Obscure/collector Nintendo merchandise that interests you
May 2, 2019 0:36:08 GMT -5
nocturnal YL likes this
Post by Evie ❤✿ on May 2, 2019 0:36:08 GMT -5
Here, post about uncommon, in your opinion quirky and/or unique, and/or valuable game related media and merchandise you've seen on online auctions or own. ^^ Sometimes for information depending on what you are looking for, then in the context of auctions (or magazine research etc.), these can be great for documentation as well in which no image/a low quality image was only available for that work.
Originally this thread was more like for what you've seen once that was unique or rare, expensive, etc. and maybe (or maybe decided not to have) bought, without actively looking for rare things. However, if you like rare things too, and seek them out and have a speciality, would love to hear about the obscure or interesting merchandise you've read about or collected.
I'm feeling a little tired so stopping (I feel this post is too long anyway), and I'm sure there's other weird or quirky things from other franchises I've heard I'm not as interested in, but can't think right now. (where I worry maybe irrationally, if I talked about Starfy too much, when many Nintendo franchises including ones I'm less attached to are bound to have curious merchandise yet if its what I'm enthusiastic about go for it I guess). anyway.
Koguruguru: Guruguru to Nakayoshi: Monster-battling inspired game by Sting (it used to have its own dedicated mini-site listing the available characters) only on GB Memory (Nintendo Power flash RAM) cartridges, although I don't actually know much about it. On the brief few times I've looked for it, it was never available but one time it was there on Yahoo Auctions Japan for a very high price. Now I've found it again on eBay. I don't have the money to afford this though, currently. (but I'm a more serious collector now than before, and wouldn't mind if I could afford it while still having enough to live, e.g. spent a lot of money on a SN-100 Game Boy Color sewing machine once).
For documentation, some of the other NP exclusives were likely the more known here: Japanese Super Mario Bros. Deluxe, Balloon Fight GB, but also several more according to an old fan-site such as the Loppi Puzzle Magazine series, and an Athena game called Taisen: Tsumeshogi (which I'm lucky enough to own but was relatively cheap (between £40-50 in an auction, not buy it now if my memory is right) compared to Koguruguru). I don't know whether I was ripped off but happy with it.
Famicom Communications System cartridges: discussed in this thread. Although apparently not all of them go for a high price (and I got the impression from the blog post by jironosuke they can be rare but 'cheap'), having one of these may seem like a cool piece of history to have for a collector, and to say you own a software from that branch (i.e. Famicom, FDS, etc.).
Trip World CIB EU (Germany?) version:
Completed auction last February of one of SunSoft's other quirky platformer games, for the Game Boy, another being Mr. Gimmick for NES. However, these usually get way too expensive for my income, and ever since it was re-released on Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console I settled with the digital version, as I prefer to collect digitally if it's a much cheaper option and don't mind about not having the box and physical manual.
Speaking of rare games made cheaper by Virtual Console.
Physical Korean Pokémon Gold and Silver (Geum and Eun) (Korean: 포켓몬스터 금·은) cartridges, released on April 24, 2002 by Daewon are apparently rare and can fetch high prices. The player also can't play them on a DMG (regular Game Boy) and must use a Game Boy Color or Advance/Advance SP or receive an incompatibility message (similar to Crystal).
However, if you have access to the Korean eShop with credit and a Korean 3DS, you can purchase the Korean Gold and Silver for Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console. Reportedly, they can only link with other Korean Gold and Silver games though (with other localizations not accepting the link) whereas original cartridges would apparently go ahead and could work, just with nickname corruptions(?). Pokémon Red and Blue were never officially released for South Korea either, but I believe you could still link them in the original cartridge games (of note: there is also a Korean fan translation of Red/Blue), and are not available on Korean Nintendo eShop, so you cannot officially complete the Pokédex.
A short (cheater's) solution to the Pokédex problem: By following some exact steps, you can exploit glitches (such as arbitrary code execution (exploiting a vulnerability to run a RAM (writable memory region that can be changed such as box names or box items data) to do it anyway), which is force read as assembly level code instead of data from the raw bytes that make up the data. However, I don't know if anyone has proposed a rigid start-to-finish guide specifically for completing the Korean Gold/Silver Pokédex. There have been guides for other games/methods though (and I love to research glitches and ACE in Pokémon generally and have made a few box name glitch techniques where in making it you have to code it using a limited number of opcodes due to not being able to enter every character). There is a Pokémon glitch wiki and a Pokémon speedruns wiki dedicated to these tricks.
Also, a long time ago I started like a mini (official) The Legendary Starfy series-related merchandise conservation project; but I haven't updated it in a long time. A lot (but I believe not all, and wouldn't be surprised if there is a lot more, as I do seem to remember different old Starfy balloons thanks to Parrothead that were of unknown origin, hence unmentioned) was covered in a single article I started in 2012 with the last update in November 2018 on the independent Starfy Wiki, with some merchandise in depth, some not if you're interested. I acquired a lot of the merchandise myself, following two users who did the same years before (and two wiki friends who covered the manga/guidebooks with me, the manga seemed more uncommon on eBay back then) and I had to use Yahoo Auctions Japan a lot.
This was an example years ago covering the Umi o Oyogu Starfy (Swimming in the Sea) version of the Densetsu no Stafy trumps (playing cards). These are based on the traditional French playing card suits (diamonds, clubs, hearts, spades) (as well as face cards with Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Joker).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfbQJyduvqs
I acquired the Hamabe de Tatazumu Starfy (Standing on the Beach) version at a later time, but never recorded them, however, they have different sets of available characters.
It seems that both editions have an apparent element of randomness for which characters you receive.
