Japanese Niche Games Deals & Discussion Thread 4.0

shivan128

shivan128

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Welcome to the Japanese niche games deals and discussion thread!  Feel free to talk about local and import Japanese games here.  Our goal is to maintain a thread dedicated to active deals on niche games including RPGs, Visual Novels (VN), Shoot'em ups (Shmups), Musou, etc.  Also maintained are pre-orders for standard, limited and collector's edition games with key release dates provided.

I've wikified the thread to make it more friendly and open to others that can actively update with important information. You can find the wiki post directly below this one.

NOTE:  Please, leave the censorship discussion away from this thread.  It's common for japanese games to have questionable content outside of the country.  We want to keep discussions to the game itself and not about cultural/societal tolerance.

A message from Thorbahn:

Our CAG Japanese Niche Games Thread also has a community on PS4, where you can interact and game with other members of the thread.

Our moderators are: Draekon, Las_Hole, and Waffleswanton

You can basically friend any of our members, or any moderator, and you will be able to request to join the community under "Communities friends are in" tab, and a mod will approve your request.

You can also leave your PSN ID in the thread, saying you want to join, and we can invite you directly as well.

As always, have fun and enjoy your stay!

 
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srocky26 said:
Stock for LEs of Trails through Daybreak 2 is low for PS4 and Switch. Switch was 50% yesterday and down to 25% now.
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Thanks for the warning. I went ahead and placed an order for the PS4 LE, even though I am currently on the fence if I truly want to buy/support Daybreak II at all. Better to have options later, even if that means living with the upfront charge.

Supply was close to 100% when I looked at it ~1 week ago, so I guess all it took was the Sky remake trailer to cause a spike in demand. I found it interesting the cart screen specifies exactly how many preorder units were still available. 109 left at the time of my order.
 
Anyone know what happened to the Rabi-Ribi Platinum Edition Asia PS4 physical at playasia? Playasia marked it sold out shortly after preorders opened. I had it in my cart and left it there while it was sold out. Today it's removed from my cart and if you search it, it's not listed on their site anymore.
 
After calling the store on Thursday, I was planning on going to Gamestop Sunday afternoon, because that's when they were allowed to release pre-orders. But I walked into a GS store today, asked about any unsold steelbooks for Visions of Mana, and walked out with a copy with an on-spot purchase of the PS5 game.

The steelbook is actually -really- nice. If you are a steelbook aficionado I highly recommended going into the store today and trying this. It's among the nicest they've ever made, with a golden, high gloss exterior, and a colorful character montage on the interior. Pictures online and on the item listing did not do it justice. Unless they made a ton more, these are going to be one of the more collectable ones in recent years. Stores did not get extras; mine had 2 total. The steelbook was also not itemized on the receipt.

Visions-of-Mana-1.jpg


Visiosn-of-Mana-2.jpg
 
TL;DR a large proportion of customers may not have picked up their pre-ordered copy and paid-in-full on release date bc of the relatively low review scores the game received. GS has to release pre-orders after 48 hours (2 full days after the release date). So right now (starting Sunday 9/1) is your tiny window of opportunity to score one if you didn't have a preorder.
 
Seems pretty hit-or-miss. I called my store, they didn't know what I was talking about. Seems like that's not uncommon:
https://www.reddit.com/r/visionsofmana/comments/1f3ecyg

I figured something like this would happen, which is why I didn't bother pre-ordering from them. Seems like a lot got the ole scratch and ding treatment too looking at eBay pictures. Really a shame they restricted such a nice steelbook to such a spastic retailer.
 
I went to my local Gamestop on Friday, and they didn't have the game saying it is in transit. Same thing when I went on Saturday. Won't be able to go back until Friday.
 
