NTSC-J Xbox 360 owner's manual

[wariomona]

Just a question. I didn't see this on the front page. I'm not sure whether this has been asked in the pages since...

Does anyone know exactly which NTSC/J games don't work on an Asian version console and how likely is it that I'll end up getting one that doesn't?
The games I was mainly looking at right now include GyaruGun, Mamoru-kun, The Idolm@ster series and OtomediusX. If they aren't going to work then it's probably not worth going Asian just to save a few dollars...

[dieKatze88]

Just a question. I didn't see this on the front page. I'm not sure whether this has been asked in the pages since...

Does anyone know exactly which NTSC/J games don't work on an Asian version console and how likely is it that I'll end up getting one that doesn't?
The games I was mainly looking at right now include GyaruGun, Mamoru-kun, The Idolm@ster series and OtomediusX. If they aren't going to work then it's probably not worth going Asian just to save a few dollars...

While I own none of those, Konami does tend to trend in a series in terms of region locking (Read: They do it one way or they just don't do it) so you'll probably be safe for Otomedius X based on the fact that Otomedius G was NOT locked off of Asian consoles. That's not 100% in stone though, because the game simply isn't out yet.

[Aconcit]

Hi, I'm thinking about purchasing an Asian console and I'm wondering if anyone knows of a Canadian based import store so I can reduce shipping and custom fees.

Also cost-wise would it be a better idea to buy the cheaper 4GB model and buy a separate hard drive or should I get the 250GB version?

If I can't get a better deal with the shipping/custom fees I might give up and buy the NA console and stick with the region free games. Ketsui, DOJ, and DFK would be ideal to have though.

[dieKatze88]

Hi, I'm thinking about purchasing an Asian console and I'm wondering if anyone knows of a Canadian based import store so I can reduce shipping and custom fees.

Also cost-wise would it be a better idea to buy the cheaper 4GB model and buy a separate hard drive or should I get the 250GB version?

If I can't get a better deal with the shipping/custom fees I might give up and buy the NA console and stick with the region free games. Ketsui, DOJ, and DFK would be ideal to have though.

I bought the 4gb Japanese model and recently purchased an 250gb drive for 80 dollars on Amazon, all said and done I spent about the same 300 USD that the premium model costs in the United States, but given the horrible exchange rate, I came out ahead. (and I have a matte console instead of a glossy one. Fuck you Microsoft, I don't want a dust magnet!)

To be honest, I love having the import system around, its much nicer than looking at games and going "you know, I wish I could be playing that" but of course, I still have that problem with Deathsmiles NA -_-

[Aconcit]

I bought the 4gb Japanese model and recently purchased an 250gb drive for 80 dollars on Amazon, all said and done I spent about the same 300 USD that the premium model costs in the United States, but given the horrible exchange rate, I came out ahead. (and I have a matte console instead of a glossy one. Fuck you Microsoft, I don't want a dust magnet!)

To be honest, I love having the import system around, its much nicer than looking at games and going "you know, I wish I could be playing that" but of course, I still have that problem with Deathsmiles NA -_-

Thanks for your reply dieKatze88, I guess I'll order the cheaper model based on your experience. And I agree, although it's only five or so games I'm interested in and they themselves will cost a bundle to obtain, I think it would be worth it to have.

That just leaves the problem of where to buy it from. Play-Asia seems like it would cost to much, and they don't currently have the 4GB model without Kinect. I was pretty much sold on HMV until I read a few posts back that said their shipping prices aren't that amazing.

[dieKatze88]

Well remember, being in North America is a huge bonus to you, with the exception of a few titles that, honestly at this point, you should have already played, the majority of our titles are Region Free so owning a Japanese unit is only a problem for you if you are looking to play Fallout 3 or Fallout: New Vegas, as those are the only two really awesome games I can think of that were region locked (Localizations to Japan removed "terms and situations that may be offensive to the Japanese people", things like the "Fat Man" (google it) weapon was renamed to "Nuke Launcher" and the ability to blow up Megaton was removed)

That being said, theres a lot of Golden XBLA content, and if you manage a second Xbox Live account next to your Japanese actcount, you can use one of them to buy DLC Which authorizes every user of that Xbox to play that DLC, and the other one to play games, earn achievements, and play online. This has the advantage of only having to buy one Xbox Live subscription. Because Xbox Live activation cards are region free, I use my Japanese account to play games and my US account to buy software that is available in the USA/Canada only or is in both stores because the USA/Canadian prices are lower.

