Will's email brings up a few interesting points:
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> Talking on the subject of pirate hucards and rare games, they >surfaced a=
s long ago as back in 1993 with the 4-in-1 hucards >which looked to me as b=
eing made in Taiwan or China. I still >have them with me amongst other sing=
le pirate games such as Splatterhouse, Bomberman and that=20
>2in1 Parasol Stars PC Kid 2. I think you select the games by >turning th=
e machine off and back on=20
>again to jump to the next game which is cruddy to say the >least.=20
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This is probably not all that bizarre. Up until about a year ago, Lik=
-Sang had the Hu-Card copier kits (I have actually seen two different ones =
but I think there were at least three) and while they may be rare today, I'=
m sure they were easier to come by ten years ago. From my few trips to Jap=
an, I can say that these types of illegal copies are probably not that hard=
to find for the GBA. I often saw a couple of guys with a make-shift set u=
p there on an Akihabara sidewalk; a table, a monitor, an a demo unit showin=
g a cartridge playing on a GBA or NES with multiple games on it. In fact, =
in Europe (a major haven for piracy), I always find a system called the Pol=
ystation which looks very much like aPlaystation except under the CD lid is=
a cart slot which plays those yellow carts stacked with NES ROMS which I h=
ad first seen on those Akihabara sidewalk shops for like $20. Think about =
that folks...those little $20 carts on a Japanese sidewalk being sold in Eu=
ropean stores! But I ahve to say, the quality on them is very good.
>I never knew telegames were selling convertors or pirate games >o_O
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That IS pretty weird. Telegames, while overpriced doesn't do pirated me=
rchandise. They are a pretty legit operation (though I'm sure people would=
debate the legitimacy of the Colecovision clone they made when they sold o=
ut of Colecos a few years back [called the DINA, btw]). I'll bet those con=
verters and pirated games got to Australia from Hong Kong because I SERIOUS=
LY doubt that any outfit in Australia would make either pirated TG-16 games=
or a converter. I have yet to make my way to Hong Kong because I always h=
ave too much fun in Japan but I'm sure I'd find lots of this sort of stuff =
there. Also, as an aside, Telegames doesn't sell crappy merchandise either=
>Rare titles, well many people will have different views on some >of them d=
epending on where you are. I wouldn't class Dracula X >as a rare title thou=
gh but my choice will be Sapphire, Sylphia, >Artists Tool, Darius Alpha, Ak=
iyamanin Sugaku no Mystery and >Sadakichi 7 ban. The last one was a joke bt=
w ;)
"Rare" falls into 2 categories. The first (for me) is the category o=
f games which were plentiful but in high demand and are thus difficult to f=
ind. Dracula X falls into this category. The second one is of games which=
were simply very limited in quantity like our own Beyond Shadowgate which =
has to be one of the rarest games ever to hit the console. I can't imagine=
they produced more than 5,000 copies- and I'm being VERY VERY generous wi=
th that guess.=20
There's evena third category of rare which consists of games which we=
re produced in limited quantities but are probably in low demand anyway lik=
e Battle Ace SGX, for example.
Will/
>