For context, there have been many official and licensed Nintendo cards with characters other than the popular Pokémon, such as Starfy, Kirby (French suits), Card Hero (which seemed like a main promotion for the original game; boxed copies were usually packaged with some cards), the Donkey Kong Card Game, the Fire Emblem Trading Card Game, and the much more recent Fire Emblem: Cipher, which you can also read about on this thread.
Hoshi no Kirby trumps were based on the Kirby: Right Back at Ya! anime series with a red (but looks quite pink to me personally) and a blue edition available from March 30th 2002.
Back to Starfy, most finds were already documented on an official source, a big one being the now offline Densetsu no Stafy Nintendo mini-site's other merchandise page (sometime between 2013 and 2015, the list of merchandise other than the Trumps had mysteriously vanished, perhaps due to licensing issues).
One had no images I could find from official online sources, which were the Beanbag Mascot toys by Tomy and have seen a few times on Yahoo Auctions Japan (though a few unofficial websites did mention them and later I may have found an image without having to scan the (following) publication I found them in).
They were advertised in the Densetsu no Starfy 2 Nintendo Koushiki (possibly meaning "Official") Guidebooks (NKG or NOG is a series of guidebooks in Japan by Shogakukan for Nintendo published video games, even though curiously the toys are based on the original Densetsu no Starfy (such as the bear version of the costume/by habit often called by English Starfy fans as the "kigurumi"; the exact Japanese reading for it). Additionally, because the authors have access to assets, you can find rare artwork there and occasional prerelease images no longer accurate to the final game).
These are the Beanbag Mascot Densetsu no Starfy toys:
I eventually found out that the Nintendo Official Guidebooks are summarized in what seems to be an official Shogakukan website called the Shogakukan no Nintendo Koushiki Guide eBook, so sometimes you may be able to get just a bit of artwork (and strategy, scenario/story, secrets, etc.) you want, without access to all of it or the whole book.
For one Starfy merchandise (excluding posters which seems to happen with a lot of franchises due to the nature of stores advertising them; e.g. promotional posters are sold but not mentioned by websites, or they could simply be from a magazine), I could only find it mentioned on the Yahoo Auctions Japan auction I got it from, specifically a sticker set (not like the sorts mentioned anywhere else).
My guess is that these were available from an event, such as Next Generation World Hobby Fair July 2002 . It may have not been from Nintendo Space World 2001 (the second Nintendo Space World to show Starfy) because although the transition to Game Boy Advance had materialised then, artwork was different.
(From Nintendo Space World 2001 Official Guidebook)
On to more of my favourite The Legendary Starfy things I saw on auction/sites and either got or put off (e.g. due to lack of money): For a list of the Starfy merchandise see www.starfywiki.org/wiki/List_of_merchandise
Densetsu no Starfy 4 San-Ei plush:
There are a number of people who really want this plush. The demand (at least on English markets) seems higher now, and people have paid a lot of money for it the odd time it has appeared on eBay. It doesn't appear on auctions much as well. I seem to remember one or two eBay auctions though, one of which it was something like between £60-80 (not sure) when sold (and it is not that common on Japanese auctions too, but has been sold there for more reasonable prices, according to Mercari 5000 yen, (~£34.37), 777 yen (~£5.34: cheap!!), 3000 yen (~£20.62), although I don't know how much postage cost may be involved.
The story of how I got mine is a little funny, but unusual. Several years ago, I was looking through a second hand North American based online plush specialist store (which now appears to be defunct, I've since forgotten the name) and couldn't find Starfy, but there was a Super Mario Star (or Super Star, Starman, whatever the name it was referring to the Mario star) with the picture of the San-Ei Starfy plush.
It was relatively cheap so I took a chance, but I received an international phone call that (as I live in the UK) I had to pay a large shipping fee (about £20+ worth maybe) with the chance of it not being Starfy, yet fortunately it was a San-Ei Starfy.
It was officially sold at 1029 yen (according to archived official Starfy 4 mini site section about it), about £7.07 and is 15cm tall, I'm unsure where San-Ei sold it though and whether you had to contact them with the phone number provided. Despite what was said on an eBay auction, I don't know whether there were official UFO catchers/crane games that had them, it may have been purchase only.
Scan:
Big Starfy plush toy (2003 Tomy):
This Starfy plush toy in comparison with the Densetsu no Starfy 4 San-Ei plush, seems significantly rarer and I've only seen an entire two surface outside of the commercial image (that is, outside of Tose's headquarters in an old picture and the Saya Kazuki promotional image for the Starfy 2 tie-in CD Starfy no Daibouken, for reference, Becky: Densetsu no Starfy was the other representing popular tarento Becky), however at an unknown point I went on a hiatus from lurking the auction sites for Starfy media (at one point I'd do it every week or two or so and also check the latest dated search engine results obsessively). I may return though as I've found some new things.
Back closer on topic, this Starfy plush by Tomy was sold from February 27, 2003 for 2500 yen (ignoring tax); which is about £17.17 currently, however the one auction I saw it as an enormous 13,501 yen or around £92.73
The only other time I saw it outside of promotions, was from a Japanese YouTube video by megumi sakaue, which I used to make a basic size comparison image as she showed both the San-Ei and Tomy big Starfy:
Densetsu no Starfy 4 promotional cutouts:
I think at some point I actually found an image of these used in a gaming related place for their official purpose, possibly laminated or encased or similar. Hopefully it is not lost to time.
The cutouts are official Densetsu no Starfy 4 character artwork with the name of the game, the release date, and pricing information.
I used them and they work very well on a white wall in my flat (below, excuse the low quality), also with a large Japanese The Legendary Starfy (fifth game) poster originally used in stores for advertising (of which I did save the picture) I acquired from Yahoo Auctions Japan.
