News and Updates

07/30/10:
Yes, still no updates. To be honest, I haven't been doing a lot of gaming lately. I've recently been spending all my free time doing Perler Bead pixel artwork, using game sprites from SFC and other classic consoles. I have been playing a bit of the DeJap translation of Tales of Phantasia on my modded Xbox recently though. I own it for the GBA and I bought it for super cheap in the bargain bin at Toys R Us for about $7. However, I decided to just play the translated original version. For one thing, it's on the Super Famicom, so the graphics haven't been scaled down. Secondly, I don't have to put up with English voice acting, which I've heard is not good for the domestic GBA version. Thirdly, the SFC version has a song with full vocals for its intro theme! How neat is that?

I came back from another trip to Japan earlier this month, and I did pick up some new SFC carts. Popful Mail, Fire Emblem, and Super Bomberman 3. First of all, I don't know why it's called Popful Mail, since the kana is written more like "Popul Mail". Fire Emblem is a remake of the original game on the NES, which was also remade for the DS, called Shadow Dragon. However, I want to get this because it is for the SFC afterall, and also because it includes a direct sequel game on the cartridge. Lastly, I have never owned a Bomberman game on the SFC, and so my shame has now been lifted from me now that I have this game. Finally I can put my Bomberman multi-tap to some good use, I hope! I've had it for a while, and I still haven't used it for Super Puyo Puyo 2 even. I need to have friends come over for gaming get-togethers more often.

You can see the many videos I took on my trip to Japan on my Youtube Channel. Please subscribe!

10/18/09:
Gee, where does the time go? I'm a father now, so I've had even less time to work on my homepages. My daughter is nearly 18 months old now, and she's becoming a little less dependent. Which is good for me, because this means more time for my hobbies.

In April we went to Japan for 3 1/2 weeks. My Super Famicom game haul from the trip includes Tactics Ogre, Front Mission, Record of the Lodoss War, and Der Langrisser. For the Sufami Turbo, I got Gundam Generations Gryps Campaign.

3/7/08:
Oh my crap, I have neglected this page for far too long! After a year or so, stupid Google started to finally find this website through searches. Altavista picked it up way before Google did, so I wonder why Google has become #1. It really isn't the same search engine as it once was, but most people don't even seem to notice or care. I think my best bet to increase exposure for this site is to piggyback on Wikipedia entries for several SFC games and link to this website. This page is still alive, even though updates are so few and far between. I'm flattered to see other sites out there that steal the images I've created. The Super Famicom Central had taken my original hand-designed SFC logo from this page (complete with jpeg artifacting that I had cleaned up many years ago) and was using it for the longest time, yet they still claim today that the Super Famicom Central (which started in 1999) is the "original and only Super Famicom dedicated site" even though as far as English-language SFC-dedicated homepages go, my SFC page has been around since 1997, LOL! Anyhow, despite the erroneous claims, theirs is a great SFC resource page, so check it out.

Last summer I even planed a big 10 year anniversary update, but I never got around to it. There are still so many reviews I have yet to complete. In February of 2007, I came back from another trip to Japan with several more SFC games, and I now have a Sufami Turbo to play around with. I've heard that if you put two Sufami Turbo cartridges in the device at one time, you can share characters between games. I have SD Gundam Generations and Sailor Moon: Fuwa Fuwa Panic 2. I was unable to play Gundam characters in the Sailor Moon puzzle game and vice versa. I'll have to do more research.

I have actually been playing a lot on my Nintendo DS, primarily Final Fantasy III and Super Robot Taisen Original Generations 1 and 2. I love this system. Unfortunately, I've been unemployed for the past five months or so. I was downsized three times last year and it really killed me. I really hope I will find a good job soon. Especially since I will be a father two months from now!

For now, please check out this incredibly cool Youtube video I found: 100 Japanese exclusive super famicom games in 10 minutes.

6/6/06:
I've finally signed up with a webhosting service to find a new home for my homepage. I have gone with IX Webhosting as my provider. For only $3.95 a month and a free domain name registration, I felt it was the best way to go. I hope I'm right. I was very disappointed in Cox because I was told that I'd have 70 megabytes for personal webspace, only to find out that I am allowed up to seven e-mail addresses with 10 megs each and that I'd be forced to create dummy e-mail accounts andcompartmentalize my homepage. The Super Famicom page alone is over 12 megs, so it just wouldn't do.

