Castlevania Collections Where's Legends?

[MrBeefy]

So I'm really plowing through the Anniversary Collection by year and noticed that GB Castlevania Legends was missing. I know it isn't canon anymore but I remember enjoying it BITD. It doesn't look like it is on the Advanced collection either.

[Tanooki]

The childish mind of that twit IGA years ago decided he wasn't a fan of the game, so he purged it from the 'official history of Castlevania' effectively blackballing the game.  Its much like how Disney/Lucas middle fingered like 30 years of Star Wars books calling them non-canon they'd never support and pretend don't exist unless they choose to add them to their 'legends' line of books.

 

Konami decided they didn't want a female lead nor a gameboy game being the historical start of the franchise birthing the Belmont lineage, so they erased it.  It's why that game is the most expensive Castlevania game to buy these days loose or otherwise, it's the black sheep, despite being quite good.  Since it's not part of the history they stick to, they won't add it to the packages as it doesn't exist to Konami as far as they care.

[Asaki]

46 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

Its much like how Disney/Lucas middle fingered like 30 years of Star Wars books calling them non-canon they'd never support and pretend don't exist unless they choose to add them to their 'legends' line of books.

They also decided they didn't have to pay the authors royalties anymore, even though they still sell the books

[MrBeefy]

1 hour ago, Tanooki said:

The childish mind of that twit IGA years ago decided he wasn't a fan of the game, so he purged it from the 'official history of Castlevania' effectively blackballing the game.  Its much like how Disney/Lucas middle fingered like 30 years of Star Wars books calling them non-canon they'd never support and pretend don't exist unless they choose to add them to their 'legends' line of books.

 

Konami decided they didn't want a female lead nor a gameboy game being the historical start of the franchise birthing the Belmont lineage, so they erased it.  It's why that game is the most expensive Castlevania game to buy these days loose or otherwise, it's the black sheep, despite being quite good.  Since it's not part of the history they stick to, they won't add it to the packages as it doesn't exist to Konami as far as they care.

So you are saying I should sell my CIB copy?

 

I actually liked how it was the beginning of the canon. The anniversary collection has Kid Dracula so they could have added it. Or put it with the other black sheep Dracula X on the Advance collection.

 

I've beat 6 Castlevania games in past 4 days. It feels weird not having it as an option. Guess I need to dust off my GB Pocket and find some AAA batteries.

[Atariboy]

There's easily enough material for another collection or two, so hopefully the next time it will appear. 

[Tanooki]

@MrBeefy Yeah if you're not attached go for it.  Manual is easily worth $100+ alone.  Game is in the $150-200 range by itself (less with sticker damage/wear).  Complete copy is $600+ depending how nice with a solitary high sale I saw at $800 which I think was a dumb move on that buyers part.   And yeah I agree the opening story, the character in general is fantastic.  I was annoyed when IGA decided to be a child and wipe it from the history, then Konami stuck to it even after (like Kojima) kicking him to the curb.

 

@Atariboy We could hope, if Konami were to retcon the asinine retcon making things right it would be sweet.  But what would they bundle it with?  The other two got into one collection, then the GBA ones have theirs with Drac X SNES.  DS games plus that?  I'm not so certain they'll do those, at least one of them used annoying touch mechanics to seal bosses before you had the right to kill them which sucked having that forced.  Maybe if they hack that out, then sure, but it's Konami and that's added work...

[Atariboy]

It doesn't necessarily even need to be a Castlevania themed collection. But for other CV possibilities, I indeed had the DS games in mind (For the most part I think these could translate into a single screen non-touch screen experience just fine), Castlevania Chronicles, the two N64 games, and Castlevania for the MSX. Probably missing an interesting game or two as well. 

 

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood is another possibility since it's only available to PS4/PS5 owners at the moment. And Switch lacks Symphony of the Night as well. So you have the makings right there with just those two games of a solid Switch exclusive collection if some sort of Sony exclusivity wouldn't prevent it from happening (I believe Sony was involved with that PS4 collection that featured both). 

 

No matter what one bigwig's opinion is on Castlevania Legends, it would be an easy inclusion to beef up another Castlevania collection with. Much like Dracula X in the latest collection which didn't really fit into the GBA theme yet still made the cut since M2 already had the SNES emulator and apparently didn't feel like a 3 game collection was quite enough bang for the buck, I'm not convinced this will remain locked away in the vault.

 

Another Konami bigwig had a similar opinion of Super Cobra and disowned it with only Scramble fitting into the official Gradius lineage as a result (How he ever figured that or why he or anyone else would put that much thought into things, I really don't know). Yet it's still available via the Arcade Archives line, despite the bigwig's silly opinion.

Edited October 4, 2021 by Atariboy

[MrBeefy]

1 hour ago, Tanooki said:

@MrBeefy Yeah if you're not attached go for it.  Manual is easily worth $100+ alone.  Game is in the $150-200 range by itself (less with sticker damage/wear).  Complete copy is $600+ depending how nice with a solitary high sale I saw at $800 which I think was a dumb move on that buyers part.  

Are you kidding me?!

[Tanooki]

5 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

Are you kidding me?!

