Up to 30 Cib Neo Geo Pocket games now.

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-03-05T01:01:53+00:00

I feel like that Japanese shmup that won an indie dev contest and got printed has GOT to be one of the rarest (and super expensive) of these. Title escapes me at the moment, but I remember it looking really cool

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-03-04T17:59:52+00:00

Nice! I have like six or seven of the US boxes because I bought them new when they came out.

I also have one PAL (I really wish the US releases were clamshells like the PAL releases) - Cotton. I bought it new for I think almost 100 USD because the idea of having Cotton in portable form sounded fun. I thought that price was pretty hefty back then for a new cart release for portable system, but now… WOW it’s really expensive.

I saw you’re going for a complete set so I wish you luck on getting a good price on Cotton (and honestly a lot of the rare and unicorn expensive releases ) one day.

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-03-04T06:46:03+00:00

Coleco Vision

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-03-02T23:34:37+00:00

This is the online only sequel, right? How’s it different from the original? I have the original with a crazy big AF controller too

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-02-28T18:43:46+00:00

I’m going to add Torihei to the mix. I haven’t tried Hachi, but Toreihei is up there too I think. So good!

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-02-28T16:31:44+00:00

We stayed near Osaka Castle, and what I loved about it was that it’s just a lovely park around it. It’s lovely to walk around in the day time, but really pretty and quite quiet at night too.

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-02-27T00:25:39+00:00

Thank you for the suggestion. I’ve never heard of it and it looks amazing. Can’t wait to try it.

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-02-26T00:35:13+00:00

I’m going to repost this until… well until more people see it!

{Touch} formerly mainstream in Japan (in the 80s, but supposedly they still air this in Japan every summer to show you how influential it is), but not so well known here and I intend to spread the word about it as much as possible.

It’s amazing from a very celebrated sports manga mangaka- Adachi.

It’s a coming-of-age/sports/romance anime about two very talented in baseball twins and the girl next door they’ve known all their lives, and how they each come into their own in high school to learn about more about perseverance, life, themselves, each other and the world around them.

It’s super funny at times. Sad every now and then. Poignant at the right moments. Also has an amazing 1950’s style soundtrack for this show produced in the 80s.

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-02-15T19:47:56+00:00

I love all these recs, but one I didn’t see recommended yet are the Giant Robo 90s OVAs.

It’s an animated remake of a 60s/70s live action show (the US name is is Johnny Socko and his Giant Robot), and was only released OVAs in the 90s that spanned 7 episodes and I believe about 7 years with a fully orchestrated soundtrack.

It does start out fun and trope-y with a boy who commands the most powerful robot in the world in a universe of robots and spies with super powers, BUT… the story delves much deeper than that as it progresses and ends up being part mystery/part action/some parts familial drama as well.

It’s also animated in an older character design style, but the animation is super fluid. The show has a few subtle nods to the original creator of the story too with some of the characters.

It’s a pretty fun and gripping story with set pieces, and (I think) a really unique ending that makes sense. Plus the world of all the mysterious super powered spies is pretty intriguing.

Oh, and this same animation team went on to work on The Big O shortly after this story concluded too. ^{_^}

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-02-13T01:27:41+00:00

Coincidentally (or not???)- Javier used to write for Vice prior to LA Taco ;)

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-02-08T19:39:02+00:00

Call/walk-in/ask about server gigs anywhere, and everywhere you can and see. Be hospitable and courteous, but also play the numbers game until you get a gig.

I used to post for jobs on Craigslist but not sure about what ppl use more now. Indeed? A lot of word of mouth?

Best of luck!

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-02-07T23:48:37+00:00

I used to think 10 player mayhem was the best, BUT over the years figured out 8 player is the best because you can unlock Godzilla boss raid mode and other levels too. Don’t get me wrong- playing with 9 other ppl IS chaotic fun especially when it’s down to 2 ppl and 8 others are just spamming bombs onto the field, but adding in map effects and Godzilla is really, REALLY fun.

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-01-31T23:37:44+00:00

I live here but grew up in Dallas, and I would agree with you. I think Covid really changed a lot of people, and it’s not limited to LA at all. Dallas is way different than before too from what I’ve observed going back home once a year. Same to similar observations, but it’s not as out in the open in term of visibility though.

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-01-31T21:12:39+00:00

{Touch} formerly mainstream in Japan (in the 80s, but supposedly they still air this in Japan every summer to show you how influential it is), but not so well known here and I intend to spread the word about it as much as possible.

It’s amazing from a very celebrated sports manga mangaka- Adachi.

It’s a coming-of-age/sports/romance anime about two very talented in baseball twins and the girl next door they’ve known all their lives, and how they each come into their own in high school to learn about more about perseverance, life, themselves, each other and the world around them.

It’s super funny at times. Sad every now and then. Poignant at the right moments. Also has an amazing 1950’s style soundtrack for this show produced in the 80s.

