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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

In more positive food news, Pizza-ism near Mitaka Station has their usual October special once more: pumpkin & pepperoni pizza with cinnamon & cardamom. Which may sound weird, but trust me, it is DIVINE. If you're in the Tokyo area this month, I highly recommend checking it out!

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I was quite excited for the recent opening of "3 Hermanos" in Kichijoji -- a very highly rated Mexican chain, its Shibuya location scoring 4.8/5 on Google Maps. Finally tried them today... and was extremely disappointed. Overpriced, small portions, no mixing and matching tacos...

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Wow. If you're in Tokyo, and you're into urban exploration of abandoned and crumbling buildings, I guess... keep Machida in mind! Because this is the most readily accessible, LEGALLY accessible abandoned urban ruin I've ever seen. No 立入禁止 here, and you don't have to go far before it gets creepy!

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【恐怖】大都会東京で巨大な廃墟を見つけました

YouTube video by 日本ひとり旅

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Got a technical MSX question regarding "Dome." To start with, here are three screenshots from the game's intro, taken via OpenMSX, to be used as reference. (The imagery is a bit unfortunate, considering the time of year, but that is how the game opens; this is from 1989, remember! They had no idea.)

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Been a while since I last won an MSX game worthy of posting about! But I think "Dome" is very worthy, even if it's an acquired taste. It's one of the foundations of the visual novel genre, back when they were actually NOVELS -- and it's by System Sacom, best known on MSX for Yuurei-kun/Mr. Ghost.

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

This was brought to my attention last week -- too late for me to have attended, of course -- but it is now 100% on my bucket list for next year. Every summer in Japan, there are "bon odori" all over the country -- traditional dances + festivals to honor those who have passed...

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Rainbow over the main drag on the south side of Kichijoji Station just now. Was fortunate to catch this, as it vanished not long after!

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Whew. Got a lot of updates backlogged, but figure I'll start here. Scored a number of games recently, but this may be the most impressive in a lot of ways -- it's hard to believe this was achieved on the humble Atari 2600. Please expand this thread; it's gonna be a long'un!

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Oh yeah, and the other game I want to share, just for archival purposes... is Ink! The updated rom version of the game, Ink: Exxon Surfing, has been fully archived on File-Hunter, but the original 2005 cassette version of the game seems not to have been. drive.google.com/file/d/1W2lT...

drive.google.com

Ink (2005)(INK TEAM).cas

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

And, the games are ripped! You can download both sides of both tapes from Enjoy Triangle vol.3 here, along with a .txt file containing full instructions on how to play all three games (which you definitely are going to need!). Enjoy! (...Triangle.) drive.google.com/file/d/1Cb-C...

drive.google.com

Enjoy Triangle volume 3 (1986)(BAIT-AL-HIKMA)(ja)[cas].zip

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Well, the dataset arrived in the mail today... and man, is it ever cute! ;) What a tiny, chic piece of '80s electronics it is! It's just got such personality! And, for as budget as it may seem... it did the trick! Enjoy Triangle vol.3 has been dumped and converted successfully.

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Photos alone wouldn't cut it for this. I had to do a full-on unboxing, as this is probably the rarest, most obscure MSX thing I've ever gotten my hands on. Stay tuned as I attempt, very carefully, to dump this for archiving in the coming... days? weeks? (y-years...?) www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRc2...

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“Enjoy Triangle” vol.3 (MSX, cassette, 1986?) basic info & unboxing

YouTube video by Wyrdwad

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Well, I guess I have the whole trilogy now! Picked up "AshGuine Story III: Flames of Revenge" at BEEP today -- the final AshGuine game, this time produced by the prolific Microcabin, of Xak fame. Surprisingly not as polished as the second game, but an interesting enough Zeldalike nonetheless!

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

I actually did post about Caravan Boomer once before, a long time ago, when there was just a demo of it out and all I really knew about the game was this track, which wound up being the boss theme. This one isn't by Naruto, but it's still damn fine FM! www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVZu...

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That's it (Boss theme)

YouTube video by Release - Topic

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

I never was able to get into "Caravan Boomer," an indie shmup release for MSX from a few years back, as I found I just don't enjoy the caravan style of shmup gameplay. As a result, I missed out on its amazing OST until recently. But just... listen to this! www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL1u...

