Visiting Japan, Any tips where to shop for games etc?

[radirgyman]

HI all,
Im thinking about taking a trip to Japan later this year.

I guess Akihabara would be the ideal spot to hunt for consoles and the like?

Anyone got a particular store I should visit?
I've heard there's tons of these junk shops that sell Pc GT"s for next to nicks!

Any help would be much appreciated.

thanks.

[NTSC-J]

Mandarake Galaxy in the nerdy Mandarake Broadway shopping area at Nakano station is my favorite game shop, although the prices arent as good these days as they used to be.

Book Off`s are also good places to check, they often have better prices than the chain used game shops, plus you can find them anywhere.

[GaijinPunch]

You will not be impressed by the 16-bit and older selection in most shops... even in Akihabara they're pretty scarce.

[Gus]

Traders had a pretty awesome 360 shmup selection when I went there.

[Leader Bee]

What about super potato? Videos i've seen of the inside always look as though they're crammed to the top shelf with 16 bit games.

[NTSC-J]

Yea, they have a good selection of older stuff, but the prices suck.

Not too many deals to be found these days outside of YAJ.

[Skykid]

Mandarake Galaxy in the nerdy Mandarake Broadway shopping area at Nakano station is my favorite game shop, although the prices arent as good these days as they used to be.

That's where I did most of my buying. It was ball-rippingly expensive in retrospect. Forums or YHJ ftw.

[scrilla4rella]

What about super potato? Videos i've seen of the inside always look as though they're crammed to the top shelf with 16 bit games.

It's worth a look but don't buy anything until you've compared prices at all the other stores. I recommend Friends which Is North of the Akihabara JR station. But yeah, prices in stores are pretty steep. I think there are still some deals in the stores but you have to be patient which isn't so easy when your traveling.

[AAA]

even if you don't buy anything, do have a look around; the nostalgia of the places is very inspiring.
super potato is great as is mandarake. trader has downscaled their offering a bit but still worth a looksee. MAK is cool for arcade stuff.
inbetween stores, make sure you visit HEY which is my favourite arcade in the whole world.

[rancor]

I just want to reiterate in case it was missed - bring stacks of cash. You will be outright robbed by purchasing retail in Akihabara. It's such a tourist trap now, and there literally aren't any deals to be found anymore. You CAN find most anything you need, but expect to pay ridiculous prices.. especially with the yen so high.

[greg]

Don't listen to these guys. Super Potato is great. Their presentation is world-famous, their selection is great, and it's fantastic to browse for what you're looking for. You pay for the presentation. Yeah, YAJ may be cheaper, but it really depends on what you're shopping for. I can still get a stack of games for 400-2000yen each, and bidding on YAJ with a proxy service won't get you much better than that, paying a fee, a commission percentage, shipping within Japan, and shipping to your home address. An 800 yen Super Famicom game will cost you only about $12 US with the current exchange rate, and it's instantly in your hands. A game for the same price will cost you about $25-30 going through SMJ or something. Plus, unless you're a freaking expert on every single game that was ever released for every console, looking at pictures on YAJ won't come close to physically picking stuff up and looking it over with your own hands.

So if you are looking for Dai Ou Jou for the PS2, or even Time Gal for the LaserActive, then yeah, you should probably go for YAJ. If you wanna pick up a stack of old PC Engine HuCards or Megadrive carts, then knock yerself out in Akihabara. I really don't get the hate I always see on here whenever this subject comes up. the selection of retro games will blow you away. The Tokyo-ite forum members may say otherwise, but depending on where you live, you won't see such a selection of retro games anywhere. I think GP has been in Tokyo too long and doesn't remember what it's like living in America. Back in Phoenix, I knew of about two game shops that had any decent selections of retro games. You will be blown away at the amount of retro gaming to be found in Akihabara alone. Where I live in Nagano-ken, I'd have to drive an hour or two to find someplace that sells PC Engine games. In Akihabara, there are plenty.

EDIT:
Here's my old thread from last year, to give you an idea of what I was paying for the games I got.
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 3&start=51

[Skykid]

Don't listen to these guys.

Well, that really depends on what you're looking for.

I don't visit Japan to go shopping, but it was always a big plus to be able to get difficult to acquire and relatively expensive games in the west for a bargain price in Toyko.

If you don't give a fudge about what you want, you can still swan into Akihabara and pick up all sorts of low priced software, just don't expect it to be anything except the super common, relatively unwanted stuff. Anything bordering on marginally desirable is often above value compared to YHJ and the forums here, to put some clarification on it.