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| Saturday
Update (October 24, 1998) |
|
| Can't remember the last time NCS updated on a
Saturday. We do not have regular business hours today but we have some administrative work
to do and a couple of old stock items to move to warehousing. The covers and summaries for
all of yesterday's games have now been linked and posted below. As a bonus for Saturday
visitors to the NCS site, we have two scans of a Neo Geo Pocket booklet
that SNK is blanketing Japan with to rustle up excitement for their new handheld. The
booklet is 8 pages and will be available for inclusion in Monday's shipping orders. |
|
| Konami has announced their arcade hit Dance
Dance Revolution for the Playstation console in December. DDR is an awesome sight
in the arcades, with a colorful, blinking marquee, two huge silver speakers on both sides
of the coin-slot box and twin shiny dancing platforms that register every step that the
dancer takes. It's Bust a Move taken to the extreme. Watching a seasoned dancer take a
couple of steps and groove is extremely entertaining. Pre-orders for the PS version are
now open for delivery on December 03. |
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| Friday
Update (October 23, 1998) |
|
| Marvel
Superheroes vs Street Fighter (US$53) is now in stock for the
Sega Saturn. Our shipment was split into two separate dispatches, with the bulk of the
stock arriving on Monday. Early impressions: Another stunning, fluid, arcade conversion
that captures the coin-op in near perfect fashion. Animation quality is superb with
seamless character motion and special effects. If this is Capcom's 4MB swan song on the
Saturn, it caps an impressive run of arcade to console ports that have enthralled fighting
game fans around the world. That extra 4MB goes a long way... |
|
| New imports in stock today |
| Cover scans and backs will be posted
tomorrow morning |
|
| The import version of N64 Legend
of Zelda has been confirmed for November 21 at Y6800. This time, it's for real.
Pre-orders are welcome but the usual Nintendo disclaimers apply, such as first day short
shipping and tight allocation to all vendors and distributors. |
|
| December may very well be t-shirt month on the
Playstation. The special editions of Ridge Racer Type 4, Ehrgeiz, Battle Robots Brave Saga
and Chocobo Dungeon 2 will all include a bonus t-shirt along with the game. Note that only
pre-orders for these games will include the t-shirt. The special editions
of all games, except for the RR4 package which is Y7980 as opposed to Y5800 for the
regular version, will be the same price as the standard versions. |
|
| Five new Color Gameboy games
have been announced for delivery in December. |
| Ganbare Goemon Tengutou |
Konami |
US$39 |
| Legend of Zelda DX |
Nintendo |
US$35 |
| Pokemon Card |
Nintendo |
US$35 |
| Tokimeki Memorial Pocket |
Konami |
US$39 |
| Yugi-oh Duel Monsters |
Nintendo |
US$35 |
| Two
versions of the Tokimeki Memorial game will be available, a Culture version and a Sports
version. |
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| Marvel
Superheroes vs Street Fighter |
|
 |
| Pre-orders for the
Color Gameboy will begin shipping today. A second shipment is expected next week to
fulfill our remaining pre-orders. |
| - |
| The next handheld on the gaming horizon
is Neo-Geo Pocket, expected next Friday. |
|
| Color Gameboy |
Nintendo |
US$89 |
| Wario Land 2 |
Nintendo |
US$32 |
| Tetris DX |
Nintendo |
US$32 |
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Candy
Toy #027 |
|
| Candy Toy of the Day (CT #027) |
Per
unit US$4.00 |
| One of four Kamen Rider figures in various
poses await the buyer in each Candy Toy box. Figure Chronology is listed on the side of
the box with these four figures originally appearing in television shows from 1972 and
1973. |
| Click
for the rear |
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| Thursday
Update (October 22, 1998) |
|
| Terrible morning. NCS expected our freight of
Marvel vs SF and Color Gameboys this morning but after tracking with UPS, it appears
nothing has even been dispatched from the airport due to weather problems and airline
delays in Asia. Judging from our discussion with agents at United Parcel, one of our
shipments will be expedited and should arrive tomorrow morning (Color Gameboys and the
first shipment of M vs S) but the bulk of the stock appears slated for arrival next
Monday. It appears that a lot of cargo and outbound shipments are just being held at the
airline cargo bays due to grounded flights and other problems. It is days like this that
NCS seriously considers entering into another line of business...perhaps baking cake and
pastries or something less reliant on imports. National Bakery Support?? |
|
| Candy Toy updates will resume
tomorrow. The bear to the right pretty much reflects the mood on Wall Street today, and
the sentiment here at NCS because of the airline debacle that has essentially ruined our
carefully crafted shipping plans... |
|
| Strikers 1945 Part II
for the Saturn and SONYPS are both expected tomorrow. Sampaguita Vol. 01 for the PS is
also expected on Friday. |
|
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| Wednesday
Update (October 21, 1998) |
|
| One new Saturn import today: Mizubaku Adventure (US$40) from Ving.
