Self-Intro
Hello everyone,
My name is Michael. I'm originally from the Twin Cities, but I currently reside in Japan. I live in a city called Hamamatsu, which is located in Shizuoka prefecture and is about 1.5 hours away from Tokyo.
I recently found digitpress while scouring the internet for information on import games. Since moving to Japan, I've been slowly amassing a collection of imports, or more specifically, games that were released only in Japan and never saw an official release stateside. The collection is just starting to get fairly respectable, so I thought it might be time to start sharing information about what I've been able to find during my time in Japan, and hopefully, at the same time get some more information about games I should keep an eye out during the duration of my stay.
What are my favorite games?? Wow! That's tough. I mean, I started out on an Atari and shortly thereafter moved on to the NES and SNES, so a lot of my most memorable gaming moments are from those three systems. I'm truly a classic gamer at heart, but I also fully embrace and support all facets of the gaming world.
While I was back in the states I was mostly collecting for the NES, SNES, PS1, PS2, and Game Cube, but now it's strictly Japanese games. I'm currently collecting for the Famicom, Super Famicom, Saturn, Dreamcast, PC Engine, PS1, PS2, Xbox 360, and occasionally I might pick something up for my PSP, DS, and GBA. I really try and stick to things I can only find in Japan, but occasionally I'll stray from the path and buy the Japanese version of something I already own back home. For example, something justifiably unique like the Japanese version of "Ico," which has extra game play elements not present in the US version. Something like that. Also, my favorite genres are probably shoot-em'-up, and fighting, so I own quite a few games in just those two genres alone. Some of my current favorites are Mushihimesama (PS2), Ketsui (xbox360), Zero Gunner 2 (DC), Battle Garegga (SS), Virtua Figher 2 (PS2), Hokuto no Ken (PS2), and basically any Street Fighter game (multiple platforms).
In "real" life, I'm a high school teacher. Or at least until my school loans are all paid off. Then it's most likely back to school=P
Hmmm... what else should I say about myself. I tend to spread myself out in terms of hobbies, which is sometimes a very bad thing because I'll end up neglecting something I love to do for a very long time. I've been skateboarding and snowboarding since I was in grade school and while it's not as easy to do in the area which I live in, I try and get out as much as possible. Cycling is another one. I don't own a car in Japan, so I use my bike pretty much everyday. Traveling is another thing I'm pretty passionate about. I've been using most of my vacation time to travel around and see as much of Asia as possible. So far I've managed to visit Korea, China, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Australia. Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and India are on the shortlist of places I wanna go next. I'm also a pretty big sports fan, too. Twins, Vikings, and Wild all the way!! Timberwolves, not so much=P Go Minnesota!
Well, that about does it. If anyone is up for chatting about imports from Japan, I'm all ears!! You'll most likely find me hanging out in Import-mania from here on out!!
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