I've yet to meet someone who ONLY plays shooting games, or any other genre for that matter. Its not like the Xbox is completely devoid of other entertainment offerings, even if you have a Japanese one you'll still be able to walk into Gamestop and enjoy a fair number of the games that are there.

[StarCreator]

Well remember, being in North America is a huge bonus to you, with the exception of a few titles that, honestly at this point, you should have already played, the majority of our titles are Region Free so owning a Japanese unit is only a problem for you if you are looking to play Fallout 3 or Fallout: New Vegas, as those are the only two really awesome games I can think of that were region locked...

The mainline Rock Band series (but oddly, not The Beatles) is region locked, as well as the NA release of Deathsmiles. Beyond that, I also had to switch to the US 360 to play 1 vs. 100 (RIP). Rock Band alone might push me over the edge and force me to get another US 360 down the line (as I've given mine to my brother), but I'm probably going to wait and see if the series survives the year.

[dieKatze88]

Well remember, being in North America is a huge bonus to you, with the exception of a few titles that, honestly at this point, you should have already played, the majority of our titles are Region Free so owning a Japanese unit is only a problem for you if you are looking to play Fallout 3 or Fallout: New Vegas, as those are the only two really awesome games I can think of that were region locked...

The mainline Rock Band series (but oddly, not The Beatles) is region locked, as well as the NA release of Deathsmiles. Beyond that, I also had to switch to the US 360 to play 1 vs. 100 (RIP). Rock Band alone might push me over the edge and force me to get another US 360 down the line (as I've given mine to my brother), but I'm probably going to wait and see if the series survives the year.

Rock Band will likely survive the year because they push their product carefully instead of a new release every 3 months. Harmonix has been trying from the start to not do to Rock Band what was done to their first entry by Activision.

[Aconcit]

North American region locked games aren't really a problem for me since I have both a PS3 and PC for multiplication games. I'm still a bit worried about import duty fees though. Has anyone imported to Canada and had to pay a large percentage of their purchase?

So far the cheapest place I've found in terms of shipping is RenChi.com so that might be my best bet.


EDIT: Apparently the fees will exceed 100$ which is too much given my budget, so I'll deal with not being able to play the few games I want. There's still a decent amount of region free games to play.

[The Funto]

...

Wow, thanks a bunch, dude, your guide saved me a lot of trouble

Well, I suppose almost everybody in here owns 2 consoles (one for non-shmups and another NTSC-J) assuming you don't live in Japan, so I have a simple question (that probably is already answered, I didn't bothered reading the 20 pages, sorry).

Can I just install my HDD on a Japanese console and play region-locked games with my GamerTag?

Thanks

[StarCreator]

Some people have reported problems constantly shifting a hard drive from one console to another - most people I know simply keep their profile on a memory unit or USB drive instead. The region of your gamertag does not affect your ability to play games of another region.

[The Funto]

Thanks for the suggestion There's just something else I need to know.

As Microsoft stopped producing the "old" version of the Xbox 360 (I have an Elite) I might have to buy a slim Japanese console. Is the American memory unit compatible with the slim Japanese console?

And what issues have the "hard drive swapping" users reported?

Thanks again

[nZero]

As Microsoft stopped producing the "old" version of the Xbox 360 (I have an Elite) I might have to buy a slim Japanese console. Is the American memory unit compatible with the slim Japanese console?

The slims don't have a slot for the memory units. Use a USB thumb drive instead.

[The Funto]

As Microsoft stopped producing the "old" version of the Xbox 360 (I have an Elite) I might have to buy a slim Japanese console. Is the American memory unit compatible with the slim Japanese console?

The slims don't have a slot for the memory units. Use a USB thumb drive instead.

I didn't know it was possible to save that kind of data on a USB.

