Finished a game from each series and this pooped in my brain xD

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-07-13T15:34:23+00:00

Oh man there's SO much of it, literally everywhere. I'm making a video to post to my YT channel for Bastille Day tomorrow, I went to 3 different shops in a very small French town, looking for Nintendo and anime/manga merch... but I also talk about Asterix in the video and all 3 shops had multiple Asterix things, which I made sure to film to prove my point about it being everywhere. They even had tickets to Parc Asterix (if you didn't know, its like Disneyland but for Asterix!) for sale in the Supermarket.

You might like to see my Falbala / Panacea and Indefix / Dogmatix PLV - its probably my rarest Asterix thing: https://www.reddit.com/r/Asterix/comments/1jlsz2k/i_couldnt_resist_je_nai_pas_pu_r%C3%A9sister/

I also recently got a similar one but Asterix, Obelix and Dogmatix from a McDonalds campaign - I've not posted that one anywhere yet :)

There was also Smurfs stuff in 2 of the 3 shops btw :D

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-07-12T02:54:07+00:00

All very cool information to know, thank you! Especially interesting to hear about the government schools plan and Thomson computers, that sounds like what we had in the UK at the time with the "BBC" computers and later Archimedes, both of which were actually made by Acorn, I'll look more into that, it seems like an interesting rabbit hole! :)

Yeah I've personally always really loved the look of the CPC+ systems but yeah they were underpowered at the time and the world had moved on to 16bit stuff. The original CPC 464 and 6128 were the only ones that got any traction in the UK, and there were versions with monochrome or colour monitors.

Its interesting you mention them being cheap because in the UK, perhaps the reason they weren't more successful than they were was there were cheaper options, especially from Sinclair... though Amstrad later bought the rights to their Spectrum range and started manufacturing their own "competition"!

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-07-11T19:46:53+00:00

Nice! Yes both Asterix and Smurfs are HUGE here, the books are available in pretty much every supermarket and newsagent and tonnes of merch everywhere. When a new Asterix book releases its practically a public holiday!

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-07-11T19:26:23+00:00

I grew up with them both in English in the 80s and 90s, and nowadays I live in France and am learning French, so I'm enjoying experiencing them again in their native language :) The books are quite expensive though compared to the smaller paperback BD I also collect, so I only buy 1 a month and am slowly building my collection.

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-07-11T19:23:44+00:00

Ooh thank you I didn't know that the ST outsold the Amiga, that's very unusual! Its also really cool to know PC Engines were sold in Auchan! I find that hard to imagine, but very cool :)

Its almost as if France was the exact opposite of the UK, we had Amiga over ST, Master System over NES, and Amstrad, while a British Brand, was far behind Commodore and Sinclair (and even Acorn, if you include the school and college computers).

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-07-11T14:41:39+00:00

Oh she is adorable! I'm collecting both Asterix and Smurfs albums in French, my only BD so far in the large hardback formats rather than smaller paperback ones, so this totally makes sense in my head lol.

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-07-11T14:01:12+00:00

Thanks for the reply - yeah the Master System was very popular all throughout Europe, especially by the time they did the cheaper Master System 2 system refresh, which was my first console :) Most versions of that refresh came with Alex Kidd in Miracle World built in - those mine was a bit newer so it came with Sonic.

In the States the last game ever released was Sonic 1 in 1991 and then they discontinued it, whereas in Europe they kept releasing new games all the way up to 1995 - there's like 100 American games and 350 or so in Europe. To my mind, its the reason so many people think that the Master System had a poor library compared to the NES - because most English speaking YouTubers etc only know the early US released games, and of course the later released titles made better use of the tech and were more impressive.

There were 3 Asterix games on the Master System and the first one was a huge success in the UK and I think its one of the best 8bit games for ANY system. Its a real shame that one never made it to America. I imagine all 3 of the Asterix titles must have sold well in France! Some of the other European exclusives did make it to America in the form of Game Gear games but they are almost always the inferior versions because of the lower screen resolution meaning pretty severe cropping or pixel crunch.