On my wall:
I think I originally found the character cutouts on a Yahoo Auctions Japan (as "pop", I wasn't familiar with it as it was described as a noun but maybe based on "pop art", or a specific Japanese term/culture?), but I'm convinced a seller bought the same one and re-listed it on eBay (possibly for a higher price). When it got to eBay I bought them though.
Also, here is a really cute poster from another Japanese auction featuring Baby Mario & Yoshi, Starfy, Kirby (a very rare occurrence where you actually see Starfy and Kirby together.) but didn't act on (I would have liked to on hindsight but I'm just glad this poster is documented). The text at the bottom according to when I (possibly inaccurately) translated it is: "carefree, tender, fun, cute friends".
Archive.is is not working at the moment, so unfortunately it won't let me show the original auction.
Densetsu no Starfy 1/2 promotional balloons:
On November 8, 2002 to celebrate the release of the Densetsu no Starfy trumps, Famitsu offered this Starfy balloon. Apparently, only 50 winners could receive it, so in theory if the balloon was exclusive to Famitsu the original Starfy balloon may be very rare.
Note though, I imagine it could be possible more existed, but not for the general public (maybe game reviewers, Nintendo staff, or even a prize in TOSE Invention King?).
Despite its apparent rarity, I found an archived Yahoo Auctions Japan auction via aucfan.com showing possibly the same balloon and also its back-side, which reads the "Densetsu no Starfy" logo (the link is still working for me). The auction states that it was found in a game corner of a shop about 10 years ago.
At a later date, I was lucky enough to win a balloon that looks just like it! but which reads the "Densetsu no Starfy 2" logo on the back instead. I'm not sure if I archived the auction, or if there are any documented details online about the origin of the Starfy 2 variation. Perhaps it was used as a promotion for shops as the description for the original balloon may have suggested.
Here are two photographs
I also missed a chance on eBay of getting a large size of a Starfy t-shirt once available at Nintendo World Store (and for June 2009 Starfy Toys R Us event staff), with large sizes reportedly only being available for reviewers.
However, I did manage to get a lot of US Starfy event stuff from another lucky auction.
Starfy 3 round cardboard cutouts?:
Did not get these.
Or this (from the previously mentioned Beanbag Mascots), I think this one is my favourite.
Some finds I only just found out about due to another auctions search today the first in a long time (from here, ):
The Densetsu no Starfy Gummi Candy by Ezaki Glico came with their own stickers. This was already hidden on the packaging, but the second image below covers what you can get in depth.
Other auctions I've found were Showa Note merchandise that included the pencil case, the shitajiki (used as a transparent sheet under the surface of where you're drawing or writing so you don't cause marks, or just for an improved surface) and B5 notebook the latter two I managed to get. Both have text "Densetsu no STAFY" Stafy wa Tenkai no ōjisama. Aruhi Stafy wa ōarashi no naka umi ni okkochite shimaimashita. Umi no naka niwa ironna teki ya nakama ga ippai! Stafy wa buji ni Tenkai ni kaererunodesyouka? Stafy no daibouken no hajimari desu!" on them in romanised Japanese.
I'm afraid after these arrived I didn't update the images on the Starfy Wiki sorry, and my scanner has been broken for a while (if it would work properly with the shitajiki too(?)), with this being the best I've got for the shitajiki, possibly based on the original auction.
I also have these images:
Finally, a higher resolution image of the Densetsu no Starfy strap by Tomy:
Also, I don't think this is the real Starfy 3...
Now on to something completely different:
Regarding Chee-Chai Alien and the Chalien series (including Nintendo published games Nonono Puzzle Chalien and Spin Six), this is an obscure CD that apparently somebody named raimu0929yk found on auction in 2009 simply called the Chee-Chai Alien CD (ちっちゃいエイリアンCD), previously documented on the Chalien official website's merchandise page and came from an event (possibly one described here; the manager of the site seems to cover the events well at least in terms of the large number of how many there were, and there are some obscure event locations listed).
VGMDB, a large video game music database currently does not seem to cover it, and it reveals the full official commercial song (which I would like to hear, I always thought it was very cute) and seemingly other songs (with the distinction here as promotional songs/arrangements and not just soundtrack from within the game itself). However, I don't know how much money it generally goes for as of most recent:
plaza.rakuten.co.jp/raimu0929yk/diary/200909060000/
The songs are:
１・ちっちゃいエイリアンのうた
２・ゴー！ゴー！ちゃいリアン
３・ちっちゃいエイリアンのセレナーデ
４・「チャイリアン発見！」のテーマ
５・ちちちゃいエイリアンのうた
1. Chee-Chai Alien no Uta: Possibly a full version or based on the commercial song. You can also find this music in the Nintendo-published Nonono Puzzle Chalien and Spin Six.
2. Go! Go! Chalien: Not many know about this either (I don't think), but Chee-Chai Alien had a manga (I rendered the name as Mi Kakunin Uchuu Seimei-tai GoGo! Chalien which I'm unsure whether is correct or not, based on 未確認宇宙生命体 GoGo!ちゃいリアン). It may seem this song is based on the manga series, or a promotion, or maybe the manga name references something else entirely and Go! Go! Chalien is not related to the manga.
From what I gathered at least, I don't think it was ever serialised, however I think the book aimed at young children Chee-Chai Alien no Hon, while not entirely relevant had some comics and activities. I own Chee-Chai Alien no Hon but not at where I'm typing at the moment.
