Hong Kong or Taiwan?

[Bramsworth]

Heh, Taipei is where my friend that buys all this stuff for me is actually! Maybe you won't be out of luck after all

[JC]

You have anything you've never seen on any website? I like to keep track of what sort of unlicensed originals exist, but I think I've seen just about all of them.

[manuel]

thx for the advice JC, i think i will be going to Taipei, i will be going this summer, i will also be going to akihabara in japan!!! Cant wait!!

A lot of people say Akihabara is overrated. I hope you can still find yourself some deals, though.

[Bramsworth]

You have anything you've never seen on any website? I like to keep track of what sort of unlicensed originals exist, but I think I've seen just about all of them.

Me? None that I know of so far, unless you mean variations like that cardboard mario world 64 I got today. I only ask the guy to search for what I know exists, so I wouldn't have any way of getting him to find something unknown since I wouldn't even know of it to ask him.

The Samurai Shodown 2 cart he found was one I had never seen before, that's probably the closest to generally unknown stuff I've found. Then again I did know that it exists 

[JC]

I still need Samurai Shodown 2. Yeah, I'm pretty sure, other than dumb Chinese RPGs and maybe obscure Russian originals, I've seen everything. Well, maybe a Korean original or two have yet to pop up online.

[leszek]

I am going fo HK this summer, does anyone know any place where i can buy some famicom/pirates stuff?

[famiac]

haha marlon, like my best friend, he's crazy! 

[Trenton_net]

HK, Taiwan, or any modern city with a high cost of living will have a lack of pirate cartridges. If you want to see/buy large swaths of games, you need to go to mainland China or places where expensive games and products are out of reach for the common person. In those areas, pirate Famicom cartridges are like a staple because it's the only thing that most people can afford.

[JC]

But what you typically find in China are either Chinese-language RPGs that most people can't play or cheap globtops with almost brittle casing. In Taiwan in particular you find high-quality pirates dating back to the 80s, including non-RPG originals that are often quite fun! I'm less familiar with what HK has to offer.

[Bramsworth]

Has anyone here really gone looking all over Taiwan to be able to say there's nothing there? Of course, finding this stuff in China is so easy with how much rampant it is there, but in Taiwan I'm sure that while it's less obvious all over the place, you'll still find a good amount of Famicom carts if you just like..find the right place.

I'm hopefully going soon though, so I'll be letting everyone know what I bring back. My prediction is nothing, but there's always hope

[JC]

I went to Taiwan. There aren't a bunch of video game stores or anything... they seem to be much more into online gaming. But in some of the open-air markets you can find vendors with nothing but Famicom games. And good games, too!

[Trenton_net]

How long ago did you go? I found that in most major cities they started selling pirate GBA/DS/PS2 games over Famicom stuff now days.

[JC]

February 2009.

[Bramsworth]

I got back from Taiwan yesterday after spending a month there. I can certainly say my image of the place before going there is completely different now!  But anyways I'm sure most here would be interested in what was available as far as pirates go. Well, JC and Trenton had it pretty much. You won't find anything too obviously except for in the open air markets aka night markets. And I went to every single one in Taipei I could find on a map! Suffice it to say that you only can find Famicom, any other systems you have to be lucky and run into a toy shop or a gaming shop that actually still stocks old stuff. I got lucky by walking around randomly throughout the days exploring the city since I came across some hidden places that had a small stock of some interesting items. This is everything I found:



In case it's not easy to see everything:

Famicom:

2 boxed copies of Somari
Millionaire by Sachen
Fighting Hero
Super Lion King
Earthworm Jim 2
4 in 1 JY multi(showed Donkey Kong Country on the cover, sadly turns out to just be a hack of Tiny Toons -_-)
9 in 1 multi with Super Panda
15 in 1 with lots of hacks of popular taiwan originals, haven't really tested it yet
Pipe Dream(didn't want it, the night market seller just gave it to me for free )

Genesis:

Super Mario World 64
Dream Fruit Roulette, manual has lots of naked chicks in it


Besides that I got some GBA game from Syntax, who made lots of crappy gbc games, and three GBC games made in Taiwan. Forgot their names for now, too tired to check again.

If anyone ever thinks about going to Taiwan for pirates, don't. Night Markets rarely had any games, I only came across four(out of like 12~ I visited) that sold any, and I bought all the interesting pirates already  Of course, I was mainly in Taipei. I did go to Kaohsiung and find the Super Panda multi there though. Any other sources from pirates flows between collectors and other shops that you'd probably have to just have luck coming across. I also went to three flea markets. Not a single game anywhere!

Oh yeah, I forgot to say I did find one shop that had a boxed complete A'can console. If anyone knows what that is, and ever plans to go to the Taichung area just lemme know and I'll tell you where to look =p

[JC]

Nice Super Panda find... I saw a copy of that while I was there and didn't buy it. Dumb, dumb.