Yahoo! Auctions watch: game music and copying device edition

Yes, it’s time for another look at Stuff on Yahoo! Auctions That Could in Theory Be of Interest to Someone Out There™! This week, I’m thinking games. Music. Music from games. And how to copy old games/play ROMs of old games on archaic console hardware. My search through ヤフオク lead me to find lots of interesting stuff in these categories. The most interesting lots were these three:

Lot 1: Super Wildcard DX

This fine piece of bric-a-brac is a bit of a steal, marked as it is with a Buy It Now price of just 5,000 yen. It’s also a “steal” in another sense of the word: the whole point of the Super Wildcard DX is that it enables you to play Super Famicom/BS games on your Super Famicom … FROM FLOPPY DISKS! I’m sure you can imagine the possibilities. Only slight hitch is that the SWC is probably not capable of running that Star Fox 2 beta, what with it being a Super FX game and all, and this being a dodgy piece of back-up/piracy hardware built in a shed in Hong Kong circa 1992. But still.

Lot 2: Bayonetta 5-CD Original Soundtrack collection

You know Bayonetta, that bloody new adventure game from Hideki Kamiya? Well, it’s got some music in it. Pretty good stuff, too, including the odd ditty from J-pop’s own MiChi. As you can see in the auction listing, the complete Bayonetta Original Soundtrack compilation spans 5 CDs, which may seem wildly excessive, but the bids have already taken this one to 5,250 yen and it’ll probably finish nearer the 10,000 yen mark.

Lot 3: OutRun 20th Anniversary Box

With a Buy It Now price of 50,000 yen (£330/$560) and 11 – yes, eleven – CDs full of OutRun music part of the bargain, this makes that Bayonetta thingy look as tame as a neutered Doraemon. Frankly, I’d just settle for the original OutRun soundtrack (i.e., the good one, before it got tampered with) on gorgeous vinyl instead – only 1,000 yen and less liable to get snapped beneath a dining chair.