Your first import (and what got you into importing?)

[NekoArc]

Late one night a few months back I was browsing ebay for some cheap SNES games, and I saw a few SFC titles. I decided to go for the cheapest one possible that sounded familiar to me, and I wound up buying Front Mission for around $5 with the shipping (yay US seller). Why that game? Because I've heard several midis of the music waaaaay back in '01 and fell in love with the soundtrack.
From there I've managed to get some other games for the SFC, FC, and FDS; along with a SFC and a working FDS to boot.

[kedawa]

I started buying import games when I was maybe 14 or so, after a friend took me to some game stores in Toronto that sold imports. We picked up some japanese MegaDrive games. He got Shadow Dancer, and I got Strider Hiryu, since neither of those games were available domestically yet.
We both wound up mangling the carts to make them fit our consoles, since neither of us was brave enough to mod the cartridge port, but it did the trick.

[aboblyndsae]

What specifically got me into importing? Japanophilia and magazine ads for import game stores, I guess.

It was 1998, shortly after the Saturn died in the US, during that brief period when EBGames was selling Saturn imports—I picked up a used Saturn and Konami Antiques: MSX Collection. Shortly after that I mail-ordered Radiant Silvergun based on a friend's recommendation—can't believe how lucky I was to have gotten that before it became a hot item.

[LaughingMAN.S9]

unofficially, the 1st time i technically got into imports was the ps1 era, i think i had an action replay or a similar device that allowed you to play bootlegs, and this local import shop would also sell bootleg games and bootleg imports, i just found myself with extra cash one day and just bought the japanese copy of dino crisis since it seemed promising in previews and i couldnt wait till it was released officially and also picked up a japan exclusive called deep freeze.


dino crisis i found to be nearly unplayable since all da notes and texts were in kanji, but deep freeze was pretty much basically english friendly, all voice work was english and the plot was simple enough to figure out, run and kill everyone in sight, so that game alone sort of sparked my interest.


but officially im going to say it wasnt till i bought my smoke black skeleton sega saturn that i officially started checking for import games, i think policenauts was the 1st game i imported. i also bought a psx desr and bought a couple of ps1 and ps2 japanese games at a local import shop recently so my importing is still alive and well today.


also helps tremendously to know that many games that are considered rare and expensive over here are dirt cheap in japan, notably the "bust a move/groove" series which goes for 70 here and purchased for 10 there, and nights for the saturn for close to the same price.....yay for me!

[MasterJSP]

The Obscure Super Famicom Impressions at http://www.rvgfanatic.com/ are what inspired me to collect import games. My first import was Hamelin no Violin Hiki for Super Famicom.

[RPG_Fanatic]

My first import was Street Fighter II for the SNES. I HAD to have that game back in 92. I paid something like $130 for it but it was worth it back then.

[fahlim003]

I suppose I can thank Initial D for my reason to import. I was naive but eager to try out the PS1 iteration of Initial D since I quite enjoyed the arcade games (v1-3) and to a similar extent the show too. So I picked up a cheap 9001 series PS1, got it modded, and imported a copy. Simple as that. While the belief it's an amazing game like the arcade Initial Ds has long worn off, Initial D is simply ok, however my reasoning that if good games don't see release in North America and I'd like it, I'll import it.

[Scissors]

The first import game I bought was Final Fantasy Collection for PS1 (it includes FF IV, V,and VI). I got it right after Squaresoft announced the Final Fantasy Anthology. I wanted to play the original version of Final Fantasy IV, which wasn't going to be in Final Fantasy Anthology. Since my local import game shop didn't have FFIV on its own, I got the collection, along with a device that allowed me to play it on an American system. I didn't know any Japanese at the time, but had no trouble playing it since I had already played through the english SNES version several times. Since I could then play Japanese PS1 games, I started looking into other Japanese exclusive PS1 titles.

[aclbandit]

My first import was my Famicom and Famicom Disk System, quickly followed by Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japan), my main reason (initially) for getting an FDS.

My imports are a fairly decent percentage of my gaming collection now. Wewt?

[E Nice]

My first import was Keio Yuugekitai Katsugekihen for the Sega Saturn. There was an independent videogame shop in a nearby town that also sold import games for the Saturn. I loved playing Keio Flying Squadron on the Sega CD and was suprised at seeing Rami and Spot on the cover of an import Saturn game. I didn't have enough cash with me that day so I asked the owner if he would place it on hold until I returned the the next day (days of youth when I took the bus everywhere). It wasn't what I was expecting but it was still a good, quirky game with the same cast as the Sega CD game.

