I’m a collector of many things, and among my collection is a few
Super Famicom (SFC) Sailor Moon games. When I was younger I emulated the
games and played them a lot (terrible I know! but they weren’t
available in North America). So for nostalgic reasons I began
purchasing the physical games, so today I’m posting about my experience
buying these games as well as giving some advice on how to pick them up
for yourself! I also have a trick involving the region lock on North
American & European Super Nintendo games that can be undone so you
don’t have to pick up a Japanese console to play these awesome games!
I’ve picked up 3 SFC games through Ebay, and they’re among some of my favourites from the roster of Sailor Moon games available. Above is Sailor Moon SuperS: Fuwa Fuwa Panic, a balloon popping puzzle game that feels like a cross between Bust a Move and Bejeweled. You pop balloons of similar colour and send over unpoppable gray balloons in a sort of backwards tetris. Intermixed with it is the Sailor Scouts who have different special attacks that can help your board or hinder your enemy’s board. The sprites are colourful and the game is a lot of fun to play through, whether solo or against friends. See gameplay of it here. There’s also Sailor Moon Sailor Stars: Fuwa Fuwa Panic 2 which is the same thing but much more difficult to play solo. It is also hard to find, and probably expensive to purchase if you do. Check out its gameplay here. Both games are fun so if you see either for a decent price then pick them up! Any puzzle game fan would have tons of fun playing these games.
This one is Sailor Moon S: Jougai Rantou!? Shuyaku Soudatsusen a 2D fighting game for the SFC. If you’re a fan of fighting games and Sailor Moon then you’d definitely love this game. Check out gameplay here.They also have a very similar one for the SuperS series so either is a good choice, I believe the SuperS one is less common and more expensive though. The combos and their execution for each scout are typical of most fighting games. The animations are awesome and the solo arcade mode presents a nice challenge for those who are up for it. There’s also a neat customization screen so you can allot up to 10 points on different characteristics such as strength, speed, HP etc. For any Sailor Moon fan this game has a lot of fan service with its attacks and having the full cast at your disposal. Definitely a nice game to have.
This last one is simply titled Sailor Moon R. It’s a 2D beat ‘em up centered around the villains of the second season of Sailor Moon. It doesn’t have Ann or Allan but rather Emerald, Sapphire and Prince Diamond. It’s your standard beat ‘em up that doesn’t deviate much from the norm. The girls have special attacks that are one time use per level. The game is also short and fairly easy, especially if you play with a friend. Check out the gameplay footage here. There are more Sailor Moon beat ‘em up games for the Super Famicom as well as other systems (Sega MegaDrive, Game Gear etc.) that feature different villains and different seasons, but they’re pretty interchangeable. I picked it up for pretty cheap so it was a nice addition to my set. I’m also expecting Sailor Moon S Kurukkurin another fun puzzle game with elements more similar to Bejeweled than the balloon popping game mentioned earlier. I payed under $20 CAD for it which is awesome! Photo here. I’m purchasing through a Japan Deputy Service that allows me to bid and purchase goods from Yahoo Japan auctions and have them shipped to Canada. It’s much cheaper than Ebay, but you can’t be shy to purchasing through this medium. *Warning bad English ahead* Check them out here.
Games Not Listed But Also for the Super Famicom:
Rather than purchasing a Japanese Super Famicom console there are 2 options at your disposal for playing SFC games on a North American console. Note this doesn’t apply to NES/Famicom games If you aren’t faint of heart you can sand down the tab that basically stops SFC games from fitting into your Super Nintendo console. You need a heavy duty sander to do this, and you also need to dismantle most of your system to make it feasible to do so. Above I show a system with the cartridge door open and the tab still on the system, versus one that I sanded down. I have 2 systems, one for collecting purposes and one I use to play games. It can devalue the system so if you’re intending to sell it in the future keep that in mind too. The other option is to purchase a third party machine such as the Retron or Retroduo which typically do not have this tab stopping SFC cartridges from fitting (though I suggest always checking for this tab before purchasing the system). One thing of note with these systems as well is that sometimes they don’t mimic their Nintendo counterparts perfectly, and end up having slight differences during gameplay (e.g. different tones in music, different colours in the sprites etc.) so do look into that before you buy one of those systems. So don’t be discouraged from buying Japanese SFC games because of the region lock! It’s really not that difficult to work around.