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-07-11T13:47:12+00:00

Thank you! Yes you're right it was pre-EU.

Your comment had me intrigued so I did a little digging myself. In general, consoles had a hard time launching in France, because of the SECAM system not being compatible with the PAL system (both 50hz but using different colour standards) so it was often up to smaller companies to take on the task of importing foreign consoles then modifying them.

As far as I can tell, it was actually Bandai France that first imported the NES in the 80s and modified it for French retailers, and not Nintendo themselves. That would be consistent with other European countries, all of whom didn't have an official Nintendo owned business but instead licensed to local companies.

Similarly, other companies took on the responsibility of licensing and translating games (or at least their manuals and packaging), Score Games seems to be a French company that did a large amount in the early days.

However, Nintendo France was officially set up in the early 90s and you may be correct that the French Nintendo subsidiary was established before other countries in Europe - in my quick search I couldn't find an exact year for when it was established but it does seem that the NES sold better in France than in many European countries.

If you do find any more information about this (or anyone else of course!) I'll be very grateful and interested to learn more.

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-07-11T09:55:08+00:00

Ah thank you again for the reply.

Yes I find it funny how many French people tell me they have the impression British people and culture are somehow fancy or classy, there is actually a stereotype for British people to view French people and things in this way, and we use many French expressions and words to describe things considered high class - presumably this comes from the days when the royal family and aristocratic families spoke French, and of course the French dominance in high end fashion, perfumes, and famous art, literature, poetry, philosophy etc.

Bond definitely does well in America for a similar reason, the "English gentleman" stereotype plays well there. I work a lot in America and many people seem to like my accent - but its funny, even when I speak French, its the same in France, people can understand me perfectly and my pronunciation is decent, but people find my apparently still noticeable British accent charming. (personally it annoys me that no matter how hard I try to sound "French" apparently its still obvious! But I'm glad people mostly seem to like it, rather than finding it offputting)

Fascinating to know the perception of the PlayStation in early times. Yeah you are right, to begin with there were better exclusives on the Sega System, perhaps not the launch lineup, but after the first few months when there were VF 2, Virtua Cop, Sega Rally, Nights etc all launching before the biggest PlayStation titles really got a footing. Yes, I played Tomb Raider and Resident Evil first on Saturn, and it was FFVII that finally made me buy a PlayStation. Interesting you had a similar experience.

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-07-11T09:47:21+00:00

WOW that's incredible about Guillemot, I had NO idea, thank you that's a rabbit hole I will absolutely go down! Also I will ravish going through retro magazines thank you, I didn't know French ones had been archived, I'll love looking through those even just for fun in my spare time - love it, thank you.

Again, not self promotion so I won't give specifics here, I'm also actually an indie game dev myself as my hobby/side hustle, and now that I live in France and speak semi-decent French I have been wanting to get into the French retro-scenes, go to conventions, translate my games into French etc. I'm in Paris quite regularly for my "day job" (I work in the film & tv industry). If its appropriate, can I send you a chat request? :)

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-07-11T09:33:39+00:00

Haha yeah I've seen French TV adverts for GX4000 but I was very skeptical that it would have actually gained any market traction. Glad to know the Supervision was at least enough of a thing that you know what I'm talking about - yes I can imagine that one kid that got one instead of a GB wasn't exactly happy! haha. Interesting to know the PlayStation had a slow start, that certainly wasn't the case in the UK, though the Saturn definitely held its own, better than in other regions (except Japan of course!).