So, eventually people may start wandering back to this site through finding it with the search engines once again. In the meantime, I'll be cleaning up all references to my old defunct e-mail address with Asahi-Net. I went to Japan at the end of April. I did a lot of otaku shopping in Tokyo. For the Super Famicom, I bought Lode Runner Twin, Umihara Kawase, and a Sufami Turbo bundled with a Gundam Generations strategy game. Maybe this summer I will work on writing reviews for these games.

1/15/06:
I've bought a house recently and I've made the move to high-speed Internet access (finally!). The problem is that my new ISP, cox.net, won't allocate the entire 70 megs promised to me for my webspace into one account. I'll have to create dummy e-mail addresses and compartmentalize my homepage. This is inconvenient and I'm pissed. I think I'll try to find another home for my homepage. So until then, this page will disappear off of Asahi-Net at the end of January. If you lose track of my Anime Super Famicom site, just keep Googling for it until it's found by the search engines.

7/23/05:
A year has practically slipped through my fingers with barely any updates to this page at all. I got caught up with a new job, and as a result I developed tendonitis in both wrists from repetitive stress injury (RSI) and carpal tunnel syndrome set in. Believe me, it hasn't been fun. Consequently, I haven't been playing many video games since April. However, my wrists are recovering and I can play games a bit now. And I'm getting in the mood to do the updates I promised nearly a year ago.

I went to Japan again this spring for two weeks, and there I did pick up a few new SFC games (even though playing them was far from being on my to-do list). I got Super Nazo Puyo for only 500 yen. A Puyo Puyo game with a picture of curry rice on the cover? Looked too bizarre to pass up. I also got Suchie Pai, a mahjong game with character designs by my favorite anime/manga artist, Kenichi Sonoda.

So to make up for the long period of inactivity, here is a big update. Reviews added for this update are Armored Trooper Votoms (finally!), Snoopy Concert, Suchie Pai and Jaki Crush. I've also been playing a lot of Hyper Iria lately again, and I've expanded my review of this game. Also look for an introduction to Mazinger Z and Nobunaga's Ambition in the Snapshots section. I'm planning on doing a review for Lupin the 3rd next. As I try to figure out Japanese rules for mahjong more, expect the review for Suchie Pai to evolve.

By the way, Lupin the 3rd is still available for sale, cart-only.

9/20/04:
I've taken Super Turrican off of the growing list of Super Famicom games to review because it's not technically a Japanese import. I thought it was, but it's actually a European game. The Japanese box cover looked very Japanese anime-ish, and I bought it because it seemed to be a cool run-n-gun game. Boy, what a turd. I can't imagine how it has such a fan following. I mean, how many times do I have to shoot a wasp's nest with a rapid fire plasma rifle before it's destroyed? Everybody says, "Oh, Turrican 2 is the best of the series." Well, I can care less. I sold my Super Turrican to a guy in Germany who insisted on having the Japanese import version of the game. I'm relieved that I won't be reviewing it afterall. If I did, it would've received a low rating for sure.

As I mentioned last time, I had a fabulous one month stay in Japan. I spend quite a load of money on anime, toys, and of course, video games. Here's my final stash list for Super Famicom stuff: Ranma 1/2: Neighborhood Combat, Ranma 1/2: Hard Battle, Snoopy Concert, Lupin III, Sonic Wings, Power Instinct, Jaki Crush, Same Game, Sailor Moon: Kondo wa Puzzle de Oshiyokiyo, a Bomberman multitap and a Super Famicom mouse. Pretty cool addition to my collection, I think. I wasn't able to buy Load Runner Twin, a cute Japanese rendition of the classic game. I also was not able to afford a Sufami Turbo, so perhaps I'll get one next time around. They're fairly cheap to get, and I'd like to eventually get one just for collection/novelty's sake.

I finally bought myself a copy of Lupin III complete with box and manual on my trip. Last fall, my friend got this game for me, but it was cart-only. The funny thing is, a guy who I had corresponded with through the Anime Super Famicom site promised to give the game to me for free, complete with box and manual. I didn't believe him, so I bought it when I found it in Akihabara. But soon after I returned from Japan, I received it from him in the mail! So, since I now have two extra copies of the game (one complete and one cart-only), I now have these two items up for sale on the sale page.

