Anybody collect Japanese Playstation games?

[pooch]

I have heard of alot of people that collect Sega Saturn and Dreamcast imports but never Playstation ones. I am really interested to know if anyone collect for PS1 because I am contemplating, just contemplating, to eventually amass a complete collection of PS one games, which is, 3000+ games. I know it is crazy but I think it's doable especially because I have cheap sources for getting import games from Japan. What do you guys think? Is it too much of a reach?

Bronty-2: You don't know me but I want to send you a PM to ask you a question. Could you please clear your PM box? Thanks alot!

[Ed Oscuro]

I do, but only games I really want. Why buy games that you don't want? With the PSX library, you're bound to run into a lot of them.

[Kamisama]

The problem with the PSX Imports should be that there are so much games no one really wants. There are hundrets of Mahjong/Shogi games, a lot of Dating games most people dont want aswell and whatnot. There might be people like me who know some japanese and actually play those games, but then again I dont want hundrets.
A complete JP-PSX Collection would be very cool though. I'd love to dig through that :)

[Spartacus]

I do a little bit, kinda like Ed Oscuro does.

Adventure of Little Ralph
Air Grave
Assault Suits Valken II
Bokan to Ippatu! Doronbo
Clock Tower: The First Fear
Cotton: Original
Cyber Org
Donpachi
Dodonpachi
Finger Flashing
Firemen 2
Gaia Seed
Galaxian 3
Gatchaman: the Shooting
Ghoul Panic
Gradius Deluxe Pack
Gradius Gaiden
Gungage
Gunner's Heaven
Gussun Oyoyo
Harmful Park
Hermie Hopperhead
Image Fight & X-Multiply
IS: Internal Section
Kyuin
Lattice 200EC7
Love & Destroy
Metal Slug
Namco Museum Encore
Night Raid
Operation Death Wing
Pepsiman
PuLiRuLa
Raiden DX
Rescue Shot
Soukyugurentia
Stahlfeder
Star Ixiom
Strikers 1945 II
SUNSOFT vol. 6
Super Robot Shooting
Two-Tenkaku
Umiharakawase Shun
Wolf Fang
X2: No relief
Zanac X Zanac

I don't have a source in Japan, but I suspect some of these aren't going to be cheap. Good luck though.

[smork]

I only pick up PS1 games I can't get on Saturn, like Vib Ribbon, Toaplan Shooting Battle, etc. Just too much crap to get it all, when to me the Saturn has a bit less junk overall.

Personal preference, I guess.

[roushimsx]

I do a little here and there, much like Ed and Spartacus.

...and I envy that Gaia Seed, Spartacus! That's one of those games I've heard so much about but never gotten to play. Little Ralph, too :(

[Ed Oscuro]

I do a little here and there, much like Ed and Spartacus.

...and I envy that Gaia Seed, Spartacus! That's one of those games I've heard so much about but never gotten to play. Little Ralph, too :(
There's two games I hadn't even heard of!

Myself...hmm, I like the Wolf Fang, Harmful Park, and Zanac X Zanac. Also a bit interested in getting Galaxian 3 and Cyber Org, among others.

Gungage was a disappointment to me, though. Although it could've been worse, admittedly.

[cyberfluxor]

You know, I've never really looked into JPN PS games. I'm only familiar of a few Dragonball fighting games that I've seen floating around here that due to being JPN they want to sell them for more, which to me is kind of pointless unless you're a true hardcore fan and don't mind the sloppy games. How do you play imports on a PS anyways? Is there a mod kit or some CD you can pop in (similar to the DC) or what?

[goemon]

I collect Japanese PS games, but like most people I'm not going for a complete collection, since that would take up my entire apartment and cost several years worth of money. I'm just going for the games that interest me rather than a complete collection.

Gaia Seed is a pretty good game. I don't think it's worth the incredible price I've seen it go for recently, but it is fun to play. The music is especially good, and the final boss is... a totally unique experience that I will not spoil.

Spartacus: Is that your collection? If so, I'm impressed. A lot of nice gems there that make me jealous.

