| Neo-Geo The Last Blade (US$239) is now in stock. We have the
Japanese cartridge available today while the English version will arrive next Monday. Last
Blade clocks in at 474 megs and compares most easily to Samurai Shodown. Both games take
place in the 1800s and both feature a diverse group of warriors who attack with swords,
spears and assorted weaponry that one would expect to find in the 1800s. All Japanese
cartridge pre-orders will ship today while all American cartridge orders will have
guaranteed dispatch by Monday. We may receive the English version later this afternoon but
to be safe, we assure our customers that we will be able to ship on Monday at the latest.
Japanese and English versions of Neo-Geo cartridges have little if any differences. In
most cases, both versions have a user definable option to toggle between different country
modes. For example, the Japanese mode might contain red blood, if you prefer that color,
while the English mode will have green blood. In other Neo-Geo news, we have confirmed a
small initial shipment of Neo-Geo cartridge consoles that we ordered over a month ago. Our
vendor has finally faxed over an airway bill and we should have the stock on Monday. |
 |
| Winter Heat
for the import Sega Saturn is in stock at US$49. A total of eleven events
ranging from Ski Jumping to Cross Country Skiing will allow the armchair olympian to prove
his/her mettle and stamina. All of the events have a playable, arcade feel and groove to
them that is refreshing to play. Its also strangely invigorating when you score high and
beat out your Saturn controlled or human opponents. Sega brings back the athletic and
unmistakable cast from Decathlete to help you in your goal for the gold. Along with Winter
Heat, we have additonal stock on Sonyps Chocobo's Magical Dungeon
(US$65), Marriage (US$49), Gundam the Battle Master (US$49) and
Speed Racer Go Go GO! (US$49). |
 |
| There has been one new PS release
this week - Blaze & Blade: Eternal Quest (US$58)
- which hails from a company best known for their golf simulations. T&E Soft tries
their hand in the RPG arena with an adventure game that appears similar to Shining Force
III on the SS. The game's perspective looks at everything from a 3/4 isometric overhead
view. Characters are rendered with fair detail and a bit of charm for a genuinely
interesting RPG. |
 |
| SONYPS Bio-Hazard
2 (US$60), Bomberman World (US$58) and Snow Break (US$58)
were all restocked on Monday. We have a few new items coming in on Thursday consisting of:
SONYPS Chushinkura (US$58), Cobra the Psycho Gun Vol. 1
and Vol. 2 (US$29) and restock on SATURN X-Men vs Street
Fighter (US$68). On the accessories side, we will finally have restock on
the SATURN Video-CD cards (US$109) |
| A small shipment of magazines
shipped to reservations on Monday. The latest Neo-Geo Freak offers moves and information
on Last Blade that spans 26 pages. The other game that occupies a large portion of the
magazine is Samurai Spirits for the Hyper NG arcade hardware. As a teaser, more photos of
Shock Troopers and it's "old school" Ikari Warriors-style levels remind Neo
cartridge owners that this game is still only on MVS. |
 |
| Our magazine shipments appear to
have reverted to a bi-weekly schedule. We will confirm later in the week since we are
expecting the next shipment of Sega Saturn magazine, Famitsu, T.V. Gamer and other weekly
magazines mid-week instead of every Monday. Neo-Geo Freak is a monthly magazine so we get
it by sea freight along with any new Gamest Mooks and other assorted fanzines and trinkets
on a very predictable schedule. |
| A large shipment of
restock came in yesterday and all of the titles and prices are now listed for your
perusal. In traditionally slow quarters of the year (such as the current one) we will shop
our vendors in Japan to bring back interesting titles, games that we never ordered when
they were initially available and/or special orders that have been requested by our
customers. As always, NCS will be glad to place an inquiry with our overseas suppliers if
you have a special title in mind that we are out of stock on or something that you've
always wanted but never had a chance to get. We can't guarantee that we'll be able to get
everything but asking won't hurt. Queries may be mailed to ncs@escape.com.
|
 |
| In today's journal,
we check out screenshots from the arcade and Playstation versions of Tekken 3. The
conversion that Namco has been working on is excellent but there are some minor
sacrifices. In their usual tradition, Namco has some enhancements and surprises in store
for Playstation owners which should balance things out. Tekken 3 is due in late March for
the Japanese Playstation. Also in today's journal, we expect to take stock of the Sakura
Taisen OVA next week, a bit earlier than expected. Finally, more restock is due next week
and we delve into it. |
 |