I've revised my review for Arkanoid: Doh It Again to reflect the gameplay with the SFC mouse. I've also added a few comments about Nobunaga's Ambition in the Snapshots section. I've recently learned that Nobunaga's Ambition is also compatible with the mouse. For the games I bought in Japan, I've added new box scans for them. Soon I will have a review of Lupin III!

Oh, one last tidbit: here's a pic of the Super Famicom cartridge case I bought while I was still living in Himeji, Japan. It managed to survive its shipment from there to here without a crack in the plastic, surprisingly. Pretty cool, huh?

9/18/04:
A little bit has been added, mainly the page on SNES Demos. Neat stuff what some programmers can do with the SNES.

I've had some nice feedback about the site lately, and a guy bought a set of the Chun-Li and Mai figures from the sale page. I still have one more set if anyone wants to buy them! And I always welcome feedback from intelligent gamers who are fans of retro gaming. You wouldn't believe the laughable e-mail I get from some people off this site. Here's an example from earlier this year:

From: Ann
To: Greg
Subject: about the Hyper Iria game 

hi there, I was wandering if you know where or how I'd be abile to find that game as a rom, 
if ya don't know where I can find it, then please at least tell me what tipe it is, like if it's a 
sens rom, ya know? I would aperishyate it, thanks you. 

P.S. here's my e-mail so you can tell me your anser. 
xxxxx@verizon.net 

~*Video game lover*~

There's just no hope for such people to ever get a clue... Anyhow, expect an update soon.

4/16/04:
I am visiting Japan right now! After my last trip to Japan last year in the winter, I vowed to my wife that the next time we come to Japan, it will be in either the fall or spring when the weather is wonderful. So here we are now in Japan, enjoying the cherry blossoms and the other flowers of spring, and the weather is perfect.

I saved up a bunch of money to spend on games, anime figures, and other otaku stuff before coming. While staying in Tokyo, I scoured Akihabara like I never have before with a guy I know from the Shmups Forum known as Eight One. (Shmups is the nickname for 2D shooters like Gradius, and Shmups.com is the definitive source of information on this gaming genre.) We visited game centers and game shops like Liberty and Traders all day long. Later that night, we met up with another shmupper, Yamo Skrap.

So far, I have found several Super Famicom games. I finally now have a complete copy of Lupin III with box and manual. Also in my stash are Ranma 1/2: Neighborhood Combat, Ranma 1/2: Hard Battle (my original one back home is the US version, which was actually the first SNES game I ever bought), Snoopy Concert (hey, I'm a sucker for cute stuff), and Jaki Crush. I got a 4-player multi-tap by Hudson that has Bomberman's face on it. I also bought a SFC mouse to play with Arkanoid.

I plan to also meet up with a fellow Shmupper called Piyo when we visit Kobe towards the end of this month. I hope to similarly thoroughly shop Osaka's Den Den Town. I really miss the Super Potato stores! I especially miss the Super Potato Retro Game Revival store. I am running out of the money I had budgeted for buying games, but I may yet find some more Super Famicom games I want before my vacation to Japan ends. I'll add more to my list of games I've bought as time goes by.

10/18/03:
At long last, another BIG update. Yay! This update is dedicated to Konami shooters. Late last spring I finally scored Pop 'N Twinbee on eBay, so a review for this game has been added! A review for Gradius III is new as well. A mini-review for the final Konami shooter, Axelay, has been added to the Snapshots section.

Completing the update, the Snapshots section also now has new mini-reviews for two anime-based games, Astro Boy and Tekkaman Blade.

Finally, the mystery of the "Gamer" difficulty level ending for Area 88 has been explained by a reader. Check out the review to see what it is!

Recently, I have convinced my friend Brian to contributed a review for Rockman and Forte for the Anime SFC page. Hopefully I can coerce him into finishing it soon! Also, my friend Lou is currently on vacation in Japan, scouring the game shops of Akihabara. He found Lupin the 3rd for me! I've been searching the Net for this game for a long time, and at last I will soon own it! I currently have a blurb about this game in the Snapshots section, but now that I will soon have the cartridge I will eventually write a full review for it.

