Wonderswan

I never played Crazy Climber before, but it seemed like it was one of those classic arcade games that even predated Donkey Kong.

The controls were said to be quite a challenge. I attempted to try it out on various sims, but the required double joystick made it even more hard to get the hang of it. I saw an LCD reproduction at Donki. It was about 880 yen. Not a huge amount but I figured maybe for a little more, I may as well get a Wonderswan.

A Wonder what??

In competition with Nintendo, Bandai released a handheld by the former Nintendo legend Gunpei Yokoi.

There were three versions released. The best one was the SwanCrystal, which is not only colour, but also has a sharper TFT LCD screen. On Sunday I looked through Akiba, and the cheapest one I found was a wine red one from "Friends", unboxed for 3,000 yen. It was in good condition so I grabbed it.

Before I bought this I saw a Wonderswan "set" in a secondhand store in Ayase. It had five or so games, and a Wonderswan Color. Most of the games were Japanese, but it DID have Crazy Climber. Today I went back and asked them if I could just get the game. On each box it had 300 yen. There was also a Space Invaders so I offered 300 yen for both. Quite easily he agreed, so my game collection was off to a good start.

Even more so, when back in Kitasenju in a game shop's junk pile was a 100 yen Gunpey cart, which is an interesting variation of a Tetris-like puzzle game.

Interestingly enough while in Funabashi, I found a huge warehouse shop FULL of everything I love about Japan, including retro games and consoles and UFO catcher stuffs. Even guitars! I asked the staff if they had any Wonderswan software, and after he asked another employee told me no. Untrusting as I am, I found that they actually DID have them. Not the first or last time I get a bum steer in this country.

For now I gave them a miss. Although not the worst place (like say Akiba), I had tips on other places I could buy these for cheap. It just so happened that I found them some more in Yokohama on route to the beach. I picked up a Beatmania and DJ Turntablist for Crunky money.

Bit of a crazy quest, but just another of those things that keep this place interesting.