Looks like buying digital from the Japanese store is getting much harder. Yesterday my 360 arrived, and I surfed around trying to buy a prepaid gift card to absolutely no avail, since the transaction would decline every time. I emailed one site's support team to ask why, and he said my account had a security concern - To resolve it, I would have to send a selfie with my real ID (!!) among other things. Just look at the email:
That's g2a, who are known for being shady, but I soon discovered the same for seagm:
These are only two sites I explored, but the others probably blocked it for the same reason. I would encourage everyone NOT to give their ID to these websites under any circumstance, so now we have the additional problem of getting ahold of Japanese cards at all. Luckily, you can probably still just transfer money into your Paypal from your bank, and use the Paypal wallet successfully since it's not drawing funds from a card, but this change still prompts concern in any event, and maybe it's even worth contacting CAVE and others to see if they could put the games on other 360 stores, or port them to Windows if not. It's crazy having a bunch of people who want to buy a game legally, but can't because region lock makes it impossible.
Finally got it. The one I found a working card at was offgamers, but other sites likely still work too (just don't trust the two above at least). The main difference between the guide in the OP and what I found to work personally is that you're much better off doing most of this stuff on the Xbox site now, including making a profile and entering the code. After the yen code successfully adds on the Xbox site, you can download the profile you made on the 360, access the Japan-only store, and the amount of yen you added should be in your wallet. From there the rest is easy. I tested with Muchi-Muchi Pork/Pink Sweets, which is a region-free game, so if I run into issues downloading a region-locked game without a VPN, I'll mention it and post the solution when I find it. Hope this helps xx
finally had some success getting a yen for my japanese xbox live account. my cards kept getting rejected/rejecting SeaGM. it seems the trick is you need to enter your billing information in your profile, and then it worked for me.
the problem for me now, is that it seems on the website, there is no way to buy games with your wallet balance, it just keeps directing you to the credit card. I'm waiting for my NTSC-J xbox 360 to arrive, and I guess i'll just try adding the profile to that and purchasing from there.
Has anyone been able to buy anything on the Japanese marketplace lately? I've got a new Japanese Xbox 360 successfully connected to a Japanese VPN and I keep getting an error code, 8C230002. I looked up this error code and from what I've read it says that my account is blocked from accessing content. I've followed the instructions Microsoft has for this error code, but it still keeps coming up. Can anyone please help me out?
Is it actually possible to buy things on the 360's online store anymore? Even though I have a Japanese 360, a Japanese bank and card and all of that shit, and live in Japan, I can't buy digital stuff. I want to buy Mushihimesame Futari Black Label, but it won't let me. Fuck digital games. Good thing I can play the game using the disc, but it seems that I can't get Black Label.
Amazon Japan reviews on gift cards are saying that they no longer work on the 360 as of a few months ago, and for some reason I can't buy them on Amazon anyway since it says my region is wrong... yeah, can't buy Japanese Xbox cards in Japan because Japan is apparently the wrong region. Not sure what is going on, but this is very annoying.
Steven wrote:Is it actually possible to buy things on the 360's online store anymore? Even though I have a Japanese 360, a Japanese bank and card and all of that shit, and live in Japan, I can't buy digital stuff. I want to buy Mushihimesame Futari Black Label, but it won't let me. Fuck digital games. Good thing I can play the game using the disc, but it seems that I can't get Black Label.
Amazon Japan reviews on gift cards are saying that they no longer work on the 360 as of a few months ago, and for some reason I can't buy them on Amazon anyway since it says my region is wrong... yeah, can't buy Japanese Xbox cards in Japan because Japan is apparently the wrong region. Not sure what is going on, but this is very annoying.
I would assume it might be still possible, but the X360's store, presuming, isn't as stable as it used to be back in the day. However, yeah, you can't use your wallet funds over the X360 web store, since it requires a credit/debit card (or paypal) purchase in full (on the US side of things). You can use your wallet funds if you have a working X360 though and pay any remaining funds either with more gift card credit, or the rest with credit/debit card.
Either way, the Black Label DLC can still be purchased from a users region specific X360 store either from the web, or on console. Though with the Engrishy titled "Mushihimesama-hutari-Black-Lavel". But yeah, since you said you live in Japan, I dunno now. I was able to purchase Add-Ons and other stuff over my JP X360 account in the past when there weren't issues on buying from there back then. (Though most of it was payed back when they had it as Microsoft Points, up to the now standard region specific credit.)
Can confirm it still works, bought and installed SDOJ on my PAL 360 yesterday. It took several hours of screwing around with locales, VPN's, gift cards, japanese menus and whatnot (found this topic after already done ), but yeah you do have to use the 360 itself to make the purchase for the wallet funds to work.
