A Z64 backup unit for the N64, commonly referred to as the “Mr. Backup.” This model recently showed up in the Neo-Geo Forums, one of the premier places on the web to buy and trade ultra rare game devices related to hacking and modding. In this instance, the owner has apparently added a 4GB laptop hard drive, which is supposedly filled to the brim with assorted N64 roms. The filthy pirate!

The Z64 was actually the Rolls-Royce of such hardware during its day for many reasons, imho. Not only was the design super sexy (at least compared to similar units for the SNES and Genesis), but also utilized cutting edge technology at the time. Whereas the Game Doctor (the most commonly known backup device for the SNES) ran games from 3½-inch floppy disks, the two different models of the Z64 (as far as I know of) supported either burnt CDs and Zip disks. Remember those?

Here’s a video of the latter version, which is the one I have the most familiarity with; a buddy of mine who was heavy into the bootleg scene had one, it was his pride and joy. Never-mind/please enjoy the creepy dungeon-like quality of the dude’s apartment:

Because I don’t understand Portuguese, all I can do is recall from memory; I believe you always had to have a cart in the slot for the console to boot up with the device attached. The long load times, if I also remember correctly, is because each rom was so heavily compressed and had to be decompressed before being played (hence why the unit’s menu claims to have 606MB free at one point on a 100mb capacity Zip). But the real reason why the disk version was superior to the optical media version is that one could copy contents from a cartridge onto the Zip within the unit (whereas you had to burn roms onto the CD on a PC).

Thanks for the heads up, drozdal!

Guest post by Matt “Fort90” Hawkins

tags / backup / backup / n64 / piracy / z64 / fort90 / guest

Love Plus Protect Case DSi from Hori. There’s one for each love interest in Konami’s hit dating game: Nene Anegasaki, Manaka Takane, and Rinko Kobayakawa. Each comes decorated with the Love Plus logo and the girl’s name, as well as thirteen interchangeable pieces of artwork. It would be really damn cool if it weren’t entirely composed of humiliating images of your virtual teenage girlfriend.

Konamistyle says that these will be out April 1 in Japan for ¥2,230 ($25) each. It’s actually kind of surprising that it’s taken so long for the Love Plus merchandise machine to create some DS cases.

Import: Love Plus

See also: More Love Plus posts

tags / love plus, / jc / konami / hori / protect case / accessories / jc

NSFW-ish: COSCOS Touch Girl by Soft Studio for iPhone. The game, about wiping the clothes off of idols Natsume Sano, Hikari Suzui, and Nana Kokubo, is funny on its own (and available from the US iTunes store for two bucks!), but I can’t get enough of this trailer.

Why? Because of the pulsating, static image of a hand being dragged around by a mouse cursor! Love it.

[Via Famitsu]

tags / coscos touch girl / iphone / soft studio / nsfw / jc

Many deaths of Shiren the Wanderer (Wii) Japanese commercial, featuring Beethoven’s 5th Symphony.

Anyone familiar with this roguelike knows you die a lot in the game. We asked Atlus’s QA team, who probably spent hundreds of hours testing this latest release, about their most familiar and favorite deaths:

Scott Williams, QA Lead: It doesn’t really count as dying, but I hated the little bastards that would steal money or items from you and teleport away. That always drove me insane. My favorite death was seeing what would happen when dousing a teammate with water who had been turned into a fire monster. It didn’t end well.

Anthony Tran, QA: Dragon fire killed me the most.  It’s the worst thing too, because dragons can hit you from any part of the floor.  My favorite death has to be trying to sneak off with items from the shopkeeper in the dungeon.

Cynthia Ungson, QA: Nothing, I’m too good. My favorite death was throwing a riceball at an ally thinking it would heal him.

Wesley Ruscher, QA: Probably being killed by your possessed or confused teammate, or defeating the Karakuri Rose with a teammate still trapped inside, thus killing your teammate (and your patience as you’d then get to replay the dungeon).

Buy: Shiren the Wanderer Wii ($36.99)

See also: Shiren the Wanderer (Wii) walkthrough video

tags / mystery dungeon / shiren the wanderer / atlus / commercial / chunsoft / ec

Konami Desktop Arcade Collection.

Whereas the best one can hope to score at your average Dave & Busters here in America falls squarely in the dice/spider ring/deck of playing cards range, expectations are a bit different in the East. Things like exquisitely detailed collectable figures and high quality stuffed dolls based upon popular characters are totally the norm.

Something else that seems rather routine over there, but which any of us on this side of the ocean would love get our hands on is this swanky little (as well as ultra detailed) Beatmania arcade cab! Though the best part would have to be how Konami has been thoughtful enough to provide upgrade kits in the form of papercraft, to ensure that your mini cabinet can keep up with what’s going on in the arcade.

Furthermore, you can also create your own arcade to help keep your various collectable figurines entertained instead of just standing there and collecting dust on bookshelves. Expect to see further machines coming later down the road.

[Via Konami Desktop Arcade Collection]

Guest post by Matt “Fort90” Hawkins

tags / konami / bemani / beatmania / arcade / papercraft / guest / fort90