I will continue to blog on my video game collection as I receive more items! I hope this post was insightful and that it helps you in your collecting endeavours!
Christina
I’ve picked up 3 SFC games through Ebay, and they’re among some of my favourites from the roster of Sailor Moon games available. Above is Sailor Moon SuperS: Fuwa Fuwa Panic, a balloon popping puzzle game that feels like a cross between Bust a Move and Bejeweled. You pop balloons of similar colour and send over unpoppable gray balloons in a sort of backwards tetris. Intermixed with it is the Sailor Scouts who have different special attacks that can help your board or hinder your enemy’s board. The sprites are colourful and the game is a lot of fun to play through, whether solo or against friends. See gameplay of it here. There’s also Sailor Moon Sailor Stars: Fuwa Fuwa Panic 2 which is the same thing but much more difficult to play solo. It is also hard to find, and probably expensive to purchase if you do. Check out its gameplay here. Both games are fun so if you see either for a decent price then pick them up! Any puzzle game fan would have tons of fun playing these games.
This one is Sailor Moon S: Jougai Rantou!? Shuyaku Soudatsusen a 2D fighting game for the SFC. If you’re a fan of fighting games and Sailor Moon then you’d definitely love this game. Check out gameplay here.They also have a very similar one for the SuperS series so either is a good choice, I believe the SuperS one is less common and more expensive though. The combos and their execution for each scout are typical of most fighting games. The animations are awesome and the solo arcade mode presents a nice challenge for those who are up for it. There’s also a neat customization screen so you can allot up to 10 points on different characteristics such as strength, speed, HP etc. For any Sailor Moon fan this game has a lot of fan service with its attacks and having the full cast at your disposal. Definitely a nice game to have.
This last one is simply titled Sailor Moon R. It’s a 2D beat ‘em up centered around the villains of the second season of Sailor Moon. It doesn’t have Ann or Allan but rather Emerald, Sapphire and Prince Diamond. It’s your standard beat ‘em up that doesn’t deviate much from the norm. The girls have special attacks that are one time use per level. The game is also short and fairly easy, especially if you play with a friend. Check out the gameplay footage here. There are more Sailor Moon beat ‘em up games for the Super Famicom as well as other systems (Sega MegaDrive, Game Gear etc.) that feature different villains and different seasons, but they’re pretty interchangeable. I picked it up for pretty cheap so it was a nice addition to my set. I’m also expecting Sailor Moon S Kurukkurin another fun puzzle game with elements more similar to Bejeweled than the balloon popping game mentioned earlier. I payed under $20 CAD for it which is awesome! Photo here. I’m purchasing through a Japan Deputy Service that allows me to bid and purchase goods from Yahoo Japan auctions and have them shipped to Canada. It’s much cheaper than Ebay, but you can’t be shy to purchasing through this medium. *Warning bad English ahead* Check them out here.
Games Not Listed But Also for the Super Famicom:
- Sailor Moon S: Kondo wa Puzzle de Oshiokiyo! Another colour based puzzle game
- Sailor Moon: Another Story A turn based role playing game featuring new villains and a whole new story arch (there is a fan translation circulating as well for emulating)
Rather than purchasing a Japanese Super Famicom console there are 2 options at your disposal for playing SFC games on a North American console. Note this doesn’t apply to NES/Famicom games If you aren’t faint of heart you can sand down the tab that basically stops SFC games from fitting into your Super Nintendo console. You need a heavy duty sander to do this, and you also need to dismantle most of your system to make it feasible to do so. Above I show a system with the cartridge door open and the tab still on the system, versus one that I sanded down. I have 2 systems, one for collecting purposes and one I use to play games. It can devalue the system so if you’re intending to sell it in the future keep that in mind too. The other option is to purchase a third party machine such as the Retron or Retroduo which typically do not have this tab stopping SFC cartridges from fitting (though I suggest always checking for this tab before purchasing the system). One thing of note with these systems as well is that sometimes they don’t mimic their Nintendo counterparts perfectly, and end up having slight differences during gameplay (e.g. different tones in music, different colours in the sprites etc.) so do look into that before you buy one of those systems. So don’t be discouraged from buying Japanese SFC games because of the region lock! It’s really not that difficult to work around.
I will continue to blog on my video game collection as I receive more items! I hope this post was insightful and that it helps you in your collecting endeavours!
Christina
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