| ONE-TIME SPECIAL OFFER: Sexy Parodius | Konami |
| Jap | 2 Players | Traditional Shooter |
 Another superb Parodius game, this one is considered by many to be the best of the series! It's an impressive game without stretching the Saturn's capabilities, but Parodius has always been about it's big character, and this game is just supremely enjoyable to play. Of course it follows the usual Gradius/Parodius tradition which means you'll get all nicely powered up until you die, then you'll probably use a whole continue to get past the next part, but that's what we know and love :)
MINT/NEAR-MINT CONDITION WITH REGISTRATION CARD BUT NO SPINE.
NORMAL SELLING PRICE: 45 POUNDS. |
| 2nd Hand | £27.83 ex. VAT / £32.00 inc. VAT | Want me? Buy me! |
| ONE-TIME SPECIAL OFFER: Soul Hackers | Atlus |
| Jap | 1 Player | RPGs |
 Highly regarded CD/Anime RPG
Atlus has a strong license in the Megami Tensei or Digital Devil series of games. Soul Hackers places you in the role of an adventurer who has the ability to summon demons to your ranks with the GUMP, a gun computer. As your summonees, the demons will provide you with help and clues as per your queries. Soul Hackers is an extension of the Megami Tensei world and the game environment places you in a somber, almost gloomy atmosphere of despair and adventuring.
Fans of the Megami license will notice the sheen and fine quality in the game world that this new Devil Summoner brings to the table. The visuals are sumptuous, much more so than what we've become used to in previous releases. Buildings shine with a polished glow but are shaded and shadowed to remind you that the dark (and the demons) are never too far away. The game exploration screens also have subtle lighting and shading which add a surreal sense to your gaming as you make your way through the adventure.
The encounter screens with various characters throughout the game are also beautifully detailed. Check out the faint illumination that the green chandelier casts the room in. It's a shadowy pallor that enhances the seemingly heavy air that hangs in the quarter and slowly suffocates. The unearthly maid also strikes an imposing figure as you question her for details and information. Queries are asked by clicking on a series of prompts that will illicit different responses based on when or how you ask them. It's similar to the Tokimeki Memorial game engine although we doubt that the maid will grant you a date.
The harbor in the city of Tenkai sparkles in the background as you converse with your friend Hitomi. Soul Hackers adds a couple of improvements to the gameplay that should help eager gamers. The ability to save your game anywhere is an option that should save you a lot of replay time when you unexpectedly get destroyed by a nasty adversary. The ability to meld demons anywhere is also an option with your portable computer. One of the more interesting things about the Megami world is that your encounters can either be fought or spoken. I.e, it's not all cut and dried when it comes to the world of demons.
The story in the game takes place in the near future. The world has been completely networked (Thanks, Cisco) and everything is tied together by computers. The gamer plays the part of a hacker whose sole objective in life is to hack into corporate mainframes for the thrill of it. The adversarial force in SH comes in the form of an organization called the Phantom Society. This society basically sucks the souls from people, which of course is not good. As a soul hacker, you and your gang of comrades must infiltrate the empire and destroy their evil machinations. Along the way, you'll be able to get help from the demons that you summon.
MINT/NEAR-MINT CONDITION WITH REGISTRATION CARD, EXTRA CARD AND SHEET, BUT NO SPINE.
NORMAL SELLING PRICE = 20 POUNDS.
|
| 2nd Hand | £8.70 ex. VAT / £10.00 inc. VAT | Want me? Buy me! |
| ONE-TIME SPECIAL OFFER: Street Fighter Collection | Capcom |
| Jap | 2 Players | Fighting |
 Includes Super Street Fighter II, Super Street Fighter II X, and Street Fighter Zero 2.
DISCS HAVE A FEW LIGHT MARKS, MANUAL HAS A FEW LIGHT CREASES. NO SPINE.
NORMAL SELLING PRICE: 28 POUNDS. |
| 2nd Hand | £15.65 ex. VAT / £18.00 inc. VAT | Want me? Buy me! |
| ONE-TIME SPECIAL OFFER: The Game Paradise BOX SET | Jaleco |
| Jap | 2 Players | Traditional Shooter |
 Basically getting straight to the point, this game is quite brilliant and if you're the type of person who appreciates and savours the type of Japanese game design and artwork which programmers from the West could never replicate, then you're in for a real treat with this game!. The Game Paradise is essentially an overhead 6 stage shooter with the unusual theme of being stuck in an arcade. The first couple of levels have you smiling at the amazingly wacky and wonderful graphic style, while 3 and 4 have you in awe of just how impressive the game actually looks, 5 and 6 are just mental.