Orignally an arcade coin-up from Taito, Mizubaku places you in the role of a platypus type
hero within the confines of a platform action game. Mizubaku plays similarly to games such
as Miracle Adventure and Mario World, et al where you wander through pastel colored levels
in search of treasure, enemy characters and power ups. Mr. Platypus' weapon is a blue
sphere that he hefts at foes. A fun, if dated, Japanese arcade classic. |
| Marvel Superheroes vs Street
Fighter (US$53) was shipped overnight. NCS expects to take two deliveries
tomorrow and Friday as the shipment was large and our freight forwarder had to divide the
cartons into two separate shipments. The majority of the stock is expected on Friday
morning. NCS will update our information on M vs S tomorrow. |
| The Nintendo Color Gameboy (US$89)
has also shipped. Quantities were cut but not as bad as we expected. Nintendo would only
fulfill 5% of pre-orders with another 5% next week to all vendors and distributors. In
Nintendo's scheme, a 100 piece preorder from a vendor would essentially net 05 pieces this
week. We were able to source 50% of our pre-order quantity. Roughly half of all pre-orders
will ship tomorrow with the remaining quantities shipping next week. We were shipped an
equal quantity of each color which limits the choice of colors that we will have available
tomorrow. Irrational Nintendo tactics continue... |
| Nintendo has announced a new digital camera and
software for the N64 console. Mario's Photo-P will allow artists to take snapshots and
then edit them with the Photo-P program. A puzzle game is also included on the cartridge
which can utilize the photos of your choosing. The release date is December 02 at Y9800. |
| The XRGB-2 upscan convertor
will be restocked tomorrow. |
|
|
Mizubaku
Adventure |
|
 |
| Candy Toy of the Day (CT #035) |
Per
unit $2.50 |
| Yoshi self-inking stamp for applying the
likeness of Nintendo's popular dragon onto paper products and other surfaces. One of three
different Yoshi designs in each Candy Toy box. |
| Click
for NCS photo |
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| Tuesday
Update (October 20, 1998) |
|
| SNK has delayed three of the eight expected
Neo-Geo Pocket titles that were originally slated for release on October 28. Baseball
Stars, Dokodemo Mahjong and Shogi no Tatsujin
have been rescheduled for November. The Neo-Geo Pocket games that will make it in time are
King of Fighters R-1, Neo-Geo Cup 98, Melon Chan
Diary, Pocket Tennis and Puzzle Bobble. |
| The import version of Neo-Geo
King of Fighters 98 cartridge will be restocked next week at US$278. |
| A new Playstation convertor is now available
from Asia. This convertor works like the modification chip but features simple plug 'n
play operation and is compatible with models SCPH-1000 up to SCPH-7000. NCS will have a
sample of this product on Thursday and will post up details as to it's viability and level
of compatibility. |
| Arc System's Guilty
Gear (US$39) is expected next week for the domestic Playstation.
