I've just finished travelling for about 10 days in Japan and thought I'd write a quick post about what I picked up and how good the three cities I went to were for video games in general. Fukuoka This was the 3rd time I'd been to Fukuoka, but only the first time I'd actually stayed rather than just be passing through on my via to Korea. It was definitely the cheapest place for games in general, although the only place in the city centre with a decent selection of games was Mandarake; there is also a massive Book Off in Tennoji, which turned out to be very disappointing. I visited 3 different Manga Souko stores in the outskirts of town, including the Befu store by the airport which Yakumo has done a video on, which were the best places after Mandarake, and a number of smaller Book Offs. PSX "junk" console - 1,000 yen White Dualshock 2 controller - 950 yen Konami Hyberbeam wireless controller - 3,000 yen Ico/Shadow of the Colossus Limited box - 5,000 yen Sonic 25th Anniversary Limited figure - 3,500 yen Neo Geo CD controller - 1,450 yen Sin and Punishment - 4,000 yen Trigger Heart Exelica - 4,000 yen Metal Slug Saturn - 4,000 yen Mario Kart 64 playing cards - 800 yen Marvel vs Capcom DC - 700 yen Soul Calibur - 200 yen Nintendo Puzzle Collection Gamecube - 1,400 yen Starfie - 990 yen Dreamcast Light Gun - 480 yen AV Famicom with 2 controllers - 6,000 yen Osaka I was very disappointed with Osaka (purely from a gaming perspective), mainly because it was so good when I'd been in 2009 and 2011. However, even back then there were only a couple of retro stores in Nipponbashi that were really worth visiting - Atoo Media Recycle and Tetaiden (I think), which are both still there although Tetaiden has moved across the street. Hardware prices in particular are even beyond Super Potato levels and I mostly ended up picking up the odd Dreamcast game. There is also a Manga Souko quite far out of town to the north east, but the selection of games and prices probably don't warrant the trip (about 1,500 yen for return to Osaka and I only ended up buying 500 yen of games). Dead or Alive 2 DC - 300 yen Samba de Amigo DC - 250 yen House of the Dead 2 DC - 250 yen Puyo Puyo Fever DC - 3,500 yen Mr Driller DC - 500 yen Sonic Shuffle - 600 yen Marvel vs Capcom DC - 500 yen Marvel vs Capcom 2 DC - 800 yen Biohazard Code Veronica DC - 200 yen Starfie 2 - 700 yen Crazy Taxi GC - 950 yen Biohazard 0 GC - 500 yen Kuru Kururin GC - 700 yen Tokyo I didn't really spend too much time shopping in Tokyo and only looked in Akihabara and Ikebukuro, so there might be some places worth visiting outside of those areas. Probably the only staple worth mentioning in Akihabara is Trader, who still have one floor of their store on the main drag dedicated to retro, although it's slowing being taken over by PS2 and clone systems. There were a number of hardware items that I asked to have a look at before buying (Arc Works 25th Anniversary arcade stick, Hanshin Tigers Gamecube and a clear Famitsu Game Boy pocket) but had to pass on all of them because of poor condition. Ikebukuro has a Geo and Book Off, as well as a Super Potato where I did get a nice looking "junk" AV Famicom at a decent price. Pokemon Red/Blue/Green/Yellow 3DS - 6,000 yen (retail price, just got them because they look nice) Crazy Taxi 2 - 826 yen Hori Gamecube Classic Controller - 4,500 yen Dreamcast licensed mug - 800 yen Mega Drive Compact - 2,200 yen (a lot cheaper and better looking then the AT Games version) Yu Suzuki Gameworks - 8,500 yen Ico/Shadow of the Colossus Limited Box - 3,450 yen Metal Gear Solid HD Premium Package - 3,450 yen Jet Set Radio Sega Direct Edition - 11,800 yen "Junk" AV Famicom - 980 yen I don't recall if these prices include tax or not, as I've noticed that since the increase a lot of stores do not include the 8% sales tax in the marked price. Overall, although it might be tough to resist, if and when I'm in Japan next, I'm not sure I'll bother shopping for games. The price difference between proxy bidding on Yahoo and even just purchasing from eBay isn't really worth it anymore. Although I'm not necessarily buying with the intention to sell, before I could buy a lot of stuff safe in the knowledge that I could make a decent margin on it if need be, even after posting it back to the UK if I bought to much to take on a plane. A major factor is that before I bought a lot of stuff from Book Off and Sofmap, as they had less retro stuff (and a lot more "junk") than specialised stores, but also tended to sell it cheaper. Now it seems they have either made a conscious decision to stop selling retro, don't pay well enough for it or Japan's just running out of retro stuff to be bought.
Eh, I think you did alright considering how expensive retail stores are for retro games these days. If only I'd known you were coming to Tokyo, I have a bunch of Dreamcast and PS1 games I'm trying to get rid of, as well as lots of other stuff. Trader in Akiba is an unfortunate story; it used to be my go-to place for reasonably priced games and "junk" items (along with occasionally rare things like orange Xbox memory cards and Commodore Max games), but now as you said, it's strangely being taken over by PS2 games. Their PS2 section was once quite small, with PC Engine and Dreamcast reigning supreme, but now they have less than half the stock they used to.
I think I did OK, it's just that I fully expect that by the next time I visit Japan (no idea when) the market will basically be done. I also got shafted a little by the post-Brexit exchange rate, but if I recall correctly the rate was still 5 yen or so better than when I visited in 2011, so it wasn't necessarily a decisive factor. I'm actually going to be in Tokyo the whole day tomorrow, I was just planning on not doing anything related to games, but by all means let me know what you have. I need to leave some space in my suitcase for things I left at my parents' place in Italy last time I went travelling, but I'm sure they could safeguard them a bit longer. I noticed yesterday in Trader they were making up mystery bags of PS2 games, something like 30 games for 600 yen. Would've been tempted to get one if I lived in Tokyo, just to see what sort of stuff they're chucking in them. Yeah, I've seen quite a few different packs of Nintendo cards while I've been here, but these caught my eye just because they said "1996 Nintendo" on them; they were sitting in a bin of mixed odds and ends in Befu Manga Souko. Unfortunately, they're pretty plain looking (I really like the Mario hanafuda ones they made a few years ago) and are likely too niche to be worth much, but they seemed an interesting find and are in excellent condition.