3. Chee-Chai Alien no Serenade: Very likely based on a video on the official Chalien website by Creatures, Inc. in which Li'l Blue (Aochan) falls in love with Denny (Chidori); the Chalien who has a Balloon Trip inspired minigame likely as Hirokazu Tanaka was responsible for the Chalien franchise. Mirrored on YouTube in lower quality here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9lZFHCECyI
4. Chalien Hakken: Possibly based on the music that plays when you have to mash buttons to get a Chalien you caught down the hole.
5. Chichichai Alien no Uta: No ideas about this one, other than based on the modified name, it might be considered cuter than 1. (like about tiny tiny aliens, rather than just tiny ones).
Chalien plushies:
There are official Chalien plushies by Banpresto as well, including if I remember rightly of Li'l Blue, Saraba (Chee-Chai Alien character only and not necessarily a Chalien), the pig spaceship (may be the character called Oynx), likely a green Chalien who I forgot the name of, and Polly. Thanks to Google Image search, I found an online Famitsu article with a photograph of these that states Banpresto started releasing them in UFO Catcher machines after a November 7, 2002 venue in Japan.
Curiously, I found a bunch of the Chalien plushes listed on the same defunct American second-hand plush website I found the misnamed Starfy ages ago. The website went down seemingly for good before I could buy them and I don't know why, which is a shame and they were quite big. They may have had some higher quality images of each Chalien as well. I regret not buying them while they were there, but perhaps they'll resurface some day.
According to the Famitsu source, this is also the first time they revealed a Rockman EXE arcade and Nintendo-wise, there were projects for "Pokémon Advanced Generation"; the name of the (Generation III) successor to the original Pokémon series after Indigo League/Orange League/Johto League (Generations I-II), and two Kirby titles I thought included an extra arcade machine based on a roulette at first (they are: Hoshi no Kirby: Kaiten! Soft Vinyl Figure, planned release March 2003, and Hoshi no Kirby: Kirby Roulette, planned release May 2003).
A Google Search reveals the Kirby Roulette [https://auctions.kaiguys.com/auction/l503648403 was probably only a toy], but it seems interesting nonetheless.
More on the subject of Kirby toys, by coincidence I own the November 2002 edition of Shougaku San Nensei; both a magazine and compilation of black and white manga (to learn more about the obscure Densetsu no Starfy Sayori Abe manga that was before the Yumiko Sudo manga, I was really lucky to find it and it lead to a chapter being documented), and because both times were relevant to Kirby and Starfy, there is some information about toys.
Below is what I've got.
Front cover:
Kirby Products (page 21):
It is titled (but obscured because of my bad photography from a Nintendo 3DS), "Hoshi no Kirby 3 Daiguzzu Toujou" ("Introduction to 3 Big (New) Kirby Products"). We have a game on the bottom-left called Hoshi no Kirby Pupupu Adventure (Kirby Dream Land Adventure?), on the top right "Poppun Kirby", a dancing Kirby toy, and on the bottom-right, a DVD of volume 3 of the Japanese Hoshi no Kirby anime.
Also, if anyone is interested in a manga from that magazine I can more than happily share some slides including requests if you know a specific manga in this volume (such as one without a tankobon) ^^.
The Sayori Abe Starfy manga was tinted pink (like various other manga in the same publication), maybe then was a Shōjo (female targeted) manga? Via a brief synopsis and without providing the full manga slides, this chapter, known as "smells delicious..." is documented on the previous link, since 2013 when I acquired the magazine.
Super Mario-Kun (popular Mario manga series):
Super Luigi-Kun
A Pokémon 4Koma Encyclopedia (ポケモン4コマ大百科) sub-series:
"運動会に燃えるぜ!!" (Undoukai ni Moeruze!!): Burn Up to Sports
Fan character drawings?:
Tomato Adventure's Nintendo Official Guidebook:
I don't think the guidebook is rare, but the main nerdy thing I wanted to talk about was a hidden cheat code in the game which would be good for The Cutting Room Floor.
This lets you unlock the King Abiira and Pasaran Gimica cards by inputting a series of d-pad/button commands at the Lard Colosseum in Ois Town, which have no other known unlock methods.
This and how Gimica requires a new set of specific interactions with old characters, including finding a missable item hidden in the final location Gimmick Palace called the Gold Pot; some of categories' Gimmicks being very hard to all master (i.e. ones with intense button mashing) as this is required to obtain certain cards, might be why a lot of players may not bother to collect all the Gimica cards after defeating Abiwrath (I've never done it but gave information from the guidebook to help a friend do it). Those are the only difficulties with the optional plot I can think of though, as the difficulty curve in this game is nice, except when you get to Abiwrath where you have to be careful and preferably revive rather than heal due to his downgrading status ailments.
I'm wondering if Koto Battle is difficult to 100% as well.
You can also find some uncommon official Tomato Adventure artwork in its guidebook (I think just the protagonists, certain 'ancillary' characters, like Hanzo, Kaizo, etc. Super Kids, Tomatrio and the protagonists using different Gimmicks, and different poses), but not as much as the Starfy guidebooks which have official artwork for all characters and enemies in the illustrated picture book, which is interesting as you'd normally not need them for minor enemies, and there are lots of enemies in the game (the five games combined have 323 regarded here as enemies, like a species and almost all have official artwork)). However, there is also some interesting scene artwork with some probably being unused in the normal box/manual/official mini-site(?) that was used to decorate certain parts of the strategy guide (e.g. DeMille and Aretha in the mountains with the moon visible, DeMille jumping up in the air and Aretha bouncing on Gorikki/(or Borikki I still get mixed up)'s head.)
This is just one example, and the above may actually be used somewhere on one of the above three places.
