Playing Hockey With A Monkey

Another one to add to the LCD pile.

Direct from 1984, come on down Donkey Kong Hockey!

I picked this up in Shinjuku. I found this one by searching Rakuten, an online shopping mall.

Although I checked Google Earth for the location, it was a little tricky to find, being in a shop amongst residential housing. I was circling the area for ages before finding the small office/warehouse.

This one's in good condition, and it came with the original box and instructions.

The box is intact with a slight crease impression on the top, but all the flaps are ok. To me this is unimportant, but collectors are kind of anal about these things.

There does seem to be a few "water-like" marks in the LCD, and what looks like a tiny bit of hair under the glass (but it doesn't affect the game at all). I didn't notice when I looked it over. It was a little dark in the office. All the sprites are clear and the controls are good. There are no scratches and it's quite a fun game.

With a second controller, two can play! The controllers wind up inside the actual case. The battery cavity's a little tricky to get to. It's not one where you'd want to swap batteries all the time.

Basically it's Mario against Donkey Kong hitting a ball to score goals, while a referee appears to block and reverse play, and "crazy spots" (as they are referred to in the instructions) make the ball go in unexpected directions.

In a box I've seen this one go for large amounts of money. It's not too common to find. I think I was quite lucky to get hold of this one.
It was listed for around 5000 yen online, but I managed to get them to give it to me for 4000 yen. I'm pretty happy about that.

I had a really busy day today.

Another part of my mission was to go to the ward office to let them know of my visa extension, and update my gaijin card.

Unlike the Immigration Office, it was done in no time. I dropped into HQ to let them know my visa's good for another three years.

Finally, the last part of my mission was to search for good, yet inexpensive sunglasses.

Apart from one store devoted to sunglasses, it's a bit difficult to find them. Most of the department stores and smaller shops only had a few high priced pairs.

I chanced on one that I liked in Don Quijote in Kabuki-chō. They are "Men's Club" brand made in China.
They're polarised, and for 2000 yen it was easy choice. They have blue lenses, and are nice and dark (10% light transmission).

I didn't really get a chance to test them out seeing there wasn't much sun at all today but here's hoping they will do the job.

For what I paid it won't be a big loss if I don't like them. I think they were 99.9% UV protection. I just hope that 0.1% doesn't wreck my vision.

I got my headphones back today too, fixed from Yodobashi Camera.

For dinner we had Yoshinoya.

I picked up four cartons of mango nectar from YaMaYa, and TWENTY "Azuki Milk" from Marusho. They were on sale for 189 yen each. Crazy, that's like $40.

It's official, I'm insane.

Donkey Kong Jr's Come Home

Look what I have here!

This is Nintendo's Donkey Kong Jr (Panorama Screen). The memories from so long ago are slowly being reconstructed.

Out of the Panorama Screen series I think it's the best one.

It has the full directional pad, so the most control out of the lot. (Maybe Snoopy or Mario's Bombs Away would be others worth getting).

It's actually pretty hard to find. I DID see it in Nakano Broadway for 12,600 yen, but I baulked at paying so much. It's almost as much as a DS! These models get crazy prices up to 30,000 yen! I think it's easy to see why. The main difference to the usual Game & Watch series, is that these have vibrant COLOURED LCDs.

I bought it at Friends for 7,500 yen. It was 8,000 yen, but I managed to talk the sweet lady into giving me a bit of a discount. I gave it a go and it was like a shot in the arm taking me back to 1983!

The game was rated a C in condition by the store. It looks slightly yellow on the back (very slight), bottom half but apart from that everything looks great. Bright LCDs, no scratches and the controls are solid. What more could you ask for?

I was still racked with guilt for spending so much. Less so now that I'm writing this post though. She threw in the batteries in the "bargain".

Only a few more now to get. I'm sure my parents think I have lost it by now.

Arriving back home I found the postcard from the Immigration Office saying to come in for my visa renewal. Great News!

Finally, the Wonka chocolate has been opened for our enjoyment. There is some unwritten rule that things unopened will stay that way until upon opening, it will finish in no time.

Strange.

Room For The Memories

A place in Shibuya has brought back a lot of memories.

Growing up in the early 80's was a interesting time for me, probably never to be repeated.

When computers were still new, Nintendo brought out a whole range of small LCD "Game & Watch" handheld games.

Like many kids of the time I had quite a few of them:

Donkey Kong Jr "Game & Watch" Panorama screen: The screen flipped open where the actual screen you played from was a colourful LCD reflection in a mirror.

Donkey Kong Hockey:
This one was different. Unlike most of the "Game & Watch", you could play an opponent or the computer and it had wind-up controls that fit inside the unit.

I had a solar-powered game made by Bandai Electronics:

Invaders Of The Mummy's Tomb, also known as "Pharoah's Pyramid" is called "Nazo No Pyramid" here in Japan.

Now THIS has a bit of a story. I had this one for not as long as I'd hoped.

Way back in 1982 my brother was just a little baby and my mother wisely thought it'd be a great idea to give it to him to play with. I pleaded with her, saying that he'd break it.

In an instant the little s**t snapped it in two. I was CRUSHED. No, they didn't get me a new one.

This may be the time to get it back. I recall seeing a few Bandai games in the shop.

From what I remember it was a pretty cool game. Look here for a 1982 magazine advert describing the game play.

I had an arcade-looking handheld of Galaga that was really cool, and also a handheld electronic bowling game, (the controller was a bowling ball) but trying as hard I can, I just can't find any pictures. Sorry.

So back to 2008.

At the shop I saw quite a few of the Nintendo and Bandai handhelds:

Remember this? Donkey Kong

And Oil Panic? I saw this one for about 3000 yen.

What about Green House? Another classic.

With my recent fixation of the Nintendo DS lite that the gf's friend's 10 year old daughter lent me, I tried a "Game & Watch" collection on the DS that features all three of these classics.

I had a go of them and I think I'm in trouble. The gameplay is still as addictive as I remembered it, and the LCD ghost images ups that retro cool factor.

This cart is very rare as it was not offered for sale to the public (only to Club Nintendo members, and only in Japan), so it's very tempting.

To finish off, I think I'll share a treat. One of the 80's handhelds I used to like (but not own), was Tomytronics Tron. I managed to find a very playable lightcycle game online. Download it here.

Imagine the game Snake, but with 3D graphics and more than one "snake". Addictive is the word.