As I said in my earlier post on the subject, I acquired a Japanese Sega Saturn last year. I'd subsequently acquired both a Japanese Nintendo 64 (as a birthday present from American ALT Kayla Alberedo), and a Japanese PS2 (from departing Scottish ALT Richard Kinsella). Things were seemed to be going fairly well on the retro gaming front... until both the Sega Saturn and N64 had suffered system failures.
After a long time tinkering with both consoles, trying to exchange the power supplies and replacing internal batteries and such, I conceded defeat. Something had gone wrong with both of them, and I wasn't technically minded enough to work out what. Although I take good care of my consoles, the Sega Saturn is sadly notorious for system failures, while the N64 had never worked at all since I'd acquired it. Working out where console repairs could be carried out in Japan for these (pretty old) systems seemed fairly beyond me. The only solution, then, was to pick up replacements.
The Pikachu console!
The new N64 sits by the old Sega Saturn.
I left it for a while as it wasn't an immediate purchase priority, but with the start of the new year I headed along to Hard Off; a huge second-hand retailer near my house which I was introduced to last year by Rainer Wessels (you can watch my reaction to our first trip there below):
I came back home not just with replacements to both consoles, but an amazing prize I couldn't believe I'd stumbled upon; a rare Pikachu-edition Nintendo 64.
The console was buried under a number of other N64 units. I was flicking through them all to find the best-looking model when I stumbled upon it, complete with most of it's original packaging. I was aghast when I saw it; especially as it was only around ¥3000 (!). It was instantly added to my list of purchases, and I carried both consoles home - hoping that neither of them were damaged or worn down. Luckily, both booted up perfectly.
I was thrilled to finally be playing Mario Kart 64 and all of my old Saturn games again, and to own a pretty rare and funky piece of Pokemon memorabilia. I spent the following evening doing much else except playing classic video-games.
Super Mario 64 in action.
However, I'm still trying to work out how I can repair my older consoles (if it's at all possible), as I'd love to restore them back to their original form rather than let them simply gather dust. If anyone could point me in the right direction of any restoration or repair services for them in Japan, I'd love to hear your suggestions!
