I almost counldn’t believe my eyes… A copy of Last Blade 2… Also known by its (literally) breathtakingly long Japanese title, 幕末浪漫 第二幕 月華の剣士 ～月に咲く華、散りゆく花～ (Bakumatsu Roman Dai Ni Maku: Gekka no Kenshi ~Tsuki ni Saku Hana, Chiri Yuku Hana~) or ‘Romance of the Bakumatsu Episode 2: Swordsman of the Moon - A Flower Blooms on The Moon, A Petal Falls’. I’m not making that up. And that’s not just ‘the official full name’, that entire title, in Japanese, is on the cartridge’s spine label. (Though on the label it’s written as ‘幕末浪漫 月華の剣士 第二幕 月に咲く華、散りゆく花’ instead.) Of course, outside Japan they just call it The Last Blade 2 or Last Blade 2… Because that would NOT fit on the cartridge in English, seriously. It barely fits in Japanese.

Home console cartridges go for several HUNDRED dollars, nearly a thousand sometimes! And I once saw a full kit of the English arcade version for sale on a site for nearly as much as my cabinet… I have only ever seen the arcade cartridge of this game go up for auction once before, a couple weeks ago, and it pained me TO DEATH to not be able to try for it, because it went for under fifty bucks… But it was beat up, and had an English label. This one had an original Japanese label in stunning condition, and even the original SNK foil serial number sticker still affixed. It was currently $20.50, I knew that number was soft. I’m really going to have to work for this one, time to go sniping.

Next: Part 5, In which Baka engages in a sniper war.

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