Other guidebook secrets: I had the Steel Diver Nintendo Official Guidebook for Japan, and I believe it transcribed the (English) maritime history/military related exclamations (I forgot the specifics as it's been so long since I played the game, but along the lines of phrases like "Ahead Flank" etc.), the equivalent Japanese phonetics, and possibly even what these were about.
Hope you liked this post. ^^ ✿
Originally this thread was more like for what you've seen once that was unique or rare, expensive, etc. and maybe (or maybe decided not to have) bought, without actively looking for rare things. However, if you like rare things too, and seek them out and have a speciality, would love to hear about the obscure or interesting merchandise you've read about or collected.
I'm feeling a little tired so stopping (I feel this post is too long anyway), and I'm sure there's other weird or quirky things from other franchises I've heard I'm not as interested in, but can't think right now. (where I worry maybe irrationally, if I talked about Starfy too much, when many Nintendo franchises including ones I'm less attached to are bound to have curious merchandise yet if its what I'm enthusiastic about go for it I guess). anyway.
Koguruguru: Guruguru to Nakayoshi: Monster-battling inspired game by Sting (it used to have its own dedicated mini-site listing the available characters) only on GB Memory (Nintendo Power flash RAM) cartridges, although I don't actually know much about it. On the brief few times I've looked for it, it was never available but one time it was there on Yahoo Auctions Japan for a very high price. Now I've found it again on eBay. I don't have the money to afford this though, currently. (but I'm a more serious collector now than before, and wouldn't mind if I could afford it while still having enough to live, e.g. spent a lot of money on a SN-100 Game Boy Color sewing machine once).
For documentation, some of the other NP exclusives were likely the more known here: Japanese Super Mario Bros. Deluxe, Balloon Fight GB, but also several more according to an old fan-site such as the Loppi Puzzle Magazine series, and an Athena game called Taisen: Tsumeshogi (which I'm lucky enough to own but was relatively cheap (between £40-50 in an auction, not buy it now if my memory is right) compared to Koguruguru). I don't know whether I was ripped off but happy with it.
Famicom Communications System cartridges: discussed in this thread. Although apparently not all of them go for a high price (and I got the impression from the blog post by jironosuke they can be rare but 'cheap'), having one of these may seem like a cool piece of history to have for a collector, and to say you own a software from that branch (i.e. Famicom, FDS, etc.).
Trip World CIB EU (Germany?) version:
Completed auction last February of one of SunSoft's other quirky platformer games, for the Game Boy, another being Mr. Gimmick for NES. However, these usually get way too expensive for my income, and ever since it was re-released on Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console I settled with the digital version, as I prefer to collect digitally if it's a much cheaper option and don't mind about not having the box and physical manual.
Speaking of rare games made cheaper by Virtual Console.
Physical Korean Pokémon Gold and Silver (Geum and Eun) (Korean: 포켓몬스터 금·은) cartridges, released on April 24, 2002 by Daewon are apparently rare and can fetch high prices. The player also can't play them on a DMG (regular Game Boy) and must use a Game Boy Color or Advance/Advance SP or receive an incompatibility message (similar to Crystal).
However, if you have access to the Korean eShop with credit and a Korean 3DS, you can purchase the Korean Gold and Silver for Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console. Reportedly, they can only link with other Korean Gold and Silver games though (with other localizations not accepting the link) whereas original cartridges would apparently go ahead and could work, just with nickname corruptions(?). Pokémon Red and Blue were never officially released for South Korea either, but I believe you could still link them in the original cartridge games (of note: there is also a Korean fan translation of Red/Blue), and are not available on Korean Nintendo eShop, so you cannot officially complete the Pokédex.
A short (cheater's) solution to the Pokédex problem: By following some exact steps, you can exploit glitches (such as arbitrary code execution (exploiting a vulnerability to run a RAM (writable memory region that can be changed such as box names or box items data) to do it anyway), which is force read as assembly level code instead of data from the raw bytes that make up the data. However, I don't know if anyone has proposed a rigid start-to-finish guide specifically for completing the Korean Gold/Silver Pokédex. There have been guides for other games/methods though (and I love to research glitches and ACE in Pokémon generally and have made a few box name glitch techniques where in making it you have to code it using a limited number of opcodes due to not being able to enter every character). There is a Pokémon glitch wiki and a Pokémon speedruns wiki dedicated to these tricks.
Also, a long time ago I started like a mini (official) The Legendary Starfy series-related merchandise conservation project; but I haven't updated it in a long time. A lot (but I believe not all, and wouldn't be surprised if there is a lot more, as I do seem to remember different old Starfy balloons thanks to Parrothead that were of unknown origin, hence unmentioned) was covered in a single article I started in 2012 with the last update in November 2018 on the independent Starfy Wiki, with some merchandise in depth, some not if you're interested. I acquired a lot of the merchandise myself, following two users who did the same years before (and two wiki friends who covered the manga/guidebooks with me, the manga seemed more uncommon on eBay back then) and I had to use Yahoo Auctions Japan a lot.
This was an example years ago covering the Umi o Oyogu Starfy (Swimming in the Sea) version of the Densetsu no Stafy trumps (playing cards). These are based on the traditional French playing card suits (diamonds, clubs, hearts, spades) (as well as face cards with Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Joker).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfbQJyduvqs
I acquired the Hamabe de Tatazumu Starfy (Standing on the Beach) version at a later time, but never recorded them, however, they have different sets of available characters.
It seems that both editions have an apparent element of randomness for which characters you receive.
For context, there have been many official and licensed Nintendo cards with characters other than the popular Pokémon, such as Starfy, Kirby (French suits), Card Hero (which seemed like a main promotion for the original game; boxed copies were usually packaged with some cards), the Donkey Kong Card Game, the Fire Emblem Trading Card Game, and the much more recent Fire Emblem: Cipher, which you can also read about on this thread.