Can also confirm that it seemed weirdly unstable and janky. The download (and purchase) disappeared from the console completely around halfway through, resumed at 40% after finding a way to restart it, then jumped from 70% to 100% instantly, etc. Still unclear on whether the VPN was required, but I couldn't even find the JPN store without it.
So yeah I’m looking to download some JPN stuff, mostly DLC, so is it needed to try and acquire some old JPN points and do it that way?
Try and VPN then download?
Or would it be easier to try and get someone in Japan to download to an account create and then recover the account over here?
I'd like to pick up all the region-free Cave stuff before the store gets shut down but honestly so far this is baffling to me. I thought I could get a pre-paid yen card on the Microsoft website, but it won't let you put in a US address and then complains about your PayPal account's region not matching and your credit card billing address not being right.
Next thought I'd look at something simple, like Virtual-On since it's backwards compatible on Xbox One and Japan-only, so I set my Xbox One region to Japan and head over to it and get the same problems, address doesn't match, can't use PayPal.
Sites where you can buy codes specify clearly that they're only for Japanese accounts, so can I do any of this on US consoles?
I was hoping I could buy region-free titles for my US console by using a Japanese account and the Xbox webstore, is this not possible at all? Is it really still import a Japanese unit these days?
EDIT: Got it sorted except for IP locked titles. Make a Japanese account, buy a Yen gift card and redeem it through the Microsoft/Xbox website, then go on your actual Xbox 360 with the Japanese account, which lets you look through the Japanese storefront.
FerociousSwan wrote: ↑Sun Sep 10, 2023 8:08 pm
Hey! Glad you got it working, I need some IP locked games - I do have a JPN 360, I’ll try a VPN to see if they works.
Did you find any good reliable sites with Yen gift cards in stock?
A VPN worked for the one IP locked title I wanted (Mushihimesama Futari)! I also grabbed Muchi Muchi Pork/Pink Sweets, DDP SDOJ, and Virtual-On, though for Virtual-On I saw later there's a PS4 collection with all the XBLA titles on it and probably in 1080p, so that felt like a waste...
That’s great! Thanks for that info and the link to the cards too! Appreciate it!
Way back in the 360 days I did download / buy games but it was much easier, I even got Radirgy but seems it’s gone from the store now… (shame I have no idea what the log in details are for the old JPN account I made!).
Can confirm Eschatos on JP marketplace is IP locked but region free, got it running on my PAL 360.
My normal VPN setup (OpenVPN on router) didn't work for downloading this, always failed somewhere between 70-80% irregardless of settings. Finally tried connecting the 360 to PC, running the VPN app on WireGuard mode and sharing the tunnel with 360. Worked first try after 10+ failed attemps with the first setup, I guess the router is leaking or something. The music DLC could be bought and downloaded without a VPN.
Previously had trouble downloading Mushi Futari too, but that was fixed by using DNS from my VPN provider (Mullvad).
Hello friends, I'm interested in purchasing some Japanese Xbox-360 games via the market place or directly from my old console before the store closes at the end of next month. The problem is that I'm in Brazil and it seems that there is a Microsoft IP lock. I read some of the latest comments and it seems that via VPN it has been working with some difficulty. Has anyone planned or made any purchases in the last few days and can give me some tips?
Greetings and good gaming to everyone!
Zillion Magnífico desafio dos Nozas!
Master System [JP], Genesis, SEGA Saturn [JP]
Atari 2600, Xbox 360 [JP], PSP, PS2, PS3, PS4,
GBA, Sharp Twin, Super Famicom, Wii, DS
Zillion+OpaOpa wrote: ↑Tue Jun 25, 2024 11:23 pm
Hello friends, I'm interested in purchasing some Japanese Xbox-360 games via the market place or directly from my old console before the store closes at the end of next month. The problem is that I'm in Brazil and it seems that there is a Microsoft IP lock. I read some of the latest comments and it seems that via VPN it has been working with some difficulty. Has anyone planned or made any purchases in the last few days and can give me some tips?
Greetings and good gaming to everyone!
Here's the VPN info for what I used, it was this on my computer connected with Wi-Fi and then an ethernet cord from my computer to the Xbox 360 with some special settings on it.
If you're on a modern Windows version I think you can use any Japanese VPN's in this list that support the MS-SSTP option: https://www.vpngate.net/en/
Zillion+OpaOpa wrote: ↑Tue Jun 25, 2024 11:23 pm
Hello friends, I'm interested in purchasing some Japanese Xbox-360 games via the market place or directly from my old console before the store closes at the end of next month. The problem is that I'm in Brazil and it seems that there is a Microsoft IP lock. I read some of the latest comments and it seems that via VPN it has been working with some difficulty. Has anyone planned or made any purchases in the last few days and can give me some tips?
Greetings and good gaming to everyone!
Here's the VPN info for what I used, it was this on my computer connected with Wi-Fi and then an ethernet cord from my computer to the Xbox 360 with some special settings on it.
