Game shops in Kyoto

Are there any good game shops in Kyoto? I will stay there for a week and I'm looking for (retro) games and hardware.

 

Forget Kyoto mate. Osaka is only 30 minutes (if that) away by train. Go there and visit Den Den Town. Some say it's better than Akihabara!

Yakumo

 

Very misleading. They're about the same. Prices are for the for the most part bad.

 

some say it's cheaper than akiba, but i think this is now a thing of the past as well.

 

I'd take DenDen Town over Akihabara any day of the week. But it's not like we're all looking for the same things, so each will have his own preference.

 

I found exactly 2 shops all around Kyoto (center area only though). They were pending between "no retro and expensive" and "retro but expensive and bad conditioned".

The first one is in the north, on the street leading to Ginkakuji-dera (the silver temple). They have almost nothing retro related and it's really not necessary to got there.
The other one has a nice selection of games for any retro format. It is quite expensive though and the condition of the games is mostly not very satisfying. I liked this shop very much for digging into the games :nod: But purchases were done elsewhere ;-)
It's called "Famicom Shop Wanpaku Kozou" on Teramachi-dori/Street which runs right parallel eastbound to the Kawaramachi-dori in the east of the city.

The shop from outside:


Inside (2 storeys, this is the 2nd which contains retro and pr0n :love2



As for shopping, of course DenDenTown is way better! I bought myself to death there and its only 15min via Shinkansen from Kyoto. You have to mount other trains and even the subway to get to DenDen itself though. In the end I bought so much that I had to put the stuff into a carton that I picked up from the streets - weight 15kg.
That was one hell to carry from Osaka via Subways/Trains/Busses/walkway I can tell... OH:


Arcade-wise Kyoto is not so weak though. There are 2 good places to go, both on Kawaramachi-dori (mainstreet, you can't miss it). On the one hand you have the Namco TOWER with loads of Bemani-games in it and also a classic floor with Tetris/Sega Sports games (Power Smash, Virtua Striker, Tenchi o Kurau), VS Super Mario Bros AND Pink Sweets+ESPGaluda for 50yen.
The other Arcade is actually unmissable as its the main entertainment centre in Kyoto with its billard, bowling and gambling features. It contains also an awesome lot of great arcade machines, you'll find almost everything from Bemani, Lightgun-Shooters (The Silent Hill Arcade Game!), Racing Games (i.e. Mario Kart Arcade GP), Ketsui, Virtua Fighter 5 and some curiosities.

 

Define "better". Shops generally charge far more than you would find online, and one of the larger shops (A-Too I believe it was) is no where near as meticulous about packaging and condition than the Akiba shops. No discount for missing spinecard, or somewhat noticeable damage. Super Potato in Osaka might even be higher priced than Akiba (not been to the latter in a while) and Big Tiger is now somewhat like Media Land (absolute shit selection for retro games).

The only thing DenDen town has over Akiba is location. You can walk to Nanba/Shinsaibashi and do other types of shopping/eating. Akiba is on the boring side of town. Rent in Osaka is noticeably cheaper than Tokyo. Prices should be a bit cheaper, but that isn't usually the case.

 

I meant "way better" in comparison to Kyoto's game shops.

I did not really see DenDen Town enough to judge in a reasonable manner what place is better for shopping, but I must say that I found a lot of bargains there just like in Akiba. Sofmap Osaka still has a huge selection of limited Dreamcast and Saturn-stuff which vanished more or less in Tokyo. You will find the smaller anime-game-boxes everywhere in the capital but its
harder to get a Sakura Taisen Complete box or even the rather common Eternal Arcadia thing.
In Osaka they had 5 of both for 2500-3000yen each.
I did not find much rare and expensive stuff though. Maybe thats what Tokyo is for.

OK but you must admit that Osaka is an industrial city where nobody would really like to spend a whole vacation.
Then I'd rather staying in Kyoto and take the train everyday.

 

I will start my trip in Kyoto, then to Osaka, Hiroshima and finally Tokyo. I would also like to visit Beppu, but I'm not sure If I should do this. Beppu is a small Town and I don't know if I can reach it easily without any knowledge of the japanese language.

back to topic. Ave, thank you very much. I have map of Kyoto, but only a few roads are named. Maybe you can help me to find the locations.

I found the Kawaramachi-dori street on my map and a street called Teramachi Shopping Arcade. Is this the right place?

Sounds very interesting to me :nod: Is it also in Kawaramachi-dori street?

 

Beppu is in Oita. Very easy to get to but which aprt will you visit? There's nothing there apart from Onsens you know.

Yakumo

 

mdmx, PM me if you need a guide for Hiroshima. The few central game shops included (nothing to save your money for, really).

 

when you'll get to akihabara, take a good look "around" the place. i mean that there's some less attracting shops in the neightboorhood of akihabara that have "boxes" of random stuff for really cheap prices like 150-300 yens. sometimes you can find nice stuff there

 

I wil stay in Japan for 3 weeks. So this trip is not only for videogames ;-)

I would like to stay some days in the south (Kyushu). Currently I'm not sure, because it seems to me a bit difficult to get there.

I would like to visit an Onsen - as fas as it's possible for tourists. I heared Beppu is the right place to visit. Do I need to make a reservation or can I find a hostel or hotel easily when I'm there?

I would also like to visit that huge volcano. I have seen some pictures and it looks very impressive. Overall Kyushu seems to be very beautiful.

 

Probably not. Teramachi street contains lots of shops with eletronic devices and DVDs as its the electronic shopping district (or street) of Kyoto.

Yes.

I added the most important gaming-related places that I used to frequent when I was in Kyoto.
http://s1.directupload.net/file/d/1350/topw88jv_jpg.htm

Also added the Nintendo HQ location (I wasn't allowed to enter, just took some pics of Nintendo cars and the building -.-). Its located in an industrial area with junkgards, a power station right over the street and so on. Not worth the long way actually...

 

aah -- yeah, misunderstood. Indeed, that's a no-brainer.

Maybe not the whole vacation, but I'm a bit of a city guy. I really like seeing a different take on buildings built on top of each other.

 

I live in south Honshu next to North Kyushu. So I think it's easy to get to Beppu by train. You can take one of the Sonic Express trains direct from Kokura to Oita then a local train to Beppu. Or maybe a Shinkansen will go to Oita?

I don't think you need a resevation for a hotel because you'll be comming in off-season. Also you can get in to pretty much any Onsen without a resevation.

That is called Mt. Aso and it located in Aso. You won't be able to get to that without joining a tour group or asking someone to take you. I took my parents there last November but we couldn't go to the crown of the volcano due to strong winds blowing the sulpher (sp?) in to the direction of the main walk way. I have been to the crown about 3 times before though. fantastic view ! Inside the volcano there's loads of boiling green water h:

Yakumo

 

@mdmx
When are you going to be in Kyoto? Could you tell us a bit how your shopping tours went when you're back?

 

sure, I will post some impressions.

btw, I would like to plan some tours before I travel to japan. Is there an english route planning website available?

Should be as easy as http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml

e.g. I want to travel to Beppu, starting from Kyoto with the train.

 

I don't know about a route planning applet, but JR has a lot of information about their routes online:

http://www.japanrail.com/JR_timetableandfare.html

 

thanks, that will make it a bit easier.