[TurboGenesis]

I do a little here and there, much like Ed and Spartacus.

...and I envy that Gaia Seed, Spartacus! That's one of those games I've heard so much about but never gotten to play. Little Ralph, too :(

Gaiaseed isn't all that great. Its a rather slow shootie. Not terrible but not worth the money it seems to command these days. For expensive shooties I highly recommend Zanac X Zanac.

(on topic): I only get the games that were exclusive to Japan Playstation such as:
Gradius Gaiden
Raiden DX
Zanac X Zanac
Geppy-X
Gaiaseed
Harmful Park

I am currently in the hunt for Gunners Heaven.

[roushimsx]

Myself...hmm, I like the Wolf Fang, Harmful Park, and Zanac X Zanac.

I'm not too big on Wolf Fang, but I loved Harmful Park and Zanac X Zanac to pieces. Zanac Neo was a bit on the easy side overall (especially after playing the hell out of Zanac) but the music was so damn good. Harmful Park was one of those awesome surprises that I'm thankful as hell for giving a shot. Good god was that a wonderfully awesome cute 'em up.


How do you play imports on a PS anyways? Is there a mod kit or some CD you can pop in (similar to the DC) or what?

You can use an Action Replay, I believe. I used to use a single swap trick on an older PS1, a double swap on a newer, and then I finally put a modchip in the newer one. It wasn't a stealth mod, though, so when I bought Biohazard 3 and Bust a Move 2 I had to hop online and download patches for them, rip the images, patch 'em, and then burn 'em off. For Biohazard, I just single swapped to play it in the old PS1 and played the god damn thing nonstop until I beat it. A few days later the patch rolled out and I was able to just burn off a copy to play on my modded PS1.

tl;dr - Copy protection only fucks over legitimate users

Now a days, I just have a japanese PS2 that I use to play my japanese games when I want to capture video (or play on my TV). I only have one that's not compatible with it (Namco Museum Encore, which is ok since I can play all of those games via MAME), so it works out pretty well.

If I'm not going to be capturing video or playing on my TV, I'll just rip an image with CloneCD and fire it up in an emulator (either ePSXe, ESSSPSX, or pSX Emulator depending on the game).


Gaiaseed isn't all that great. Its a rather slow shootie. Not terrible but not worth the money it seems to command these days.
-snip-
I am currently in the hunt for Gunners Heaven.

Yea, I've heard some unflattering things about, which only underscores why I wish I had picked up on it while it was still cheap :(

Gunner's Heaven is pretty darn fun. I'd love for someone to translate the names in the credits sometime so we can finally figure out who the hell worked on that sucker. IIRC the Euro release retained the japanese credits :(

[MarioMania]

I only have one...Dead or Alive

[Spartacus]

I only pick up PS1 games I can't get on Saturn, like Vib Ribbon, Toaplan Shooting Battle, etc.

If I weren't so rhythmicly disfunctional, I would seriously look into picking up Vib Ribbon because it looks cool as Hell! Someday I'd like to have Toaplan Shooting Battle, even though I already have Tiger Heli and Twin Cobra on other consoles. Toaplan is a company I have a lot of respect for.





...and I envy that Gaia Seed, Spartacus! That's one of those games I've heard so much about but never gotten to play. Little Ralph, too :(


There's two games I hadn't even heard of!

There's a couple of pretty good reviews for both games at Twin-Dreams.

Adventure of Little Ralph here...
http://users.pandora.be/twin-dreams/PSone/Chippoke_Ralph.html

and Gaia Seed here....
http://users.pandora.be/twin-dreams/PSone/Gaia_Seed.html

It was this quote in Twin-Dreams review of Ralph that made me want try it. "It challenges you to experiment. Can you remember when videogames were something of a mystery to you? In every game you tried, you would experiment to see what was or wasn't possible in that gaming world." I've always enjoyed trying to do things in games to see what was possible and that line drew me to the game like a magnet. It is a great game too! Great power ups, sound effects and level designs with multiple paths - I think anyone would enjoy playing it!
What the review doesn't mention is that in the intro, when Ralph is turned into a child by the invading demons, he losses all of his cloths in the process! So you're looking at the screen at this buck naked kid and asking yourself if a guy could find himself thrown into the hoosegow for owning kiddie porn in a video game! Fortunately, Ralph manages to get himself dressed before embarking on his quest for revenge.
It's not a pricey game to pick up that I've noticed. Just more along the lines of hard to come by.