[Aussie2B]

I'm honestly not sure what the heck inspired me to first get into importing. For no real reason at all, I decided to buy converters to play Famicom and Super Famicom games. I got Super Mario Bros. 3, Side Pocket, and Boulder Dash with the Famicom converter and Street Fighter II and Hyper Zone for Super Famicom. So no games I couldn't already get in the US. I didn't play the games much, and the converters sat unused for quite a long time. It wasn't until I became so obsessed with Star Ocean 2 that I decided I had to get the first Star Ocean, despite that I never played a Japan-exclusive before or any import that was text-heavy. It didn't work with my converter, so I ended up modding my SNES and selling the converter. I relied on a walkthrough to get through the game, but I enjoyed it immensely. From there it snowballed over the years to the point that I have tons of imports now, almost all Japanese-exclusive, and I have no qualms buying text-heavy games even if there aren't any guides available. I also started buying my tri-Ace games as soon as they came out in Japan, rather than waiting for localizations.

I still have a pathetically small Famicom collection, though, with only a few Japanese exclusives. I enjoy having Super Mario Bros. 3, though, since it has some gameplay differences. These days my favorite systems to import for are Super Famicom and N64.

[le geek]

Alien Soldier after reading Diehard Gamefan

[mobiusclimber]

I used to buy all my used games from a shop that had a ton of Japanese imports, so I was interested in them from back then (I was around 18 or 19 at the time). Also would see the occassional write-up for a game in a magazine that didn't end up coming out except in Japan. Always heard about the various games we didn't get and wanted them badly. But being an RPG freak, I always figured I couldn't read the game so it was no use to me to buy the Japanese version.

I'm actually not sure how it happened, but I think my first import was a Sufami game. I don't even remember which one. I somehow found out I could mod my SNES to play imports, and kept seeing cheap SFC games on Ebay, so I finally bought one. Probably like TC it was Front Mission, I remember being obsessed w/ the series awhile ago, and had heard that parts of it were in English. Oddly enough, while I've beaten several Japanese imports, I still haven't completed a single SFC game. Not sure why. Actually now that I'm thinking about it, I probably wanted the games more to collect than to play because I remember d/ling some translated ROMs of games that I owned and playing those instead.

[Thrashdance]

I've only recently got into imports. I was listening to some video game music on youtube on night and came across some tunes for Terranigma, I than researched out all the info I would need to play the game on my NTSC snes(I was unaware of the fact that I could just get a repro of it) and proceeded to track a copy down off ebay, and imported it from Australia.


After this I had this insane idea that I could learn japanese after seeing how cheap JPN PAL snes carts were online...but that was a failed attempt..haha. Now I'm more into Repros than imports I guess.

[Ed Oscuro]

I was on the internet and had some money around 2002...started looking into obscure things and that's what I got. Ironically I got a bunch of fighting games and RPGs (that I couldn't read at all at the time) to start with.

[Bloodreign]

Gradius Gaiden, a game hyped to me by a couple friends online. Little did I know that would eventually start a snowball and one of the events why I started collecting, but now I get imports when I can.

Though for many years I had read about Parodius in my old EGM magazines, and swore one day I'd own them all, now I do.

[schnuth]

My first import was X-Men vs. Street Fighter for the Saturn along with a 4-in-1 cartridge. After that the floodgates opened and I never looked back. :)

Aaron

[Fuyukaze]

My first imports were Sakura Wars 1 and 2 for the Dreamcast. I'd been told how great the series was for some time and upon learning my gameshark allowed me to play imports, I wanted to try a franchise that had yet to make it to the states. Less then 8 years later and I got over 500 imports spanning 23 systems. Sad part is I still cant read much Japanese.

[Eyedunno]

My first imported game was Final Fight (no, not Final Fight Guy, just the regular Final Fight), which I bought for five or ten dollars off of a kid at school at the time. Later, I bought Street Fighter II off of another friend, and as a probable consequence, I think the American boss name switcheroo is ridiculous.

Then I kind of stopped buying games after high school, but I actually lived in Japan for five years starting in 2003 (right after college), and that got me back into gaming somewhat. I brought back two Super Famicoms (regular and Jr.), a GBA and a Game Boy Micro, and a DS, along with a decent selection of games for all of the above, and coming back to the U.S. is what got me started ordering imported games (well, but I also ordered a couple American games in Japan, so... well, now I'm confused :P ).

