Did the title give anything away? I didn’t give up on this Pulseman that I walked away from a few weeks ago when I first found it at a recent Oshawa Game Swap. The seller and I were not able to strike a deal on this $400 CAD (~$315 USD) game. But more recently something did happen. Check out my newest addition to my Japanese Sega Mega Drive collection.

Not only does the cover-art look great but the whole thing is in pristine condition. I’ve had some time to play Pulseman and I was happy to see that the graphics are really very good. The controls are tight and responsive and Pulseman is able to perform a good variety of moves. I’m looking forward to more time with it.

Below is my gameplay footage of the Level 1. Plus the game intro.

Pulseman is one of a bunch of Sega Mega Drive / Genesis games that are region locked to their home region and Pulseman will not natively play in my North American NTSC Sega Genesis. Fortunately I have a very cool product called the Super Key. It acts as a pass-through cartridge and allows you to set any region you need to meet the requirements of whatever game you’re trying to play.

I originally picked-up this Super Key in a bundle with Sailor Moon for the Japanese Sega Mega Drive. And I’m really glad I did as they are not easy to find.

So what does it take to get a game with a price tag of $400? …without actually laying out any cash? It takes some serious trading.

After leaving Pulseman behind at the Game Swap I took a long hard look at my collection. And rounded up some games that I felt I could do without. For years I’ve been on the fence about collecting for the Sega Saturn. Sure I want it all but for me it’s not possible. I sent an email to the same seller from the Oshawa Game Swap and I offered up my entire Sega Saturn collection of four games among a few other titles from different systems.

Fortunately one of my Saturn games was Albert Odyssey which seems to have some value these days. Dark Savior is moderately valuable and Daytona USA and Hang-On GP are $10-$20 games. Some time ago I bought doubles of Beggar Prince and Water Margin with the intention of saving them for trading down the road. And despite not feeling overly successful at trading retro games for other retro games it really did work out this time. It took six games to score my Pulseman.

But that’s not to say Pulseman didn’t cost me anything. In total I spent about $270 CAD (~$212 USD) on these six gamest that I traded away. However, this is money that had long since left me and it feels good to transform these games into something I really want. Sure, maybe I could have sold Albert Odyssey myself and put that money in the bank but that is no where near as fun.

This store that Nintendo Joe and I visited for our big day of trading is called 7 Star Games. Located at 145 Kingston Rd E, Ajax, ON L1S 7J4. It’s bursting with retro games and very much worth the visit. This sellers other location is called P-Market Games at 127 N Front St. Belleville, ON.

Pulseman is a very exciting addition to my collection; especially considering how hard it is to obtain. Below are what I call my Heavy Hitters. These are good Japanese Sega Mega Drive games that regularly come with really expensive price tags. Often listed on ebay from about $500-$1,000 CAD (~$394 -$790 USD) when complete. I haven’t used ebay in close to a year and with prices like these I’m really not interested in going back. I’ll just have continue to wait for moments like this when I can make something manageable happen.

Honestly, I feel really lucky to have these gems.

My remaining ultimate Japanese Sega Mega Drive wish list consists of:

1. Battle Mania Daiginjō (Battle Mania 2), 2. Twinkle Tale, 3. Alien Soldier, 4. Snow Bros.

In addition to bringing the games I knew I needed to trade for Pulseman I brought a few extra just in case. And of these extras the store owner was interested in giving me $95 credit for a pink Nintendo DS lite with power cable, a complete Sega Genesis Alien 3 and a loose SNES Knights of the Round. I took the credit and found the following games.

I’ve heard lots of good things about Zombies Ate My Neighbors and even Nintendo Joe has been recommending it to me. So minus $60 from my credit and I took it.

The other game I selected was Instruments of Chaos starring Yong Indiana Jones for $20. Both are in great shape and complete with hanging tabs (which is important to me).

I still had $15 credit left but any additional worth while choice would have left me needing to hand over some cash as well. Since I wasn’t in the mood to spend I gave my remaining credit to Nintendo Joe. Who also scored himself a game priced at $400 CAD (~$315 USD) during this same visit and a whole lot more. For any NES fans out there Nintendo Joe now has a lot of heavy hitters of his own to show off, not to mention what he had to do to get them. Click here for all his details.