If you're on a modern Windows version I think you can use any Japanese VPN's in this list that support the MS-SSTP option: https://www.vpngate.net/en/
Hello friend, thank you very much for your attention and time dedicated to helping me. I have already saved the configuration you provided and the links. I'm new to this subject of VPNs. I must use the same method you used to connect but I must still create a Japanese Market Place account.
I have the Xbox-360 and some physical games for a few years, but only now have I decided to try and buy some digital games since physical games have become very scarce and expensive, especially after the pandemic and the closure of SMJ. I'll try something this weekend, thanks.
My Windows is still W7, out of curiosity only these games are available in Brazil at the moment:
977,01 MB Under Defeat HD: Deluxe Edition
2,25 GB Otomedius Excellent
900,29 MB SINE MORA™
613,15 MB Radiant Silvergun
3,04 GB Panzer Dragoon Orta
Best regards, and thank you!
Zillion Magnífico desafio dos Nozas!
Master System [JP], Genesis, SEGA Saturn [JP]
Atari 2600, Xbox 360 [JP], PSP, PS2, PS3, PS4,
GBA, Sharp Twin, Super Famicom, Wii, DS
dmk1198 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 24, 2024 6:19 pm
Sounds like a nitemare wow
Buying from Japanese switch store eshop is pretty easy and I think playstation not to bad either
Yeah it's way more work than it should have been, but to be fair most 360 games were fully region-locked anyways, so it wasn't exactly a big thing people did often.
I would still recommend anyone interested look at getting Muchi Muchi Pork/Pink Sweets, Mushihimesama Futari, and DDP SDOJ if you're interested. All expensive to import physically at this point (especially Muchi Muchi Pork), and a mix of probably not a popular enough title to update, a perfect M2 port as-is, and probably locked into ExA licensing, respectively.
PC Engine Fan X! wrote: ↑Wed Feb 12, 2025 9:02 pm
Is it possible to d/l and play the 360 port of Prismatic Solid on the 360 and on the Series S/X consoles?
PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
On the X360, yes. On the X1 and Series consoles, no. Considering the X360 Indie Games were only accessible on the X360 only. However, a few of those X360 Indie Games did get their own stand alone releases across console and PC (varied by title). Prismatic Solid, at least, is on PS4 digitally.
But yeah, on the subject of Indie Games for the X360, you might be able to re d/l it if you bought the full game from the download history (Note: For categorization for X360 IG, "Indie Game" refers as bought and/or "Arcade Trial Game" refers as timed demo.). If its a trial version, then you cannot download it. I've already tried with a few X360 IG titles that were trial versions and an error message pops up, which means re d/l'ing X360 IG trials are no longer possible. If you see a "Content not available" message in your download list somewhere, then whatever it was is no longer downloadable, hopefully Prismatic Solid isn't one of them.
PC Engine Fan X! wrote: ↑Wed Feb 12, 2025 9:02 pm
Is it possible to d/l and play the 360 port of Prismatic Solid on the 360 and on the Series S/X consoles?
PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
On the X360, yes. On the X1 and Series consoles, no. Considering the X360 Indie Games were only accessible on the X360 only. However, a few of those X360 Indie Games did get their own stand alone releases across console and PC (varied by title). Prismatic Solid, at least, is on PS4 digitally.
But yeah, on the subject of Indie Games for the X360, you might be able to re d/l it if you bought the full game from the download history (Note: For categorization for X360 IG, "Indie Game" refers as bought and/or "Arcade Trial Game" refers as timed demo.). If its a trial version, then you cannot download it. I've already tried with a few X360 IG titles that were trial versions and an error message pops up, which means re d/l'ing X360 IG trials are no longer possible. If you see a "Content not available" message in your download list somewhere, then whatever it was is no longer downloadable, hopefully Prismatic Solid isn't one of them.
For NeoStrayCat,
Thanks for the handy tip. I had go to Setting >> Account >> Download History >> Prismatic Solid Indie Game is a 47.87mb d/l = Success! On the Main Xbox 360 Dashboard, Download History was nowhere to be found but hidden quite deep in order to access it.
Glad to help, but yeah, its very convoluted these days to go into your X360 download history now and you can only do it on the console (when back then, you could do it via the Xbox site too, until they removed that function).
I'm surprised that the Netflix and Youtube apps on the Xbox 360 gaming console still runs/works without a hitch in February of 2025 -- the other 360 apps including Crunchyroll and Vimeo don't work whatsoever.
If you want to be able to use other 1st-party and 3rd-party gaming console controllers such as gamepads and arcade sticks on the Xbox 360 console, the Brook Wingman XB2 usb-based controller adapter will definitely do the trick.
), but yeah you do have to use the 360 itself to make the purchase for the wallet funds to work.
