Monday 30 June 2008

Astro Wars Strikes Back

I know it's only been a week, but I went back..

Yes, I went to a place to get OFF.


To a lot of "Offs". This is the Hachioji one I went to last week.

I decided to take this better picture from the carpark. See that van in the photo? Almost ran into me as he was going forward, to be able to reverse into his space. I got your number plate buddy. Don't mess with Sampleman®!

I was going to go somewhere new, but time was running out. I had to pay my extortion money today as well. Oh sorry, I mean my NHI and resident tax.

The main reason I came here was that I was itching to try out Astro Wars (aka Galaxy II).

An old game from when I was many, many years younger than today. Bring your mind back to 1981 if you will.

Would I be disappointed that it was good back then and now horribly dated, and way too easy to play? I'm happy to say it's the same joy I experienced all those years ago. It was a blast.

The asking price here was around about 3000 yen with the original box. The only thing that stopped me from buying it was that it LOOKED like it was 27 years old! Shame that. I've been spoilt by museum pieces that must've been put in time capsules.

There's also the slight hassle of bringing this one back home. It's quite a bit bigger than the other handhelds I've accumulated so far.
 
There's a sim that I'm sure I mentioned before that MADrigal has created that while not exactly the same, he did a good job. There's something about glowing LEDs that a computer sim can't emulate no matter how good it is. Want to try it out? Get it from here.

From memory, I think my Astro Wars naturally died on its own and wasn't thrown out before it was considered non-functional. I will find another you!

Another reason I came here was to try out Dr Dental again.

I was undecided to get it last time. I tried it again, and to tell you the truth it didn't quite do it for me. Definitely not the nostalgia trip that the other one gave me. Maybe it was because I never actually owned this handheld.

On that same simulator page is Hippo Teeth, by Time & Fun, which is practically the same game. Quite a few of their games are rip-offs of other company's successful ones. It'll give you an idea what the game is about.
Stay tuned for some more recycle shop craziness soon!

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