03/07/03:
I went to Japan for four weeks in January! However, I didn't get any new Super Famicom games. I saw R-Type III which was fairly tempting to get, but I held off. I also saw the Super Famicom Mouse complete with box and everything for only 900 yen, but I didn't get it. I really wish I had! I mainly just got some Playstation and PC Engine games, along with one Dreamcast game. I had my eye open for Pop 'N Twinbee, but I didn't find it. A few days ago I tried for an auction for this game on eBay, but somebody outbid me in the last six seconds. It even came with Twinbee stickers! Gah!

I've been back in America for the past month, and I'm job hunting like crazy. I'm hoping to be able to get a car soon and find a job that pays well enough so that my wife and I can have our own apartment. I really miss our independent life. Living with my parents has been a blessing, but we're really anxious to move out.

Today I have added a review for one of my favorite Super Famicom games, Arkanoid: Doh It Again. I still haven't yet reviewed Ys III, Super Turrican or Armored Trooper Votoms. I haven't gotten around to playing them much yet. My friend I met on Shmups has let me borrow some of his Super Famicom games, such as Super Bombliss and a real gem called Same Game. Same Game is a rather unusual game, apparently part of a series of games by Hudson Soft called "Eisei Housou" ("Satellite Broadcast") that interact with each other. The cartridge for this game looks very similar to a Super Game Boy, with a small cartridge that plugs into the top that allows you to play the game with Hudson characters such as Bomberman and Bonk! There's also another version of this game that comes with the cart that features Nintendo characters like Mario and the gang. While I was at game stores in Japan last January, I noticed other games in the "Eisei Housou" series. One was a bass fishing game, another one was a musical game, and a horse racing game. I haven't finished it yet, but I have started putting together a special feature for this game at this location.

And finally, I forgot to mention that a few months ago, my friend Lou let me borrow his Super Wildcard DX to try it out. In case you haven't read the FAQ yet, the Super Wildcard is a disk drive for the Super Famicom for the use of "backups." ROMs can be saved to disk and then inserted into the Super Wildcard, which allows you to play ROMs on the actual Nintendo hardware instead of a glitchy emulator. Actually, I used his Super Wildcard to make a backup of Arkanoid to use on SNES9X to make screenshots for the review I've uploaded today. It's pretty neat, and I'd like to get one eventually. Preferrably the Super Wildcard DX2, which can connect to my old Iomega Zip 100 Drive via a parallel port. It can also connect to a CD ROM as well, I've read. For more information on SFC disk drives, check out this site.

I hope to be back with more reviews soon!

11/14/02:
All right, I've received a review for Ranma 1/2: Neighborhood Combat from my fellow anime Super Famicom game collector Joel, and it's now online! Also, I was looking through my old stack of the now-defunct Next Generation magazines and found a picture of Sony's prototype Playstation CD-ROM system for the Super Famicom. I've scanned the picture and added a small bit of information on this prototype on the FAQ page. But really, a better source of information on the various Super Famicom peripherals such as the CD-ROM add-on and the Sufami Turbo is the Super Famicom Central. If you haven't seen it, go check it out! Oh yes, and I also updated the information on disk system add-ons for the SFC on the FAQ page.

11/08/02:
Major changes going on. The main index page has been a real eyesore for many years, especially with the list of games on this page growing. I'm taking a web design class, and for one of the projects I redesigned the main index page. It's a good excuse to take the time out to redo the Anime SFC Center. Now, instead of having everything listed on the index page, a new clickable image map will take you to where you want to go: this news page, the rating guide, reviews, the FAQ, and the links page. So finally, the long list of game reviews has its own page. There are also two additions to the Snapshots page: Ghost Sweeper Mikami and Lupin the 3rd. Neat stuff.

Also, I've been trading e-mail with a fellow Super Famicom anime game enthusiast, and he's volunteered to give me a review for Ranma 1/2: Neighborhood Combat. I'm looking forward to it!

10/26/02:
I've been back in America for over two months now. I've gotten used to living in America again, more or less. Reverse culture shock has not yet fully worn away, and I don't know when or if it ever completely will. Living in Japan for two years changed my life so much. There's so much I love and hate about Japan that I've formed an unusual bond with the country. Especially since my wife is Japanese, that bond is inseperable. It was painful to leave Japan, but it was something that needed to be done.

