
and you might be asking "why didn't I get a later model?"
Well, that's just because I have some videos planned and this is going to play a part in it.
This *original* PC-8801. It is tested, it does work.
In fact, we're going to look around the back here. Check that out.
So we've got power, RS232 there, a printer port, some settings for CRT, jumper stuff.
Dip switches, external floppy disk connector right here, and you have different monitors and things like that
that are going to plug in here.
The thing is, that while this will use some sort of composite connection for a monitor, I don't have
the cable to do that. It's mostly RGB I believe? I don't know.
I think that's the cassette tape port. I don't know a lot of things about this and I can't find much about it,
so that's a big reason I got it - is because I just wanted to explore it myself,
see what I can get to work and things on here. Once I figure out how to get this thing displayed... um
I'm going to do that.
And, again, I don't have a floppy disk drive for it. There's no drives built-in or anything like that.
It's just a big old honkin' unit. This thing is long, too.
That's maybe about as wide as an IBM PC, if not wider.
Of course it's not as tall, but this just looks... this is a cool design.
I've always liked the designs of Japanese computers and this is one that I've wanted for a long time.
I like these switches a whole lot. Got a reset over here, that power switch (laughs)... is really cool.
Keyboard goes right in here. I wonder why there's a light that says "basic?" I don't know.
That's what's so exciting about this - I know nothing about it!
I will be getting, like I said, a later model. One of the later PC 88, like 21s or whatever.
They have much more easy to work with software and hardware.
They got much more IBM PC-like in later years, but still ran their own operating system and their own games which is why these are so exciting.
This early one, this is what 1982-83, so it's pretty old and it's not going to do a whole lot except look really cool.
I'm going to clean it up, make a display model of it, make some review videos and other things as I dive into the world of Japanese computing.
This is my first Japanese computer, by the way.
I do have an MSX2, but that one's a Phillips. It came from the Netherlands so it's a Dutch machine.
This, on the other hand, is Japanese all the way.
There was an American version of this at some point, but those are even rarer.
And if you're wondering how much this cost, this one right here - well altogether everything was
about 10,000 Yen. So a little over $100 or something like that.
It was the shipping that was the real pain because of how heavy this unit is.
I mean, this thing is ridiculous so this was about $200 to ship everything you saw in that box, but
considering I only paid about $100 for everything altogether, this is stuff that I'm never ever going to find here in the U.S.
unless I go to some really obscure shows or something that people have things for sale
and then they're going to go for a whole lot more than this, so I mean this computer
for $40 or less, whatever it was, that's awesome to me.
I just think this is great.
So, yes, stay tuned for hopefully some videos on this and other NEC machines.
I do hope to get like a Sharp X68000 and some FM Towns things.
I have a whole lot of plans! I really want to get a Japanese computer special or two going in the future.
But, you know, progress. It'll take a while - don't expect them anytime soon - but I am making progress.
Thanks for watching!