I’m never going to play this Shogi DS game I bought

Have you ever heard of Half Price Books? Half Price Books is great. It’s a chain that sells primarily used, but sometimes also new, books, as well as other forms of media. This means people who love video games, movies, TV shows, records and general novelties will spend at least $5 should they step foot in the place. It’s there that I bought Asonde Shogi ga Tsuyoku naru!! Ginsei Shogi DS.

Why did I buy Asonde Shogi ga Tsuyoku naru!! Ginsei Shogi DS, hereafter referred to as “the shogi game”? It certainly isn’t because I know how to play it. I know it’s very similar to chess, a game I love, but have never really had the opportunity to play it. As such, learning the nuances in a Japanese game probably isn’t the best idea.

Rather, it was because the shogi game was cheap. I was in the store. There was a $2 clearance game. It was an import. It was a knee-jerk reaction. The same thing happened when I saw a King of the Monsters 2 cart for a SNK Neo Geo MVS arcade cabinet at Goodwill for $1.99. This is a game I will never play. I don’t have an arcade cabinet and never will. But it was impossible to pass up.

It’s an inevitable consequence of being an import aficionado. Perhaps it’s even a pitfall of game propagation in general? You come across something interesting. Your head tells you this is a title that will languish on your shelves. Yet your heart cries out. “You must have this! It’s small. It’s so cool!”

The heart always wins.

Which is why the shogi game and King of the Monsters 2 now sit on one of my shelves, untouched. They’re bargain badges of honor and I regret nothing.

Now that I’ve shared, you should too. What games grabbed you, to the point that you had to have them and couldn’t leave them behind?