| Upcoming
Import Reminders |
Sakura 2000 |
The
remainder of September will be eventful. Closest on the horizon are Kamen Rider v3
and the Best Collection re-release of Persona 2: Innocent Sin on the
Playstation. Gundam G Saviour and Wild Wild Racing are
also expected next week for the Playstation 2. G-Saviour appears most wanted out of this
crop.
Further off into the distance, Sakura Taisen 2
Regular and Limited are slated for Sept. 19 and Dead or Alive 2 Limited Edition
ships on Sept. 28. The Millenium Collection releases for Ehrgeiz, Front
Mission 3, and Legend of Mana are expected on Sept. 25. Moving on down to PS2 imports, Keyboardmania, Ring of Red,
and The Lost Planet all arrive on Sept. 21. Each copy of Keyboardmania
includes a 24-key keyboard. |
The limited edition of Sakura Taisen 1
included a pink VMU while Sakura Taisen 2 LE will include a pink Puru Puru pack. Since
gamers will need something pink to plug these two accessories into, our guess is that
Sakura Taisen 3 LE will include a pink joypad. Details and confirmation once pre-orders
open up for the third Sakura volume. |
| More
Maracas |
Art |
 |
A pair of blue maracas, a
controller block, and thou |
Samba
Fans Maracas Controller Package |
|
NCS received a sample of another third party Maracas
controller this morning. The artwork appears to be from the same artist that did EMS'
graphics. We'll evaluate the performance of this controller today and report any findings.
|
| ASCII
Controllers Capcom vs SNK |
Stick vs Stick |
They're very popular among customers. The deck of character cards included in
each package appears to have sealed the deal. NCS is currently sold out of the Capcom and
SNK versions of the ASCII Pad but restock is expected on Monday of next week. Any
outstanding orders will see fulfillment when the stock arrives.
The ASCII CVS Joysticks are also scheduled for restock on Monday. Each
joystick includes the same pack of character cards that are found in the pad packages. Due
to higher than expected shipping costs for each joystick of roughly US$13
per unit, pricing is now set at US$75 per unit. The original pricing was
set at US$65. We had intended to increase the pricing for the supply that
we received this week but Wednesday was hectic and we were unable to change any prepared
orders or pricing. Please re-confirm with NCS if you are interested in keeping your order
for the joysticks under the new price. Thanks. |
Given a choice between Sega's Arcade Stick and ASCII's
offering, ASCII wins. Sega uses clicky micro switches that sound off each and every time
you tug and wiggle. Disconcerting. The stick is also loose to the touch and slides about
which makes exact control an issue. The ASCII version goes with a stick that offers more
resistance and thus, better control quality. It also does not click. |
| Blue
Skeleton Saturn Offer |
History |
A vendor contacted NCS
a couple of months ago concerning the
second Skeleton Saturn unit offered by Sega. The first Skeleton was a
clear black and this second iteration is a cloudy blue. We had little interest at the time
since NCS still had large quantities of white Saturn consoles in our warehouse. Sales for
Saturn units have been surprisingly brisk this summer and we have decided to import the
Skeleton into the country.
NCS will offer new blue Skeleton Saturn units on
Monday at US$125 per unit. Customers may opt to have a
DPDT toggle switch installed on the unit at no extra charge. We recommend no switch
modification since it is a shame to mar this beautiful unit in any way but those with a
yen for USA Saturn software will need a way to play USA software. Our alternative to the
territory switch would be an ST-Key, which plugs into the cartridge port, at no extra
charge. Your choice. We will initially import 500 pieces to keep in stock and will look to
purchase all of Sega's available inventory over the next couple of weeks. There may be
about 3000 units available so we should have this item in stock for the remainder of this
year and 2001 as well.
Each package includes a sheet of Derby Stallion decals and a matching
skeleton joypad. The shell design is striking and we'll post photos over the weekend or on
Monday's update. White shell Sega Saturn consoles are currently available at US$95. The
Blue Skeleton Saturn offer will be posted on the on-line store tomorrow morning along with
a photo for shipping next week. |
Flashback 1998: Sega of Japan commemorated the
release of the Saturn version of Derby Stallion (then, one of the best
selling Playstation games) with this blue Skeleton Saturn console. Pre-orders were
submitted and there was big demand from Saturn collectors and fans. NCS originally offered
these units at US$225 and our allocation was only 250 pieces due to
"short supplies" in the marketplace. We tried in vain to restock the item after
our initial sell-out in 1998 but failed. Two years later, this offer is a bit ironic.
Painfully so, for Sega it seems. Blame it on poor distribution management in Japan but we
could have sold thousands for Sega years ago if we only had the supply. |
| .Miscellany |
Restock |
NCS
received a Capcom vs SNK poster on Wednesday. It's very cool and unique to the release of
the game and won't be available for general sale anywhere. Unfortunately, we cannot accept
any new orders for the poster at this time along with the CVS game but poster requests
received prior to this morning will ship on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week.
As mentioned earlier, NCS has taken special shipping precautions to ensure that the
posters arrive in pristine condition.
Official DC Dance Dance Revolution controllers are
slated for restock on Monday along with DDR 2nd Mix. There are various third party dancing
pads available in the Asian market but NCS will likely not offer these for sale. The
official Konami versions are of very good quality and we have not had a single return
since we started selling the PS and DC dancing controllers two years ago. Dancing King,
Dancing Queen, Dancing Kid, etc third party controllers enjoy a higher rate of defect...
The new Dreamcast demo magazine with previews of 18
Wheeler, deSpiria, and Out Trigger is expected early next week. There was a 1 week lag between the last issue and this issue due to the
holiday in Japan. |
The Sega Saturn
official S-Video cable and ASCII's S-Video AV Selector are now sold out and no longer
available for restock from Japan. A smattering of Saturn software is also beginning to
disappear from the usual vendor supplies. NCS will move to purchase any remaining supplies
of Saturn software during the next couple of weeks to bolster our available stock. We
occasionally run across rare Saturn titles in our hunting runs so if we dig up any Radiant
Silvergun or Soukyugurentai, we'll offer them again at fair prices. |
