Sunday, February 16, 2014

10 Yen Finds: Famicom Sky Destroyer Chirashi

I came across a little 10 yen (10 cent) bargain the other day, an original chirashi (flyer/mini poster) for Sky Destroyer by Taito. 

It is in pretty rough shape, wtih a crease down the middle, some wrinkles here and there and some surface wear on the pilot`s face. Still I count this as a pretty cool purchase.

Sky Destroyer was a Japan-only release on the Famicom that never made it to the NES.  Somehow I forgot to include it on my recent overview of Japan-only releases.  It is not a bad pilot-perspective shoot em up. The gameplay is somewhat similar to After Burner, only not quite as good.  I still like it though, the graphics are a bit primitive but in their simplicity they make the screen look pretty cool.

I guess it is pretty obvious why this was never released outside of Japan - you are flying a Zero in World War 2 and trying to shoot down American planes.  No way in hell that would have been released anywhere but Japan, unless they reversed the roles.

Anyway, politics aside I`ve always really liked the cover art on the Sky Destroyer box (and by extension my new chirashi). 

It has the perfect balance of color - the blue sky, green plane, yellow border and pink lettering of the game title.


This was one of the early Taito series that came numbered.  Sky Destroyer is number 5 in the series.  The back of the chirashi has an ad for the first four, Space Invaders, Chack n Pop, Front Line and Elevator Action:

Actually all of those also have really awesome cover art.  I have Chack n Pop and Space Invaders CIB and they are both pretty cool, especially Chack n Pop.  Elevator Action in particular is a game that I really want to find CIB and to get a chirashi for.  The artwork on that one is even better than Sky Destroyer and probably one of the best out of the entire Famicom catalogue.

For now though I have put my Sky Destroyer chirashi in a little frame next to my DC Cab movie poster, which is by far the coolest thing that I own.  I think they go well together.

13 comments:

  1. Awesome find, Sean! Also, I agree with you that the game's box art is pretty great. I like all of the box arts produced for these old Taito Famicom games, though, so I may be bit biased :) (BTW, I also covet the Famicom version of Elevator Action, and mainly because of its wonderful box art!)

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  2. Funny, I was just thinking "This sounds like something that Gay Gamer guy would write about." And here he is!

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  3. Nice find, I can't believe it was only Y10. Pretty good condition at that, too.

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  4. Awesome. I've been looking to find some retro looking Japanese ads or something to hang up in my apartment, myself.

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  5. Bryan - thanks! I totally agree about Elevator Action, I only wish it was a bit cheaper! Its a really fun game too.

    ArugulaZ - yeah, I think me and Bryan think alike on matters of video game cover art! I also read his blog and have probably been influenced a fair bit by it in my writing!

    Logan - thanks, at 10 yen it can`t be beat!

    Nate - yeah, these things are awesome if you can find them. I actually have a ton of 70s and 80s movie chirashi decorating my walls and they look really cool. The Famicom chrashi are unfortunately a lot more expensive and harder to find, so I was pretty happy to find this one so cheap!

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  6. I remember playing Sky Destroyer on one of these dodgy Multicarts back in the days. It was owned by one kid in our village and he had to lend it to everyone - rumours said that his mother could produce these Multicarts... lol. Well, Sky Destroyer was always my favourite game on that cart and my friend and me couldn't understand why it wasn't released in Europe....
    Great poster btw!

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  7. Sky Destroyer is indeed an awesome game to play and.... that must have been neat having a friend whose mother could produce multicarts!!

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  8. Holy shit. Just. Holy shit! This looks cool.
    And also 10Y for that. (which would be 10EUR in europe)
    o.O so cool.

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  9. Yeah! Actually these things usually sell for way more here in Japan too, I just lucked out on this one (also it is a bit damaged)!

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  10. wow... looks amazing for an equivelent of 10 cents!!!
    as for the game... its awsome!!!!! its like space harrier or after burner, but witha japanese zero fighter plane instead of a floating guy or an f14 tomcat!!!!

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  11. Mr.X - I totally agree, its a really cool game. It was actually one of the first Famicom games I ever got. The gameplay is cool, very similar to Space Harrier or Afterburner like you say but different enough to make it interesting!

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    1. really? what were some of your other first famicom games?

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  12. This post here has a picture of the first dozen games that I bought for the Famicom just after I got my first console back in 2008:

    http://famicomblog.blogspot.jp/2014/03/remeniscing-about-being-famicom-newbie.html

    Star Wars, Arkanoid, Galaga, Galaxian, Clu Clu Land, Yume Penguin Monogatari and Sky Destroyer were the ones I played the most!

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