Super Famicom games worth finding

[The Adventurer]

So, over in the 'September 2012 Finds' thread, I mentioned I was at a local Flea Market and found a whole box full of Super Famicom games for $7 a piece. I was really excited at first to find such a bounty of games for a console I'm curious about collecting. But inevitably passed on buying any because A) I didn't really have much more money to spend, and B) I don't really know what's actually worth owning from a 'I want to actually play this' or 'this is worth a few bucks to collectors' perspective.

I was told I probably dodged a bit of a bullet, as Super Famicom games aren't really that rare or hard to get (especially with the internet) and certain popular US titles are far less desirable in Japanese due to the language barrier (see: RPGs)

I of course can't tell you what was in the box (Super Mario World, Chrono Trigger, and a pile of Mobile Suit Gundam games for sure) because most of them had titles I couldn't read and art that didn't ring any bells.

So, as a prospective future Super Famicom collector, what games are actually worth tracking down? Primarily games that never came out in the US, but are still worth playing. Also, rarities that I might stumble over accidentally that are worth a few bucks.

[theclaw]

Super Tetris 2 + Bombliss and Super Tetris 3 are solid. Literally near zero Japanese, as with Mario & Wario (one to get if you have the mouse).

Panel de Pon is neat to see its original character cast.
Super Game Boy 2 for a GB fanatic. Added link port. I've heard better speed accuracy too.

Rockman X3 especially is cheaper Japanese, when it comes to non-RPG games.

[MachineGex]

I will second Mario & Wario. Got it and my son loves it. Reminds me of the gameboy Mario Vs. Donkey games. Also, Parodius Da is a fun and silly shouter, along the lines of Gradius. I have a few more, but it is too early in the morning and Im too lazy to go downstairs to look. :)

EDIT:
Ah damn, how did I forget my favorite S. Famicom game: Firemen. It is mostly in English and one of the best games that didnt make it here.

[ShinobiMan]

I'd look into SD The Great Battle series. Particularly the 2nd and 3rd entries into the series, which were great beat 'em ups!

5650 5651

The 3rd one was like Golden Axe! The 4th and 5th in the series are great too, with the 4th one being a lot like Contra and the 5th one being like the rare SNES gem Wild Guns!

[Aussie2B]

The reason Japanese RPGs tend to not be worth much is because they're incredibly common, not because they're in Japanese. The Japanese text may reduce interest from foreigners, but that wouldn't have any effect on their value in Japan (and the value of a Japanese game in Japan is usually fairly on par with the worldwide value, if not lower). The most popular genre in Japan is RPGs, so that's why stuff like Chrono Trigger and what have you are pretty cheap. They were huge sellers.

If you want a game, $7 is an acceptable price for a Super Famicom game. Given the bad exchange rate in recent years and the cost of international shipping, you'd be hard-pressed to import a game for much less than that, even if you won an auction at a buck.

And are we talking loose or complete? Japanese games are more likely to be complete than American games, and Western collectors are more likely to only want their imports complete compared to their domestic collections.

[The Adventurer]

It was a box of loose games with no manuals.

[FoxNtd]

Super Game Boy 2 for a GB fanatic. Added link port. I've heard better speed accuracy too.


SGB2 does solve the clock inaccuracy that SGB had, and it also has the superior sound quality. I think SGB2 is the best way to play a GB game without using the handheld. Watch this video to hear sound sample comparisons. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ70oA_RDRg) It's a disappointment how bad GB sounds on the GBA. :( Of course for GBC/GBA, GB backward compatible titles notwithstanding, you have to use the GBP. That video also makes it clear how much faster the SGB is since the clock is slightly higher.

I met a Japanese retro broadcaster and we talked about the SGB and SGB2. Because of our conversation he actually bought a SGB2 and did a broadcast of this hardware along with SGB back to back, and it was clearly obvious to us how the clock speed was different as well as the audio quality being an improvement on the SGB2. I can definitely say that if you want to play regular GB games on the TV, SGB2 is your best choice. :)

[Urzu402]

Gundam Wing Endless Duel - Excellent fighter even if you don't like Gundam Wing
Rockman and Bass - soooo much better than the GBA port, only Super Famicom Rockman game to not have a US Mega Man release

[treismac]

I love Super Puyo Puyo 2 dearly. Puyo Puyo (Puyo Pop here in North America) is perhaps the greatest versus puzzle game ever. Tetris Battle Gaiden is a close runner up, though. Both have Japanese text but you can wade through it without too much trouble.