Of course, one thing I miss about Japan is the access to neat-o gaming stuff. Before I came back to America, I bought a really cool Super Famicom cartridge storage cabinet. Fortunately, it was shipped to America undamaged and the clear plastic doors weren't cracked or broken. Wish I could say the same for some other stuff we shipped. I was able to get King of Fighters 2000 for the Dreamcast a few days before I came to America. And I got Ikaruga for the DC soon after I arrived. I think I probably about doubled my gaming library while I lived in Japan. If you're curious, you can see pictures of my gaming setup in my Japanese apartment at The Blast Shack at this page.

But now that I'm separated from Japanese game stores and currently unemployed while I'm taking classes once again, my videogame purchasing has dropped to nil. But this is a good thing, since it gives me the chance to enjoy the games I have instead of just buying more. Lately, I've been playing a lot of Oshaberi Parodius and Hyper Iria. I finally got past level 3 in Hyper Iria and have made quite a bit of progress. I'm really starting to like this game more than ever before. I have added a few new pictures for the review.

I still haven't gotten around to doing a review for Super Turrican or Armored Trooper Votoms. One thing strange I've discovered is that it doesn't seem like the ROM for Votoms can run on any emulator. Strange. But recently, I found the domestic SNES version of Ys III used for only $6, complete with box and manual! I couldn't pass it up. Right now it's fairly low on the list of games I want to play, but eventually I'll make a review for it for the Anime Super Famicom Web Resource Center.

07/30/02:
My two years as an English teacher in Japan has come to an end. Next month on August 17th, I will fly back to America to live with my wife. We've thought this over a lot, and we've come to the decision that's for the best that we move to America and get on with our future. Although I'm looking forward to the higher standard of living in America (such as air conditioning and heating in the whole house), I'm going to miss Japan. Of course, one of the things I'm going to miss is the easy access to Japanese video games. Additionally, I have yet to decide whether or not I will cancel my service with Asahi-Net where my homepage is located. If this page disappears, you'll still be able to find this page from my original homepage location at Extreme Internet.

But this certainly won't mark an end to the Anime Super Famicom page. I'll never stop visiting Japan, especially since my wife is Japanese and her family is here. My SNES and the rest of my game consoles are packed up and are on their way to America by now, and I'll be going back to school studying IT at my old junior college. So for now, I have updated again with a review of the Playstation port of Final Fantasy V.

04/26/02:
Last weekend I went on an otaku shopping spree with my wife in Osaka. Of course, I went to Den Den Town to do some retro gaming shopping at the several Super Potato locations. There is one Super Potato location that is nothing but classic gaming for retired systems: Famicom, Super Famicom, PC Engine, PCFX, Megadrive, Saturn, Neo Geo, etc. I bought a lot of games there. Unfortunately, it seems like Plus+ no longer has a store location dedicated to classic gaming without a single Playstation or Gamecube title to be found. They have reshuffled their vintage selection into the back of their larger store location and it just isn't the same. But anyhow, I picked up many Super Famicom and Sega Saturn games for auction on ebay. You can click here to view my auctions. And of course, I bought some games for myself!

I have posted two new game reviews: Cotton 100% and Super Puyo Puyo 2. I added an update for the Valis 4 review now that I have played the PC Engine version and I commented on the differences a bit. I have also added box scans for Area 88 and Assault Suits Valken. Coming soon will be a review for Armored Trooper Votoms and Super Turrican.

Recently I bought an S-Video cable for my Super Nintendo. In case you don't know, the S-Video cables for the N64 and the Game Cube are fully compatible with the SFC/SNES. If you have an S-Video compatible TV, these cables sharpen up your game screen a bit on the vertical axis.

Lastly, my new love for my Turbo Duo I bought last fall has inspired me to create a sister page to the Anime Super Famicom Web Resource Center: the Anime PC Engine Super Game Review System! Please click this link and check it out! I don't have very much yet at all, so it's still in its infancy stage. But I am most proud of the logos I've designed for it. As with the logo to this Super Famicom page, I duplicate the logos and fonts to the best of my abilities using MS Paint.