[Ace]

My first import was Gradius II for the Famicom. I'm a HUGE fan of Gradius, and I had heard about Gradius II having been ported to the NES, but that it never reached North America because of a mapper chip contained within the cartridge(Konami's VRC4). Since then, I imported TONS of Japanese-exlusive Gradius titles(the Gradius and Salamander Deluxe Packs for both the PlayStation and Sega Saturn, Gradius Gaiden for the PlayStation, Salamander for the Famicom(it's better than what we got in North America as Life Force), Gradius Generation for the GameBoy Advance(contains a Challenge mode that neither the North American nor European versions have), Gradius II for the PC Engine Super CD-ROM) and a good bit of other games that never reached North America(Thunder Force V for the Sega Saturn, Thunder Force VI for the PlayStation 2, Sega Rally 2006 for the PlayStation 2, TwinBee 3 for the Famicom, Jaleco Rally Big Run for the Super Famicom, Zero Wing for the PC Engine CD-ROM, Super Darius for the PC Engine CD-ROM, Super Darius II for the PC Engine CD-ROM, and the list goes on).

[DDCecil]

The first thing that got me interested was hearing that was a Final Fantasy III for the Famicom. "III? But we got that for the SNES?" I then did the research and learned that there were many games that Japan and Europe got that we in America didn't (Plus the numbering order of the FFs). I told myself one day I'd have to hunt down some of the games.

While working at my dad's store back in 1998, a lady he knew brought in a few PSX and Saturn imports. A few days later, she brought in a Japanese Saturn with about 35 games (Ranging from common baseball games to Shinrei Justasushi Taromaru! There were also some adult games like Yakyuuken Special). From then on, I caught the import bug. I bought Final Fantasy Collection for the PSX (The first import I bought on my own), Dracula X for the PC Engine, and then Dragon Quest III for the Super Famicom.

[awbacon]

My first import was a JPN dreamcast w/ Sonic Adventure. I was 14 and I HAD TO HAVE the new Sonic asap

[UltimaZero]

My first import was DJMAX Triology, seeing as that it would never be sold at where I live and I really wanted it badly...I decided to import LOL

[todesengel]

My first import was Dracula X Nocturne in the Moonlight for PSOne. After that I got a copy of Pretty Fighter for Super Famicom and just kind of never stopped getting imports.

[lkermel]

The first time I got into import was maybe back in 1991/1992 or so. My brother had a Super Nintendo copier and we had tons of Japanese games on disks. This is when I played SFC imports for the first time (the hardest part was to play those Japanese RPGs!!!). You know, I'm French and we got even less Japanese games ported to the European SNES than the US ever had. I got back into imports a bit later, when I bought my first PS1 - I had to mod it so I could play those awesome Japanese/US shooters such as Einhander or Gradius Gaiden. I've been playing/enjoying imports since then - nowadays I play more Japanese games than anything else...

[The 1 2 P]

I remember it as clear as day: the first two import games I bought(purchased at the same time) were Dragon Ball Z: Legends and Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22 for the PS1. I purchased them because I wanted to play DBZ games and this was back in 2001 when the DBZ craze was in full swing. Dragon Ball GT Final Bout was also going for $150-350 back then, so there was no way I was going to purchase that one.

I bought an import converter for my PS1 at a local import store and purchased the two DBZ import games from an online retailer that sold them for an affordable price. From that moment on my love for imports exploded and when it was all said and done, my nearly 300 game collection of PS1 games was split between US and Japanese import games.

Today I buy import games for all my systems but it all started with those two DBZ import games for my PS1. It should also be noted that DBZ: Legends is still one of my favorite fighting games and my all time favorite DBZ game. DBZ: Ultimate Battle 22, on the other hand, just plain sucks.

[Mysterio3000]

Dracula X for saturn. Read about the extra levels/bosses/items and had to have it.

[Clownzilla]

Tekken 2 for PSX was my first (and favorite) import. The Japanese Tekken 2 released several months before the American version and my friends and I LOVED the arcade game. I decided to bite the bullet and buy the $80 import game from the import store in the back of Gamefan magazine (I can't remember the name). We used the "eraser head" trick to run the game and wasted months worth of Friday nights (we were in high school) playing that game. I remember this like yesterday:)

[YoshiM]

Haven't really delved into the import boards before.

My first import was actually a gift. Years back I received Dragon Quest IV from Queen of Felines, complete in box. I couldn't play it but I thought it was the coolest thing ever. It sits prominently on display at the top of my "Nintend-tower" (a bunch of N64 cartridge cases as a base with a NES game and accessory case on top with Nintendo branded cartridge shelves on top of that).

My second import was Sin and Punishment for the N64. I took the back off of a cheap NASCAR game to get the cart to work in my system. Awesome game.

The latest import was for my Sega Saturn: The Dungeons and Dragons Collection (at a decent price).

I'm starting to get the bug now.....just discovering a lot of cool stuff that never made their way to US shores.

