In other news, if you're ever wondered what a Datach cart looks like opened up, here you go:

Awesome collection! I love the photos of the complete publisher sets.... I have a handful of Famicom games, mostly JP exclusives. But I want that predator, I love the label art.

This makes me want to get some more, I don't think I'd ever go for a complete famicom set, but I love finding english friendly exclusive games to play on the system. Keep the photos coming!

Being a Koei fan I love seeing the whole set. I never knew they released the sequel to Genghis Khan on the Famicom as well. I looked it up on ebay and it seems to be a pricey game CIB. I know you collect cart only but I've seen Genghis Khan released in two different packages. One black and one red with a CD. Is the cart identical for both?

It's the same cart.

#986 - Crayon Shin-chan: Ora to Poi Poi (DATACH version)
#987 - Palamedes II: Star Twinkles
#988 - Paperboy
#989 - Guevara
#990 - Space Harrier
#991 - Max Warrior: Wakusei Kaigenrei
#992 - Super Contra

Getting close to that crazy 1,000 cart mark. Crayon-shin puts me at 4/7 Datach games, with only J-League, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Battle Rush left. Any of those could easily be in the final 10 games with how rarely they show up, especially cart only.

Guevara (Guerrilla War) is a game that I used to own years ago, but I had traded it as part of a deal for a bunch of magazines. So I had to buy it again, and I ended up winning an auction on Ebay for a great price. By the last day, no one had bid, and I couldn't be there when the auction ended. So I put it my bid that morning (I refuse to use sniping services), and was super happy to see that one else even bid on it. Final price - $9.86 shipped. I think my bid was somewhere in the low 20s. It just goes to show that you probably shouldn't auction rare FC games.

I'd say Max Warrior (Isolated Warrior) is the hardest game to find out of these seven, even though it may not have a lot of demand. A fun game to be sure (but I'm not gonna say that phrase). Even though I've beaten it, I never realized until I was reading the Hardcore Gaming 101 profile that the US name is probably a joke about the isometric viewpoint.

Looks like I can sell my NES version of Super Contra now that I have the Famicom version. I still don't have the original Contra, though. There's 6 more Konami games left out of 61 to go, the most of any publisher.

And finally, despite being the least interesting and most common out of these additions, acquiring Space Harrier means that I now have completed publisher set #13/33, Takara:



Despite the company name, these are anything but treasures. But it's quite an interesting set, even though the gameplay quality is low. I'd pick Banana Prince as the best title, but there's also the infamous Transformers, the bizarre Utsurun Desu, and some weird licensed properties like Jenny (Japanese Barbie doll) and Photon (laser tag).

Also note the racist mascot on the first four carts.

#993 - Yamamura Misa Suspense: Kyouto Zaiteku Satsujin Jiken
#994 - Ninja Ryukenden II: Ankoku no Jashinken
#995 - Puyo Puyo

Another quick update. I'm now 3/3 on Yamamura Misa Suspense games. They appear to be adventure games where you examine murder scenes and stuff like that. This one is notable because it's the third in the series, but it has a different publisher (Hect) than the first two (Taito). So that's interesting, plus it seems to be a genuinely rare game like many other Hect titles. Only one more of theirs to go (Igo Shinan 94)!

Also 3/3 on Ninja Ryukenden (aka Ninja Gaiden). That was probably the most common game left.

But the big news is the addition of Puyo Puyo, which means another publisher set down. It's Tokuma Shoten, aka Tokuma Soft, and their 10 games:




Quality-wise, this is worse than Takara and not nearly as interesting. There's a number of bad ports here (Exed Exes, Captain Silver, Puyo Puyo), which makes little here worth playing. The "Gorby" game is a neat oddity, at least. I'd say Labyrinth might worth spending some time on. Maybe Valis as well. Even then, neither look outstanding.

Majaventure is another weird one, mahjong with some rpg elements. There's actually another game like that on the Famicom: Mahjong RPG Dora Dora Dora by Natsume. That one looks to be more rpg-like, whereas I just notice some Dragon Quest style text boxes and castles on the little bit I watched of Majaventure. Why not try to make mahjong more interesting, I guess? There was already a pachinko rpg called American Dream by Coconuts.

The coolest thing about Tokuma Shoten probably was their special Exed Exes & Lot Lot contest, where they gave away special stickers to put on your cart for people who got high scores. I mentioned earlier in this thread how I found one of the Exed Exes carts for cheap on Ebay, and that's now one of my prized gaming possessions.

Not sure if I'd call Puyo Puyo a bad port given it's the original FDS game just on cartridge. The arcade/SEGA sequels came later.

Have had Majaventure on my watch list for a while now. The artwork & RPG elements caught my eye...but I don't know how to play Mahjong. lol

#mejealous

I actually have gotten a high enough score in Exed Exes to get the silver label. Crap port, but I still enjoy playing it.

Gorby No Pipeline is an ok puzzler that I think some might want to give a go.

Yeah, you're right, I didn't realize it was the first version. I've played the PS1 version a little and this one seems bare bones by comparison.