10/24/01:
This has been a kick-ass month for video games for me. A couple of weeks ago I went to the Tokyo Game Show with my friend Lou who is visiting Japan from Arizona. It was cool, but it seems like 2D games are going to mainly live on with the Game Boy Advance. I'm excited to see many great games coming out for the GBA at the Tokyo Game Show, such as Gradius, Sonic, Puyo Puyo, Puzzle Bobble, and several RPGs. I think I really want to buy a Game Boy Advance. It's like a more powerful Super Famicom that's portable! I got to see the Sakura Taisen show, and that was pretty cool except I couldn't understand most of what they were saying. The only other big game on display I got excited about was Dead Or Alive 3 for the X-Box, but that game alone is certainly not worth paying all that money to Microsoft to buy that big, dumb console.

Last Monday I had the day off, so I took my friend to Osaka's Den Den Town electronics district. We scoured the area for video game shops and found lots of neat-o stuff. I picked up Gradius Deluxe Pack, Capcom Generations 1 (which includes the classic 1942 and 1943 shooters) and Do Donpachi for my Sega Saturn. For the Super Famicom, I bought Assault Suits Valken (I only have the U.S. Cybernator version) and a game based on the anime Armored Trooper Votoms. I'll have to play this game and write a review for it, along with my recently aquired Super Puyo Puyo 2 for this page.

And last but not least, I decided to buy a Turbo Duo, otherwise known as the PC Engine, and known as the Turbographix 16 in the States. I had to rely on my friend Lou and my fellow retro-gamers at Shmups.com for help on buying this complicated gaming system. It's no wonder why so many game developers gave up on NEC by the time they released their PCFX game system. There are HUCards, CD, Super CD, Arcade, and finally Supergraphix categories of games. Not to mention the various incarnations of the system... the original Core System, the CD add-on and it's various HUCard drivers to play the various types of CD games, the Duo, the Duo R, the portable Turbo GT, the Shuttlegraphix, the Supergraphix.... Man, it's confusing! But I settled on getting the black Duo, which has the 3.0 CD driver built-in. I picked up many cool games including Bubblegum Crash, Ranma 1/2, Valis 2-4, Macross: 2036 and Macross: Love Song. I am very excited about this system! If you want more information about this system, I suggest you go to http://www.turbogaming.com/. I have an idea of creating an Anime Duo homepage and an Anime Saturn homepage to go along with the Anime SFC page, but it just depends on how much energy I put into the effort.

06/09/01:
Massive update at last! First of all, I finally finished the review for Gun Hazard. I've also written a review for Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius and a blurb about Cyber Formula for the Snapshots section. And to move things along quicker, I have taken reviews of games at Gamefaqs.com to use for this page. So there are new reviews for Gundam Wing: Endless Duel, Sailor Moon: Another Story, and Tenchi Muyo RPG!

I'm planning another trip to Osaka this summer, so I might be able to find some more interesting Super Famicom games there. After that, I'll be in America for four weeks! I'll be in San Diego for six days for the the San Diego Comic Con!

04/17/01:
There haven't been any new additions to the page in a while because I haven't found any interesting SFC games. Even though I now live in Japan, I still haven't found any interesting Super Famicom games. I've only been buying Dreamcast and Saturn games. And I recently got married, so that means that I'll be buying fewer games. But good news is that the Playstation update to the SNES Chrono Trigger will be making its way to America! It's under the name of Final Fantasy Chronicles. I'm planning to buy this when I make it back home to America this summer.

I was pretty bummed out when I heard the bad news that Dreamcast consoles were stopped being produced. I have a feeling that the Dreamcast was the last true otaku machine. Everything else is just mass-media hype platforms with boring games.

I did buy Advanced V.G. and Pretty Fighter X for the Saturn. Both of these are considerably better than their SFC counterparts, but they're still a bit outdated and slow. Pretty Fighter X features some rather low-budget anime cutscenes for each character with muffled sound. It gets an 18+ rating because there's a few close-up shots of cleavage, but there's no nudity. So if anyone had their hopes up, sorry!

If anyone would like to review any games for this page, any help would be appreciated! There hasn't been a review on here since last summer.