How do you play imports on a PS anyways? Is there a mod kit or some CD you can pop in (similar to the DC) or what?

I've had great success with playing single disc PlayStation imports using a CD boot disc. You can read a thread about it here...
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56123

But honestly, I bought myself a Japanese PS2 (from the Chinese, of all people!) as a Christmas gift for myself last year and I think it's the most prized of all my consoles. You not only get to enjoy the older PS1 imports, but you also have access to a plethora of the newer games ranging from shooters no other system offers to those deliciously cheap and fun Simple 2000 budget games. Sony's library is just freaking incredible!!!!!




Gaia Seed is a pretty good game. I don't think it's worth the incredible price I've seen it go for recently, but it is fun to play. The music is especially good, and the final boss is... a totally unique experience that I will not spoil.

Spartacus: Is that your collection? If so, I'm impressed. A lot of nice gems there that make me jealous.

Yep, that's my library. I just picked out a copy of Geppy-X on Ebay five days ago and I'm anxiously waiting for that one to arrive. Been wanting to try out an anime shooter that spans four CD's!
The rap on Gaia has always been about it's graphics, but I like the music and it's in English (bad English, but English non-the-less). The farthest I've managed to get so far is to complete the practice mode. I love owning shooters and they're my prized possesions, but my skills at them are not-so-good! Don't know what the game goes for, I bought mine Buy-It-Now from a Japanese seller on Ebay February 19th of this year for $100 and was glad to get it.
That price, whether it was good or bad, is something pooch or anyone else would have to consider if contemplating owning a complete Japanese PS1 library.

[PapaStu]

I won't touch Japanese PlayStation stuff (all that seriously) with a 10 foot pole simply because of the sheer size and reginalism of the NTSC-J market. Not to mention that i'd get all stupid and start going after all the PSBook and 'The Best' series that are out there on top of getting all the games that are complete with spinecards because i'm that kind of anal. I've only got about 10 games, none of which are text heavy and thats just fine by me, because I want to be able to play and understand them.

[Nate Nanjo]

Not really, I have Persona 2: Innocent Sin and thats all.

[goemon]

The rap on Gaia has always been about it's graphics, but I like the music and it's in English (bad English, but English non-the-less). The farthest I've managed to get so far is to complete the practice mode. I love owning shooters and they're my prized possesions, but my skills at them are not-so-good! Don't know what the game goes for, I bought mine Buy-It-Now from a Japanese seller on Ebay February 19th of this year for $100 and was glad to get it.
That price, whether it was good or bad, is something pooch or anyone else would have to consider if contemplating owning a complete Japanese PS1 library.

$100 is a very good price. I've seen copies go for over 20,000 yen on YJA (Around $200). Did it have the spine card and everything?

[Aussie2B]

I don't think there's anybody even in Japan with a complete collection, so I find it tough to picture someone in the US getting one. I'd recommend just starting small and picking up games that interest you. That's what I've been doing, and so far I have:

Akumajou Dracula X: Gekka no Yasoukyoku
Alundra
Bakusou Dekotora Densetsu: Art Truck Battle
Battle Arena Toshinden 3
Chrono Cross
Cyber Org
Detana TwinBee Yahho! Deluxe Pack
Dragon Ball Z: Idainaru Dragon Ball Densetsu
Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22
Final Fantasy Collection
Final Fantasy Tactics
Front Mission 2
Gamera 2000
Ganbare Goemon: Ooedo Daikaiten
Gunnm: Kasei no Kioku
King's Field
Mario Mushano's Hyper Shogi School
Mitsumete Knight
Monster Collection
R4 Ridge Racer Type 4
Rockman 8: Metal Heroes
Rockman X3
Shiritsu Justice Gakuen: Legion of Heroes
Soul Edge
Star Ocean: The Second Story
Starblade Alpha
Street Fighter Zero
Street Fighter Zero 2
Street Fighter Zero 3
Tail Concerto
The King of Fighters '96
The King of Fighters '98: Dream Match Never Ends
The King of Fighters '99
Tokimeki Memorial: Forever With You
TwinBee RPG
TwinBee Taisen Puzzle Dama
Wizardry VII: Guardia no Houju
Yakata: Nightmare Project
Zutto Issho: With Me Everytime...

