Do you remember your first Import game? Where did you get it?

:smile-new: a number of years ago, got a japanese loose disk given to me, played on friends hardmodded psx

...then a week later, picked up the PAL-EUR relz complete!

Philosoma (with cool as fuck intro)
:witless:
in looking for this, found a video on a 'philosoma 2' (ps2) but it seems a JPN only game, gonna have to get that ASAP! (and silpheed lost planet has a similar storyline to philosoma, but WAY more radio chatter..)

 

Ugh me too, and back then they would show Japanese previews of games with a disclaimer saying it MIGHT not ever come out in the US. And Tips & Tricks had their JAPAN REPORT section.

 

Those were the days. I miss them. Most of the import companies in those Magazines aren't even around anymore. One issue of EGM from 1998 listed a bunch of Importers, Only NCSX remains of the 5 or so on that list.

 

Mine was Dragon Ball GT Final Bout.

My buddy bought it for 5 bucks at a record store around 2001 I think and gave it to me,had no way of playing it back then and still have it.

 

mine was Mister Driller from play-asia for the gamecube

 

Japan Video Games was commonly advertised in EGM and they still exist

 

I'm not sure which was the first import I got but it's own of these two. I think it was the first one though.

I bought Rockman & Forte for Super Famicom brand new off eBay back in somewhere like 12+ years ago. I enjoyed it alot. I remember cutting the tabs in my SNES with a knife so the game could be put in and played. I'd seen the game on an emulator before which is why I knew of it and bought it. Sadly I sold it later on and no longer have it.

Another one I got was Soul Calibur II for GameCube. I was a big fan of Soul Calibur from the arcade and the DreamCast. I saw SC2 in the arcade and wanted it badly enough that I looked into importing it rather than waiting the 5 or so months for the US release.

I also remembered I managed to get Rockman X3 for Playstation, just the disc in mint condition, for really cheap from some old trading site. I don't remember when that was though. Imports from the past are still interesting today just because so much stuff never came out here. Good games that are well worth playing.

 

Pepsiman is in the Japanese release? That's hilarious and I need to get that game now.

 

Pepsi man is the best fighter in the game too, I'm not exaggerating he's fast, strong and kicks some serious ass.

 

Yeah, but Honey is my favorite - if for no reason other than her butt attack.

 

Street Fighter Zero (PS1)
My first PS1 was an import so it's fitting that it came with my first import game also. Can you guess what game I bought next based on the trailers included in the disc?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J7xs229Dxg

Then I modded my NTSC-J PS1 to play imports and I bought Contra Legacy of War, so depending on your definition of "import" it could be that game since I had a JP PS1?

 

You miss the days of incomplete information about Japanese videogames and import companies charging who knows how much markup for their wares?

Nostalgia can be cool, but the moment I got the Internet I found a message board which gave all kinds of info on loketests of new Japanese arcade games and members that could answer how import friendly games were. It also made it easy to comparison shop or find people in Japan who'd ship stuff cheaper than most import websites/mailorder...

Every new KoF, every new Guilty Gear, every new Cave shooter, I was glued to MMCafe to hear reports from people who actually played the game. I miss THOSE days (maybe until KOF XIV gets announced ).

 

Agreed, back in the day people would charge double or triple for a game because "IT'S JAPANESE!".

Doesn't matter that it's a crummy basketball game you can get for 90 cents.

 

I love that game. Have the USA Longbox version. I still remember when i first saw it's CGI demo on the PlayStation Picks DemoDisc.



I do think it's a shame no other companies tried this variable 3d view shooter style. Plus I still think the japanese voice audio gives the game a scarier tone that simple doesn't exist on the western versions. Just check the intro in japanese: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3MNp1PotYg

Anyway, Phase Paradox (a.k.a. Philosoma 2) is a totally diferent game. No longer a shooter, instead it's some kind of survival horror with lots of CGI animation.

 

Hey now, importing still isn't cheap. J Stars VS the Anisong version is $120 for whatever reason.

 

Is it safe to say we all just play as honey vs honey and only use the butt attack?

 

My first import game was a PSOne books version of I.Q. Final in 2011, it didn't come from Japan necessarily but it was ordered from a import seller on eBay at the time. Since then I have gotten random oddity imports with the best being the combo pack of the two Eojjeonji Joheun Il-i Saenggil Geot Gateun Jeonyeok games from South Korea.

 

I suck with honey :/

 

@ Johnny.
i've seen that clip before, not on a demo/preview disk...
maybe some 90's show, with three birds...sometimes in hotpants..withnailed! :smile-new:
...
yeah, ripped 'phase paradox' and the text is totally japanese, but i believe i can get through the game by plain 'winging it'...
the vocal acting makes it possible being english. (cross button = negative/ignore/cancel. circle button, act/confirm/next)
it seems an interesting game, if not what i was expecting..:concern: (at least it explains more about the philosoma)

 

My first import game was Dragon Ball Z: Super Butouden 2. It was at an import shop that moved to the mall across the street called rising sun. Still remember how exciting it was having an import game for the first time. Especially a super famicom game!!!! They ended up eventually just selling manga and figures.

Other place I use to get imports a lot from was ncsx and play asia. Back then it was a lot more fun importing because of getting that unique experience the japanese version had as well as getting it early. Sadly that died out when the 360 and ps3 came out.

For me importing reached it's peak with ps2 and dreamcast. I also really miss the beautiful artwork they use to do for the box covers. Sometimes I get the Japanese version of an old game just for the box art and manual!!!! And lets not forget those beautifully colored sega mega cd discs!!!!!!