Side by Side, Back to Back

While Charlotte was watching the movie Hop, I was killing time by researching underrated vintage video games. Martin Watts, from N64 Today, suggested 20 N64 titles that were still fun to play today. His number 12 pick, Chameleon Twist, caught my attention.

The Japanese version of Chameleon Twist sounded cool, so I bought one on eBay. The next day I read online that Japanese carts won't fit in my N64. Well, shoot.

Although the Japanese game will play on a US television, the back of the cartridge prevents it from loading into an American N64 console. The Japanese cart is on the right. You can see how the indentations on the bottom do not match the US cart.

The N64 console can be taken apart and modded, but that seemed like a lot of work for one game.  Instead, I went looking for a cheap N64 cart with a nice back cover.

I bought this one at Half Price Books for $1.80 (teacher discount!).

I used a 3.8mm screwdriver bit to remove the cartridge screws.

I switched the back covers. Now NFL Quarterback Club '99 has the Japanese label, and Chameleon Twist should fit in my N64.

That worked!

I'm not too worried about the language barrier. I can watch a few YouTube videos of the US gameplay. That should help when the Japanese text boxes appear.

Baku Bomberman 64 is supposed to arrive from Japan in mid-June. I should have found another cheap N64 cart by then...

Playing Internationally

Both Char and Earl enjoy playing with Char's Nintendo DS Lite. The DS Lite is a new toy for Charlotte, even if it was discontinued about 8 years ago.

The DS Lite hits a sweet spot in our retro-gaming collection. The Lite's back-lit screen is brighter than the original DS, and the unit is also sleeker than the original. Plus, the Lite plays both DS and Game Boy Advance games. Nintendo produced about 1,700 DS games and 900 GBA games, so that's a lot of bang for your gaming buck. 

PLUS, even though some desirable GBA titles are becoming scarce, DS games are plentiful because they can still be played on the current 3DS. Many used DS titles can be picked up for a few dollars, and the more popular games are less than $20. 

Disclaimer: I am only talking about physical game cartridges. I know nothing about games that are downloaded from the net. I am old.

A used DS Lite goes for about $45 here in Des Moines. But you can get one cheaper if you have some patience. 

Like Game Boy games, the DS software wasn't region-locked by Nintendo. You can play DS games from all around the world on any DS Lite. That also means you can use a DS Lite from another country to play DS games made in the US.

So what? Well, if you can handle the slower speed of international mail, you can pick up a Japanese DS Lite. I bought this one on eBay for less than $15 shipped. It took 11 days to arrive.

Sure, it plays great, but the display is in Japanese. Well, that's not a big deal. You can change the DS Lite's language.

It's a simple process. Here's how I did it on my backup DS Lite from Japan (the weird lines are caused by the camera):

This doesn't work with Nintendo's DSi (the next generation of DS players). That software is region-locked. I made a mistake and bought a DSi LL from Japan. I can't change its language, and it won't play American DSi enhanced games (but we only own one - de Blob 2).

The DSi LL does play the standard DS games from the US. So, I can still enjoy playing Space Chimps on the larger screen.

That wasn't a joke, by the way. I really like playing Space Chimps.

A Link to the Past

Several of my sophomore students will be reading The Great Gatsby this semester, so I thought I should read it myself.

The English department ordered a slew of new copies of the book,  but I borrowed an old copy from the department's old book cabinet. This is a 1986 edition.

I found this note card tucked between the pages. Looks like someone was bored in study hall. Kids, this is what your parents did in school because they didn't have cell phones.

The bookmark isn't the only thing I found inside.

F. Scott Fitzgerald dedicated The Great Gatsby to his wife, Zelda.

Look underneath the dedication.

Link is the main character in the 1987 video game The Legend of Zelda. 

The "Win with Link" sticker is from 1989.

There's an unused sticker for sale on eBay right now.

I wasn't an English teacher at UHS in 1989 (I was in college), but I worked with people who were teaching here then. I can tell you that this sticker would have made a couple of those ladies furious. If they would have seen it; they would have ripped it out.

So, as a teacher, what do I think? I think that it is a special kind of awesome that this gamer's joke has been hiding undetected inside this book for almost 30 years.

Rip it out? I'm more likely to frame it.