In Japan, what games to buy?

[dmk1198]

Hi guys my son just left to go Japan for ten days, I just suddenly thought be good opportunity to get some Japan only shmups
The ray Z trilogy is all I can think of
But that's coming out here in June for £35, guess it's alot more in Japan?
Anything else I could ask him to bring back? I've got all current consoles
I could ask for a mini console the astro city 2 is it? But with packing probably to bulky, cheers in advance

[Steven]

What all do you have right now? I think most of the good things get released outside of Japan except M2 ShotTriggers, so get Toaplan, get the other Toaplan, get ESP.Ra.De, get Aleste... and the rest are available overseas, I think. If anything, what you want is to get like Saturn/Mega Drive/PC Engine games instead of modern since those are the ones that didn't get international releases.

In the case of the Astro City Mini V, trust me, you don't want it. It's... not that great.

[TransatlanticFoe]

A lot's going to depend on whether you care about a physical copy, because most stuff gets a worldwide digital release. As mentioned above, the Aleste Collection and the two Toaplan Arcade Garage collections don't have a wider digital release. ESP.Ra.De can be pricey these days though, I guess it might be out of print? It's been expensive on Play Asia for a while now at least.

Some which I'm sure have a digital or limited non-JP release, but you can grab as a physical copy in Japan:

Bullet Soul
Caladrius Blaze
Akai Katana
Rolling Gunner
Darius Cozmic Collection - arcade games only (Revelation too - but both titles from that are available separately)
Space Invaders Invincible (not cheap and Strictly Limited Games might still have a few of these left though)

Physical Akai Katana is getting Western releases but don't think there are any dates nailed down.

There's also (on Switch at least) a bunch of non-shmup physical releases of stuff that only got a limited/digital release elsewhere - No More Heroes 1+2, Blaster Master Zero trilogy, River City Girls 1+2, Capcom Belt Action Collection.... and shitload of JRPGs, but you might need to find the Asia release to get English language options.

[Steven]

I'm seriously trying to think of stuff we have here that isn't available overseas and it's like... not much lol. I buy a ton of Japanese console games that are not on PC and don't have English, but I can also read Japanese more than well enough to play games in Japanese, so it's kind of hard to actually recommend stuff. If you can't do Japanese, in general I think more Switch games have foreign languages like English than PS4/PS5 games do, but I can think of a few PS4/PS5 games that have English, and none of them are shooters except for Ray'z.

As for Xbox... lol good luck finding a store that actually sells Xbox games. I have never seen Xbox Series X games in a store, partially because even really big publishers like Sega either don't release their games on Xbox in Japan at all or they only do digital releases on Xbox. It has been a long time since I want to Yodobashi Akiba, but they carry Xbox. You can sometimes find used Xbox 360/One games at Book Off or whatever, and Trader 本店 has 360 Mushihimesama Futari and stuff on 1F. At this point I'd recommend skipping our version of Ray'z since you can't get R-Gear anymore here and R-Gear is apparently available in the overseas version or something.

Honestly you'll probably have a hard time finding M2 ShotTriggers games in stores that are not Amazon at this point anyway. There's a single used copy of Kyuukyoku Tiger-Heli at the Tsutaya by my house, but that's the only M2 ShotTriggers game I have ever seen in a store, unless you count Ray'z and Darius Cozmic Collection. Sometimes Trader 本店 has the big Darius Cozmic Collection limited edition thing on 1F, but they will want 20,000~30,000 yen for it.

[dmk1198]

Thnx guys that's really helpful tbf cheers I got aleste n.ra.da.esp
But might get toaplan ta
Save ray Z for UK release on my birthday thnx

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[PsikyoPshumpPshooterP]

Pussy

[dmk1198]

Sorry meant buy ray Z Japan for triple UK price and miss out on r gear lol
Twat

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[dmk1198]

Oh he made it!

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[Steven]

Super Potato = tourist trap. Better prices than Mandarake, though.

[neorichieb1971]

I'm going in the summer. Got my list ready.

You can get most stuff from playasia.com if its newish. Otherwise your left with retro in Japan.

Super Potato
Trader
Mandarake
Friends
Retro game camp
Suragaya

They are the shops in Akihabara and are all within 5 minutes walk.

Watch this video it gives a good indicator of where they are -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPxfXHACt20

[SuperDeadite]

Been awhile since I've been there, but I always preferred Mandarake Nakano Broadway to the Akiba Tower. Beep and Denkinokenchan are cool places with actual soul and worth a visit. Mak-Japan is still the place for PCBs.

[hamfighterx]

Beep and Denkinokenchan are cool places with actual soul and worth a visit.

Seconding the Beep recommendation, amazing place to go take a look at all kinds of cool old Japanese PC stuff (among other things, but the PC stuff in particular felt like being in some amazing museum). A block or two off the main strip, totally worth the effort to go check it out.

I'm not familiar with Denkinokenchan, what's that all about?

Another question - any Osaka must see stops (aside from the general wandering around Den Den Town)? I've never been to Osaka before, will be going for the first time in early July.

[Steven]

BEEP is fucking amazing. They get cool shit like Linguaphone Education Gears, PC Engine LTs, Wondermegas, Hyper Neo Geo 64s, and PCBs from devs like Sega, Irem, and CAVE once in a while, so if you need PCBs for R-Type Leo or After Burner II or whatever, BEEP is a place that is worth checking.

It's also the best place to go if you need X68000 hardware/software, at least as far as I know. It's really more of an old computer/arcade store than it is anything else.