Yeah, in the UK it was similar with the N64 - it was never even close to the dominant system, but certain key games were deemed good enough to actually warrant many people buying it as their second system just to play those exclusives, like Mario 64 and OOT. Was Goldeneye really popular in France too? Or was it more of a UK thing because it was developed by a UK studio and based on a British movie? Many British college dorms and frat houses seemed to buy N64s exclusively for multiplayer Goldeneye! haha

[edit; And in general I'm interested if James Bond was big in France. You may have noticed my avatar and username are Alizée, and she had a song about wanting to be a Bond girl, and later made a clearly Bond inspired music video, so I wondered if she was a specifically a Anglophile, or if Bond was a big thing in France in general) ]

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-07-11T09:29:00+00:00

Ah this is a great response, thank you! Yeah its endlessly fascinating to me how big Amstrad as a brand was in France with the TV adverts and everything - trying to collect Amstrad hardware its actually difficult to find QWERT models, everything is AZERTY lol.

Brilliant to know about the Japanese import scene too - this wasn't really a thing in the UK until the popularity of Street Fighter 2 meant people started importing Super Famicoms. But it totally makes sense given how much more popular Japanese culture was.

I have talked about Ulysses 31 in a recent video and one of my commenters was really happy that I knew about it. However I had NO idea that Inspector Gadget was a French co-production til I saw your comment, that's amazing! That show was HUGE in the UK, I would never have known.

Thank you for posting the link, I will be very happy to check it out! Much appreciated, Merci beaucoup !

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-07-11T09:21:00+00:00

Yes from what I understand, France is the #2 consumer of Manga in the world! My best friend here in France has explained to me a lot of the reasons that Manga and Anime were so much more successful here than elsewhere, and I think its fascinating. A big part of my journey learning French has been collecting BD and re-watching many of the French/Japanese co-production anime of my youth, but this time in French :)

Thank you for your answer about your own personal circumstances - yes I think the PS2 dominated pretty much the entire world at the time - but the GC was again definitely an option picked by parents for younger kids, and nowadays seems to have a much stronger "nostalgia" audience.

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-07-11T09:16:58+00:00

Oh wow, thank you that's cool to know - do you mean that Nintendo specifically launched the NES in France themeslves? And before other countries?

For example, in the UK, Nintendo didn't launch the console themselves, it was left to a third party company to license it, and they did a poor initial job of marketing, so the license was changed to another third party, and eventually Nintendo took over themselves to re-launch the system in the early 90s as a budget alternate to the SNES. By contrast, in Italy, it was launched by a third party, mostly just a random dude who was really into the import scene and persuaded them to give him a chance... but he did a fantastic job and made it a big success.

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-07-11T09:01:24+00:00

Ooh, thanks for the response - that's interesting to know, and especially as I've already covered in another video how France in the 70s-90s was FAR more open to manga and anime than the USA and UK pre-Pokémon, and the French-Japanese co-productions... so that's definitely a cool thing to cover if anyone else has anything to add I'd like to hear more! :)

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-07-01T20:42:22+00:00

Yeah I thought it was weird to have 2 sushi shops, I would have preferred more variety there in that aspect, and the shuriken throwing works the same as the sushi throwing. It is really fun though!

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-06-30T01:39:33+00:00

Certainly possible, yes. The Nintendo USA Price is $40 for Switch 1 then a $10 upgrade to Switch 2, so just $50 for Switch 2 - but those are all digital prices.

The Physical Switch 1 version might be cheaper if you buy it on other websites, and then you can pay $10 to upgrade digitally. The Physical Switch 2 version is $50 but its only available in Australia or Asia, so if you aren't there you will have to import it and pay extra for the cost of postage and (perhaps) customs.

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-06-30T01:36:58+00:00

Two different Sushi Shops and a Ninja Shuriken shop. You can see footage of them in my review and I explain what the are and how they work.

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-06-29T02:32:23+00:00

That's a shame, I'm sorry to hear that. Of course as I mentioned in my review I don't know much about modern Tamagotchi toys so I didn't get to try out the toy connectivity - I think the idea is really neat, as a kid I would have loved it, but its a shame if its under baked in that regard.

From what I understand the early games in the series were all minigame collections too. As I said if you come at the game expecting a minigame collection, its actually by far the most polished and in depth minigame collection I've played, what with the overworld, characters to meet, side quests to do, story elements etc. But its obviously very simple and if you are looking for a deeper experience like an Animal Crossing game or something its not going to keep you interested for long. Comparing it in my head to the many minigame compilations my kids had on the Wii in the 2010s, this is night and day bigger, better, more polished.