Hoshi no Kirby trumps were based on the Kirby: Right Back at Ya! anime series with a red (but looks quite pink to me personally) and a blue edition available from March 30th 2002.
Back to Starfy, most finds were already documented on an official source, a big one being the now offline Densetsu no Stafy Nintendo mini-site's other merchandise page (sometime between 2013 and 2015, the list of merchandise other than the Trumps had mysteriously vanished, perhaps due to licensing issues).
One had no images I could find from official online sources, which were the Beanbag Mascot toys by Tomy and have seen a few times on Yahoo Auctions Japan (though a few unofficial websites did mention them and later I may have found an image without having to scan the (following) publication I found them in).
They were advertised in the Densetsu no Starfy 2 Nintendo Koushiki (possibly meaning "Official") Guidebooks (NKG or NOG is a series of guidebooks in Japan by Shogakukan for Nintendo published video games, even though curiously the toys are based on the original Densetsu no Starfy (such as the bear version of the costume/by habit often called by English Starfy fans as the "kigurumi"; the exact Japanese reading for it). Additionally, because the authors have access to assets, you can find rare artwork there and occasional prerelease images no longer accurate to the final game).
These are the Beanbag Mascot Densetsu no Starfy toys:
I eventually found out that the Nintendo Official Guidebooks are summarized in what seems to be an official Shogakukan website called the Shogakukan no Nintendo Koushiki Guide eBook, so sometimes you may be able to get just a bit of artwork (and strategy, scenario/story, secrets, etc.) you want, without access to all of it or the whole book.
For one Starfy merchandise (excluding posters which seems to happen with a lot of franchises due to the nature of stores advertising them; e.g. promotional posters are sold but not mentioned by websites, or they could simply be from a magazine), I could only find it mentioned on the Yahoo Auctions Japan auction I got it from, specifically a sticker set (not like the sorts mentioned anywhere else).
My guess is that these were available from an event, such as Next Generation World Hobby Fair July 2002 . It may have not been from Nintendo Space World 2001 (the second Nintendo Space World to show Starfy) because although the transition to Game Boy Advance had materialised then, artwork was different.
(From Nintendo Space World 2001 Official Guidebook)
On to more of my favourite The Legendary Starfy things I saw on auction/sites and either got or put off (e.g. due to lack of money): For a list of the Starfy merchandise see www.starfywiki.org/wiki/List_of_merchandise
Densetsu no Starfy 4 San-Ei plush:
There are a number of people who really want this plush. The demand (at least on English markets) seems higher now, and people have paid a lot of money for it the odd time it has appeared on eBay. It doesn't appear on auctions much as well. I seem to remember one or two eBay auctions though, one of which it was something like between £60-80 (not sure) when sold (and it is not that common on Japanese auctions too, but has been sold there for more reasonable prices, according to Mercari 5000 yen, (~£34.37), 777 yen (~£5.34: cheap!!), 3000 yen (~£20.62), although I don't know how much postage cost may be involved.
The story of how I got mine is a little funny, but unusual. Several years ago, I was looking through a second hand North American based online plush specialist store (which now appears to be defunct, I've since forgotten the name) and couldn't find Starfy, but there was a Super Mario Star (or Super Star, Starman, whatever the name it was referring to the Mario star) with the picture of the San-Ei Starfy plush.
It was relatively cheap so I took a chance, but I received an international phone call that (as I live in the UK) I had to pay a large shipping fee (about £20+ worth maybe) with the chance of it not being Starfy, yet fortunately it was a San-Ei Starfy.
It was officially sold at 1029 yen (according to archived official Starfy 4 mini site section about it), about £7.07 and is 15cm tall, I'm unsure where San-Ei sold it though and whether you had to contact them with the phone number provided. Despite what was said on an eBay auction, I don't know whether there were official UFO catchers/crane games that had them, it may have been purchase only.
Scan:
Big Starfy plush toy (2003 Tomy):
This Starfy plush toy in comparison with the Densetsu no Starfy 4 San-Ei plush, seems significantly rarer and I've only seen an entire two surface outside of the commercial image (that is, outside of Tose's headquarters in an old picture and the Saya Kazuki promotional image for the Starfy 2 tie-in CD Starfy no Daibouken, for reference, Becky: Densetsu no Starfy was the other representing popular tarento Becky), however at an unknown point I went on a hiatus from lurking the auction sites for Starfy media (at one point I'd do it every week or two or so and also check the latest dated search engine results obsessively). I may return though as I've found some new things.
Back closer on topic, this Starfy plush by Tomy was sold from February 27, 2003 for 2500 yen (ignoring tax); which is about £17.17 currently, however the one auction I saw it as an enormous 13,501 yen or around £92.73
The only other time I saw it outside of promotions, was from a Japanese YouTube video by megumi sakaue, which I used to make a basic size comparison image as she showed both the San-Ei and Tomy big Starfy:
Densetsu no Starfy 4 promotional cutouts:
I think at some point I actually found an image of these used in a gaming related place for their official purpose, possibly laminated or encased or similar. Hopefully it is not lost to time.
The cutouts are official Densetsu no Starfy 4 character artwork with the name of the game, the release date, and pricing information.
I used them and they work very well on a white wall in my flat (below, excuse the low quality), also with a large Japanese The Legendary Starfy (fifth game) poster originally used in stores for advertising (of which I did save the picture) I acquired from Yahoo Auctions Japan.
On my wall:
I think I originally found the character cutouts on a Yahoo Auctions Japan (as "pop", I wasn't familiar with it as it was described as a noun but maybe based on "pop art", or a specific Japanese term/culture?), but I'm convinced a seller bought the same one and re-listed it on eBay (possibly for a higher price). When it got to eBay I bought them though.