Not all of them are Japan-exclusive, but sometimes it's worth having regional variations. There aren't many stinkers in there as far as I'm concerned, so you could always look into my collection for some ideas of what to pick up.

[TurboGenesis]

Yep, that's my library. I just picked out a copy of Geppy-X on Ebay five days ago and I'm anxiously waiting for that one to arrive. Been wanting to try out an anime shooter that spans four CD's!

Geppy-X is fair at best. I liked Super Dimension Fortress Macross better gameplay wise. The anime scenes are quite nice though even if I can't understand it. It pans out like a television show - pretty cool. It would be cool to get a translation to gain maximum enjoyment from the scenes.




The rap on Gaia has always been about it's graphics, but I like the music and it's in English (bad English, but English non-the-less). The farthest I've managed to get so far is to complete the practice mode. I love owning shooters and they're my prized possesions, but my skills at them are not-so-good! Don't know what the game goes for, I bought mine Buy-It-Now from a Japanese seller on Ebay February 19th of this year for $100 and was glad to get it.
That price, whether it was good or bad, is something pooch or anyone else would have to consider if contemplating owning a complete Japanese PS1 library.

I honestly think the graphics are pretty good in Gaiaseed for an earlier release. The game play is adequate but for the price it is going for these days and times one would be better suited spending premium dollars on a more solid shootie such as Radiant Silvergun or Zanac X Zanac. Gradius Gaiden is far more better and for a fraction of the price. But when filling spots in collection one would have to include this game at one point or another. Do I regret getting Gaiaseed? No. I only paid $60 several years ago. I am a fan of all sorts of shooties, and I like to have as many of them as I can. I don't play it much compaired as other games I mentioned but do pop it on once in a blue moon when I go through my shootie collection.

[outsider]

I have around 20 Japanese PS1 games. I'm only interested in collecting the better titles which weren't released in any form in the US.

[Lord Contaminous]

http://videogamecollectors.com/albums/Lord-C-s-Room-of-Doom/ps1jp.sized.jpg

This is all I got

[ubersaurus]

Man, I wish Zanac X Zanac wasn't like 150 bucks.

[pooch]

Thanks for all the response.

I think I might start with all the special/limited edition boxes. I am not sure if anyone has a complete collection. I really wonder if anyone in Japan has a complete collection. I tried to search for this information with Kanji and tranlations software but was unable to find any.

[Kid Fenris]

I've got a handful of imports for the PlayStation. Some are fun, and others are just average games that piqued my curiosity. For some reason, I was intent on exploring the catalogs of Right Stuff and Data West.

Brave Prove
Blue Forest Story
Gunners Heaven
Hermie Hopperhead
Lightning Legend
Namco Anthology Volume 2
Panzer Bandit
Tobal 2
Veldeselba Senki/Beldeselba Senki/Record of the Veldeselba War/Squid Pants
Wings of Alnam
Xenogears




Two-Tenkaku

Is this game as awful as I've heard? Gamefan hated it so much that they didn't even review it back in the day.


Gunner's Heaven is pretty darn fun. I'd love for someone to translate the names in the credits sometime so we can finally figure out who the hell worked on that sucker.

It was developed by Media Vision, so there's likely a lot of overlap in the credits for their other early PlayStation games (http://www.starpulse.com/game/Wild_Arms/H2355/H2355/7/0/). I'd bet that Yoshihiko Ito was the character designer for Gunners Heaven, for example.

[Spartacus]

Thanks for all the response.

