I bought a lot of about 70 Famicom carts off of Yahoo Auctions a few days ago and they arrived in the mail last night. Sometimes lots of games that you buy there will turn up unexpected treasures like a copy of Battletoads or Gimmick, especially when it is someone who doesn`t necessarily know much about games and is just selling off a big pile of them which they found in a closet or something.
This lot turned up a little treasure of its own which I have never seen in a lot like this before. A copy of Takahashi Meijin Bouken Shima (Adventure Island) autographed by Takahashi Meijin himself!
I`m not an autograph expert, but I looked around Google and this does indeed look like his autograph. Its possible that it is a forgery, but a few things suggest it is real. The first is that if you were going to forge his autograph you probably wouldn`t choose this cart, which is fairly beat up. The second is that the seller didn`t even mention there was an autographed cart in the lot, and this cart wasn`t even in the main thumbnail photo on the listing, which you would expect someone trying to rip people off to do. And, like I said, it looks like his autograph.
Anyway, assuming its real I think this is a pretty amazing addition to my collection. Takahashi Meijin is probably the most well-known face associated with the Famicom from its heyday in the 1980s. There are of course a lot of Nintendo people (Takahashi worked for Hudson) who were more important, but as recognizable personalities they have a lot less recognition than Takahashi, whose face was plastered all over advertisements, was featured in five games (not including the SFC and Gameboy ones) and even had his own TV show. Probably Arino from Game Centre CX is the only person to give him a run for his money as the most recognized Famicom personality in Japan, but he only became in that regard years after the Famicom`s peak popularity.
Actually now that I have this I am wondering how easy it would be to meet the man and maybe get him to sign a copy of Takahashi Meijin Bouken Shima II. I love that pink cart and it would look amazing with an autograph on it.
If that is indeed real, then this is just one more piece of evidence that you're the luckiest western Famicom collector in the world. :B
ReplyDeleteOkay, first that CIB Gimmick for a few cents and now a Takahashi Meijin-signed Adventure Island? Send me some of that luck, why don't you? That's awesome!
ReplyDeleteActually, this kind of reminds me of something that happened to me. I had ordered this $0.99 copy of a book I wanted to read, and it ended up being autographed by the recently deceased author. I basically flipped out when I discovered that!
Very cool! I would guess, though, that he made loads of public appearances back in the day? If so, it stands to reason that some kids would've asked him to sign one of the game he starred in, don't you think? Regardless, it's a cool "get." What do you think you're going to do with it? Frame it? Sell it? Something in the middle?
ReplyDeleteBob and Skyrunner - yeah, I have been pretty lucky! I paid way more than a few cents for the whole lot, but the per-cart price was less than 2$ each so it was a decent deal (even for an unsigned copy of the game).
ReplyDeleteBryan - yeah I think there are probably a decent number of Takahashi Meijin autographs floating around out there. Actually doing a google search for `Takahashi Meijin autograph) in Japanese turned up a few copies of this cart signed.
I will definitely be keeping it. I`d like to display it somehow but don`t have a good place for it, so it will just be going in the box with my other nice games until I figure something out!
WHOA, congratulations on your good luck!
ReplyDeleteHa! Nice! What a coincidence... I was going through some stuff from my recent haul from Japan today and found an autograph of Takahashii Meijin too lol. It also was not advertised in the auction. I won a bundle of a bunch of Hudson/Bomberman goods. One of the items was a Bomberman notebook. I opened it up and the first page had a huge autograph.
ReplyDeleteThat's amazing! Your luck is like it was in Fukuoka!
ReplyDeleteBruce - thanks!
ReplyDeleteStealthlurker - Wow, that is an interesting coincidence! And what an awesome find, nice!!
Logan - thanks, my luck is holding up a bit :)
Dang lucky! Rarest things I have held in my hands are books by the Jewish painter Arthur Szyk. Never actually had a video game autographed item. Though since it's alll DVDs these days it's a little pointless to get one and remember to keep it somewhere safe.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think carts are a way better medium for autographs than DVDs, especially Famicom games with the right color combination (like this cart actually) that can make the autograph stand out.
ReplyDelete