*SPOILERS COMING*
Level 1 is set in an arcade, and has you flying above all the arcade cabinets which are all playing games. For the first couple of plays you might end up getting killed just because you're trying to work out which games are playing in the background. Quite amazingly refreshing.
Level 2 has you stuck inside one of those grab machines where you have one of those arms and have to pick up teddies and things. Again pretty unique to say the least. The first 2 levels give you a bit of a Parodius and Twin
Bee feel.
Level 3 has you inside an overhead spacey shooter, and it's graphically VERY impressive. By now, you're starting to see that it's not just the praphics designers who have the talent, but the programmers, too! Tons of cool scaling and NO slowdown.
Level 4 places you inside an overhead racing game, wher eyou're shooting all the cars. The road twists and turns entirely through scaling. By the end of the level, you're suddenly zooming up into the air and above the clouds,
slightly reminiscent of a level in Layer Section, only with you getting higher, rather than going down into the planet. To be honest, it's probably even more impressive than what was done on Layer Section, even though that
scene is one of my favourite and most memorable in any shooter!
Levels 5 and 6 are a bit of a blur but I remember 5 being pretty amazing, starting off with this warning message "TAKEN HOSTAGE BY 8 BIT CPU" or somethign similar. In the stage you're stuck inside Space Invaders, Breakout, Pac-Man and other really old classics - incredibly well designed.
In 6, you're actually in the circuit board of the arcade machine, shooting chips on the board and stuff.
*SPOILERS OFF*
There's also a Saturn mode which has extra levels!!!
OK, so you get the idea by now. Hopefully it won't be too long before we start having screenshots of these games so that you can really picture the action! The game was clearly lovingly crafted, and I still can't believe that Jaleco have pulled off a game of this quality. One last thing; dont' let the cute and colourful graphics trick you - stay off the continues and this is a tough shooter!
OK, really the last thing, I have a new theory after playing it again and really got the feeling that it was possibly made by the Parodius Team:
- There's been no next Parodius games for ages, and GP came out after the last Parodius on Saturn.
- Jaleco are generally crap, so they could never make a game like that without getting new talent in.
- The staff of Parodius may have been bored and wanted to do something new and wacky (like Treasure did) but were not allowed by Konami.
THIS IS THE BOX SET, WHICH INCLUDES A VIDEO AND A LARGE CARDBOARD OUTER BOX. OUTER BOX HAS A FEW LIGHT CREASES/IMPERFECTIONS OTHERWISE MINT CONDITION. NO SPINE.
NORMAL SELLING PRICE = 67 POUNDS. |
| 2nd Hand | £32.17 ex. VAT / £37.00 inc. VAT | Want me? Buy me! |
| ONE-TIME SPECIAL OFFER: Vatlva (6 Player Game By Ancient) | JVC/Ancient |
| Jap | 6 Players | Arcade-style Action & Strategic Shooter |
 Funky little 3D/overheard buggy-based 6 PLAYER strategic action-shooter from Yuzo Koshiro's Ancient team.
NEAR-MINT CONDITION BUT NO SPINE.
NORMAL SELLING PRICE = 26 POUNDS. |
| 2nd Hand | £11.30 ex. VAT / £13.00 inc. VAT | Want me? Buy me! |
| ONE-TIME SPECIAL OFFER: Virtual-On + 2 Sets Of Twin Sticks ( | Sega |
| Jap | 2 Players | Strategic Shooter & Arcade-style Action |
 Wow, this is a great special offer, and not some filthy, yellowed, broken Twin Sticks package!
The game is mint condition with spine & registration card. Both Twin Sticks are boxed, not discoloured, and basically mint mint/near-mint condition. There's slight panel label peel on one set of Twin Sticks, but this can very easily be glued back down if you wish. The boxes do have some wear marks, but they're in overall very good condition (it's pretty much impossible to get an absolutely mint box for Saturn Twin Sticks!), and include bags, inserts and instructions!
NORMAL TOTAL SELLING PRICE (TWIN STICKS + GAME PACKAGE, AND A SEPARATE SET OF TWIN STICKS) = 126 POUNDS INC. VAT.
ACTUAL ITEM PICTURED.
Classy Twin Sticks designed especially for playing Virtual On. Can be used with the Total Control pad adapters for playing on the DC. The Saturn Twin Sticks are, if anything, slightly better than the DC Twin Sticks.
|
| 2nd Hand | £65.22 ex. VAT / £75.00 inc. VAT | Want me? Buy me! |