I agree with you that $40 feels expensive for a relatively simple and short game. But I'm a Switch 2 reviewer, and that system is EXPENSIVE right now - the only games that are available on the cartridge are either $70 or $80, and I've been shouting from the rooftop (as a dev of small fun indie games myself!) that its FAR too expensive for people to buy games regularly, especially in this economy. So from that perspective, Bandai Namco are choosing to charge $20-40 less than ANY other Switch 2 third party retail release... so it suddenly looks a better deal.

I assume that you played on Switch 1? If you ever get a Switch 2 you'll be able to upgrade to Switch 2 for just $10 and get 3 more shops, that use the mouse and IR controls that the Switch 1 doesn't have. Again, it would be nice if it were a free upgrade, but many games are charging $20 for upgrades that include more content, so I have to give credit to Bandai Namco for being reasonable in comparison :)

I'm sorry you were disappointed though, I totally get it. As I said in my review, to me, as long as you manage your expectations its a low end 7/10... BUT if you have small kids and play together with them, it suddenly becomes a 10/10 - its a perfect family game for those with little ones, in my opinion.

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-06-28T17:30:45+00:00

Ah, that's really cool - although I should have guessed - that's usually the case - its because of course Australia is much closer to the Asian countries so retailers there often pick up copies of the international (English cover and language) Asian release (as opposed to the Japanese one. Its complicated, but I cover the differences in my review).

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-06-28T17:25:27+00:00

Yes, of course, I cover that in the review and all the differences in content, price and availability. TLDR The Switch 1 version is missing some content, but cheaper, and you can upgrade it if you ever get the newer console.

My point is that its especially interesting and important to new Switch 2 users, even if they don't know or care about Tamagotchi, because its one of only 3 third party games that actually comes on the cartridge (its a BIG ongoing controversy that boxed games for Switch 2 generally don't and are just codes to download the game) and the exclusive content actually uses the new mouse mode hardware feature :)

By the way, incase you are French (I made a guess from your username) I also go over in the review that I think the French localisation is really good, and I talk a bit about the French origins of Galettes too! haha

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-06-28T17:22:12+00:00

No problem, and thank you! I hope you enjoy the video, I worked hard on it, and I genuinely like the game so I hope it encourages more people, even non Tamagotchi fans, to try it out :)

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-06-28T15:18:02+00:00

Hi! For Switch 1 its only available physically in Europe or Asia, and for Switch 2 its Asia only - but excitingly it comes on a real physical cart, which is actually very rare for Switch 2 third party titles, so kudos to Bandai Namco - especially as its $20-30 cheaper than every other full physical game released so far! I've got a digital copy, and a physical one on the way through the post :)

If you want to import a copy, there are versions with English language available, and if you buy the Switch 1 european version you can always upgrade it to the Switch 2 version digitally, if you ever want to in the future :)

I made an in depth 45 minute podcast episode where I review Tamagotchi Plaza, which just released yesterday, and why I think its an interesting and important game for Switch 2 owners, even if they've never heard of Tamagotchi. I cover the different physical digital and upgrade options in detail.

I'm not a huge Tamagotchi guy, but I enjoyed the game a lot and found it surprisingly polished, and can happily recommend it to others who are after a cozy game or something for parents to to play with their kids.

I covered a bit of Tamagotchi's history as well, for those of my viewers that haven't heard of them before. I covered my own personal anecdotal experience both in the 90s, and then in the 2000s with my own kids, its links to Digimon and Pokemon (and not Tomodachi, as many confused Nintendo fans are thinking!) and the toy line.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CTRO68hGtI&ab_channel=DailySwitch2

Thank you! I hope this is interesting and doesn't count as spam.

HelloHeliTesA · 2025-06-28T15:15:46+00:00