I think I might start with all the special/limited edition boxes. I am not sure if anyone has a complete collection. I really wonder if anyone in Japan has a complete collection. I tried to search for this information with Kanji and tranlations software but was unable to find any.


I've never seen a complete Japanese PlayStation collection. That would be quite an acomplishment. And since it seems you're using translation software for your research, I'm astonished you wouldn't be bothered a bit paying for thousands of games you'll probably never play! That's a true collector's endeavor indeed! Good Luck!




Geppy-X is fair at best. I liked Super Dimension Fortress Macross better gameplay wise. The anime scenes are quite nice though even if I can't understand it. It pans out like a television show - pretty cool. It would be cool to get a translation to gain maximum enjoyment from the scenes.


I got to take a spin with Geppy last night and went thru three episodes. Kinda campy with the over the top voice acting, but I'm not at all sorry I picked it up. So far every level/episode has had different backgrounds and enemies, so it keeps me interested in seeing what's next. Only one of three characters you can play with seems worth a damn so far, but it's nice that I can flip around to fire forwards and backwards. Just have to get used to the button layout, especially to bring up the shield more often instead of just blazing away. I do wish the power ups were more interesting though.
I don't think it's worth $70 - $80 I've seen some asking for it, but I caught one for $50 and am just glad that I can finally put it in my collection.




Man, I wish Zanac X Zanac wasn't like 150 bucks.


Yeah, that's not much more than I paid for one a year or two ago. Thought I might have jumped the gun and overpaid for it, but maybe not if it's fetching those prices. Collecting shooters isn't easy to do on the cheap, that's for sure!





RE:Two-Tenkaku
Is this game as awful as I've heard? Gamefan hated it so much that they didn't even review it back in the day.


Well, the quick safe answer would be yes. But it's certainly not the worst shooter I've ever played. So far, that dubious distinction belongs to Pony Canyon's Attack Animal Gakuen! I'll admit that my knowledge of Japanese culture is derived entirely from watching MXC on Spike TV and that because I thought the religion of Japan was Shinto, I was shocked that Club Dep would use someone elses diety, Buddha, as a WMD area bomb in it's overhead shooter. Well it turns out that Osaka is the home of the largest Buddha temple in Japan and Two-Tenkaku (Tsu Tenkaku) is a tower in Osaka Japan often refered to as the "Heaven Official Building" or the more understandable "Tower Reaching Heaven".
The games intro shows an entity entering the city via the Tsu Tenkaku tower. Osaka dispatches emissaries via helicopter, I assume to locate those twin midget girls who can summon Mothra, but they only managed to find a robot and two fighter ships who just happen to be hovering about in the countryside with nothing better to do. After much pleading and cajoling, the trio races back to Osaka to battle the invading evil!

The game covers all of Osaka's major landmarks in it's five levels. The levels are the sterotypical two stage design with mid level and end bosses.

Level 1/Deep Umeda: Umeda is Osaka's main commercial and business district where you'll fight helicopters, which are constant adversaries throughout the game.
Level 2 is Deep Osaka Castle and shows the main tower of Osaka Castle burning. It's a water level with pufferfish gunships and a large three stage battleship as the final endboss. It bristles with cannon, missiles and frickin lasers and is what I considered the best boss of the game. As you defeat the third stage and pass over it you can see that the thing was driven by a paddle wheel! LOL
Level 3 is Deep Douton Bori, essentialy downtown Osaka. Starts out with steet fighting in Osaka's canal district until past the mid level boss where it strangely turns into a hive like insect level. The mid level boss is a gigantic television of the sort you might see on the outside of buildings. It's actually displaying a program you can watch while it's firing at you! If you dawdle too much watching the TV, gigantic hands will come from either side of the screen and THWACK! try to back hand you into oblivion. Cute!
Level 4 is Deep Shitennou-Temple, the Buddhist altar of Osaka and has some colorful artwork to it.
Level 5 is Deep Two Tenkaku and is the toughest in the game.

Because the entire game is about dealing with evil spirits, many the the bosses are caricatures of Japanese demons that were indecypherable to me. I won't even attempt to describe the final end boss of the game and spoil it for anyone. But I will say that when I saw it for the first time I had nearly the same feeling I get when I download a large porn file only to discover it's missing the money shot!