[FoxNtd]

Gundam Wing Endless Duel - Excellent fighter even if you don't like Gundam Wing

Excellent fighter even if you don't like fighters either. Haha I'm giving this game another vote, I'm not a fighting genre fan at all but GWED is so amazing, happy to have this game. Really fun. :)


Rockman and Forte

Fixed that for you. Those bosses are more challenging than most of the bosses in the classic series. There are some jokes in the database portion of the game that you unlock by collecting those CDs. :popcorn:

[Steven]

http://www.rvgfanatic.com/6501/index.html

;)

BTW, I know this won't be too popular an opinion, but in recent times I have found The Firemen to be not as good as I found it to be back in 2006 when I first played it. I guess the first time you're just kind of blown away. But I played it recently and found it to be nothing particularly special. In fact, I even found it bordering on "slightly dull."

I still like the game, and would still recommend it at a decent price, but my opinion of it being an "absolute gem" has gone by the wayside. Nice game first time around, but lacks longevity. It's only really cool when it's novel IMHO...

[goatdan]

And are we talking loose or complete? Japanese games are more likely to be complete than American games, and Western collectors are more likely to only want their imports complete compared to their domestic collections.

The GOAT Store started carrying import games a while ago, and I've *sort of* found this to be true. There seems to be a weird 'no mans land' with specifically SFC games... they are either in horrible shape, where there are stickers all over them, writing on them, and they have chewed up and faded labels... or, they are pristine copies in their original boxes.

Collectors in the US seem to fall perfectly into these two categories... either those that kind of just want to try the games to see what they are like and don't care what they look like as long as they are cheap, or those who want them to be perfect. It's funny - I don't think that I have *any* boxed copies of anything in stock any more, and we sell the "poor" games regularly. The good condition loose games almost always just sit in stock.

I've honestly done pretty little messing around with the games that we have so far, but I find myself oddly drawn to the pachinko games like the Parlor Mini series. I own a couple of real pachinko machines, and for whatever reason I find the virtual ones to be equally if not slightly more compelling than those. You can definitely get by on them with no Japanese understanding too, so long as you know how the game is played.

The Ganbare Goemon titles are fun from the little of them I have played too if you like platformers. I played about 10 minutes of the second one, and put a copy aside to give a longer shot to at some point in the future.

Finally... Sugoi Hebereke. It's relatively expensive, but I like it. It's essentially overhead Super Smash Bros, with 2D fighter-like moves using stupidly cute characters. I won't pretend I knew what I was doing in the menus to get to the game, but once I got there I really found the game to be a surprising amount of fun. And it can have up to four players. If it was released in the US, I think it would have been a cult hit like Earthbound. Find a video of it if you're interested at all.

Hope that helps!

[The 1 2 P]

The Amazing Spider-Man: Lethal Foes. It was never released outside of Japan and is pretty rare as well.

[BlastProcessing402]

Any of the Super Fire Prowrestling series should be worth grabbing, particularly Special and X/X Premium.

[Arctic Feather]

Jerry Boy (aka Jelly Boy) is a pretty fun platformer.
I quite like Ikari No Yousai too, which is a top-down shooter with a kind of metroidvania vibe as you get new weapons that allow you to reach new areas. It was released in the US though as " Operation Logic Bomb: The Ultimate Search & Destroy", which is a terrible name.

Edit: Just remembered Jerry Boy was released in the US too as "Smart Ball". I don't seem to have many Super Famicom exclusives sorry!

[StealthLurker]

There seems to be a weird 'no mans land' with specifically SFC games... they are either in horrible shape, where there are stickers all over them, writing on them, and they have chewed up and faded labels... or, they are pristine copies in their original boxes.

This might be true when you find imports in the west, but it's not true in Japan. You can find games in all sorts of conditions. Crappy loose, excellent loose, crappy complete, excellent complete. However quite a bit tends to be in the good to excellent end of the spectrum. People just generally took better care of their stuff over there.

.