Can confirm that the Vision steelbooks are impressive in person. My store has 4-5 on release day and they let me pick the least scratched one of my choice. I've been disappointed in what I've heard of the actual game and will wait on that. But I did make a point to secure this steelbook.
 
gospelman said:
Can confirm that the Vision steelbooks are impressive in person. My store has 4-5 on release day and they let me pick the least scratched one of my choice. I've been disappointed in what I've heard of the actual game and will wait on that. But I did make a point to secure this steelbook.
Click to expand...
The games ok, just wish it came out 10 years ago the way it plays
 
Man, I do want that SB but I also don't want to go into GS... I'm the type of person who hates walking into a place and not buying anything. And honestly these days, I just hate walking into GS but I have no idea what 90% of the stuff on GS shelves are... and seeing mostly newer releases that I just can't get excited about.

Also I feel like this might be the best place to ask but is Emio The Smiling Man a super low print or just late to get to stores? Target asked me to approved another delay for my preorder (this is the 3rd one I think?) which isn't a good sign and I can't find it on Amazon or WM, and BestBuy only shows digital copies.
 
I got mine from Best Buy on release day, but not sure about Target.
I do hate that Target delay loop, it seems like it's always a risk with them. I've only encountered it once with them myself.
I'm guessing you had some kind of discount with them, but:

Target still shows in stock for shipping on their website for me if you wanted to just re-order and cancel your delaying one:
www.target.com

Emio The Smiling Man Famicom Detective Club - Nintendo Switch

Read reviews and buy Emio The Smiling Man Famicom Detective Club - Nintendo Switch at Target. Choose from contactless Same Day Delivery, Drive Up and more.
www.target.com www.target.com

Nintendo Directly also has them:
www.nintendo.com

Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club™ for Nintendo Switch - Nintendo Official Site

Buy Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club™ and shop other great Nintendo products online at the official My Nintendo Store.
www.nintendo.com www.nintendo.com

and eStarland (couple bucks off MSRP, but a few bucks shipping, but but usually don't charge tax):

Buy Nintendo Switch Famicom Detective Club: Emio The Smiling Man | eStarland.com |

Buy Nintendo Switch Famicom Detective Club: Emio The Smiling Man or get the best trade-in value for Nintendo Switch, games, accessories and gaming consoles at eStarland.com
www.estarland.com www.estarland.com
 
Vinny said:
Man, I do want that SB but I also don't want to go into GS... I'm the type of person who hates walking into a place and not buying anything. And honestly these days, I just hate walking into GS but I have no idea what 90% of the stuff on GS shelves are... and seeing mostly newer releases that I just can't get excited about.

Also I feel like this might be the best place to ask but is Emio The Smiling Man a super low print or just late to get to stores? Target asked me to approved another delay for my preorder (this is the 3rd one I think?) which isn't a good sign and I can't find it on Amazon or WM, and BestBuy only shows digital copies.
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Glad I bought mine with a rewards certificate from BB, figured it'd be a low print run. It's an extremely niche (even niche for VN lovers) visual novel series.
 
Gamestop also has delivery to home for Emio, although there is an off chance you get a "new" copy. I think it's still a pre-order there as well. I did warn about it as the turn around for a physical release was quick and it is very, very niche even for visual novel games.
 
nitrosmob said:
Gamestop also has delivery to home for Emio, although there is an off chance you get a "new" copy. I think it's still a pre-order there as well. I did warn about it as the turn around for a physical release was quick and it is very, very niche even for visual novel games.
Click to expand...

Hm... guess I can just return it if it's a gut/pops up elsewhere. Might as well be safe.
 
Yo..... when did the (original, June 2022) Capcom Fighting Collection (PS4, NSW) become OOP and so hard to find ?? I had no idea on that one either. asdfasdf. I'm failing on many fronts lately.
 
nightc1 said:
If anyone was looking for a cheaper new copy of Disgaea 7 for switch, Gamefly has new copies knocked down to $28.54

Video Games: Rent/Buy PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, 4kUHD, Blu-ray & MORE! Plus Consoles, Collectibles & Arcades Games | GameFly

GameFly, the #1 video game rental service. Rent and buy PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, 4k UHD, Blu-ray and more. Plus Consoles, Controllers, Accessories, Collectibles and Arcades.
www.gamefly.com www.gamefly.com
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I thought people only wanted the Sony version because it runs poorly on Switch or was that 6?
 
