Akumajou Dracula Dentsu

[trevorbelmont]

exactly, I wouldnt really wouldnt be asking 10 bucks either because its not reasonable, if it was i would have asked you buy now I think somewere in the 30's is a reasonable price but thats just what I think. featherpluckin i know you prbably know this but i wasnt trying to figure out if you were trying to rip me off nor do i think you were.

[JC]

Akumajou Densetsu is definitely not a $10 game and basing the value of a game of an eBay auction is a hard thing to do as well because that is the value of it during a weeks period set by those few people who were able to see it.  Even if those same people saw it at a different point in their life it may have a different value based on how much extra money they have or if they are craving it more.

Yeah, eBay is such a strange creature. I hear what you're saying about how drastically prices on eBay can fluctuate for some items. During the summertime, when I assume gamers had more time to be searching eBay, the prices seemed to go much higher, and now that the academic year is starting up, there are less people looking for those hard-to-find great deals on eBay -- thankfully for a buyer like me.

I've always wondered how you determine pricing. I know you aren't out to lose money, but at the same time you're here to help us get ahold of stuff we can't from outside of Japan. I noted elsewhere that your videos tend to be priced higher than most items -- I assume those are just harder to come by. And it sounds like the same is true of Akumajo Densetsu.

Do you think it's true that American buyers favor games they're familiar with over games they haven't tried before?

(And geeze, living in Japan, I bet you've got an awesome collection!)

[nes_pwnerer]

Do you think it's true that American buyers favor games they're familiar with over games they haven't tried before?

Definatly. I mean, if you buy something that's familiar to you, but in its uncut, original from, you don't have to worry about the language because you already know the play controls, what to do/where to go, etc.

On the flipside, I believe most people think the North American Famicom community is a rather small group, and you wouldn't think that those minds would be all collected together and easy to find. For example, a popular gaming forum is GameFAQs.com. 'Round there, the Japanese Castlevanias, SMB2j, and the Rockmen are about all the Fami disscution that goes on the NES board (I don't think the have a separate board for Fami; just FDS, and that's got a whole nother list of risks to go along with it). Given that, most are afraid that they'll end up with some RPG entierly in Japanese and be forced to use a guide, which probably drops the enjoyment level. Also, if they buy an unfamiliar game, even with the instruction booklet, they might not be able to figure it out.

Don't believe me? When was the last time you bought a game soley based on the name? Weren't your first FC purchases familiar ones? For those with the FDS, didn't you want to buy Doki Doki Panic, SMB2j, Zelda, or Metroid first? It's perfectly natural to go with what we know and head for the sure buy, so we know what we're getting for our money.

[JC]

Don't believe me? When was the last time you bought a game soley based on the name? Weren't your first FC purchases familiar ones?

I may be a special case, but my first Famicom purchase was not familiar at all. I bought a CIB Famicom that came with 40 games -- not a single one of which I could identify without the help of friends here and on other forums. And, within that lot, I've discovered a lot of gems I wouldn't have found without being forced to explore these unfamiliar titles. For instance, some that I had never heard of: Galaxian, Joy Mech Fight, SD Hero Soukessen, Akumajo Special, Don Doko Don, etc. The list could continue. I didn't know a single one of those when I jumped into Famicom gaming. And I still make it a point to buy games that I've never heard of. I did that recently with about five games, one of which turned out to be really fun: Higemaru Makaijima. And it's not that I have money to waste; I just enjoy that surprise of finding a gem that no one here or on other forums is yet talking about.

But I agree with you on your other points. You run the risk of buying a game that, because you don't know Japanese, will be impossible to play, without some shitty guide/translation. That's why I started a thread here a while back called: Don't Buy! Unless You Know Japanese.

[nes_pwnerer]

Yeah, I'd better go check out that thread.

[trevorbelmont]

i have boughten many Japanese games before that i had trouble doing some things because i didn't know Japanese even though i still dint, i still buy some Japanese games that catch my interest. But i have been castlevania 3 since i was young (it got me into castlevania) I was born in 91 cv3 cameout in 90 (89 in japan)
I played  this game on the nes(all the nes games were my brothers and this one was the only one we had.)  when i was 3 or 4, I wasn't even aware of how much of a classic this game was! ,I could have played something else anything else, hell its just a great game too! so I'm not just familiar with this game it very special too me it brings back the greatest memories as it does for others.

[nes_pwnerer]

CV III is an incredible game; the music is even stuning on the NES version (I have a copy myself). Did it ever have a period where people just went "OMFG TEH MUSAK CHIP PWNZORZ j00r @$$" and the price just went straight up, or is that yet to come?

Btw, trevorbelmont, the thing you said about looking for a familiar face in a different light is exactly what I ment by the whole "sure buy" thing, so now we have stone cold proof (Well, it kinda was already proved, but still...). And JC; You had never heard of Galaxian prior to the Famicom? It was in arcades and such too, eh? It even had an NES port.

[JC]

Suprisingly, no, I hadn't heard of Galaxian even though it was in the arcades. And I wasn't shy about arcades, either. I just missed that one, I guess.

[nes_pwnerer]

I see...I'm more of a Galaga man myself (I find it more fast-paced; plus you can have more shots on the screen at once) but Galaxian still has its place as a classic along side Galaga on the dozens of pirate carts out there.

[JC]

I was gonna mention Galaga. My older brother swears I used to play Galaga religiously at Pizza Hut. That's were all the arcade games were found back in the '80s in my small desert town. My recollection of gaming at Pizza Hut is hazy. So, I guess it's always possible that I played Galaxian, too, and just don't remember.

[Doc]

I miss all of this great conversation...DAMNIT!

But yeah, I ALWAYS buy stuff that I'm not familiar with, that's how I found out about the addictiveness of Pizza Pop!, Tama and Friends (Which when looking at the Japanese website, is MASSIVLY popular and I can see why feather says that it's not worth $5.), Famista '90, amongst others. However, I do believe that Castlevania is really in reality only worth between $10-$15 RARITY WISE, other than that, I can see why some of you think that it's worth more money, especially in stores. That's why I don't use eBay as a reliable source of pricing Famicom games. Mike of NESPlayer got Soap Panic for $75 loose, when it goes for around $130-$140 loose, if you look at the rarity and the company that released it (Hacker).

[trevorbelmont]

I just hope i get a god deal on Akumajou Denetsu someday.

[the_wizard_666]

Hey, there's no such thing as a bad deal man.  Say you bought a game for $40 that's worth $5, but you love the game, and play it all the time.  Who's to say it's a bad deal?  If you get $40 worth of play time out of it, it's definitely a good deal.  We're not saying it's not worth that much, we're saying that based on rarity it should never reach prices that high...but it consistantly will because people love the game.

[trevorbelmont]

as of right now i have no money but 40 bucks for a mint complete cpy (that looks really good) ofcourse i would pay 30 to 40 bucks for it but no one is selling it for that much.

[Doc]

Who's to say it's a bad deal?

Exactly. Some people might think I was an idiot for buying Sweet Home complete for $40, but I love the game, so I don't care.