Atlus is the stateside publisher. The USA version of Metal Gear Solid (US$42)
is expected tomorrow. |
| EMS, the manufacturer of the
Replay Pro 4 in 1 card for the SATURN will discontinue the product over the next couple of
weeks. Future production runs may still happen but demand in Asia (Hong Kong, Malaysia,
Singapore) and Europe has slowed considerably. NCS will receive a restock shipment in the
next week and it will be our final regular restock until we see where EMS will go with
their product. |
| The Color Gameboy and Marvel
vs SF were delayed overnight but they will ship tonight. NCS expects to take delivery of
both items on Thursday. |
|
| Candy Toy #015
Parappa the Rapper |
Per unit
US$3.00 |
|
| Two boxes of candy surround a clear plastic
case containing a Parappa the Rapper character and a stamp. The character is a plastic
piece with a colorful decal on front and the stamp may be inked and then pressed onto
paper. The sample posted above features Sunny Funny and her stamp will reproduce her image
on any surface that you deem fit. |
|
| Market update: NCS is
maintaining our short U.S. Treasury bonds position but we have closed out our yen vs
dollar trade. Recent rallies in US markets have restored confidence in the dollar. Dollars
buy U.S. equities, thus partly the strength here. Target for the short term is now 120 yen
to the dollar and possibly a return to 130 yen to the dollar in the next two weeks if the
US rally continues and Japan does not move on their banking reforms. If the U.S. rally
falters, all bets are off. |
|
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| Monday
Update (October 19, 1998) |
|
|
| Capcom
Generation Vol. 03 (US$50) is now in stock for the Sega Saturn. The
classics on this compilation include Vulgus, Exed Eyes, Higemaru and Sonson. The
Playstation version is expected later this week, likely on Thursday or Friday. Capcom
Generation Vol. 04 is expected next month and will feature Commando, Mercs and
Gunsmoke. Gunsmoke is set in the wild west and features a three-button shooting scheme
where each button will fire in an upward direction, e.g. straight up, diagonally right and
diagonally left. One of the cool touches in the game was a bonus which unleashed a white
horse. Your gunslinger will hop on the steed who then provides some protection and better
maneuverability. |
| Bomberman Quest
(Y3800) from Hudson was announced overnight for the Color Gameboy. BQ is a new maze action
game featuring the legendary bomber. |
| Two new Sega Collection
titles are slated for release on December 10. Princess Crown and Silhouette
Mirage will join other classic Saturn luminaries in lower priced re-releases at
Y2800. |
| Strikers 1945 Part II
is expected later this week for the Saturn console. S1945-II recreates the intense shooter
action found in the original but with even more aerial bosses and flitting wingmen from
the era of the second World War. |
| Konami announced a Beatmania
handheld overnight that will ship on December 23. The mini-version of the arcade original
features a tiny turntable and five buttons for aspiring deejays to jam on. The posted
retail price is Y2980. |
| A new Tokimeki Memorial watch
was also announced overnight. The face of the watch features Shiori Fujisaki and the band
is made of leather. The posted retail price for this item is Y7800 and will ship on
December 23. NCS will post a photo once we receive Konami's winter 98/99 preview package.
Pre-orders are welcome for everything listed today. |
| The Color Gameboy units and
SATURN Marvel Superheroes vs Street Fighter will begin shipping tonight and we expect to
take delivery on Wednesday. The first two games for the Color GB are Wario Land 2 and
Tetris DX. |
|
 |
| Capcom
Generation Vol. 03 |
|
Send e-mail to ncs@escape.com |
 |
Doraemon
Candy Toy $4.00 |
|
| Candy Toy of the Day (CT#020) |
| Doraemon Adhesive Tape. A roll of Doraemon
decorated tape for pasting your homework to the wall or for binding thingamabobs together
when Scotch tape is nowhere to be found. Tape roll is housed inside an attractive Doraemon
container. |
| Click
for the backside |
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