Konami re-release survey

Hero (651)

28-08-2022, 08:57

Konami didn't ditch MSX after 1990. According to MSX FAN 1991-07 page 100, MSX FAN redactors desperately needed 7 Pennant Race 2 for their contest and were overjoyed to find new stocks but nevertheless found it odd 3 years after the release, and called Konami "which had not been in contact lately" (= MSX FAN too thought Konami ditched MSX) then Konami answered recently rereleasing Parodius/Pennant Race 2/Gradius 2/F1 Spirit.

It might had been a tip of iceberg given MSX FAN noticed it by coincidence. Some packages look too new to be from 80s. While package and rom designs likely remained unchanged, the bulk mail stamp due date is the identifier. The stamp section at upper left corner of the enclosed user registration postcard indicates it in year-month-day format with the year in gengou so a pre-1989 postcard says Showa 6* while a later one says Heisei 1/2/... The due date is usually a year from the shipment, so if the year number is 4 (=AD 1992) or greater the package was 1991 or newer.

Dear owners, would you mind looking at the enclosed postcard and report if the first figure in the stamp section is <59 and >3?

Por Fresh

Master (180)

28-08-2022, 11:00

This is the only registration card I have found. It came with my Parodius

Por Takamichi

Hero (651)

28-08-2022, 11:25

Fresh wrote:

This is the only registration card I have found. It came with my Parodius

Thank you, its due date is 1992 therefore is definitely a reissue. The postcard also mentions MSX2+/SNES/FM Towns that didn't exist in year 1988 when Parodius was out.

Por Takamichi

Hero (651)

28-08-2022, 12:20

Follow up: The figure IN the rectangle is NOT the date but is the post office's bulk mail administration number. The date is below it with kanjis inserted. In @Fresh's example, 4-8-31.

Por Ivan

Ascended (9373)

05-11-2022, 20:57

In the early nineties (1992 or 1993) I bought a brand new cartridge of Parodius for Game Boy. It was the Japanese version of the game (obviously it was imported from Japan) and it came with a similar postcard, you can see it here:

Parodius Game Boy - Amazon.co.jp

Of course I quickly noticed the MSX[1. 2. 2+] on the postcard, but taking into account that on the box it was printed (C) KONAMI 1991, at that time I didn't know what to think (I knew that MSX TurboR was already available and no reference to it on the postcard so my assumption was that Konami was reusing an older version of that form). I still have that cartridge somewhere (complete).

Por Takamichi

Hero (651)

17-11-2022, 10:12

Ivan wrote:

Parodius Game Boy - Amazon.co.jp

That field asks you to mark the consoles you own, and SNES being there means the postcard was to be delivered to customer after Nov 21 1990 when FS-A1ST was already out on Oct 1990 but I guess Konami didn't care to consider, and I cannot assert Konami was going to release a new MSX title if many customers returned this postcard marked with MSX. Receiving many such postcards might caused Konami to decide reissuing though.
Compile refused to print "turboR" on their MSX packages like Dragon Quiz and Warau Salesman well after the turboR release but that's another story.

Por Ivan

Ascended (9373)

19-11-2022, 11:17

Takamichi wrote:

Compile refused to print "turboR" on their MSX packages like Dragon Quiz and Warau Salesman well after the turboR release but that's another story.

Interesting! My assumption has always been that the reason why MSX games didn't have the "MSXturboR" logo printed on the cover after the release of MSX TurboR was because they did not make use of the extra standard capabilities of these machines (R800, more RAM and PCM sound, basically).

I tend to consider Ranma 1/2 the last game ever released for MSX (and it was for TurboR!) by a commercial software company. It was released the 12th of June, 1992 (just only one day after Daisenryaku II - Campaign Version). Ranma 1/2 was/is well know in Spain because the anime television series was broadcasted by one TV channel in 1993.

Por Takamichi

Hero (651)

19-11-2022, 16:52

Compile had a habit of hiding true competitiveness like omitting "MSX-AUDIO" on their game packages despite they could sound it

Didn't the news about not a few other games like Burai 2/Tower of Cabin/Gram Cats 2 that postdated Ranma 1/2 arrive there??

Por Pentarou

Hero (563)

19-11-2022, 17:05

Or maybe Compile was simply avoiding ASCII's licensing fees, for the use of the official Turbo-R mark/logo.

Por Ivan

Ascended (9373)

19-11-2022, 20:54

Takamichi wrote:

Didn't the news about not a few other games like Burai 2/Tower of Cabin/Gram Cats 2 that postdated Ranma 1/2 arrive there??

I didn't even know about the existence of Ranma 1/2 at that time (MSX magazines were no longer published here). Wow! Gram Cats 2 is from 1993!