Thanks for the info

[StarCreator]

You can use USB drives freely (though it will only make use of up to 16gb of storage). Just be warned that it creates its own 360-specific partition for games and profile data, so depending on how it handles existing partitions you could lose data if you don't use an empty drive.

I don't recall when and where it was mentioned but someone was having issues with having to recover their gamertag every time they switched their hard drive from one console to the other. If you're getting a slim and your current drive is from an Elite, this is sort of moot also since the hard drive enclosures aren't compatible (if you really wanted to share a single hard drive across both systems, you'd have to disassemble the enclosure to get at the bare drive to put it in the slim, then reassemble it to put it back on the elite).

[Never_Scurred]

Just set up my Jp account using a Windows Live hotmail address and password.
Added points to my US account for Mushi Futari black label content.
It's a pain in the fucking ass having to enter all your information with a joystick while your tv is TATE'd.......but worth it, I guess
Much thanks to Elixir for walking us through this tedious shit.

[Aliquantic]

Does anyone know if it's possible to make an arcade stick (specifically a Hori EX-SE) "behave" like the analog sticks found on a pad? Many XBLA games don't recognize stick input at all and require the analog sticks (even if they only need one stick) and all I've found is an option to default to using the right analog stick instead of the left

[dieKatze88]

Does anyone know if it's possible to make an arcade stick (specifically a Hori EX-SE) "behave" like the analog sticks found on a pad? Many XBLA games don't recognize stick input at all and require the analog sticks (even if they only need one stick) and all I've found is an option to default to using the right analog stick instead of the left

It is not, with the exception of the Otomedius stick, which you can use that option you just mentioned, as the touchpad comes up as a self centering joystick on the right side. Tapping it even preforms R3!

[Never_Scurred]

Does anyone know if it's possible to make an arcade stick (specifically a Hori EX-SE) "behave" like the analog sticks found on a pad? Many XBLA games don't recognize stick input at all and require the analog sticks (even if they only need one stick) and all I've found is an option to default to using the right analog stick instead of the left

I'm having this very same problem with Tetris TGM Ace.
It will recognize the stick in the menus and such, BUT NOT IN-GAME.
How fucking gay is that?

[StarCreator]

Does anyone know if it's possible to make an arcade stick (specifically a Hori EX-SE) "behave" like the analog sticks found on a pad? Many XBLA games don't recognize stick input at all and require the analog sticks (even if they only need one stick) and all I've found is an option to default to using the right analog stick instead of the left

The MadCatz sticks have a slider that let you do this, but it's not possible with the Hori sticks.

[StarCreator]

Quick question: If I am changing hard drives but NOT consoles, I can just use a USB stick or the transfer cable to copy all the content from my old hard drive to the new one without having to relicense the content for offline use? The need to use the once-a-year online migration tool should only occur if you change to a different console, right?

[dieKatze88]

Quick question: If I am changing hard drives but NOT consoles, I can just use a USB stick or the transfer cable to copy all the content from my old hard drive to the new one without having to relicense the content for offline use? The need to use the once-a-year online migration tool should only occur if you change to a different console, right?

Fully correct, I did this just about 2 weeks ago.

[Elixir]

There haven't been any other Platinum Collection versions besides Otomedius, Futari and Galuda II, right?

I've updated the original post with all Platinum Collection versions, added Bullet Soul and Eschatos, along with Strania and Akai Katana.

[dieKatze88]

There haven't been any other Platinum Collection versions besides Otomedius, Futari and Galuda II, right?

I've updated the original post with all Platinum Collection versions, added Bullet Soul and Eschatos, along with Strania and Akai Katana.

Not sure, but I can say for a fact that the GoD version of Otomedius is the Platinum Collection version, as it comes up differently from my Release Day copy in my history.

Edit: has anyone played any of the downloadable games? I want to grab another shooter for the sake of not beating everyone's ass at Jackal on Game room, and I'm not sure whats good.

Also:
Twinbee, Jackal, Detana Twinbee are out in Game Room, these are region free releases, so the US players can play them too. I don't think there's a Tate mode for any of them however, there ARE however Leaderboards for the original arcade versions of these ancient, fun games, and that's a start.