Star Ocean Second Story R PS4 seems like it’s just about to be getting scarce. Capcom fighting collection was $15-20 clearance all year, feels like that jump came out of nowhere, but makes sense with the announcement of the 2nd collection. I wouldn’t FOMO on it though, I would expect a restock.
 
shadowysea07 said:
I thought people only wanted the Sony version because it runs poorly on Switch or was that 6?
Click to expand...

I went to read reviews of the switch version... no mentions of it having performance issues on the Switch. Overall it seems pretty well loved by every site that reviewed it. Not a single negative review. Which considering it's turn based strategy, it's possible any issues like slightly lower frame-rate (not saying it has this) wouldn't really be obvious.


That said, I'm not buying as I have opted out of continuing to buy games in the series as I've not really spent a lot of time with any of the older games I've bought and are collecting dust.
 
scorponok said:
Capcom Fighting Collection Switch reprint PNP games.
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That was fast.

I think the Erdtree Japanese CE could still go lower, the price has been lowering for awhile, this is the first tempting drop, but being international version, and with shipping, I’m going to wait a little more. This was way overpriced to start. Good find though. NA version is still in stock too from Bandai, and may get a discount.
 
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VGP has it now too, if anyone would prefer them instead:
videogamesplus.ca

Capcom Fighting Collection - Nintendo Switch

Fighting fans can celebrate35 years of Capcom fighting games with Capcom Fighting Collection, an anthology of 10 classic titles –including the full Darkstalkers series together for the first time ever outside of Japan –releasing June 24th, 2022. Each of the 10 titles in the collection has been...
videogamesplus.ca videogamesplus.ca
 
Pheria said:
VGP has it now too, if anyone would prefer them instead:
videogamesplus.ca

Capcom Fighting Collection - Nintendo Switch

Fighting fans can celebrate35 years of Capcom fighting games with Capcom Fighting Collection, an anthology of 10 classic titles –including the full Darkstalkers series together for the first time ever outside of Japan –releasing June 24th, 2022. Each of the 10 titles in the collection has been...
videogamesplus.ca videogamesplus.ca
Click to expand...

VGP has hinted that there will be a PS4 reprint too
 
Not sure if this was posted already but SE store has the 2nd wave of FF7 polygon figures up:
https://na.store.square-enix-games.com/final-fantasy-vii-polygon-figure-vol_-2-_display_

I remember seeing these a while back, and given the Vol 1 set came out so soon after Remake and SE's pessimism over Rebirth's sales, I figured they weren't gonna make it over... so I ended up importing the kuji figures instead for like 4x the cost of this set. 🫠

EDIT 1* I should also note, I tried to see if Vol 1 was available so I searched on SE's store and that doesn't pop up in the results but neither does this Vol 2 set. I can't find it any other way. Seems like I just chanced upon this set as I was browsing up the FFVII subreddit and someone asked if they ever put up the Vol 2 polygon figures, and searched for it on google to see if anyone ever did.

EDIT 2* Shipping costs are insane FYI...
 
Speaking of game figs, has anyone ever dealt with Lunar Toy Store before?
I want the Apex Toys DJMAX Respect Race Queen figurines (First fig of the character in my avatar!) (preorder ends 9/29)
Direct from the DJMAX store is the best price ($135ish), but requires a Korean proxy service.

Direct from DJMAX:
global.djmax.store

[특전] DJMAX 레이싱 엘 페일 1/7 피규어 (APEX-TOYS) : DJMAX STORE GLOBAL

DJMAX 레이싱 엘 페일 1/7 피규어 (APEX-TOYS)인기 시즌 레이싱 테마 엘 페일 1/7 스케일 피규어입니다. APEX-TOYS 의 정교하고 뛰어난 공정으로 완성되어 소장 가치가 뛰어난 아이템입니다. D E S C R I P T I O NProperty - 1/7 scale complete figureMaterail - PVC&ABSPrototype By 136Prototype Supervise By 御猫Paint By hatoFIgure Brand - Apex-ToysSIZE : Height approx...
global.djmax.store global.djmax.store
global.djmax.store

