Anyone who has ever browsed through the Ultima Ultimate Collector’s Guide won’t fail to have noticed the amount of Ultima memorabilia that came out of Japan. I don’t have any ambitions to try and track all of this down but I have been picking bits up as and when I see them cheap.
One thing that wasn’t in short supply for the Japanese Ultima fan was books, with plenty of Ultima games having numerous guides, novels, mangas, etc. I thought I’d scan some of these in for posterity starting with this:-
Thanks to the Collectors Guide, I can tell you that this is the Ultima 3 – Perfect Solution Technique hint book, published in 1987 by Tokuma Communications. It’s a small paperback with a glossy cover sheet and covers the Famicom version of the game. Since I can’t understand a word of it, I can’t say much else other than it’s in colour throughout and there are loads of pictures along with all the maps you would expect. These little paperbacks aren’t the easiest to scan in but it’s now available in the downloads for anyone who wants a look.
This is great!
I just (last night) bought a second copy of the Japan-only Wing Commander III official guide. It’s a beautiful full color book that makes me wish I could read a word of it.
Anyway, it’s yours if you’re willing to run it through your book scanner!
I was going to get a copy of that on a buy-it-now auction this morning only to find out someone had beaten me to it. It can’t be a coincidence.
The company I use to handle the shipping on Japanese auctions has a policy of halving their fees for 24 hours after winning an item so I always have to spread everything I’m interested in out enough to try and chain the whole lot together. I filled the gap with another Ultima book instead.
I’ll gladly take you up on that offer anyway and will email you my address.
Haha whoops. I guess I picked the wrong day to get back into Japanese auctions!
(Ahh, I bet we’re bidding on the same thing tomorrow…)
You’ve got me wondering what Wing Commander item I didn’t spot, but if there is anything I can’t find it. There is another auction I’m willing to throw some money at tomorrow though…
Haha it’s probably that one. Not a Wing Commander or an Ultima, though.
You can buy things on Japanese auctions that aren’t anything to do with Ultima or Wing Commander? I’ll believe it when it happens.
I have absolutely no idea what you are referring to so whatever it is, it’s all yours. My searching did unearth something else really cool that would fit the description but it doesn’t end for days so that can’t be it.
Well now I’m curious about what YOU found! 🙂
I’ll tell you all about my thing tomorrow… I really have no idea what it’s going to go for in Japan, but I’m willing to throw a few hundred dollars at it in the hopes of getting one.
So it was a 3DO Blaster card, the last big part I needed for my DOS setup! I figured after we were both looking at that VFX-1 at the same time we must be thinking about 3DO cards together too…
That can’t be the easiest bit of hardware to track down but I’m happy enough sticking to the console myself. I was thinking it was some sort of Japanese system like a Sharp X68000.
3DO Blasters are crazy, the last one on eBay went for $900! They’re cool because it’s the only way to get a real RGB signal from a 3DO and because you can grab screenshots. And they’re even more complicated than the VFX-1 to get running, needing a feature connector, a particular model of CD-ROM drive and a Sound Blaster with a particular connector! It’s going to be a lot of fun.
I do really want some of those Japanese computers, but they’re impossibly expensive to import. I need an FM Towns and a PC98…
My item was nothing like as rare (or expensive) as yours. It was an FM Towns version of Space Rogue which I just won.
That’s totally cool! I can’t wait to see a post about it. (Don’t worry about me on auctions like that, I have a strict something-to-do-with-Wing Commander rule to avoid going broke. Err, going broke-er.)
With the exception of some impossibly expensive Japanese computers, I may be Japan’d out. I’ve heard a rumor that there’s a Privateer port for the PC98, but I haven’t seen any further evidence of it anywhere…