Random Shots: I Bought A Game I Can't Play

• Back on the first day of 2021, I discovered a video game that (spoilers) is going to land on my Top Five list for the year. Only the game came out in 1994. And it has never been translated to English. And I haven't actually played it.


• Maybe this will explain:

• Probably should have warned you that the video was six hours long. Sorry.


• After watching the video a few times (I'm up to seven times by now), I knew that I had to own this game. So off to Amazon I went. For an astoundingly low amount of $40, this copy was making its way to me from Japan.

• I was pleasantly surprised by the condition of the box. One corner was a little crushed, but the quality was still impressive for a 27 year old game.

• Opening the box, I was happy to see that the contents are in great shape as well. That popout on the lid was at one time a music box. Of course a quarter century has killed the battery dead. If I was the adventurous sort, I'd try to restore it, but I'm too much of a coward.

• The box comes with the game itself, a pair of mousepads, and a PS1 compatible mouse (that's it in the white cardboard box).

• Opening the game case, I felt an immediate kinship with the prior owner. I found the various cards, stickers, and obi strip tucked into the manual just like I have done with my own games.


• The box current sits atop my game cabinet, Shiori Fujisaki watching over me even now as I type this. It is a nice totem for a game that, although I can't play it, has meant a lot to me this year.