[특전] DJMAX 레이싱 엘 클리어 1/7 피규어 (APEX-TOYS) : DJMAX STORE GLOBAL

DJMAX 레이싱 엘 클리어 1/7 피규어 (APEX-TOYS)인기 시즌 레이싱 테마 엘 클리어 1/7 스케일 피규어입니다.APEX-TOYS 의 정교하고 뛰어난 공정으로 완성되어 소장 가치가 뛰어난 아이템입니다. D E S C R I P T I O NProperty - 1/7 scale complete figureMaterail - PVC&ABSPrototype By 136Prototype Supervise By 御猫Paint By hatoFIgure Brand - Apex-ToysSIZE : Height approx...
global.djmax.store global.djmax.store

BBTS has them listed, but with quite an upcharge (~$230 + $4 shipping)). You do get some saving on the shipping side of that deal, at least.

Lunar Toy Store is in the middle ($185 + $5 shipping), but I've never used them before:
www.lunartoystore.com

EL FAIL Racing 1/7 Scale Figure

Introducing the stunning 1/7 scale figure of Racing DJMAX RESPECT V’s EL FAIL.
www.lunartoystore.com www.lunartoystore.com
www.lunartoystore.com

EL CLEAR Racing 1/7 Scale Figure

Introducing the stunning 1/7 scale figure of Racing DJMAX RESPECT V’s EL CLEAR.
www.lunartoystore.com www.lunartoystore.com
 
scorponok said:
Happy Dreamcast day! 9/9/99, 25th anniversary!
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No joke, this is also one of my kid's exact birthday. So I couldn't get the system at launch for financial reasons, but did get it near the end of it's life nearly two years later when Circuit City had dropped them to $100 or maybe it was $70? Whatever the case, what a great time to be a gamer as the games were cheap... but also a sad time because of how fantastic a system that was.
 
My only regret was never getting and collecting for a Sega Saturn. The novelty of that stuff feels so cool now. I was a kid, and couldn't afford full priced SNES games, and N64 ones only seldom afterward, let alone Sega peripheral machines and new games. I guess the 32X being a huge bust had a great deal to do with its perception at that time. I also live in a giant metro, but you could only buy Saturn games at Toys R' Us anyways. No one else had em. But everything I've heard lately is that those CD games aren't physically standing up to father time, and still working. So perhaps that was a good thing. You lsiten to actual owners now and they only talk about offloading their collection, and games not working.

I worked at Best Buy and got a Dreamcast on the day of its release. It was pretty cool at the time. But it was cool as trendy, gimmicky, and arcade-y or budget releases. Outside of NFL 2K which was amazing, the games did not have a lot of longitudinal replay value. I loved my Dreamcast. But when the PS2 came out it was on to bigger and better things like SSX snowboarding, Metal Gear Solid 2, and Final Fantasy X. other cinematic games and actual full-fledged jrpgs. Then there was Halo over LAN on Xbox. yuge deal. We tend to think of things too fondly and over-nostalgic. But the Dreamcast failed for a reason. It did not have the staying power, nor the software support. The games were not worth purchasing at $50 pricing. Hardly anyone bought in (like I did). But they all talked about how cool the Dreamcast is, which was as weird then as it is now. Published games were not wholly complete and polished, nor filled to the brim with content.

It's strange how people latch onto things they weren't a part of. and 90's magazine/display imagery.
 
I remember being amazed by Soul Calibur and Sonic Adventure on release. I didn't own one but my bro did and I got to play some of the games at least. I do think it was ahead of it's time and had Sega played their hand differently with the previous generation (so many bombs with an awful Saturn American release and the 32X poop!), they may have been a console manufacturer a bit longer. Dreamcast did putter out for sure though.
 
Nothing- said:
My only regret was never getting and collecting for a Sega Saturn. The novelty of that stuff feels so cool now. I was a kid, and couldn't afford full priced SNES games, and N64 ones only seldom afterward, let alone Sega peripheral machines and new games. I guess the 32X being a huge bust had a great deal to do with its perception at that time. I also live in a giant metro, but you could only buy Saturn games at Toys R' Us anyways. No one else had em. But everything I've heard lately is that those CD games aren't physically standing up to father time, and still working. So perhaps that was a good thing. You lsiten to actual owners now and they only talk about offloading their collection, and games not working.