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Forest Abyss (stage 2/14)

YouTube video by Release - Topic

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

In today's edition of "I can't believe this (mostly) worked," I "fixed" the XaviX Eyehand gloves! Went to my local craft shop and bought a couple tiny pincushions, which I taped to the gloves, then covered in the 3M reflective tape. Behold, the resulting abomination, in all its splendor!

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Also scored yet another MSX classic CIB recently! Like King Kong 2, this is one I owned cart-only, but emphasis on "owned," as I... got frustrated with it and sold it to BEEP, I think? ;) But I always kind of regretted doing so! Anyway, it's AshGuine 2: Citadel in the Void!

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Man, not a single person guessed! Thought for sure somebody would be like, wait, IR-reflective? This must be a XaviXPORT thing, since Wyrdwad's spoken of that system so many times before. Then with a quick bit of Googling to find out which XaviXPORT game uses fingerless gloves, you'd land upon...

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

So, I won a game on Yahoo Auctions that is NOT complete-in-box, and bought these two cheap items on Amazon to (maybe) help complete it (odds are 50/50 at best that it'll work, but I'm hopeful!). What game is it? You should have enough info to figure it out from just this + prior posts I've made!

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

So another thing I wanted to ask: has anyone else experienced this? The spines on four of my MSX game boxes started clouding over, cracking, then breaking apart a while back, despite my best efforts to keep them out of direct sunlight. Then recently, I noticed something these four have in common...

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Now for a fun food update that involves a cool vtuber you might not know who falls into a bizarrely, amazingly specific niche -- but more on that in a bit! Long thread, most likely, so please expand. ;) Last month, and again today, I ate at "d'Indonesian Spice" near Ueno Park.

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

One of the other things I've been wanting to talk about here, but have put off for like a month, is BEEP -- the premiere Akihabara shop for all your eclectic retro PC needs. Back in May, the classic BEEP dungeon shut down after 10 years... and last month, its new, "bigger, better" location opened.

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

'Bout time I post an update or two! And I'll start with a recent acquisition that I... really didn't expect to win, but NOBODY ELSE bid on this for some reason, so I got it for pretty cheap! It's Konami's "King Kong 2" for MSX2! Which I already owned cart-only, but now own CIB!

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Again, don't mind me -- just dropping a couple meme images here for personal use. Move along, now! ;) I do have a small backlog of real updates too, though, that I'll be sharing soon! Nothing super exciting -- just random stuff I've been meaning to post for a while, but haven't. So stay tuned!

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Legit one of the best games I’ve ever played. If you haven’t tried it, please do. You won’t regret it.

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Don't mind me! Just stowing a few meme/dad joke image memes here for later use. Easier than trying to find them again down the line!

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Pizza-ism’s monthly special for June is homemade keema curry (right), but he also had paprika pizza made with pepper cheese (left), which wound up being amazing as well. This place never disappoints! Looking forward to September, as the planned special is chicken gumbo, which sounds amazing!

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

So, I did actually finish playing through Alice in Wonder Underland, and I must say, I enjoyed it quite a lot! I have some complaints, but overall, it was a really engrossing experience. And this song WILL NOT LEAVE MY HEAD, so I decided to share it. ;) www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoQM...

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[♫] Alice in Wonder Underland (AIWU) - Showa Anthem

YouTube video by Wyrdwad

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Other spoils from the lot I just won that I have no need for and will likely be reselling (if anyone's interested!) include this special pack with SimCity 3000 and SimPeople (SimPeople still shrink-wrapped inside, but everything else in nearly mint condition as well)...

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Well, this was unexpected! I won't say how much I spent on it, but I threw my hat in the ring a few days ago for a small lot of games which included Final Fantasy VII PC -- the Windows version from back in the day, with the "expressive eyebrows" -- and actually won. And what's more...

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

(Cont'd from previous thread) So, Alice in Wonder Underland... Neither of the trailers for this game quite do it justice, and it is also very rough around the edges, with some wonky animation and a very spotty English translation. So it has a lot going against it... www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV93...

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Alice in Wonder Underland AIWU PV for Steam ENG

YouTube video by レジスタ広報

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

So, I wound up dropping Mina the Hollower. I could go into great detail as to why, but suffice it to say, I just didn't vibe with the game -- it wasn't what I was hoping for, and had a few quirks that were real deal-breakers for me. However, I bought another eShop game alongside Mina last Friday...

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

I always seem to be the one naysayer for popular games, but like… is no one else finding the controls in Mina the Hollower to be so slow, stiff, and unwieldy as to really detract from the experience? Mina feels HEAVY. But she’s a mouse! Why does she feel heavier than Shovel Knight?!

