Acquisition #133: Tane wo Maku Tori (WonderSwan)

How's this for a random acquisition?

I'm guessing most of you have never heard of Tane wo Maku Tori. Don't feel bad--I hadn't heard of it before I stumbled upon this post over at kimimisblog.blogspot.com a few months ago.

According to the proprietress of said blog, by the way, Tane wo Maku Tori is often translated into English as The Seeding Bird. ("Tane wo maku" means "to sow seeds," apparently, while "tori" means "bird.")

The translation seems appropriate once you play the game, which is a puzzler, of sorts, that tasks the crow seen on the packaging below with helping direct drops of water that fall from the top of the screen to the seeds that sit at the bottom.

As I'm sure you've already guessed, I haven't yet spent much time with Tane wo Maku Tori. (I don't have a WonderSwan, so I've only played it via emulation--and even then it was only for a short while.)

Anyway, if you'd like to learn more about this peculiar puzzler, click on the aforementioned link to Kimimi's blog (or wait for my review of the title, which will be published ... sometime after I finally buy a WonderSwan).

Also, for a few more photos of this game's box, cardboard "storybook" (above) and cartridge, check out my Flickr photostream.

See also: Previous 'Acquisition #123' posts

Additional proof that I have awesome readers

A few months ago, I mentioned (OK, whined) in this post that I was sad that the copy of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time that I pulled from my childhood closet while home for Christmas was "sans boîte," as the French might say. (Sans boîte = without box, basically.)

Enter The Gay Gamer reader "sharc," who wrote in the comments section of that post: "Pretty sure I have a box for Ocarnia of Time sitting around somewhere. Gotta double check first, but you'd be welcome to take it. Encouraged, even."

After sharc and I exchanged e-mails on the subject, I promptly and rather surprisingly forgot about it. Until a few days ago, that is, when the box in the photo below arrived on my doorstep.



Please note the superb condition of said box. The reason it's in such great condition is that sharc packaged and shipped it with so much care that my usually cold and cynical heart (OK, that's somewhat, but not entirely, overstating things) nearly melted.

As you can see, the box and cartridge are getting along famously--despite the fact that they met just minutes before the photo above was snapped. Anyway, thank you, sharc, for making this, er, peculiar love affair possible!