How often do you import games?

[Calavera]

Do you now or did you in the past import many console games? If so what console did you buy the most imports for? I'm mainly thinking about when the console was somewhat current, but if you have a bunch of Sega Saturn imports go ahead and tell us about them too! For me the console I imported the most games for was the Dreamcast. I imported a grand total of 2 games for it! It is the only console I've ever imported games for. The first import game I got for the Dreamcast you can probably guess pretty easily. I'd say most people who were still big fans of the DC in late 2001/early 2002 imported this game. I am talking about none other than the amazing Shenmue II!

I can remember that it was such a popular import that EBgames.com actually sold it. I don't know if they actually carried it in stores or not, it was probably online only. As far as I know that is the only import game they ever sold. That is where I ordered mine from, and for $10 or so extra they would include a DC-X disc that would allow the DC to play imported games. For some reason I ordered the DC-X disc with mine even though I was well aware of how to burn discs for the DC and the Utopia boot disc. It was a waste of money because I ended up not even being able to use it. It would boot Shenmue II fine if the DC was hooked to a TV but for some reason the DC-X would not boot Shenmue II properly when using a VGA box. Since I had my DC hooked up with a VGA box and played through all of Shenmue 1 on VGA(it looked amazing on VGA back then) I was pretty dissapointed. I did NOT want to have to play it on a TV with downgraded visuals. If I remember correctly the only way I was able to get it to boot in VGA mode was by burning either a Gameshark or Code Breaker CD and using that to boot it. I was somewhat dissapointed that it didn't have the English voices I was so used to from Shenmue 1 but thought of it like well Skies of Arcadia has no voices at all and it was still an amazing game so even though it only has Japanese voices it is still a step up from having no voices at all. Even though I couldn't understand the voices they were still nice to have rather than subtitles with no voice at all.

The second and final game I imported was Headhunter. I was looking on some random website back around summer 2002 and it had Headhunter listed. It only had a few screenshots of the game but I could tell just from those few screenshots that I had to have it!

*I just did a quick image search to see if I could find one of the screenshots I remember and I actually found it!


I can clearly remember seeing that screenshot on whatever website I was on. I'm not sure what it was about that screenshot but I knew I had to have it. I ended up ordering Headhunter on Ebay. There was hardly any listings for it back then. If I remember right when I bought it there was only 1 or 2 listings. I think I only paid around $20 for it. I guess at that time not many people were interested in the DC, plus Headhunter was also released for the PS2 but there was no way I was going to play the PS2 version when there was a version for the superior Dreamcast! Just like Shenmue II I also played through Headhunter in VGA mode. It had some pretty damn nice graphics for the time as well. I loved the atmosphere of Headhunter, that first level at the gas station and the Wolfpack HQ were just amazing. For as much as I love Headhunter I do have to admit that when it gets to around Disc 2 when you are on a ship and in some big warehouse that the fun level drops off. But overall it is still one of my top Dreamcast games.

I realize I went into way too much detail about the two games I imported but hey thats how teh Calacera rolls. So what games have you imported recently or in the past? I look forward to reading about your import stories!

[Dr. Zoidberg]

The systems I would have had the most imports for are the Mega Drive/Genesis & Super Nintendo/Super Famicom, although I didn't import them, local stores did.

Actually I did get a lot of 360 games from OS due to no region locking, so maybe that was numero uno.

Also got a bunch of limited release PS Vita games from Play Asia.

[ian]

How often do I import games? lifetime average one every 17 years. Both in the past 16 years. One for the Saturn, and one for the Dreamcast.
not counting all the games I bought on ebay UK simply because they were cheaper than locally and not counting import games that got sold here in stores.

I doubt I'll ever have to import again. unless Japan, America or Europe gets a super deluxe exclusive, remake of one or more of my favourite ever games, I just don't see the need.
Say a Grand Theft Auto collection box with every game on one platform and signed by David Jones, Mike Dailly, Dan and Sam Houser was a U.S. exclusive.. well I would import that.

[pixel]

I've imported one game: An Asian (Korean?) version of Super Mario Bros. that was conspicuously in the same plastic molding as an NES game. Not sure why I did, but it was on eBay and I asked my dad to order it for me. The last time I remember seeing it was in my 8th grade locker, no idea whether I even own it anymore.

I might have gotten a Chrono Trigger 2-disc soundtrack from Japan around the same time, but that's fuzzy too. I do think I still have that somewhere, but I remember being a little disappointed that it was direct rips from the SNES and not an orchestrated version.

And speaking of Headhunter, I vaguely remember it from the DCEMU days and maybe it was one your posts @Calavera. But Matt McMuscles just posted a video about it, and I have renewed respect for it

[Skynet]

I have a few imports but not many. I couldn't even tell you what they are, besides RE4.