I worked at Best Buy and got a Dreamcast on the day of its release. It was pretty cool at the time. But it was cool as trendy, gimmicky, and arcade-y or budget releases. Outside of NFL 2K which was amazing, the games did not have a lot of longitudinal replay value. I loved my Dreamcast. But when the PS2 came out it was on to bigger and better things like SSX snowboarding, Metal Gear Solid 2, and Final Fantasy X. other cinematic games and actual full-fledged jrpgs. Then there was Halo over LAN on Xbox. yuge deal. We tend to think of things too fondly and over-nostalgic. But the Dreamcast failed for a reason. It did not have the staying power, nor the software support. The games were not worth purchasing at $50 pricing. Hardly anyone bought in (like I did). But they all talked about how cool the Dreamcast is, which was as weird then as it is now. Published games were not wholly complete and polished, nor filled to the brim with content.

It's strange how people latch onto things they weren't a part of. and 90's magazine/display imagery.
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Friends don't let friends collect modern ESRB Saturn games.

They're absurdly overpriced and emulation has come a long way. You're more likely to get a Saturn with an optical disc drive replacement (meaning games of an SD card) than buying a functional one with no issues and all OEM for a reasonable price.
 
Dreamcast is the only Sega console I ever owned, and I liked it a lot. Their previous marketing strategy turned me off, but I was a converted fan. I would have gotten its successors if they had continued. but they were already dead at that point. It’s the weirdest and most experimental game line up for a 3D era system, and a lot of it worked. It felt almost curated to be weird, since there was less third party support. Shenmue was hugely ambitious, and it was a great experience at the time. Skies of Arcadia is as classic as chrono trigger and the final fantasies to me, I like it better than FFX. Sonic adventures, soul caliber, jet grind radio, Ecco the dolphin. Nintendo and Sony had nothing quite like any of those, and plenty of other unique titles like seaman and space channel 5, so I still appreciate the good amount of innovation and unique experiences it brought.
 
Dreamcast is the only console I've gotten really close to having a full set. Vita after that is the second closest (before LRG got involved and I wasn't buying into it).

DC was great. Playing games over dialup with people across the country I met on IGN was amazing. Pantasy Star Online (and PSO v2)... just superb and my crew made music in the game using our weapons. StarLancer, Quake III Arena, & Unreal Tournament were also great.

Shenmue & Shenmue 2... Skies of Arcadia... Jet Grind Radio (though it needed a second stick for the camera, my gosh that was ahead of it's time)... Elemental Gimmic Gear, Grandia 2... all the arcade games without feeling any real sacrifice in being on a home console... D2 (which was just amazingly crazy)... lots of other horror too. I don't have just nostalgia for it... it was a fantastic system.


Nothing- said:
My only regret was never getting and collecting for a Sega Saturn.
Click to expand...

Saturn for me was a kmart purchase. Kmart, Sears, and I think Toys R Us (for out of town shopping as we didn't have one local) was where that came into play. NiGHTS into Dreams is still one of my favorite games with it's bundled 3D controller. It was a fantastic system and I loved it more than the Playstation. I also region modded this one to play Japanese games because they were so cheap for a while there. But this didn't require a chip, just desoldering a couple resistors and running a couple wires to a dual pole on-on switch. I still have my Saturn, though like my DC, I sold the games. There have been times when I wasn't playing stuff and I needed the money more than I needed games. Most of it I don't miss because I lived it and NiGHTS and many of the other great games got ported. Thankfully I never had any real issues with the system.
 
I buy the narrative that "Dreamcast was SEGA finally getting it right, but it was too late". It likely wouldn't have lived on as the best of that generation, but I think it could have had a decent showing.
Only SEGA console I ever had as a kid was a Genesis, with very few games and got it very late (like probably $20-30 model 3 Walmart clearance).
I was jealous of my friends with Dreamcasts, it really felt next-gen and like I was missing out on something by not having it. I'd usually only get a console a year or two after it had been out, so Dreamcast died before I was able to give it a chance.