Also, here is a really cute poster from another Japanese auction featuring Baby Mario & Yoshi, Starfy, Kirby (a very rare occurrence where you actually see Starfy and Kirby together.) but didn't act on (I would have liked to on hindsight but I'm just glad this poster is documented). The text at the bottom according to when I (possibly inaccurately) translated it is: "carefree, tender, fun, cute friends".
Archive.is is not working at the moment, so unfortunately it won't let me show the original auction.
Densetsu no Starfy 1/2 promotional balloons:
On November 8, 2002 to celebrate the release of the Densetsu no Starfy trumps, Famitsu offered this Starfy balloon. Apparently, only 50 winners could receive it, so in theory if the balloon was exclusive to Famitsu the original Starfy balloon may be very rare.
Note though, I imagine it could be possible more existed, but not for the general public (maybe game reviewers, Nintendo staff, or even a prize in TOSE Invention King?).
Despite its apparent rarity, I found an archived Yahoo Auctions Japan auction via aucfan.com showing possibly the same balloon and also its back-side, which reads the "Densetsu no Starfy" logo (the link is still working for me). The auction states that it was found in a game corner of a shop about 10 years ago.
At a later date, I was lucky enough to win a balloon that looks just like it! but which reads the "Densetsu no Starfy 2" logo on the back instead. I'm not sure if I archived the auction, or if there are any documented details online about the origin of the Starfy 2 variation. Perhaps it was used as a promotion for shops as the description for the original balloon may have suggested.
Here are two photographs
I also missed a chance on eBay of getting a large size of a Starfy t-shirt once available at Nintendo World Store (and for June 2009 Starfy Toys R Us event staff), with large sizes reportedly only being available for reviewers.
However, I did manage to get a lot of US Starfy event stuff from another lucky auction.
Starfy 3 round cardboard cutouts?:
Did not get these.
Or this (from the previously mentioned Beanbag Mascots), I think this one is my favourite.
Some finds I only just found out about due to another auctions search today the first in a long time (from here, ):
The Densetsu no Starfy Gummi Candy by Ezaki Glico came with their own stickers. This was already hidden on the packaging, but the second image below covers what you can get in depth.
Other auctions I've found were Showa Note merchandise that included the pencil case, the shitajiki (used as a transparent sheet under the surface of where you're drawing or writing so you don't cause marks, or just for an improved surface) and B5 notebook the latter two I managed to get. Both have text "Densetsu no STAFY" Stafy wa Tenkai no ōjisama. Aruhi Stafy wa ōarashi no naka umi ni okkochite shimaimashita. Umi no naka niwa ironna teki ya nakama ga ippai! Stafy wa buji ni Tenkai ni kaererunodesyouka? Stafy no daibouken no hajimari desu!" on them in romanised Japanese.
I'm afraid after these arrived I didn't update the images on the Starfy Wiki sorry, and my scanner has been broken for a while (if it would work properly with the shitajiki too(?)), with this being the best I've got for the shitajiki, possibly based on the original auction.
I also have these images:
Finally, a higher resolution image of the Densetsu no Starfy strap by Tomy:
Also, I don't think this is the real Starfy 3...
Now on to something completely different:
Regarding Chee-Chai Alien and the Chalien series (including Nintendo published games Nonono Puzzle Chalien and Spin Six), this is an obscure CD that apparently somebody named raimu0929yk found on auction in 2009 simply called the Chee-Chai Alien CD (ちっちゃいエイリアンCD), previously documented on the Chalien official website's merchandise page and came from an event (possibly one described here; the manager of the site seems to cover the events well at least in terms of the large number of how many there were, and there are some obscure event locations listed).
VGMDB, a large video game music database currently does not seem to cover it, and it reveals the full official commercial song (which I would like to hear, I always thought it was very cute) and seemingly other songs (with the distinction here as promotional songs/arrangements and not just soundtrack from within the game itself). However, I don't know how much money it generally goes for as of most recent:
plaza.rakuten.co.jp/raimu0929yk/diary/200909060000/
The songs are:
１・ちっちゃいエイリアンのうた
２・ゴー！ゴー！ちゃいリアン
３・ちっちゃいエイリアンのセレナーデ
４・「チャイリアン発見！」のテーマ
５・ちちちゃいエイリアンのうた
1. Chee-Chai Alien no Uta: Possibly a full version or based on the commercial song. You can also find this music in the Nintendo-published Nonono Puzzle Chalien and Spin Six.
2. Go! Go! Chalien: Not many know about this either (I don't think), but Chee-Chai Alien had a manga (I rendered the name as Mi Kakunin Uchuu Seimei-tai GoGo! Chalien which I'm unsure whether is correct or not, based on 未確認宇宙生命体 GoGo!ちゃいリアン). It may seem this song is based on the manga series, or a promotion, or maybe the manga name references something else entirely and Go! Go! Chalien is not related to the manga.
From what I gathered at least, I don't think it was ever serialised, however I think the book aimed at young children Chee-Chai Alien no Hon, while not entirely relevant had some comics and activities. I own Chee-Chai Alien no Hon but not at where I'm typing at the moment.
3. Chee-Chai Alien no Serenade: Very likely based on a video on the official Chalien website by Creatures, Inc. in which Li'l Blue (Aochan) falls in love with Denny (Chidori); the Chalien who has a Balloon Trip inspired minigame likely as Hirokazu Tanaka was responsible for the Chalien franchise. Mirrored on YouTube in lower quality here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9lZFHCECyI
4. Chalien Hakken: Possibly based on the music that plays when you have to mash buttons to get a Chalien you caught down the hole.