Also, I remember my post on DCEmu asking why my pirated version of Head Hunter didn't work, which was a known issue, then claiming I didn't pirate it. Good times

[melancholy]

I feel like I actually have a small but cool little import collection, and since you gave such a thorough account of your two imports, I'll show you some pictures of my collection.

First off, we have the two very first games I ever imported:

I got both of these off a guy on DCEmulation, though I cannot remember who anymore. Ikaruga could very well be my most valuable import and one of my most prized gaming items to this day. As for Frame Gride, I don't know much about it. He was selling it for cheap and I thought it could be good, though I never actually played it due to the language barrier.

Keeping with Dreamcast, here is another game I got off of a DCEmu member:

Yep, I got Headhunter too! Not really much to say about it, other than I admittedly didn't play much of it beyond driving the motorcycle around.

And finally, here's my last Dreamcast import that will also look familiar:

Shenmue 2, which was actually a pretty recent purchase. I found it in a Disc Replay in Indianapolis a couple years back. They wanted $40 for it and I jumped on it, especially since it was the European version.

Moving on, here's another game I found in an unexpected place:

Tales of Eternia is a European PSP game that is actually a port of a PSX game known as Tales of Destiny 2. For some reason, Fry's Electronics was selling it. It was so strange to find, I had to buy it.

Next up, Playstation imports:

Vib Ribbon! Once again, this was a purchase from a DCEmu member. It's even complete with the massive Vib Ribbon poster inside.

And the other Playstation import is not a game, but more of an accessory:

The rival to Sega's VMU, the Pocketstation! I found this complete with it's box at a game store in town for $20, which seemed like a steal. I never ended up using it, though I always wanted to on only US game that supported it: Final Fantasy VIII.

The next three games were all bought in a lot on Ebay:

I bought these three shortly after buying my Retron 5 once I heard it could do IPS patching on the fly. The ability to play fan translated versions of games on their original cartridges was VERY enticing. But at the end of the day, I only play an hour or two of Dragon Quest VI and never even booted the other two. The Retron kinda sucked, honestly.

Next couple of games I bought during my speedrunning kick:

That's right, it's Super Mario World and Super Mario World 2: Yossy Island (known as Yoshi's Island everywhere else). Strangely, I found these for sale at an arcade in Indianapolis. They were like $10 apiece, so I had to have them. Ya know, in case I ever want to speedrun the games.

Another find at that arcade was this:

Super Donkey Kong, otherwise known as Donkey Kong Country. I bought this solely because I thought it was awesome to find a Japanese SNES game still in it's original box. And once again, speedrunners prefer the Japanese version.

We are nearing the end of this list. The final two things I'm about to show you are not rare items, but have the most emotional significance to me. First off, a Wii game:

Another Code: R is a sequel to a DS game that I absolutely loved called Trace Memory (known as Another Code: Two Memories outside the US). When I found out that a sequel to Trace Memory was released only in Europe, I commissioned a member on DCEmu to buy me a copy and send it to me here in the States. I admit I paid way more than the game is actually worth, but I don't care. I played it to the end and never regretted a single cent I spent on it.

And finally, my most prized collection of imports:

It's all three versions of Super Mario 64: International, Japanese, and Shindou. Technically I'm missing the European release, but the only difference with that one is the language selection at the beginning, whereas the three versions I own all have their own gameplay differences. Most notable is the Shindou edition, which added rumble support to the game. Each of these cartridges have at least one 120 Star clear save file, as I have played through all three versions. Someday I would like to own boxed copies of these games, but for now, I'm happy to just have all three.

And that's it. That's my entire import collection. I'm sure that as time goes on, I'll add to this collection in some way (the next game I'd like to get is the Japanese Mario Kart 64).

[Calavera]

I somehow never saw your reply in this thread Mel. That is a very nice collection of imports. That is interesting you found some of those imports somewhat locally, especially the Pocketstation. There is a flea market near me with a booth with quite a few Japanese SNES and N64 games. Of course the person wants way too much for most of them, like more than you could get them for on Ebay. They have been there for about 5+ years now. One that was somewhat reasonably price was Super Mario World for $10 so I went ahead and got it. I don't even have a SNES currently but SMW is one of my favorite SNES games and I just thought it was cool to own the Japanese version. I think he also has Super Donkey Kong but that is one of the overpriced ones.

[melancholy]

It’s funny, because when I saw this topic, I was like ‘didn’t we have one of these a while ago?’ And it was this one!

Since that post, some things have changed. I did acquire that Japanese Mario Kart 64 I wanted, as well as Japanese Diddy Kong Racing and a random boxed copy of Japanese Winback for a dollar (all from that same arcade in Indianapolis). Also, I randomly obtained a European copy of Layton Mystery Journeys during an Amazon sale because it was half the price of the US version for some reason.

And my 3 copies of Mario 64? One of them was sacrificed to obtain the signature of one Charles Martinet:

[Dr. Zoidberg]

That's pretty cool.