Topic: $100 for "Akumajo Dracula Best Music Collections Box"

[Abnormal Freak]

Just heard word that you can buy the thing from Amazon.co.jp for about $100 shipped to the US. I'm sure they ship to Europe too. You can even view Amazon's Japanese site in English. They were never so world-friendly before; I was never able to register for an Amazon Japan account years back.

Anyway, here's the product page:

http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00317CP1Q

For anyone who still doesn't have it. That's a really good price—dropped from 21,000 yen to 7,152.

Man, I love Amazon. For the past year or more I've been able to pay in US dollars at Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de with pretty reasonable shipping rates, and now I can order from their Japanese store? Totally cool.

[Reinhart77]

thanks for the tip.  i'll have to keep it in mind.  since i usually order things through amazon.com, i'd be a little more comfortable ordering through them than some other japanese place.

[Dark Nemesis]

Thanks for posting this, but unfortunaly if i don't get paid from my work, i am unaible to make an order....

[Abnormal Freak]

Today it's ￥ 6,731. My guess is there's a large supply of this limited print. Most people probably saw the box set and said, "This is BS." :p I caved in, and don't regret it, but I do wish I'd have waited to buy it from Amazon Japan at this much lower price. $75 instead of $250? That would have been nice.

[JR]

Wow, looks like I'll be buying this after all. I just hope shipping isn't too much. Guess I'll find out.

[Profbeanburrito]

In order to buy stuff off the other Amazon sites, like the Japanese or UK sites, you only need to put in your regular information, like address and whatnot, right? There's no going through any other websites to get this to work, correct?

[Abnormal Freak]

You just sign up at the site. You can even view their Japanese site in English.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

I may get it!  Seriously.

[JR]

I just ordered it. This will be my first imported purchase of Castlevania merch. Can't wait until it arrives!

[uzo]

Does it come with any cool booklets or art?

[JR]

Not from what I can tell. It shows 18 CDs, 1 DVD, and an insert of some kind.

[crisis]

It comes with a booklet that has artwork of Leon(?) & Dracula

[Abnormal Freak]

Yeah, the booklet's got cool "stained window"-esque drawings on the front and back. Inside are descriptions of each game presented in the box set, though being all in Japanese, it's kinda useless to me. Aside from the text, there are the logos from each game, and usually one tiny screenshot from each.

[JR]

I just got this from FedEx today.  That was...extremely fast. o_O

One thing I've noticed on Amazon's Japanese site is that it didn't get very favorable reviews. Google translate is understandably not perfect, but from what I could read it sounded like there was a song or two removed, and one of the CDs had poorer sound quality than its original counterpart. I was surprised to see so many 1 and 2-star reviews.

[Abnormal Freak]

Most of the soundtracks are missing songs that are in the previous releases. As for poorer sound quality, I didn't come across that; it all sounds better to me, on the older CDs. I haven't listened to and compared the later stuff, though, so maybe there's something off with them.

I'm actually considering offering up the various songs that aren't included in the box set. Well, everything until and including Castlevania (64). Beyond that, it's mostly more than just a few songs missing per soundtrack, so it'd be easier just to download the full soundtracks.

Edit:

All right, guys (and gals). I compiled a rather odd assortment of Castlevania tunes from official OSTs that didn't make it to the big box set. I ripped them all to VBR 320kbps MP3, all from CDs I own. One thing to note is my copy of the two-disc Akumajo Dracula X CD released in '93 is a Son May bootleg. It sounds good, so I suspect the sound quality is the same as the official CD, but just in case it's not, I thought you should know.

Another thing is I'm not covering any post-Castlevania (64) games, save for the Symphony of the Night songs from the PSP version of the game (just to have that soundtrack complete). For the rest of the incomplete soundtracks, it's much simpler just to download (or, preferably, buy—monetarily support the things you enjoy, please) the full OSTs, since most of them are two-disc collections. For the Akumajo Dracula X: Chi no Rondo soundtrack, I recommend the album Akumajo Dracula X Chronicle Original Soundtrack (you can even download it from iTunes for $10), since the sound quality's improved over the original release from '93, and it includes the chiptunes plus cool bonuses.

Right. Here's the download link - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IURN5PQH

And just so you know what's included—

—From Akumajo Dracula Best—
Simon's Quest (NES version) - The Silence of the Daylight
Simon's Quest (NES version) - Bloody Tears
Simon's Quest (NES version) - A Requiem
Dracula's Curse - Darkness and Tension: Dead Beat/Nightmare/Encounter
Dracula's Curse - Ending: Evergreen/Flash Back
Arrange Version - Distant Triumphant Return (Beginning) —From The Legend of the Devil's Castle—
Arrange Version - Bloody Tears —From Dracula II—

(These last two songs I actually ripped from the Castlevania 20th Anniversary Deluxe Music Collection CD that came as a preorder bonus with Portrait of Ruin, since I think the songs sound a little clearer on this CD than on Akumajo Dracula Best. Also, the "arrange version" of "Bloody Tears" is nothing more than the version of the song from Haunted Castle, but for completionist's sake [it has a different runtime and sounds different from the other CD versions], here it is.)

—From Akumajo Dracula Best 2—
Belmont's Revenge - Castle
Belmont's Revenge - Journey to Chaos
Belmont's Revenge - Castle #2
Belmont's Revenge - Faith

—From Akumajo Dracula X—
X68000 Arrange Version - Moon Fight
X68000 Arrange Version - Mother Earth
X68000 Arrange Version - File Load BGM
X68000 Arrange Version - Theme of Simon

—From Akumajo Dracula ~Gekka no Nocturne~ Original Game Soundtrack—
(Symphony of the Night OST)
Prologue
I Am the Wind

—From Akumajo Dracula X Chronicle Original Soundtrack—
Nocturne (English version)
Serenade of Sympathy

(These are the PSP Symphony of the Night songs.)

—From Symphony of the Night PSX game CDs—
Dracula's Castle (Remix)
Dracula's Castle (Remix - Japanese Intro)

(These are the "track 2" songs that are featured on the game discs. I own both the US and Japanese versions, which are different only in the intro—one in English, one in Japanese, and spoken by their respective voice actors for Alucard—but I felt it was fun to include both.)

—From Akumajo Dracula Apocalypse Original Game Soundtrack—
(Castlevania [64] OST bonus tracks)
Melodies of Castlevania
Invisible Sorrow
A Night in Peace and Quiet

—And Lastly—
I've included the entire Oretachi Game Center: Akumajo Dracula Music CD album, since it features the Haunted Castle music as it is in-game, with no post-production (unlike what's provided on Akumajo Dracula Best Music Collections Box and Konami Game Music Collection Vol.1).

43 tracks in all.

I hope this is useful for somebody. :p I've set up playlists on my iPod to have the "complete" soundtracks (complete insomuch as what's been released officially), and decided I wanted to share this with others who might not have the tunes. I actually think, in regards to the older games, that the music on the OST box set sounds better than the original CDs. It's probably just a slight mastering difference and nothing more—a simple levels boost—but it makes things just a little clearer and better, in my mind. Thus I've set up playlists for these games primarily using what comes in the box set, and filled in the blanks with the missing songs present on the old OSTs.