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Hello, new here

Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 1:45 pm
by Zell_ff8
Hi, I just registered here.
I've reached this forum several times before when I search about kojima games, mostly posts about policenauts since I had a harsh time making the pc98 version work in emulators.

I'm a casual collector, mostly famicom and ps1 japanese games. Fan of jrpg, specially Final Fantasy.
I got a copy of the original MGS NTSC-J early this year and I decided to make a collection of kojima games. I don't care for special editions or mint, factory seales, but all my collections are of "complete in box with manuals", "first versions" and "playables", since I'm the kind who likes to play the games instead of keeping them sealed in boxes.
Since then I got a Snatcher CDROMantic (my favorite version, and the first "complete", though it would be nice to have the pc88 too), Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 for MSX2, and PS/PS2 japanese versions of the game. I even got a MSX2+ and a PCEngine just to play those games, and it was awesome.

I'm looking for a PC98 version of policenauts, but can't find it anywhere, and I don't know what's the price it could get on auctions. Anyone knows where to get it and how much could a copy cost?

Regards!

Re: Hello, new here

Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 9:19 pm
by AwesomeBrand
I feel like being the "first" guy today, so let me be the first to welcome you here.

Re: Hello, new here

Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 6:45 pm
by Artemio
Hello, welcome to the boards.

I am the same kind of collector, I get the games I want to appreciate and play them. Complete and first editiosn if possible, but never after sealed copies.

The PC98 version is hard to come by complete, I'd say about 2 a year in yahoo auctions japan. I am not really sure about closing prices, since I've not followed that for almost a decade.

Re: Hello, new here

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 9:46 pm
by Zell_ff8
Thank you.

Is that version so rare? I've never seen it either. That makes me think it would end very pricey, idk... I bought both MG and MG2 with boxes and manual (MG manual written in the frequencies page) for $400 the set, but I've seen several copies and there are still there. Its strange that Policenauts being newer doesn't show up, was it launched in a small batch?

Anyone has a complete copy to show me some pictures? Are the photos in http://policenauts.net/pc9821images.html all that was on the PC98 package? I'll start following it now.

Re: Hello, new here

Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2013 12:53 pm
by Artemio
I've not seen a copy with more stuff over the years in auctions.

how long have you been searching?

Re: Hello, new here

Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2013 1:39 pm
by Zell_ff8
I searched for it some years ago, when I was playing it emulated, but I started looking for it regularly for a couple months now.

Re: Hello, new here

Posted: Thu Oct 03, 2013 3:38 pm
by Artemio
Keep checking daily for this year, it should appear

Re: Hello, new here

Posted: Fri Oct 11, 2013 5:18 pm
by Zell_ff8
I got a copy! I think it's complete, it has even the userdisk label.
I don't have a PC98 to play it, but I tried to dump it for preservation. The floppy is unreadable from my 4 drives, maybe its format isn't IBM compatible. Or maybe it demagnetized during shipping :S.

edit: I got to dump the CD and got the same hashes than in redump :)
I'll try to find a pc98 laptop within this year so I can play it original ~

Re: Hello, new here

Posted: Fri Oct 11, 2013 9:53 pm
by AwesomeBrand
Zell_ff8 wrote:I got a copy! I think it's complete, it has even the userdisk label.
I don't have a PC98 to play it, but I tried to dump it for preservation. The floppy is unreadable from my 4 drives, maybe its format isn't IBM compatible. Or maybe it demagnetized during shipping :S.

edit: I got to dump the CD and got the same hashes than in redump :)
I'll try to find a pc98 laptop within this year so I can play it original ~
Image
y u so luky?

Re: Hello, new here

Posted: Fri Oct 11, 2013 9:56 pm
by Zell_ff8
It was an unexpected spending, and now I have to give up this one, also very rare, http://page10.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/a ... m113089052 but hey, I'm not complaining ;)

I found a policenauts auction already over, but it was from a store, so I contacted them if they could get another, and it resulted that the winner didn't pay and cancelled, so I seized that one /gg (this is the one I got, it came with the stickers from the PS version :lol: http://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/v309091146 )

Re: Hello, new here

Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2013 1:11 pm
by Artemio
Awesome! Congrats. =)

You'll love it when you see it running on the PC98, I recall having some issues installing it a few years ago, but basic MS-DOS knowledge was all that was needed.

Re: Hello, new here

Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 7:10 pm
by Zell_ff8
Just asking, no need to compromise this forum, but is there a way to get a floppy image of MSDOS 5.0 A or A-H (or, does MSDOS6 works the same without compatibility issues?, and that of 日本語MS-DOS Extensions?
I would buy them, I'd want to, but it's out of the question since any floppy these days, if it managed to survive until now, it will get wiped out during the shipping without a doubt.

Also I'd want a 1:1 image of the Policenauts install disk, since the one I got has both disk flags files (that of install disk and user disk). Also its autoexec launches the game instantly if the CD is in, not allowing to install or create an user disk. Also weird enough, the installer asks for a drive with neccd.sys, but the userdisk created has neccdd.sys on its config.sys, which doesn't copy or asks during install. So I had always to use diskexpl to add it and to edit config.sys in order to load cd driver in neko2 and anex.
So I suspect the install disk image I got was manipulated, is not the actual very same files on the original disk.

Re: Hello, new here

Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 7:17 pm
by Artemio
They survive surprisingly well airplane trips and shipping, I've not had one fail me to this day.

Although I do have a working laptop, I need to do some repairs on it since the backloit is not working and it is rendered useless because of that. hence, I cannot provide any help.

I remember creating the intall disc myself form the CD... but I might be wrong.

Re: Hello, new here

Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 1:09 pm
by Marc
I remember trying to get Policenauts to work on my PC98 laptop 8 years ago. It was quite a challenge. In the end, apparently it was not possible on that laptop, or so an expert on the Tokugawa forums told me. PC98 hardware can be a PITA.

I did however get it to run on my PC98 desktop the following year, and it was glorious.

So I guess the moral of that story is be careful which PC98 hardware you buy. :)