The reason it’s so difficult to find a loose copy is that Japanese gamers are notorious for taking care of their games. Unlike their US counterparts, they’ll rarely toss the box and manual, and even well-used games will look like new. So you’re much more likely to find a complete set, rather than a loose cart.
Those scans are from the floor model, and the countertop display. The “platform model” used ads of a different dimension. But as you note, they can probably be altered (digitally?) to fit.
The retail VB units have a sticker (front, bottom right) with the 1-800 service center number, while the display units (most? all?) don’t have it. Also, most (all?) of the display units have small screws holding the visor faceplate to the unit. Other than that, I’m not aware of any differences.
BTW: you may already know, but your unit is missing the promotional signs (printed on paper) that sat on each side – where the flat black pieces are. Those were covered by clear plastic sheets that snapped into place. (Can’t tell if you have those or not.) If you can find someone with the same display, they may be willing to scan the signs, so you can print out your own copies.
If anyone here ordered a Gundam, head over to Nintendoage.com now to make payment. While he sold the original run of 50, he’s toying with making more, so if you missed out, you may want to post your interest there.
The Dreamcast may be my all time fave console, after the VB, of course! 😉 And Rez was one of the best DC games. So damn cool.
In Japan, they released all kinds of peripherals we never saw in the US, but I had a friend in JP who sent me a ton of them. One was for Rez. It a small box – maybe half the size of a cigarette pack – that you plugged into the DC, and placed in your pocket. All it did was vibrate when there was an impact in the game. Totally pointless, but so cool. I may still have that somewhere – not sure.
Ummm…why should they do that? The people on this board are the people most likely to BUY them. And it’s not like we’ll take them, and promote them to our friends, none of whom own VBs.
I would rather that the people here who need them actually buy them, so there’s a market. Then, maybe Hyperkin will continue to produce them, or produce other interesting niche items.
Lester Knight wrote:
Is anyone on here a Hyperkin retailer? It would be nice if say 50 of these sets were made available to this forum.
According to my friend in Japan, this book was bundled with a magazine called Dengeki Super Famicon. He tells me that this is pretty rare – a similar “bonus book” from Family Computer Magazine is much easier to find.
Actually, I see two separate listings on ebay for each of those titles. I’m guessing there are more Hyper Fighting carts out there than we’ve been lead to believe.
Of those 4, Virtual Bowling is the only one truly worth owning, based on gameplay. It’s really well done – better than Nestor’s. Gundam is an incredibly boring game. It’s so easy, you have to make an effort to lose. VLab is a Tetris knockoff that looks like a high school project (which is probably an insult to high-schoolers, who could certainly create something more professional than this), and SI is just SI with a 3D background.
It’s no surprise Nintendo USA didn’t bother with these titles.
I sold a ton of those things on eBay, back in the day, and I never saw a checklist like that, so I assume it was used by employees.
As a side note, one of my hard cases had an interesting attachment on the handle. It was kind of a u-shaped metal plate that dropped into place when you lifted the case by the handle. It held the 2 halves of the case together, presumably in case you hadn’t clamped it closed properly, so the VB wouldn’t fall out and end up on the floor. I only had one case with it – it’s around here somewhere.
Sorry, no pic – my stuff is in storage, pending a move later this month.
Nintendo is an amazing company, and they’ve done some very cool things, but in my book, Sega was always the best. The Genesis was awesome, and I loved my Nomad (portable Genesis with screen). Then there was the Dreamcast – way ahead of its time, and with some of the neatest peripherals ever, tho most were sold only in Japan.