Admittedly, it's hard to say if I would've picked that as my '1 console' that gen when OG Xbox, PS2, and Gamecube would have also been there by that time though. I don't think I would have appreciated all the weird and neat IP they had at that age/point in my life as much as I do now.
 
nitrosmob said:
I remember being amazed by Soul Calibur and Sonic Adventure on release. I didn't own one but my bro did and I got to play some of the games at least. I do think it was ahead of it's time and had Sega played their hand differently with the previous generation (so many bombs with an awful Saturn American release and the 32X poop!), they may have been a console manufacturer a bit longer. Dreamcast did putter out for sure though.
Click to expand...

yeah I think it was one of those things were Sega had already killed themselves with their own branding and previous failures. The brand was tarnished by then. Too many recent failures, and lack of continued support. As well as old-style NES and NEO GEO (arcade) standards of dated game development.

Soul Caliber was very good. Probably its most standout title. But players also tired of that one quickly. It was just another fighter, albeit with a really nice fresh coat of paint. It was another arcade game.
262611_in_1000x1000.jpg
 
Nothing- said:
My only regret was never getting and collecting for a Sega Saturn. The novelty of that stuff feels so cool now. I was a kid, and couldn't afford full priced SNES games, and N64 ones only seldom afterward, let alone Sega peripheral machines and new games. I guess the 32X being a huge bust had a great deal to do with its perception at that time. I also live in a giant metro, but you could only buy Saturn games at Toys R' Us anyways. No one else had em. But everything I've heard lately is that those CD games aren't physically standing up to father time, and still working. So perhaps that was a good thing. You lsiten to actual owners now and they only talk about offloading their collection, and games not working.
Click to expand...

I think the shelf life of CDs and DVDs are a few decades and BDs is only like 15 years and it honestly makes sense- plastics degrade. But with that said, I've got a dozen SegaCD games, a few dozen Saturn games and a few hundred PS1 games and I don't see any physical changes to any of them... granted doesn't mean they work I guess, or only work up to a point before you hit a dead spot. Still I think a lot of those fears are overblown and likely made worse due to the conditions they're stored in.

nitrosmob said:
I remember being amazed by Soul Calibur and Sonic Adventure on release.
Click to expand...

Soul Calibur was my first DC game and it was insane how there was a game on a console that looked and ran as good as the arcade.
 
I say Sega‘s marketing turned me off, and that’s still true, but more in the context of what I could afford and justify, not what I wanted. I think I beat most of sonic 1 and 2 at target demo displays while my Mom was shopping over the course of a few years. That and Mario 64 before it came out at Toys r Us, are the only store demo experiences I have fond memories of anymore, so I still like pre-Dreamcast Sega, just think their marketing failed them more than their product.
 
I only owned or played a handful of Dreamcast games. Sonic Adventure, Shenmue, Sega Bass Fishing, Crazy Taxi, and Chu Chu Rocket. I did play some of the games ported to other systems, like Sonic Adventure 2 Battle.

The VMU was way ahead of its time, and to this day still hasn't made a return on the same level. I took that thing everywhere, raising my Chao in Chao Adventure.
 
The Dreamcast was the first console I bought a lot of games for. I had over 90. I was always hanging out at the arcades when I was a kid, so of course I loved the Dreamcast, so many arcade ports. Of course, I sold off my collection when it wasn't worth much. I think the last game I bought was Under Defeat in 2006 then sold the collection shortly after.

This is one of my favorite Dreamcast memories. I don't know if that many people know this, but the European import version of Shenmue II was sold at EB Games. It wasn't advertised, it was just in their computer. I preordered it and they actually got it in. I can still remember picking it up and everyone in the store came up to the counter to check it out.
 
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ritchardf said:
but really think about it, there are 25 year olds that never saw a sega system launch
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It didn't hit me as to how old I am until recently but I was dropping off my 19 year old cousin to her dorm and she made a comment about why some people are so touchy about 9/11. And I was like... da fuk?!? before realizing she was born after 9/11.

Seeing the DC's 25th anniversary made me feel even older...
 
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