[Zama]

I believe my very first import game was Radiant Silvergun for the Sega Saturn. I have to buy a 4-in-1 Action Replay converter in order to play it but I enjoyed the experience of getting into the import scene nevertheless. 8-)

[megasdkirby]

At least on the SMS, it was Prince of Persia, though I am not sure if it was "Forest" for the 2600.

On the Saturn it was Xmen vs Street Fighter.

On the Genesis, it was Bioship Paladin, then Zero Wing.

But the very first one has to be Prince of Persia or Forest.

[buzz_n64]

My first import was Transformers: Mystery of Comvoy for Famicom, got it at Botcon 2004. I know, I know, the game is known for being bad because of it's extremely difficult game-play, but has that Contra challenge level to it. I basically got into importing because I want to have games that are simply not available here in the states.

[Dire 51]

I posted my story over in the old LORE section (as you can see here (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=104561)). To those who don't feel like reading it, I'll sum it up for you here: I stumbled across a store that had Famicom games back in '94 (although they were intended for use as decorations), and when I saw they had Gradius II, I told the owner I wanted to buy it (he was amazed, not thinking anyone would be interested) and bought it, Holy Diver + a Fami-to-NES converter for $20.

[Sabz5150]

My first import was R-Type II for the Game Boy. Picked it up at K-Mart when they tried doing used games however many ages ago. No clue how they managed across imports... perhaps a family traveling overseas? Grabbed that and a few others throughout their stint... Donkey Kong Country and R-Type II being the cream of that crop.

Why I'm importing now? Famicom. I want to see all the games we yanks got shafted on over the years. That, and I have to check out the special sound chips as well as other oddities (getting some weird upgradable baseball game, has a slot in the back). I find stuff like that to be extremely cool :)

[Hwj_Chim]

I was looking for a sega saturn on ebay and found a imported sega saturn with realbout fatal fury, house of the dead and virtua cop. I won the bid and I have been importing since.

[Holger Czukay]

Wasn't really any catalyst back in the old days...just "I want stuff". Stuff being 2D fighters and Bemani. But there's definitely a story this time around.

Watched all the "Arino no Chousenjou" clips from the first season of Gamecenter CX. I was always terrible at games, but seeing someone even worse than me play old Famicom games (and get paid to do so!) made me want to start playing them again.....a little bit. Not enough to actually pursue the thought.

Then 3D Dot Game Heroes came around, and I had to know all of the loading screen tributes to Fami and SuperFami classics. One in particular caught my eye:

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r142/Kroogah/002.jpg

What is this awesome game that says "GARF!" on the cover?

The answer, of course, is Challenger for the Famicom:

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r142/Kroogah/002-1.png

I had no idea. I read up on it a bit, and couldn't believe this game escaped my radar for the last 10 years. It's a much-beloved old game in Japan, even landing on an episode of Gamecenter CX. So I decide to play it the, er....cheaper way. Only to find there's about 6 different roms of it, each one having something different wrong with it. After finding this was the case with a LOT of games, I decided it would be cooler to just buy and play the actual cartridges and disks anyway.

Which is funny, because back in 1999 I started collecting NES because I couldn't get a rom of Startropics to work.

[Dire 51]

And thanks to your post, I just now found out about Challenger (I too have no idea how it escaped me all this time). I tried it out, enjoyed it and ordered a copy which arrived yesterday. Now I've got my wife and kids playing it too, and they're enjoying it. Thanks Karl. :)

[Kyle15]

I started when I was fourteen back in 2004. A local trading card shop in the mall began carrying copies of a Japanese Yu-Gi-Oh GBA game. That's right, a YU-GI-OH game. I loved the cards and had to get the GBA incarnation. The owner bought them cheap and sold them as such. Minus the promo cards of course! Anyway, I loved the box and interesting tidbits of flyers that came from within. Not long after did the bug hit.

My internet searches for retro games turned into searches for imports and how to get by the nefarious region lock. I did my import homework and dove in with a copy of PokeMon Stadium Gold and Silver. NCSX had it on clearance for $29.99 and I grabbed the last one in the nick of time. (I had to order the gamebit to complete the import playing workaround. My first mini-mod!)

After that, I dove into the more complicated and expensive side of importing at the time; modern systems. I started off with the GameCube and its fairly easy bootdisc method and a cheap copy of Shaman King: Soul Fight. It came from eStarland. Being absolutely import hungry at the time, I traded in multiple Super Nintendo and GBA games, plus the Ocarina of Time GC collection disc in order to fund my purchase. I look back on it now with a bit of embarassment, but what can I say? I was young and import fresh.