Edit 2:
Deathsmiles got a Platnium release.
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-br- ... -3rz7.html

[StarCreator]

Deathsmiles' Platinum Hits release is already noted in the first post.

[dieKatze88]

Deathsmiles' Platinum Hits release is already noted in the first post.

Yeah I didn't check the list on the first post, I did check the list in the post asking about it and it wasn't there. Oops.

[StreamOfNath]

Been lurking this forum for ages, but wanted to extend a huge thanks to everyone who's posted in this thread, and especially to Elixir for the goldmine of info in the first post. Will be placing an order for my Jap 360 when I get paid next week.

[dieKatze88]

...
Only if you add points and get yourself Gold status, which costs money. But it'll work the same as any other account. Japanese points can be bought from Play-Asia. Xbox Gold memberships are region free, but points are region locked. Note that if you add your credit card to any Xbox Live account, you can't remove it unless you phone Microsoft's horrible, horrible customer support and have them manually confirm it.
...
- What if I download a game from the Japanese marketplace? Won't it be in Japanese?

This depends entirely on your language settings, only rarely on the game itself. So downloading Triggerheart Exelica and using an English setting means that it'll still be in English. Though some games will default to Japanese automatically, ie. Marvel vs. Capcom 2, if your console is Japanese. Capcom XBLA titles do this in particular. Update: Also Konami's stuff seems to do this too.
...
- Can I purchase Japanese-only games via the Games on Demand service using a JP account?

No. The games are IP locked, so you can't download them even if you have a JP console, JP account with points attached, and/or JP credit card attached as well. I've tried. If you attempt to purchase via points, it will say "This content is not available in your current location.", and if you attempt to purchase with a credit card it'll just tell you the exact same thing.

1. No longer correct, you can now remove a credit card from an account easily using the Xbox.com website. It doesn't involve Microsoft's phone support or punching yourself in the dick.

2. I've been looking at Konami's stuff again, and region downloads seem to be the thing. I bought Castlevania HD from the US store, and while some things are different on my Japanese console, the game is still in English, defaults to English voices (Which is annoying) and has (ENGLISH) after each piece of content in my storage manager, even when signed into my Japanese account.

I'm too much of a chicken to buy the Japanese release and test the waters though.

3. I think my recent posts have proved this wrong. I was able to purchase directly, so this may work now, but this apparently only works with a Credit Card. Someone could try with points.

[Elixir]

1. No longer correct, you can now remove a credit card from an account easily using the Xbox.com website. It doesn't involve Microsoft's phone support or punching yourself in the dick.

2. I've been looking at Konami's stuff again, and region downloads seem to be the thing. I bought Castlevania HD from the US store, and while some things are different on my Japanese console, the game is still in English, defaults to English voices (Which is annoying) and has (ENGLISH) after each piece of content in my storage manager, even when signed into my Japanese account.

I'm too much of a chicken to buy the Japanese release and test the waters though.

3. I think my recent posts have proved this wrong. I was able to purchase directly, so this may work now, but this apparently only works with a Credit Card. Someone could try with points.

I think credit card removal is still US-only, maybe works in the UK too. Can someone who is not in the US or UK and who has a credit card attached to their Xbox Live account check the site, to see if there's an option? There's no way I'm adding a credit card again myself.

I actually have Castlevania HD (obviously, since I'm rank #1 on the leaderboards), bought it from my NZ account and play with my Japanese account. The menus are still in English, as are the voices, but the title screen shows 悪魔城ドラキュラ, which is based on my account's region. I guess I could edit this, but it's really game-specific though.

As for GoD, I can't add a non-Japanese credit card to my account, but I did try purchasing Bullet Witch using points last year, which didn't work. Even if this does work with a credit card, you can't add most credit cards, and it only seems like the Paypal credit cards (which are US-only?) are exempt for the rule. I did put this in the OP previously though.

[bcass]

The paypal credit card is definitely US-only for the time being. The UK cards are being phased out and you can no longer apply for them here.

Also, you can definitely change/delete credit card info on the UK Xbox Live website. My Xbox > Accounts > Edit Payment Options > Edit/Remove.