06/06/00:
Okay! The updates are finally coming along! Now that I'm hired for my new job, I'm no longer in a slump. It's time to take out my Super Nintendo and do some reviews! I've begun working on box scans and screen captures for Super V.G. and Gun Hazard. Plus, I finally found the rom for Power Instinct, so I now can get some screen captures for the game! Also, several people have told me that the special green armor powerup in Valis 4 makes your character invincible, but you can only take so many hits. I have updated this in the review.

05/31/00:
Tonight I was hired for an assistant English teaching position in Himeji, Japan! This is a dream come true for me, and I've wanted to do this for a very long time. My job search is the primary reason why I have not updated this page for quite a long time. (That and also because I've been playing my Saturn and Dreamcast much more than my SNES lately...) Himeji is close to Osaka, so I can guarantee you that I will be buying new Super Famicom games for review on this page!

02/13/00:
I'm back from Japan and unfortunately I did not find too many interesting Super Famicom games. I really wanted to get a Parodius SFC game, but I could only get one for my Saturn instead. I did get two SFC games, though. One is Super V.G., an all-female fighting game similar to Pretty Fighter. Unfortuantely, it does not seem to be much better than Pretty Fighter and the characters don't seem as unique. And, I was unable to find Pretty Fighter X while I was there. I also bought Front Mission: Gun Hazard. I will write reviews for these two games after I play them for awhile and become comfortable with them.

01/09/00:
I have my plane tickets and I'm going to Japan in less than two weeks! Then I'll be shopping for import games! Has anybody played The Legend of Mana and Chrono Cross yet? If you've played them, let me know what they're like. I'm not planning on getting these until they are released in America (I usually don't like playing Import RPGs since they're not in English and I don't understand most of what's going on). I'm planning on getting the Final Fantasy Anthology sometime after I buy Final Fantasy VIII. I never did play any of the Final Fantasy games on the SNES, and this is an economical way to do so. I wager that if this one sells well, we might get the re-release of Chrono Trigger on the Playstation as well.

Also, I'm getting a Dreamcast tomorrow! I'm getting it used with four games and an extra controller for only $200 from a friend of mine. I've been drooling over these things for awhile now, and I'm more excited about the Dreamcast than I am about the upcoming Playstation 2. My prediction is that the Dreamcast is going to be the new home of true anime games, the successor of the Saturn. I just hope somebody develops a surefire way of modding Dreamcasts to play imports. The SNES and Saturn were so easy to play imports on... I think it's pretty crappy how Sony has screwed us import gamers on the Playstation by developing that modchip-blocking code of theirs. Fortunately though, most of the best games on the Playstation are released domestically so there isn't much of a reason to buy Japanese Playstation games (I only own three).

I've had a handful of people inquiring about the Iria game on the Playstation lately. It's called Zeiram Zone. No, I've never played it, but you can find a review of it on the Anime Playstation page. It looks kinda cool, I think. However, most anime games on the Playstation tend to stink. Take for example the Ranma 1/2 game for the Playstation: it looks like crap. They tried to make it look and play like Tekken! It would have been better if it had been a 2D hand-drawn anime fighting game to carry on the tradition of Super Battle. Would have been even better on the Saturn... Oh well, wishful thinking.

What else... oh yeah. As far as updates go, I changed my mind and lowered the rating on Pretty Fighter. The more I look at this game, the more I think it could have been much better. Maybe I'll be able to buy Pretty Fighter X for dirt cheap in Akihabara and see if it's any better.

12/09/99:
I never did add a news and updates page to the Anime Super Famicom page, so here goes. I'll have to admit, not much has been changed on this page since last summer, aside from adding a small blurb about Fatal Fury 2 in the Snapshots section. I am graduating from college next week though, so I will have more time to spend on this page then. I haven't been playing my Super Nintendo much, and I haven't bought any new games in a while. Although, I am planning a trip to Japan in January, and I'm going to do some video game shopping in Akihabara, Tokyo's electronics district. I'm mainly looking for Sega Saturn games, but I might find some Super Famicom games that look interesting. My Sega Saturn has become my favorite source for anime games, especially since it excels at 2D graphics. However, I still believe that the SNES was one of the best consoles ever made. I'm not a Nintendo fan; I never did like the old NES, and there aren't any good reasons to buy an N64. I think that the Saturn carried on the same tradition of the 16-bit SNES. Games like Sakura Taisen have really spoiled me. It's just a shame that Sega never released here a fraction of the great games they had in Japan.

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