My collection started to grow bit by bit over the next couple of years. I made it a goal to get at least one import from every system that I owned seeing as quite a few were expensive, and a limited budget wasn't go to go very far. Many of the Anime games (the good ones) weren't that much, so most of my time was spent hunting those on eBay. What I made up for in quantity, I made up with quality. I strictly bought games that I wanted to play and could play, although that didn't last for long.

The hoard of imports is now a little over 100 games. I recently dove into the modern import scene "legitimately" for the first time. (As in, with a true import console.) My parents bought me a Japanese Wii for my 18th birthday in 2008. Besides my first import, I have since gathered at least one import for systems ranging from the Super Famicom to the Dreamcast. My love of imports continues to grow along with my collection!

[Smashed Brother]

Tekken 2 for PSX was my first (and favorite) import. The Japanese Tekken 2 released several months before the American version and my friends and I LOVED the arcade game. I decided to bite the bullet and buy the $80 import game from the import store in the back of Gamefan magazine (I can't remember the name). We used the "eraser head" trick to run the game and wasted months worth of Friday nights (we were in high school) playing that game. I remember this like yesterday:)

Heh, this is pretty much the same experience as my 1st! A buddy of mine in school had a brother who was 'in the industry', so he would give my friend all kinds of games, legit and bootleg. One of the bootleg games he had was the JP version of Tekken 2. My friends and I were absolutely obsessed with the first Tekken and I had no idea that the sequel even existed! He let me borrow the bootleg and after learning the swap trick on my PS1, I was good to go. He wanted it back after a month or so, which means that I had to buy my own. I found the game in one of those old ads (Chips n' Bits?) and it wound up costing me $88 dollars after shipping and all, but I didn't give a shit. Funny enough, the US version released about a month after I bought mine and we had it at work (I was at Walmart then) for only $33 :)

It wasn't until about 2004 when I picked up another import (Tobal 2). I picked up a few crappy nondescript titles here and there in the past few years, but it wasn't until this year that I started importing heavily, after seeing all/being reminded of the awesome games that never made it here. Now I've amassed quite a collection of SFC and PCE titles and I'll more than likely start branching off into other systems in the coming months!

[dra600n]

First import: Final Fantasy 5 on the SFC, followed by FF 2 and 3 on the FC. I figured that if I was going to say I had the entire main series of Final Fantasy (not including XI and the soon to be released XIV), I wanted them all on their original platforms. So now I have FF1 - 13, Tactics and Tactics Advanced, plus all the remakes on the PS1. I'm sure my collection is far from complete if I wanted to get them ALL (Gameboy releases, not rereleased), the online ones, and the spin offs.

[frogofdeath]

First import I played: Sim City for the Super Famicom on a U.S. SNES. I was young, but we thought it was the coolest thing ever to play a Japanese game, especially when Mr. Wright would run across the screen yelling something at us!

First import I bought: Sin and Punishment for the N64. I bought the hype and ultimately the game. Slowly have built my import collection, but always looking to add more.

[kentuckyfried]

My first and last import purchased was for the Neo Geo Pocket Colour back when it was current, and after it was pulled off the market with all releases cancelled I ordered Faselei! a game I was looking forward to for months, from the UK. Not a bad game, thank goodness. Paid like 90$ for it or something silly.

Being in a port city on the pacific, I've seen a butt-ton of imports in the wild here in Vancouver.

[Tron 2.0]

My frist import early 90's.
http://www.pcengine.co.uk/Images-Covers/COVER-Valis_IV.jpg

That was the only time i did import then.Still by the time the sega saturn hit the u.s is when i realy got into importing.Since i had the $ by that point not to mention,poor suport by soa.

[Atariguy]

I got a Saturn around the time it was dying, and some of the first games I got were Dragon Ball Z Legends (I was obsessed with DBZ at the time) and Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter. Not long after that, EB started to sell their imports off real cheaply, and I managed to pick up Pocket Fighter, Vampire Savior, and the Konami MSX Collection for like $10 each.

[tritium]

I was starting to collect for the dreamcast, and I found that it was way cheaper to get the anniversary ed of sonic adventure 2 from lik-sang for $10 and Soul calibur also $10 at the time than pay $25 used at game stop for each.

I got ikaruga right after.

[StealthLurker]

8bit famicom game called "Demon Sword" in the USA. At the time, I just called it Legend of Kage II. It was several years after that before it finally got released in the US. It's totally the spiritual success of Kage. I was apalled at the US box cover. haha

.

[ThoughtBomb]

Dragonball Z & Dragonball Z 3 for SNES. My old friends had the SF versions of the game & had melded (sp?) the ends off so they fit into the SNES & could be played. They later gave the games to me as a gift. Good times:)