CIB Sunday: World’s Longest 5 Minutes Limited Edition (Vita)

When the recently released Nippon Ichi-made Vita game World’s Longest 5 Minutes--aka Sekaiichi Nagai 5 Funkan or 世界一長い5分間--was first announced, I planned on buying it via my favorite import shop, AmiAmi.

The game's art style and mishmash of genres--it's part old-school RPG and part visual novel--really appealed to me. Plus, I was pretty sure copies would be cheap, much like Ikenie to Yuki no Setsuna and Roze to Tasogare no Kojou.

Actually, they were--and are. Or at least that's true of the vanilla version of World’s Longest 5 Minutes. Once I became aware of the game's limited edition, though, I quickly switched gears and set my sights on that release.

Fast forward a few months and I'm absolutely thrilled I changed my mind and spent a tad more money on the Sekaiichi Nagai 5 Funkan LE.

If you're wondering why that is, well, keep scrolling through this post. It shouldn't take you long to realize why I'm so stoked about owning it.



Before we get too far, I should let you know what's included in this particular LE package. Snuggled within the lovely outer box showcased in the snapshots above and below are: a copy of World’s Longest 5 Minutes, a soft-cover book of some sort, a two-CD soundtrack and a small, tri-fold desk calendar.

All of this limited edition's "innards" are well worth slobbering over, of course, but let's first spend a couple of seconds ogling that outer box I mentioned in the last sentence. 

Each side edge features pixel-art depictions of what I assume are this Vita title's main characters. Oh, and when you open the box, you reveal the slightly more detailed representations seen below. 

The fun continues inside the World’s Longest 5 Minutes box. Nestled within one of the cutest retro-RPG cityscapes I've seen in a while is a copy of the game.

Here's another look at the aforementioned cityscape, in case any of you are curious:

And here's a look at the back of the World’s Longest 5 Minutes game case:

As for the rest of what's packed inside this limited edition, here's the "soft-cover book of some sort" I eluded to early on in this post:



I say it's a "book of some sort," by the way, because I'm honestly not sure what it is or what it's supposed to be. Before I opened it, I assumed it was an art book, but the first half of it is mostly text. That text doesn't appear to provide tips or tricks or hints to would-be players, though, so maybe it talks about the game's development or something like that?



Regardless, the last few pages of this Sekaiichi Nagai 5 Funkan booklet offer up some nice illustrations and pixel art that make the whole thing worthwhile.



Finally, hidden beneath the game case, the soft-cover book and the two-CD soundtrack (sorry, I didn't like the snapshot I took of it so I'm leaving it out; I'll take another soon and toss it onto my Flickr photostream) is a lovely little tri-fold desk calendar.



I've yet to set up this calendar, or even take a peek at its pages, but I can assure you I'll rectify that shortly--and when I do, I'll take a photo of it and either share it via Flickr or Instagram.

That's basically it--unless you're dying to see the back of this Vita LE's outer box. If you are, take a gander at the photo above.

Much like the rear of the World’s Longest 5 Minutes game case, the reverse side of its outer box isn't anything to shout about, but every other aspect of this limited edition is so grand that I'm not going to complain.

See also: previous posts about World’s Longest 5 Minutes plus previous 'CIB Sunday' posts

CIB Sunday: Pizza Pop! (Famicom)

It's Sunday once again, and you know what that means: it's time to share a photo of a complete-in-box copy of some video game or other.

This week, I’m going with Jaleco’s Pizza Pop! By most accounts, this Famicom title, released all the way back in 1992, is not a great game. Still, I've long been a fan of it due to its colorful graphics and old-school platforming gameplay.



OK, so it's also due to this import's vivacious packaging, which is on full display in the snapshot above.

Want to learn more about Pizza Pop! or see more photos of its box, cartridge or instruction manual? Check out this old post of mine.

See also: 'CIB Sunday: Hyakumanton no Bara Bara (PSP)'

CIB Sunday: Hyakumanton no Bara Bara (PSP)

If you regularly peruse any of the many social-media apps or sites available to the masses these days, you've probably come across #CIBSunday.

Don't worry if you haven't, as it's easy enough to explain. Basically, folks publish photos of complete-in-box copies of games and then include in their tweets or posts the hashtag mentioned above.

I participate in this "event" pretty much every weekend on Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter. For some strange reason, though, I've never extended that participation to this blog. Until today, of course.

Will I continue to do so in weeks, months and years to come? Who knows. I'll do my best to keep it up, though--and I'll certainly whip up a post here whenever I think I've got a nice photo to show off, or some related content to recommend.



With that out of the way, what do you think about the snapshot of Hyakumanton no Bara Bara for PSP that can be seen above?

Hyakumanton no Bara Bara not ring a bell for you? How about Patchwork Heroes? That's what this Acquire-made title, which plays like an inverted version of Taito's Qix, was named outside of Japan.

If you'd like to see more photos of Hyakumanton no Bara Bara's lovely case, cover art, instruction manual and UMD, by the way, check out this "Nice Package!" write-up I published last year. Also, read my review of Hyakumanton no Bara Bara (or, rather, Patchwork Heroes).

Are any of you fans of this 2010 release? If so, please share your love of it in the comments section that follows.

In honor of Satoru Iwata, here's my most recent contribution to #CIBSunday

I don't often contribute to the social-media phenomenon that is #CIBSunday, but I decided to make an exception today because I recently acquired a copy of Mother 2 for the Super Famicom and showcasing a few photos of its beautifully minimalist packaging here seemed like an appropriate thing to do given the recent passing of Satoru Iwata, who helped whip this classic RPG into shape back when he worked for HAL Laboratory.



As for what took me so long to add this brilliant game to my collection, well, a big part of the story is that my initial plan was to buy a complete-in-box copy of the North American release, which of course is known as EarthBound. In the end, though, setting aside $300 or more for such a purchase was a bit too much for me to swallow, so I put my dreams of owning some form of this classic RPG on the back burner and turned my attention to other titles that would be far easier to obtain.

I returned to this quest a month or so ago after I came across (while perusing eBay, naturally) the copy of Mother 2 that can be seen in the snapshots shared throughout this post. That was mainly due to the fact this particular copy was cheaper than most of the ones that make their way onto the auction site these days, but it also was due to me figuring I've learned enough Japanese by now to stumble my way through Shigesato Itoi's eclectic adventure in its native language.

Anyway, enough about that. The stars of this post are the lovely box, cartridge and instruction manual that make up the entire Mother 2 package. Personally, I'm not sure which element I love the most--the outer box, with its iconic logo, or the inside of the aforementioned manual, which includes some of the most wonderful clay models you're likely to come across in the gaming world.  

Mother 2's cart label (below) is pretty awesome, too, of course.

Sadly, it'll probably be a while before I stick this cartridge into an actual SNES or Super Famicom and give it a go. After all, I don't own either of those consoles at the moment--or at least I don't have one with me here in Seattle. An old SNES is sitting in a closet in my parents' house back in Madison, Wisconsin, but I won't be able to get my mitts on it until at least Christmas.



Sure, I could use this as an opportunity to, at long last, pitch in and pick up a Super Famicom Jr.--a system I've wanted for ages--before then, but the reality is I'll probably just wait until the holidays so I can spend that money on some other game-related treasure that catches my eye in the coming months.

What all of that said, what do you think of this game's packaging, or what do you think of the game itself? Share all of the lurid details in the comments section below, if you're the sort who's open to such things.