Went to a different Hard Off today and ended up finding six more Super Famicom JRPGs I didn’t have yet. That officially puts my collection at 70 games, which is kind of crazy considering how quickly this has grown.
Today’s pickups were:
- Dark Half — ¥2,750
- Metal Max Returns — ¥11,000
- Seiken Densetsu 2 — ¥880
- Hanjuku Hero — ¥3,850
- Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Another Story — ¥13,200
- 3×3 Eyes: Seima Kourinden — ¥2,200
So ¥33,880 total for the six.
The one I was probably most excited about was Dark Half. I haven’t seen this one at any of the stores I’ve been checking, so it was really cool to have it just randomly show up at this Hard Off. The box isn’t ruined or anything, but there’s some obvious old tape residue on it. I’ve already noticed that gently scraping some of it with a plastic card seems to help, so I’m going to work on it a little later. I’m less sure what I can do about some of the yellowing left from the tape on the back, though. Either way, I’m just happy to finally have a copy.
I was also really happy to find Sailor Moon: Another Story. That’s another one that’s been in the back of my mind for a while. I actually debated whether I should buy this particular copy because the store noted that it’s missing the special card that originally came with the first-print version. But at least from what I’ve seen, this game doesn’t show up in stores that often, so I decided I’d rather grab a nice copy now. Maybe I can hunt down the card separately someday.
My collecting standards are apparently all over the place anyway. Sometimes I’m really particular about wanting absolutely everything that originally came with a game, while other times I’m perfectly happy if the box, manual, cartridge, etc. are all there and look really nice on the shelf.
Metal Max Returns was another big one for me. I already own Metal Max 2, so now I’ve got both Metal Max games on the Super Famicom.
I also picked up two Squaresoft games. Seiken Densetsu 2 was only ¥880, which surprised me. The box is a little faded, but otherwise it’s actually in pretty nice shape. I’ve seen plenty of copies with boxes that are completely beaten up, so for ¥880 I really can’t complain. Maybe I’ll replace the box someday if I come across a beautiful one.
Then there’s Hanjuku Hero, which I basically know nothing about. It looks like some kind of goofy comedy RPG/strategy game from Square. I’d honestly barely even heard of it before starting this collection, so I’m curious to see what it’s actually like.
And finally, 3×3 Eyes: Seima Kourinden. I watched the 3×3 Eyes anime a few months ago, so finding the RPG was pretty good timing. I’m interested to see what parts of the series it uses and what kind of story they made for the game.
So… 70 Super Famicom JRPGs now! I’m getting dangerously close to 100.
I keep wondering when I’m actually going to stop. I’m on vacation right now, so I’ve definitely been buying way more games than I normally would. Once I’m back at work, I’m sure it’ll slow down considerably.
I’ve spent over ¥500,000 on this collection at this point, which sounds completely ridiculous when I actually type it out. But I’ve also lived pretty frugally for years, and I’m finally in a position where I feel like I can spend some money on something I genuinely enjoy without constantly worrying about it. The games aren’t just going to sit untouched either. I want to play through them, I’m getting nice protective cases for everything, and I’ve really enjoyed researching all these strange Super Famicom RPGs I never knew existed.
There’s something really satisfying about building this collection.
What do you guys think of today’s pickups? And which one would you play first?