BTW Friends downsized recently and now it's like half the size it used to be. I haven't been there for maybe 6 months or so, though. Retro Game Camp got rid of their underground store a few years ago, too. I got my beautiful CIB Rondo of Blood in their other place (which is basically almost but not quite next door) for like 11000 yen or whatever. Retro Game Camp has okay prices for some things and super shitty prices for other things (lol 2000 yen for cart-only Sonic 1), so go compare prices before you buy anything from them.

Trader has probably the best prices in Akiba, followed by Surugaya. Various Book Off and Hard Off stores outside of Akiba are where you will find the best prices, but the selection will be super inconsistent. There was a guy who found a Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire at a Book Off for 500 yen a few years ago, for example. Geo should be good too, but I have only ever seen Geo stores on Okinawa. I know they are in Tokyo, but I haven't been to one.

Akiba I know a lot about, but for Osaka I can't do anything, as I have only been there once to see BUMP OF CHICKEN 7 years ago. Holy shit, that was 7 years ago and now I feel old...

[SuperDeadite]

Denkinokenchan is where a lot of the crazy doujin hardware is sold:
https://www.kadenken.com/

Besides Denden Town, in Osaka you can also visit the PCB shop Game-Kanaya in Esaka. It's more of a warehouse than a store, but the owner is super friendly, and will let you personally play test any PCB you like for as long as you like. (The place is usually quite empty). He's even given me free cans of coke as I played. It has been almost 10 years since my last visit though.
https://www.game-kanaya.com/

[Steven]

lol that's Kaden no Ken-chan.

SNK used to be in Esaka. They moved elsewhere in Osaka this year, apparently.

[SuperDeadite]

lol that's Kaden no Ken-chan.

I know. I've given up caring about dumbphone's stupid autocorrect. If its wrong...meh.

[hamfighterx]

Steven or anyone:
1) Any good recommendations in Ikebukuro?
2) Aside from hoping for gold in the random Book Off, any suggestions for stores that are particularly good for STG soundtracks? Last time I was in Akiba (2019) I got a bunch of good OSTs in one of the game stores, great music selection and prices weren't bad, but I don't remember where

[Steven]

Steven or anyone:
1) Any good recommendations in Ikebukuro?
2) Aside from hoping for gold in the random Book Off, any suggestions for stores that are particularly good for STG soundtracks? Last time I was in Akiba (2019) I got a bunch of good OSTs in one of the game stores, great music selection and prices weren't bad, but I don't remember where

1. lol Mikado!
2. BEEP actually has a nice selection of OSTs. So does Super Potato.

[dmk1198]

Son loving it out there

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[Sloppy_J]

He’s lucky to have a Dad that’s into shmups!

[dmk1198]

He’s lucky to have a Dad that’s into shmups!

Cheers

https://youtu.be/0IRyM5qsWn4

Good retro shopping guide in Tokyo here

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[neorichieb1971]

He’s lucky to have a Dad that’s into shmups!

Cheers

https://youtu.be/0IRyM5qsWn4

Good retro shopping guide in Tokyo here

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Very nice guy. If you open a patreon he will get any Japanese games you want. I bought one game eons ago from him (Great battle 5, SFC) in great condition.

The problem with being a visitor to Japan is that those shops are absolutely huge. Best bet is to have a list. I put a whole bunch of cover art in a google doc which I can access via my phone. Just show an assistant and they will get it for you.

[cj iwakura]

To be fair, I had fun at Super Potato, and they have some really cool niche stuff if you know how to dig. I got my JP Castle of Shikigami 2 there, and saw an amazing Nocturne PS2 LE with the incense burner(that I'm kicking myself for not buying though had no room for).


Mandarake also had a ton of artbooks that I got for 200Y, like Danganronpa and Shikigami 1(there may be a trend here, I know).

Been awhile since I've been there, but I always preferred Mandarake Nakano Broadway to the Akiba Tower. Beep and Denkinokenchan are cool places with actual soul and worth a visit. Mak-Japan is still the place for PCBs.

This, Mandarake Nakano is heaven.

There's a really nice one in Shibuya too, in a basement near the Scramble.

[evil_ash_xero]

If you find a great condition Battle Formula for Famicom, for a reasonable price... let me know!

[dmk1198]

If you find a great condition Battle Formula for Famicom, for a reasonable price... let me know!

Will do!

[neorichieb1971]

If you find a great condition Battle Formula for Famicom, for a reasonable price... let me know!

I'm going Japan in the summer. I'll do a thread about it like I did last time. If I see Battle Formula I'll let you know.

[dmk1198]

Sons back, had great time, no retro shmups but did get sake n wasabi flavoured kit kats lol

[jd213]

95-99% of the time it's cheaper and less of a hassle to just get stuff online in my experience, as long as you have the time to order and wait for it to arrive at a location in Japan (foreign credit cards can sometimes not work for online ordering though).

You can order stuff from Suruga-ya and have it sent to one of their locations for free (or pick it up at a post office, where shipping is free if you order 5000 yen or more). They sometimes take like a week to ship though. Can probably do the same with Mandarake.

Many Yahoo Auctions listings also have the option of shipping to a post office, convenience store or other such location. Or have it sent to a friend's place if you have one in Japan.

[XtraSmiley]

Great thread and happy ending with the KKs!

[spmbx]

To answer the initial question, i doubt there is really much (if anything) you can't just order online at home. Especially things that are actually worthwhile. So, nothing.