A little look at the 16-bit-esque graphics can be glimpsed on the back of the game case. 

Taken: Jun 22, 2012

The game disc is simply designed but clean. 

Taken: Jun 22, 2012

Albert Odyssey Gaidan: Legend of Eldean (Japanese) for the Sega Saturn. The game looks and plays like an SNES RPG, albeit with larger, sharper sprites. Parts of the game also sport full voice-acting. Ordered from ebay seller adante-jp for ?9/$14 

Taken: Jun 22, 2012

Oddly enough the game comes with two manuals. The brownish one appears to be a standard instruction manual and the one greyish one is a collection of game related information (character bios, spell lists and so on). I haven't had the chance to look 

Taken: Jun 21, 2012

A two-disc game. The discs have a slightly disappointed budget appearance about them. As per usual with Japanese imports both discs are in immaculate condition. 

Taken: Jun 21, 2012

Taken: Jun 21, 2012

The first Grandia game. A multi-platform release for the Saturn (Japan only) and Playstation (worldwide). The general consensus is the Saturn version looks better than the Playstation port (extra shadows, more detailed/sharper textures). I got thi 

Taken: Jun 21, 2012

Taken: Jun 12, 2012

Taken: Jun 12, 2012

Taken: Jun 12, 2012

Taken: Jun 12, 2012

Taken: Jun 12, 2012

Taken: Jun 12, 2012

The new Asian PS2 (NTSC-J) (SCPH900006 CB) arrived today. Time to crack on with some Rogue Galaxy methinks. 

Taken: Jun 12, 2012

And look what came through the post for me this morning. Brand-spanking new and shrink-wrapped :) 1 Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! (PlayStation3 the Best Reprint) Compatible with PlayStation3 Japan, No Region Protection ?26.90 http://www.play-asia.com/Ryu 

Taken: Jun 12, 2012

I found this interesting. The games the system plays are Japanese (with Circle Button = OK and X Button = back) but the menus for the PS2 firmware (which only offer Chinese and English) use the western standard (X = OK, O = back). This is fiddly 

Taken: Jun 12, 2012

Not a very good picture here but notice how the power light is more of a yellowish-green than a strong vivid green found on the older models. 

Taken: Jun 12, 2012

Plugged the system in (you can still push the power cord into the system a lot even after the system powers up into stand-by mode. I did simply because I didn't like having the cable loose at the back). The red light shows it went into standby mo 

Taken: Jun 12, 2012

The far right is the kind of plug socket that you have to work with. Anything that goes into that (and to the socket in the other side of your wall) that has no power-brick should work fine. 

Taken: Jun 12, 2012

But you can push the door open further with a slight nudge so that it stands like this. I am guessing they realised that people would have to use two hands to open the system so they had a 'two-step' opening-door to stop the door flipping open and 

Taken: Jun 12, 2012

The disc door opens a little once you finally do manage to push the button. 

Taken: Jun 12, 2012

Notice the lack of the 'radiator' style stripes that were on the older slims (a design choice carried over from the original PS2). It looks much cleaner. Sadly this clean design comes with some hitches as the open/reset buttons are now slightly r 

Taken: Jun 12, 2012

No plans on modding this any time soon 

Taken: Jun 12, 2012

Note that the system clearly states its region as NTSC-J despite never having been intended to be sold in Japan. Asian systems are typically just re-branded Japanese systems and as such play Japanese games with no problem. There is some incompati 

Taken: Jun 12, 2012