No, go pop over to ebay.

castlevania legends, then search, after down the left refine for SOLD (not completed) and for US market.  Skim the listings, it's not long...then realize you really must love it to keep it and not at the least swap it for a cart only copy.

 

 

Mine is just the game, as is with many of my $100+ gameboy carts (trip world, kid dracula, and a few others, and great greed I have with the book so that's even more ridiculous.

[MrBeefy]

Well crap. I have some things I want to list like a Box Pokemon Blue, Intv, and my 3DO. Might add that to the list.

[Steven Pendleton]

On 10/4/2021 at 9:33 AM, Tanooki said:

It's why that game is the most expensive Castlevania game to buy these days loose or otherwise, it's the black sheep, despite being quite good. 

Vampire Killer on Mega Drive is more expensive than that is on ebay, where it seems to be about $750~$800, but I can't find any sold listings for real copies, maybe because of my IP address or something. "Sold items" only shows fakes for me. It's a bit cheaper in town, though, as you can find CIB Vampire Killers ranging in price from 40000~65000 yen. I think a CIB Akumajou Dracula Dark Night Prelude is about 40000 yen in town, but it's been a while since I have seen one. There's one over at Surugaya, but I haven't been there recently and there's a chance that it could have been sold since the last time I was there.

 

lol there is a cart-only copy of Vampire Killer on Amazon Japan for 47,179 yen. No thanks! I have been looking at getting a copy, but I'd rather have a CIB one if I'm paying that much cash for a game.

Edited October 6, 2021 by Steven Pendleton

[Tanooki]

That's of little surprise there, toxic pricing has been infecting over there due to the crap that happens here exponentially more it seems as the years tick along.  When I made the comment I wasn't thinking imports as I don't look into them largely.

[Steven Pendleton]

10 hours ago, Tanooki said:

That's of little surprise there, toxic pricing has been infecting over there due to the crap that happens here exponentially more it seems as the years tick along.  When I made the comment I wasn't thinking imports as I don't look into them largely.

Yeah, after living overseas for a while and having your own country's games and books and stuff become the import versions, I don't even think of things as being imports or whatever anymore, just slightly different variations of the same thing.

 

Anyway, I went to Akiba and to Surugaya about an hour or so after my last post in this thread and the Akumajou Dracula Dark Night Prelude that they used to have is gone. Couldn't find that FM Towns Marty that they had in stock for like a year and a half, either, so I imagine they were both sold. I did find a Vampire Killer at Retro Game Camp for 36000 yen, though. Might have to pick that one up next time I go there if they still have it, but I'll have to inspect it first to check its condition and to see if it is actually CIB. I suppose I wouldn't care if the hakagi or whatever is missing, though, just as long as the manual is there and everything is in good shape. Boxed Japanese MD games are almost always in near-mint condition and complete with the hagaki, though. Love those hard cases and it was a shame that Sega switched to cardboard after like 1994 or so.

 

On topic, not only has Dark Night Prelude/Legends not been rereleased, I REALLY wish they'd rerelease the X68000 game. I love that game and all of its soundtracks that use the various external audio modules that the X68000 has.

Edited October 8, 2021 by Steven Pendleton

[Tanooki]

11 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Yeah, after living overseas for a while and having your own country's games and books and stuff become the import versions, I don't even think of things as being imports or whatever anymore, just slightly different variations of the same thing.

 

Anyway, I went to Akiba and to Surugaya about an hour or so after my last post in this thread and the Akumajou Dracula Dark Night Prelude that they used to have is gone. Couldn't find that FM Towns Marty that they had in stock for like a year and a half, either, so I imagine they were both sold. I did find a Vampire Killer at Retro Game Camp for 36000 yen, though. Might have to pick that one up next time I go there if they still have it, but I'll have to inspect it first to check its condition and to see if it is actually CIB. I suppose I wouldn't care if the hakagi or whatever is missing, though, just as long as the manual is there and everything is in good shape. Boxed Japanese MD games are almost always in near-mint condition and complete with the hagaki, though. Love those hard cases and it was a shame that Sega switched to cardboard after like 1994 or so.

 

On topic, not only has Dark Night Prelude/Legends not been rereleased, I REALLY wish they'd rerelease the X68000 game. I love that game and all of its soundtracks that use the various external audio modules that the X68000 has.

Yeah that would be right.  In another life I'd be there talking to you from somewhere else in the country had I chose to blow off the video game industry 21 years ago...meh.  I think the issue is that those stores are either placing the goods online after awhile, or someone who loves to just buy it and pop it online to sell to dumb western collectors with deep pockets got it.  I'm only saying so much as it sat for so long, the price wasn't local friendly for someone to keep from the looks of it.  It kind of like the old concept of brain drain taking away a population of people from A to B because what's there does the job better and for less, which is how Japanese games are viewed here.  I'm guessing with the hakagi as I don't do Japanese MD games they came with some kind of art card insert or something of the sort, like their version of the dumpy fold out posters we got in some games.  I wouldn't fret over it unless you're into framing and displaying them as wall art.

