looking in tokyo and hong kong for haunted caslte jamma board

I have a friend visiting tokyo and hong kong, and i am paying them to look for a haunted castle/akumajou dracula arcade jamma board.

if any of you have any suggestions about the best arcade vendors in either tokyo, hong kong or akibahara then please post suggestions.

none of the usa vendors that i can find even have this board in stock and when it does show up on ebay, it sells for more than i am willing to pay($400+) i am willing to pay between 200 and $300 for it.

 

Send your friend to Mak- Japan. They've got it in stock for 89,250 yen, and they're competitively price.

G-Front has it for 92,400... not surprising it costs more there.

In other words, you won't find the Japanese board for less than twice the Ebay price.

 

thanks paul that is a bit more than i am looking to spend, any suggestions on what stores might have an fm marty towns for between $100 and $150? Or really, any suggestions of good stores in tokyo that consistnetly have the best deals and best prices?

i tried getting the haunted castle arcade board from konami of USA's parts distributor but they didnt have it.

I emailed konami of japan about a haunted castle board and they never responded(tho i sent the mail in english, not japanese)

 

Well, the Japanese title is "Akumajo Dracula"... that might be a problem, but I seriously doubt they have PCBs lying around. It's a pretty rare one, as you can tell. For some odd reason, on rare boards like that, the Japanese ones seem to be more expensive than the US releases... even newer games. ESPRade, Progear, a lot of the Metal Slugs. I find this strange since you'd think they would make more in Japan, due to the sheer number of arcades.

As for a Marty... the only place you can find one is Yahoo Japan. (I just sold a Marty 2). I've scoured Akihabara and found no more than a few games. I've got most of my impressions written in the Akihabara Flash Map. Check that out to start. I'm doing a week in Tokyo in September, so will probably update it then.

GL in your hunt for that board!

 

SCORE! i found a seller on the klov.com arcade forums to sell me theirs for the low price of $270 shipped.

yeah i know about the name and all that, i traded you the ps1 version of the game a couple of years ago on gametz.com. you traded me spriggan and i traded you akumajo dracula and final fantasy v, btw, spriggan is one of my alltime fave shooters.

 

Congrats! Sounds like a winning deal to me. Enjoy the game!

Wasn't sure if you knew the Japanese title was the same old Akumajo.... they seemed to want to hide it for the US release.

 

Wasn't Haunted Castle released here before Castlevania was even out on the Famicom? I know it predated the Castlevania NES release by a year or two; maybe they were still formulating the name and trying to decide if it was a worthwhile effort or not?

EDIT: Excuse me, Akumajo Dracula on Famicom. They never got a Castlevania. :smt042

 

Haunted Castle was released in US arcades in 1988. The same year Castlevania II: Simon's Quest hit the NES. Castlevania was released on the NES in 1987. The original Akumajou Dracula debuted on the Famicom Disk System in 1986.

So no, the arcade board did NOT predate the NES Castlevania.

-hl718

 

the amiga or the msx version of cv was the first, i cant remember offhand. the x68000 version, i am not sure about that, tho i know it was an eary version of cv

 

This is a common misconception, but both the MSX and Amiga versions were ports of the Famicom original, as was the X68000 version (which came out in 1993, the same year as Dracula-X on the PCE).

-hl718

 

Whoops, looks like my hazy recollections of release dates was way off. :smt043

Anyways, wasn't the original installment for the series named Vampire Killer or something and released on one of those obscure Japanese PCs?

EDIT: MSX, that was it.

 

Nope.

Though someone who lives in Europe might tell you that.

The original Akumajou Dracula was released in Japan on the Famicom Disk System in 1986.

A port of the game was released in Japan on the MSX in 1986. It was titled Akumajou Dracula.

The MSX port was released in Europe on the MSX in 1986 and it was titled Vampire Killer. This was the first version of Castlevania released in Europe, but that doesn't make it the original.

The MSX version was never officially released in the US.

In 1987 the original FDS version was released on cart in the U.S. as Castlevania. There were some minor edits (no saves for one) but it was otherwise identical in gameplay. The NES cart later made its way to Europe and Japan (where an easy mode was added).

Since most timelines are based on US titles and release dates, many will list Castlevania as debuting on the NES in 1987. People look at that and see that the MSX version was released in 1986 and just assume that the NES version is a port of the MSX version when in reality the reverse is true.

-hl718

 

From what I've read, it seems like the MSX version was suitably different from the NES/Famicom releases - it looks to have some gameplay changes like searching for keys or other items while navigating the castle. I never really thought the NES/Famicom version was a port of the MSX, considering how different it was said to be.

Were either of the versions released on the MSX cart, or were they disc-only games? My MSX doesn't have a disk drive, but it would be neat (though I'd imagine a bit spendy) to try and get the game if it came in cart form.

 

yeah the msx version is a game cart, not a disc.

 

Any idea what the usual going rate on MSX Vampire Killer/Akumajo Dracula is?

 

There's one on eBay for $85 right now. (not mine)

Typically the most expensive Castlevania item to track down is a mint condition copy of the X68000 version. That usually goes for BANK.

-hl718

 

Ouch, $85 is a bit pricey, but it's not as bad as Dracula X - yet. I may keep my eyes open over the summer for a copy, see if I can't get it a bit cheaper. Of course, I have to get the MSX working, first. :angry

And yeah, I've heard the X68000 version gets pretty pricey. I've played it both on a X68000 emulator and on my Castlevania Chronicles, and while it's pretty good, I'm not sure I could spend the amount of money it usually goes for (assuming I even had a X68000) - the game disks have got to be getting close to 25 years old by now, and who knows how much longer they'll last before the media starts breaking down?

 

Castlevania is one of those series that is pretty much a sure bet. Even the crappy version of Dracula-X on the SNES has been going up in price recently. Explain THAT one.

But yeah, media integrity is a worry when dealing with the older floppy disks. You never know if they were taken care of or not. Carts are a bit safer to own. Personally I've don't see a need to pick up the MSX version but if given the chance I would purchase the original FDS version just because it is the original. I think it would make a nice showpiece (right next to my IGA autographed copy of SOTN) even if the disc itself had errors.

-hl718

 

They WOULD make a nice showpiece, but while I'd willingly (assuming I had the financial reserves for it) shell out ~$200 for a super-rare and reasonably fun title, I'd have a harder time justifying spending that amount on a display piece. Then again, the disks could always be backed up to spare floppies for safekeeping, which is more than can be said for FDS games. Then again, I've heard that they are pretty hardy and not as prone to deterioration as normal 3½ floppies.

As for the popularity and price of Dracula X on the SNES, it's simple - though it isn't nearly as good as its PC Engine counterpart, it tends to sell for half the price, plus was released on a system far more common than a PC-Engine CD-ROM. It's the easiest/cheapest/only method for a good amount of people to experience Dracula X in any form, hence the large demand for it. I've actually got a copy of the Japanese version on the way from another member on this board, and I'm pretty excited about it. :-D

 

Actually Akumajo Dracula for X68000 shouldn't be that expensive, got mine (absolutely mint w/ stickers, reg. cards etc.) for about $100 BIN off Ebay. Used to be more expensive, but I hear it's come down in price since Chronicles was released. It just doesn't show up that often, that's the only problem.

The most expensive home system Castlevania is Akumajo Dracula for Famicom in the cartridge version. It was actually a VERY limited for-fans rerelease in 1993. Don't know the exact numbers on that one, but $200 for a mint copy is normal. I'm actually trying to collect all the japanese Akumajo Draculas, and that is one of the ones I'm still mising.