GRADIUS 2 FAMICOM BOX ART SOFTWARE

I clarified that no, I was actually looking for a game for the original Famicom, and to this day, I can still hear her hilarious answer: She said, “Yes, we have nine games for Super Famicom.” I had asked if they had any Famicom games, because I was looking for a specific game. My call was answered by a very nice Japanese lady who spoke broken English and at first couldn’t understand what I was asking for. So I picked a place that had a small ad in EGM called Japan Video, located somewhere in Canada, because I think their ad said they had Famicom games.

It wasn’t even yet known what form the console would take in the US: there were rumors of it being an add-on for the NES, or maybe a new console that would play both NES and SNES games, but nobody knew for sure. To give an idea of the precise point in time, the Genesis and TurboGrafx were out in the US, and the Super Famicom had just launched in Japan.

GRADIUS 2 FAMICOM BOX ART SOFTWARE

Naturally, it followed that early adopters could also buy the Super Famicom and its paltry offering of launch software before it was released in the US.Īnyway, one day I thought I’d give one of these import game places a call and see if I couldn’t track down a copy of Gradius II. Thus began the practice of import videogame collecting, adaptors (or simple physical console and cartridge modding), and new subculture among videogame enthusiasts. From what I remember, it wasn’t until Strider (and its surrounding hype - AN 8 MEG CARTRIDGE!!) came out on the Sega Mega Drive that import game purveyors began appearing in the pages of gaming magazines, promising rabid Genesis owners that for a little extra (and the purchase of an adaptor), they could play the Japanese version of this and many other games before they were available in the US. It wasn’t like today, where you can hop on ebay and spend a few bucks and have a rainbow of multicolored Famicom cassettes delivered to your door before you know it. I still have the photocopy of the article that launched my maniaĪt the dawning of the 16-bit era, import videogames were a practically mythical: previewed and reviewed by videogame mags, but unavailable to the average American gamer unless you actually visited Japan or you had some contacts over there. A friend of mine had the issue, which is where I saw it, and I was so obsessed with this Gradius II article that I actually photocopied that spread to keep to read over and over and dream about someday owning a Gradius II Famicom cart of my very own. I don’t remember specifically which issue of EGM had this article in it, but it was an early one, and it was an issue that I hadn’t bought for some reason (I was buying EGM and other game mags regularly at that point). It was like a 16-bit game crammed into an 8-bit cartridge! I HAD TO HAVE THIS!! It boasted of huge bosses, amazing graphics, and - holy shit - SPEECH! Yes, like the arcade version (which I hadn’t seen back then, because America), a voice would call out each powerup as you activated it. I liked the original Gradius, but the sequel looked unbelievable. Back in the late ’80s-early ’90s, when Electronic Gaming Monthly featured lots of Japanese import coverage and was therefore completely awesome, they did a 2-page spread on Gradius II for the Famicom.

Gradius 2 famicom box art