Arcade Otaku - アーケード オタク

I somehow always think of rare games being expensive, but that probably isn't true for crappy unpopular rare games.
Anybody any idea how rare the Japanese version of Metamorhic Force is? I see a lot of US versions, but rarely the Japanese version (which is really different).

Grinning Cat wrote:Wow, I had no idea there were so few. Although fairly immaterial in my case, as I don't see myself ever being able to afford it Which were the games produced in even smaller numbers?

The three that come to mind are Mushihimesama 1.5, Akai Katana Home kit and the campaign version of Dodonpachi.

Campaign Dodonpachi - 2 known copies?

No one talked about Konami Black Panther PCB, Tatakae! Big Fighter, Galactic Warriors or the all-first Twinbee, which are rare and expensive too.

Shou just needs to make 1 post to close this thread.

Thread isn't what is the rarest, but what is your rarest.

cools wrote:Thread isn't what is the rarest, but what is your rarest.

I was hoping for some nice accompanying pictures in this thread too.

zak wrote:

cools wrote:Thread isn't what is the rarest, but what is your rarest.

I was hoping for some nice accompanying pictures in this thread too.

A pic of Ultimate Ecology (Japanese blue B-board serial matching) (mine) :

Rabbit:


I changed the fan for a more quiet one as the old one was really loud and didn't work that great anymore.

I thought Rabbit was a prototype game never officially released. What about it ?

Layer wrote:I thought Rabbit was a prototype game never officially released. What about it ?

The Japanese version was a location test PCB and there is only one in existence (I almost bought it as it was offered to me, but it was quite expensive). This is the Asian version, which is the only version of the game fully in English. I don't know how widely it was released, but I don't see it for sale that often (only once a couple of years ago and I bought that one).

Thanx for the info. At least, you own a true rare game

Pic of Namco System 1 Dangerous Seed (mine) :



I noticed another version with more mask and less eproms instead. The key is still there.

sven666 wrote:

zak wrote:

Sunder wrote:Is DDPSDJ really rare though? I mean it's EXPENSIVE as balls, but I know at least 20 people with one or even two.

Agree with this. I think it just hasn't really left many arcades in Japan. Which explains why it's expensive.

I bet there will be a flood of SDOJ PCBs in a few years.

i think the opposite, once resellers, flippers and arcades have sold out theirs you will never see one for sale again.. just like the matsuris and the black labels (not counting mfbl).. just look at how rare yesteryears really common games like ibara, MMP or pink sweets have become, people were tripping over themselves to offload ibara kits for ~$300.. now theyre $1000 and not even with that profit many surface (and there are a ton of em!).

You could say similar about most other games too, people are hoarding all games for various reasons, but I think there is a lot more games rarer than cave stuff, they may be old **** and no one wants them but hey

I have nothing rare, maybe puzzle bobble

Don't know if it's so rare, but I'm very happy to own Darwin 4078, which was a gift from a friend.

zak wrote:Arcade releases?

Ibara Black Label
Deathsmiles Mega Black Label
Dodonpachi Daioujou Black Label
Mushihimesama 1.5 Matsuri
Akai Katana??? (I heard this didn't do so well)?

cthulhu wrote:The three that come to mind are Mushihimesama 1.5, Akai Katana Home kit and the campaign version of Dodonpachi.

Thanks I did assume it would probably be mainly Black Labels...though obviously didn't realize 1.5 Matsuri and Akai (outside of the Home version) were so scarce. Still, neither crop up often...so I probably shouldn't be surprised.

Given the general market craziness, it makes you wonder what Campaign version would actually sell for, if it was ever put up for auction. I figure it would probably end up being a three-way bidding war between Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates...with the three of them eventually counter stopping Yahoo Japan.

Salamander 2 Daughter Kit





Xexex Kit





Last Blade 2





Money Puzzle Exchanger



Planet Harriers

official/licensed - zodiack by orca

bootleg - three way split between, mr heli, plus alpha and psycho soldier

Seeing all those heatsinks makes me understand why the Hikaru boards are so flakey

Is DDPSDJ really rare though?
350 kits produced according to Shou. There are Cave games that have been produced in smaller numbers.

Wow, I had no idea there were so few. Although fairly immaterial in my case, as I don't see myself ever being able to afford it Which were the games produced in even smaller numbers?

Arcade releases?

Ibara Black Label
Deathsmiles Mega Black Label
Dodonpachi Daioujou Black Label
Mushihimesama 1.5 Matsuri
Akai Katana??? (I heard this didn't do so well)?

Ibara BL was supposed to be 100 but they did a few more prints so it's probably more like 200. MFBL was officially 150, but they may have made 50-100 more. In any case, both are much rarer than SDOJ at 350, of course.
I don't think they made anywhere near 350 of Pink Sweets or Muchi Muchi Pork either. Probably no more than 200-250. Those games both bombed in the arcades and they are hard to find on the used market these days.

SDOJ prices are goofy. Unlike a really rare board (like Akai Katana Home Edition or Mushi Matsuri 1.5), its current going rate is wildly over-inflated for a relatively recent game. I suspect part of it is the idea it is Cave's last arcade game, but if/when they release another (and don't count this possibility out, trust me), prices on SDOJ may take a slight to moderate dive.

cools wrote:Thread isn't what is the rarest, but what is your rarest.

Ah yeah, all I'm saying is I'm pretty sure there are other boards from danmaku that are actually rarer, just not EXPENSIVE.

I always thought that (apart of playing the games) the most satisfying aspect of owning valuable pcbs and videogames is the fact that the average burglar team, which coincidentally breaks into the gameroom of an long time arcade collecter, will see all this pretty valuable **** but most likely won’t recognize it. After hours and hours of searching in a gameroom they’ll most likely say „Ok, there’s nothing here, let’s get out of here, this sick gaming **** gives me the creeps.“.