Let's just say it's a reasonably competant shooter, mildly amusing at points and plays with no slowdown. But it's hampered with generic weapons, effects, and bland endboss's.

I guess this game was supposed to appeal to it's Japanese audience by having all of it's levels based on Osaka landmarks. Since the Japanese had easy access to some of the best shooters in the world, I doubt that would have been enough to persuade many to buy it. There in lies it's singular appeal to shmupo's. An obscure shooter that was only released in Japan with a flaming Buddha as it's area bomb.





...so far I have:

Akumajou Dracula X: Gekka no Yasoukyoku
Alundra
Bakusou Dekotora Densetsu: Art Truck Battle
Battle Arena Toshinden 3
Chrono Cross
Cyber Org
Detana TwinBee Yahho! Deluxe Pack
Dragon Ball Z: Idainaru Dragon Ball Densetsu
Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22
Final Fantasy Collection
Final Fantasy Tactics
Front Mission 2
Gamera 2000
Ganbare Goemon: Ooedo Daikaiten
Gunnm: Kasei no Kioku
King's Field
Mario Mushano's Hyper Shogi School
Mitsumete Knight
Monster Collection
R4 Ridge Racer Type 4
Rockman 8: Metal Heroes
Rockman X3
Shiritsu Justice Gakuen: Legion of Heroes
Soul Edge
Star Ocean: The Second Story
Starblade Alpha
Street Fighter Zero
Street Fighter Zero 2
Street Fighter Zero 3
Tail Concerto
The King of Fighters '96
The King of Fighters '98: Dream Match Never Ends
The King of Fighters '99
Tokimeki Memorial: Forever With You
TwinBee RPG
TwinBee Taisen Puzzle Dama
Wizardry VII: Guardia no Houju
Yakata: Nightmare Project
Zutto Issho: With Me Everytime...



Aussie2B, while I'm not suprised to see that you are undaunted by Japanese RPG's, I am suprised to see that you have an appetite for fighting games! And I'm jealous of your copy of Gamera 2000! I've only come across that game twice in two years and was outbid both times. :(
There's a ton of Godzilla games, but that's the only Gamera game I've ever heard of and I'm really curious to see it.
I do plan on picking up another giant monster game for Christmas - Simple 2000 Series Vol. 50 The Daibijin. It's about a giant woman wearing a bikini who ravages the countyside. I think you have to shoot her in the boobies to stop her. It's a highly rated game. No, seriously! It's like the highest rated Simple 2000 game among the Japanese! I love giant monster games and can't wait to try that one also! LOL

[Cryomancer]

Gamera 2000 is awesome, it's a panzer dragoon-esque.

Simple 2000 Vol. 50 is ok, if you do like kaiju you might try Vol 31 as well, basically you play as a lone soldier and fight against giant ants, UFOs, and sometimes giant monsters. It's got sequels too (and a 360 version just came out in japan i beleive).

[Aussie2B]

Aussie2B, while I'm not suprised to see that you are undaunted by Japanese RPG's, I am suprised to see that you have an appetite for fighting games!

I don't really. :P They sort of exist in my collection just for the sake of being there. Those were my boyfriend's purchases from way back when, but now that we have a consolized MVS it's much nicer to play fighters on a real Neo Geo than ports on PlayStation. We'll give them a spin every once in a blue moon, though.

[mydjsobad]

I own/collect all of the Japanese music games that have come out, and that's honestly all I really care about, so that's complete :p

[orangest]

i've picked up the japanese PSX games i've found at swaps and thrifts here in los angeles, mainly because my video game sickness usually forces me to pick up imports when they're found in those cheap situations. sometimes even for systems i do not have. ;) i don't usually hold on to them for very long; i currently have densya de go! 2, super puzzle fighter II X, and the case and instructions, but tragically no disc, for gensosuikoden II.

[Bloodreign]

So far a light sprinkling of games, Gradius Gaiden, Salamander Deluxe Pack, and possibly soon Gokujou Parodius Deluxe Pack.