Wow, look at that.. they’re both 2’s!
So, I picked both of these up at this fantastic local video game store that is definitely organized with a collector in mind called 1-up games. You can expect them to carry the sort of stuff you’ll never find at the video game store down the street (not to mention the place is much more aesthetically pleasing and considerably less dirty) – for example, as I speak they are carrying copies of Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen, Chrono Trigger boxed, and even Harvest Moon.
Unfortunately I don’t have the money to buy ALL of them (as much as I’d like to) so it seems I was limited to one choice: Breath of Fire II. Why Breath of Fire II? It is one of my favorite RPG’s of all time. Chrono Trigger is great and all, but there is an arguably more complete version for the DS that is readily accessible anytime I choose. While I do indeed own the GBA version of Breath of Fire II I’ve always wanted to own the home console version. After giving it a spin for an hour or so yesterday I can conclude two things:
- The music is richer than I ever experienced on the GBA
- Accounts about the translation being “awful” are completely over-exaggerated
That is not to say that the script doesn’t suffer from some stiffness, but it is far from abhorrent.
Breath of Fire II is a fantastic game that is absolutely worth the $100 I put down for it (this is including the box). While the SNES boxart is garish in the style of He-man wannabes of the yesteryear, it IS nice owning it anyway. One of the other gentlemen at the store in question advised me “Not to throw the box away” when I bought the game. Thanks, I think I know that. I’ll be using cover project to create a box with the original, much better japanese SNES art on it eventually. More space is needed before that possibility opens up though.
Fatal Fury 2 is an excellent, classic example of 2d fighters when they first emerged – carrying all the charm (and issues) of early 2d fighters. While I had already owned the genesis version, I was betting that the SNES version was superior. I have yet to give it a test run but for $7, it was hardly an investment.