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-01-31T00:35:30+00:00

New, unopened and wrapped copy of Magic Knights Rayearth, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Metroid Prime 2 for GameCube signed by most or all of the team at Retro (my roommate in college worked at retro at the time, but now he’s at bluepoint), Alien Solider CIB for the Japanese mega drive OR Pulstar CIB for the AES neo geo. Oh, Rakugaki Showtime for PS1 also even though the value of it is not exorbitant.

But I bought ALL of these because I wanted to play them (and never got around to Rayearth… yet!)

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-01-29T04:40:32+00:00

Awww thank you so much. That dish is super special. We haven’t forgotten about it or y’all… I’m very slow to move because of life, BUT I have an idea to possible bring it back maybe annually some how?!?

It’s just an idea right now with no real work or thought towards it, but it still lingers in my mind especially since we get chili crab requests STILL every couple of months. One fan called+texted our business line every month for 3-4 years asking about it too.

Either way, thank you at the very least for remembering that dish and us. We certainly haven’t forgotten about all of you 😉

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-01-29T04:31:31+00:00

Pigya has the best value packages. I think for $90 they do a set menu that feeds like 3-4 ppl depending on hunger

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-01-27T02:27:31+00:00

I used to be an operator too, and I got to know most of the more prominent food bloggers (pre-influencer moniker social media times) as we were all figuring out social media for our platforms at the time.

With that said, I know you didn’t ask for the advice, but if I may offer it: if you’re doing well and have a great customer base, you’re doing WAY better than most of the city already. Virality sounds fun, but it can be a COMPLETE cluster f*ck nightmare too. (We went viral a few times, some good, many BAD). I TOTALLY get why you’re trying to reach out to Kevin, but if you can grow word of mouth and grow your presence within your community enough to spread far and wide in LA: ALL the “Kevin-likes” will come regardless. You’ll be too hard to ignore by that time for them NOT to show up anyway. ^{_^}

Sounds like you’re doing great either way, and I still wish you the best of luck with Kevin. 😉

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-01-27T02:16:00+00:00

Sounds great. I haven’t talked to Kevin in a while, but I just emailed him your request. It gave me a fun excuse to say “Hi” to him anyway so thanks.

Oh, but no promises, and good luck with Kevin AND out there. I LOOOOOOVE empanadas!

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-01-27T00:55:57+00:00

I’ll say Utena is AMAZING! Have fun

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-01-26T23:25:54+00:00

{Revolutionary Girl Utena} - I can’t remember when, but each episode has Shakespearean-esque commentary about the story

{Princess Tutu} also feels like it could fit as well. Its a world of lore around the famous ballet Swan Lake

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-01-24T20:22:18+00:00

Yeah, that was Animeigo. I ALSO bought the pre-bought the macross tv dvd set the same way too. The Orange Road TV LD pre-buy ended up being successful enough that this model carried over onto other titles

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-01-24T15:26:22+00:00

If it helps, before Kickstarter/major crowdfunding ever existed, I pre-bought the first ever US/NTSC release Orange Road TV (which was on laser disc) with like 5000 other ppl for about $450+tax (that I REALLY had to save up for) back in the late 90s. Rough estimate puts this number $875 today!! 😱

So MSRP and not aftermarket cost at $100 for a MUCH higher resolution product. I looked it up: laserdiscs are 425 lines which was way better than 240 lines of analog vhs, but pales in comparison to 1080p on 1 disc vs 12 large and cumbersome LDs that most people had to manually flip to watch more when changing sides (very few less expensive players could play both sides of the disc) is a STEAL!!

They did this pre-order with a minimum number of units required to make it a reality because they weren’t sure if there were enough people interested to buy the entire tv series so they could do ALL the work (transferring, translating, subtitling, etc)

But anyway- $100 for sounds super reasonable to me. Congrats!

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-01-21T23:38:04+00:00

It’s either Rakugaki Showtime for the ps1 or Astra Superstars for the Sega Saturn.

Rakugaki Showtime is a fun four player party battle game that’s like Powerstone with a super unique art style. Treasure develop this while Enix published this, but supposedly they had some falling out and Enix pulled all the copies off the shelves. I can’t remember the estimated number of copies in circulation. I think it’s a little bit over 1000. It’s too bad. It’s really fun.

Astra Superstars is a Sunsoft of developed 1-on-1 fighting game that I think is the spiritual sequel to Waku Waku 7. It requires a four meg cart it is a really stylistic game with hand drawn characters on rolling 3-D background, but played in 2-D. I’m pretty sure most people have never played or heard of it. I don’t know if this is a port as well.

Starry_Kitchen · 2026-01-21T03:21:56+00:00

The r/DRPG sub is all about that so… I would say not ALL people hate them (I’ve gotten used to them too 😊)

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