Traveling To Japan Need some game stores and places to visit

Hi Everyone I'm planning on traveling to Japan in February and wanted to know which video game store should i visit? i'm going to Tokyo first but haven't planned where to go to next could someone help tell me? and if you guys can recommend me some things to do or visit while i'm in Japan i would really appreciate it.

Thank you

 

There's some info in this thread about game stores in Akihabara (which is in Tokyo) here:

https://assemblergames.com/threads/super-potato-is-so-expensive.67338/#post-961557

But here's a summary of my personal experiences in Akihabara game stores:

Places you should probably visit:

• Super Potato (pretty expensive for the most part, but it's cool to see so many awesome games in one place. They have a nice arcade on the top floor too, and they sell glass bottle coke so I used to go there with friends and play King of Fighters and drink coke until we all felt sick. Good times )
• Trader 3 (the one near Mister Donut, I don't think the other one closer to the station has old games. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong! This shop used to have the best deals, but they're similar in price to the other stores now. Although you might still find some good stuff if they have the bargain bins at the back and you're not afraid to do a little digging. An important thing to note: they have some kind of shrink-wrapping machine and they use it on almost every boxed game they have. Don't think you're getting some crazy deal on a sealed game! Most Japanese games, especially the cartridge-based ones, never came in sealed boxes anyway, so just be vigilant I guess)
• Friends (フレンズ in Katakana, that should help you find it on Google Maps. It's down the very end of the street away from everything else. They have some more expensive stuff like PC-FX games here)
• Retro (レトロ in Katakana. This one used to be on the same side of the main street as Taito Station, but it's moved opposite and a little further up I think. I was looking for it when I last visited in December, since I used to go there once a month when I was living in Tokyo, and couldn't find it for quite a while until I stumbled upon it by accident! They're kind of expensive here too, but better than Super Potato at least)
• Mandarake (watch out for the hentai floors, unless you're into that sort of thing the first time I went there I accidentally got out of the lift on that floor and immediately turned around and got back in. On the games floor they have a shelf behind glass with some cool items, but they're just for display unfortunately. Stuff like CIB gold Mike Tyson's Punch Out!! for Famicom, a GameBoy controller kensa cartridge, etc. I've found some rare games here before, like a few copies of Jupiter Lander for the Commodore Max Machine, so I always make sure to check it out)
• Hard Off (it's pretty much right next to Mandarake. When you walk in, go down the stairs, that's where all of their "junk" is these days - it used to be on the floor above, but now all they've got there is way way overpriced shit and audio equipment. And I'm talking 20,000 yen for a boxed GameCube kind of overpriced, it's nuts... Anyway, I found some fantastic stuff on the downstairs junk floor last December. A translucent blue/white N64 with PSU and Jumper Pak for 1500 yen, a Famicom Disk System for 1000 yen, etc. If you're looking for any ridiculously cheap generic cables like 3-pin PC, figure-8, S-video, composite RCA, etc. then Hard Off is great for that too. Usually they're a little over 100 yen)
• Book Off (pretty alright prices all in all, good for PS1, GameCube, and GameBoy games in my experience - this seems to apply to every Book Off actually)
• Beep! (this place is more about Japanese computers and computer games than home consoles, but they do have a shelf for console stuff where you can often find a good deal. 500 yen for a "junk" PS1 or 1000 yen for a Sega Dreamcast, etc. If you're looking for MSX, Sharp X68000, PC-98, etc. games then this is the place for you! They also have an assortment of arcade boards, and some computers that are setup for customers to play. I spent about 20 minutes standing in the cramped area at the end of one of the shelves playing Gradius on an MSX I felt a little guilty for standing there for so long, so I ended up buying some MSX carts )

 

Thank you so much for the information I really appreciate it! I will defiantly check those shops out!