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Also, last post about the converted Super Famicom controller, but... success! This weekend, with the help of a couple regulars at Tokyo Retro, the functionality of B/X and A/Y was successfully swapped, and... I also replaced the SuFami buttons with SNES ones, while I was at it!

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Unexpected addition to my MSX library arrived today: Gate of Labyrinth! Box and cart, but no manual. Still, this game usually goes for a lot more than what I paid, even loose, and I just really dig this box art (both front and back!), so I'm really glad to own this one now.

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

So, the other day, I just discovered this pretty rad Japanese pop hit from 1968, which really does sound like the sort of thing you'd hear in a Quentin Tarantino movie or something. Never knew it existed, but it's easy to hear the appeal! www.youtube.com/watch?v=llE2...

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Mie Nakao - Koi No Sharock VICTOR

YouTube video by Jeromatique

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

For some reason, that post about the SFC controller adapted to an NEC/MSX-standard 9-pin connector wound up being one of my most popular posts EVER on Twitter (go figure!), so here are some shots of what it looks like on the inside — as well as a new shot of it with the buttons properly arranged.

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Won something rather interesting on Yahoo Auctions the other day, and got it in my hands today. It's a Super Famicom controller, but modified by a hobbyist to output to a 9-pin connector so it can be used with PC-88, PC-98, MSX, and theoretically a few Atari standards as well.

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Went into Jimbocho over the holiday, and among my acquisitions there was a promotional newspaper for the Japanese release of The Goonies (the movie). It included a brief blurb on the upcoming games for Famicom, MSX, and the arcade, which featured this glorious mock-up screenshot:

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

My local shopping street seems to have a collab with Patlabor right now, of all things!

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

I swear Japan's soda game is unmatched, and Pepsi has been leading the charge for decades. Now, they have "Pepsi Big Zero Americana," which I of course had to try!

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Second Yahoo win was a big one, consisting of 10 disks. This included the 3-disk "MSX Free Software 100" set (similar to Doujin World, but for full games, and with a much crappier front-end that basically just explains how to use DOS), two disks full of MIDI files, three games...

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

OK, so I also expanded my Takeru collection quite a lot this week with a couple interesting Yahoo Auctions wins! First up, "MSX Doujin World: Takeru Edition." Basically, they're demo disks! So you can try a bunch of Takeru indie software before you buy it. They're pretty well put-together, too!

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

The second material collection to commemorate BEEP's 10th anniversary has a much more unassuming cover, but was SUPER cool to page through on the train ride home! (This thread is going to go well beyond three posts deep, as I took a lot of pictures, so do expand for more!)

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

So there were two material collections released to commemorate BEEP's 10th anniversary. The first -- which I was initially more interested in, since it features the twin goddesses of Ys on the cover -- was this, which has some good art in it, but I'm still not quite sure what it is!

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Decided to head into Akihabara today for the first time in a while since BEEP -- still the coolest shop, even after diversifying their lineup to include tons of Miku figurines and tchotchkes and such -- will be temporarily shuttering in 2 weeks as they move to their new location.

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Ending theme to PopoloCrois II with lyric translations -- almost forgot I did this ages ago. Given Tamori-sensei's passing, it seems only appropriate to reshare this now, as it truly does stand as one of the sweetest love songs of all time, perfectly encapsulating what made his work so special.

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[Game Music] PopoloCrois Monogatari II - A Tiny Flower (with lyric translations)

YouTube video by Wyrdwad

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

In sadder news, it seems Yousuke Tamori, creator of PopoloCrois, passed away just under 3 weeks ago at age 74. RIP to a legend who was never as appreciated as he should’ve been, but pretty much universally beloved by those who knew him.

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Incidentally, I think I may have shared photos of this a long time ago, and I'm sure those of you who collect games on floppy disk are well-acquainted with it by now, but if you're just getting into retro PC collecting, I highly recommend snagging (or 3D printing) one of these...

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Wyrdwad in Japan @wyrdwad.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Not the most exciting heretofore undumped MSX acquisition, but I recently got my hands on a copy of PCM editor 'PuRE' for MSX Turbo-R -- disk label and Takeru manual claim it's version 1.22, but the title screen on the disk itself says it's version 1.60. drive.google.com/file/d/1IGuC...

drive.google.com

PCM Editor PuRE (MSX Turbo-R).zip

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