[Steven Pendleton]

8 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Yeah that would be right.  In another life I'd be there talking to you from somewhere else in the country had I chose to blow off the video game industry 21 years ago...meh.  I think the issue is that those stores are either placing the goods online after awhile, or someone who loves to just buy it and pop it online to sell to dumb western collectors with deep pockets got it.  I'm only saying so much as it sat for so long, the price wasn't local friendly for someone to keep from the looks of it.  It kind of like the old concept of brain drain taking away a population of people from A to B because what's there does the job better and for less, which is how Japanese games are viewed here.  I'm guessing with the hakagi as I don't do Japanese MD games they came with some kind of art card insert or something of the sort, like their version of the dumpy fold out posters we got in some games.  I wouldn't fret over it unless you're into framing and displaying them as wall art.

They are actually selling them online now, unfortunately. Super Potato opened an ebay store... this time last year? Something like that. They've long been accused of basing their prices on ebay prices, but now there's no reason to doubt that anymore. Surugaya opened an English-language store page for international people I believe within the past 4~6 months or so, but they've been selling stuff online since before that, as that's part of their normal operations. I took a look at their English store the other day and it actually seems to be fairly priced and matches a lot of other used game shops. Trader is still the best for prices in Akiba, though Akiba in general is a ripoff town. Still has the best selection of games, though, as you're way more likely to find what you are looking for in Akiba than by going to random Book Off/Hard Off stores in various places and the oldest system that Tsutaya seems to carry games for is 3DS.

 

There's been talk of the brain drain-type thing, as well, as there's an increasing worry that people are taking Japanese games outside of Japan and then those games never return to the market, which causes prices to increase. I was talking to an employee in Trader about this about a year or so ago (specifically in relation to Vampire Killer's ridiculous price, now that I think about it) and he said as much, so I imagine it's likely true. I wouldn't be surprised if there were more SuperGrafx consoles outside of Japan than inside at this point. The one positive aspect is that foreigners generally tend to not buy text-heavy stuff, so prices for Saturn and SFC RPGs, which also got way higher print runs in Japan than elsewhere, are way cheaper since few non-Japanese people can understand them. Not much point in paying $1000 for Panzer Dragoon Saga or the US version of Magic Knight Rayearth when you can pay 1000 yen for Azel: Panzer Dragoon RPG or the Japanese version of Magic Knight Rayearth instead, but this is kind of ultra off-topic, so...

Edited October 9, 2021 by Steven Pendleton

[Tanooki]

Well that's some validation if you had that conversation locally a year back.  Sad, but seemed to fit the mold.

 

I've not heard of Surugaya, but if they have a US accessible ebay page I'd like to see that just to figure out what variety they have.  Book Off I miss, leaving California years ago lost access to that gem.  One of a very very short list of things I would hope could pop up local someday but know never will, like In N Out Burger. ?

[Steven Pendleton]

12 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Well that's some validation if you had that conversation locally a year back.  Sad, but seemed to fit the mold.

 

I've not heard of Surugaya, but if they have a US accessible ebay page I'd like to see that just to figure out what variety they have.  Book Off I miss, leaving California years ago lost access to that gem.  One of a very very short list of things I would hope could pop up local someday but know never will, like In N Out Burger. ?

...California has Book Off? I've never been there except for a 3 month exercise in MCAGCC Twentynine Palms. Now that I think about it, there was a GameStop on base there as of when I was there in the summer of 2012. Bought my beloved PSP go there for like $50 lol.

Edited October 10, 2021 by Steven Pendleton

[Tanooki]

On 10/10/2021 at 12:07 PM, Steven Pendleton said:

...California has Book Off? I've never been there except for a 3 month exercise in MCAGCC Twentynine Palms. Now that I think about it, there was a GameStop on base there as of when I was there in the summer of 2012. Bought my beloved PSP go there for like $50 lol.

Multiple.  I've been into 3.  There's the one I usually hit in central-eastern San Diego in Clairemont just right off the I15 more or less, and I loved that place for domestic manga and the import games, a few domestic too.  Then in the Los Angeles/Orange Co area there are I believe 4, and I've done two of those near the Westminster and Lakewood areas both attached to malls when I'd visit some in-law family that lived there some years back.  Book Off got me into a few manga I love such as Golgo-13, also near the book off (SD) there's this wicked L shaped stretch of shops, and a few across the street to the corner called Murukai that had all sorts of utterly fantastic items, food, candies, etc.  The whole 'little' Japan if you want to call it that, along with the Ranch Market there in that general area too is largely what I miss living there, it's more of that very short list of reasons I mentioned.

 

Here's a USA branch website with store spots...they're mostly just in CA and HI, one in NY

https://www.bookoffusa.com/store-location/

[+jgkspsx]

I just ordered a bunch of stuff from Suruga-ya, all priced WAY under eBay and at prices that made sense for the games’ gameplay value to me. I also ordered a $50 teacup/saucer set as a gift that wasn’t packed right internally and got broken in transit and they are being very slow to refund it or otherwise do anything. Even if they leave me hanging, I came out ahead.

 

I got a bootleg copy of Legends/Dark Night Prelude for like $8 from China. I would love a real copy but not enough to pay eBay prices for it. @MrBeefy anything you’re looking for in trade?