5. Chichichai Alien no Uta: No ideas about this one, other than based on the modified name, it might be considered cuter than 1. (like about tiny tiny aliens, rather than just tiny ones).
Chalien plushies:
There are official Chalien plushies by Banpresto as well, including if I remember rightly of Li'l Blue, Saraba (Chee-Chai Alien character only and not necessarily a Chalien), the pig spaceship (may be the character called Oynx), likely a green Chalien who I forgot the name of, and Polly. Thanks to Google Image search, I found an online Famitsu article with a photograph of these that states Banpresto started releasing them in UFO Catcher machines after a November 7, 2002 venue in Japan.
Curiously, I found a bunch of the Chalien plushes listed on the same defunct American second-hand plush website I found the misnamed Starfy ages ago. The website went down seemingly for good before I could buy them and I don't know why, which is a shame and they were quite big. They may have had some higher quality images of each Chalien as well. I regret not buying them while they were there, but perhaps they'll resurface some day.
According to the Famitsu source, this is also the first time they revealed a Rockman EXE arcade and Nintendo-wise, there were projects for "Pokémon Advanced Generation"; the name of the (Generation III) successor to the original Pokémon series after Indigo League/Orange League/Johto League (Generations I-II), and two Kirby titles I thought included an extra arcade machine based on a roulette at first (they are: Hoshi no Kirby: Kaiten! Soft Vinyl Figure, planned release March 2003, and Hoshi no Kirby: Kirby Roulette, planned release May 2003).
A Google Search reveals the Kirby Roulette [https://auctions.kaiguys.com/auction/l503648403 was probably only a toy], but it seems interesting nonetheless.
More on the subject of Kirby toys, by coincidence I own the November 2002 edition of Shougaku San Nensei; both a magazine and compilation of black and white manga (to learn more about the obscure Densetsu no Starfy Sayori Abe manga that was before the Yumiko Sudo manga, I was really lucky to find it and it lead to a chapter being documented), and because both times were relevant to Kirby and Starfy, there is some information about toys.
Below is what I've got.
Front cover:
Kirby Products (page 21):
It is titled (but obscured because of my bad photography from a Nintendo 3DS), "Hoshi no Kirby 3 Daiguzzu Toujou" ("Introduction to 3 Big (New) Kirby Products"). We have a game on the bottom-left called Hoshi no Kirby Pupupu Adventure (Kirby Dream Land Adventure?), on the top right "Poppun Kirby", a dancing Kirby toy, and on the bottom-right, a DVD of volume 3 of the Japanese Hoshi no Kirby anime.
Also, if anyone is interested in a manga from that magazine I can more than happily share some slides including requests if you know a specific manga in this volume (such as one without a tankobon) ^^.
The Sayori Abe Starfy manga was tinted pink (like various other manga in the same publication), maybe then was a Shōjo (female targeted) manga? Via a brief synopsis and without providing the full manga slides, this chapter, known as "smells delicious..." is documented on the previous link, since 2013 when I acquired the magazine.
Super Mario-Kun (popular Mario manga series):
Super Luigi-Kun
A Pokémon 4Koma Encyclopedia (ポケモン4コマ大百科) sub-series:
"運動会に燃えるぜ!!" (Undoukai ni Moeruze!!): Burn Up to Sports
Fan character drawings?:
Tomato Adventure's Nintendo Official Guidebook:
I don't think the guidebook is rare, but the main nerdy thing I wanted to talk about was a hidden cheat code in the game which would be good for The Cutting Room Floor.
This lets you unlock the King Abiira and Pasaran Gimica cards by inputting a series of d-pad/button commands at the Lard Colosseum in Ois Town, which have no other known unlock methods.
This and how Gimica requires a new set of specific interactions with old characters, including finding a missable item hidden in the final location Gimmick Palace called the Gold Pot; some of categories' Gimmicks being very hard to all master (i.e. ones with intense button mashing) as this is required to obtain certain cards, might be why a lot of players may not bother to collect all the Gimica cards after defeating Abiwrath (I've never done it but gave information from the guidebook to help a friend do it). Those are the only difficulties with the optional plot I can think of though, as the difficulty curve in this game is nice, except when you get to Abiwrath where you have to be careful and preferably revive rather than heal due to his downgrading status ailments.
I'm wondering if Koto Battle is difficult to 100% as well.
You can also find some uncommon official Tomato Adventure artwork in its guidebook (I think just the protagonists, certain 'ancillary' characters, like Hanzo, Kaizo, etc. Super Kids, Tomatrio and the protagonists using different Gimmicks, and different poses), but not as much as the Starfy guidebooks which have official artwork for all characters and enemies in the illustrated picture book, which is interesting as you'd normally not need them for minor enemies, and there are lots of enemies in the game (the five games combined have 323 regarded here as enemies, like a species and almost all have official artwork)). However, there is also some interesting scene artwork with some probably being unused in the normal box/manual/official mini-site(?) that was used to decorate certain parts of the strategy guide (e.g. DeMille and Aretha in the mountains with the moon visible, DeMille jumping up in the air and Aretha bouncing on Gorikki/(or Borikki I still get mixed up)'s head.)
This is just one example, and the above may actually be used somewhere on one of the above three places.
Other guidebook secrets: I had the Steel Diver Nintendo Official Guidebook for Japan, and I believe it transcribed the (English) maritime history/military related exclamations (I forgot the specifics as it's been so long since I played the game, but along the lines of phrases like "Ahead Flank" etc.), the equivalent Japanese phonetics, and possibly even what these were about.
Hope you liked this post. ^^ ✿
