The Japanese Retro Shop

Taken from Google, not a photo from one of my local stores

Enjoying retro games and being in Japan is a fantastic mix.  The big cities tend to have an area or two with a few dedicated retro shops, Book Off gives a place to get your hands on all sorts of goodies for quite cheap if you are lucky and there do exist a few independently owned places down a few alleyways.

My experience with these places is generally pretty good.  Unlike my experience buying modern used games in the UK, everything in Japan seems to be in pretty good condition and I've yet to purchase a game that just flat out didn't work.  However, while you won't really have any technical issues with Japanese retro games, you do have to be careful not to get completely ripped off.

You see, when it comes to Retro games there are two kinds of shop.  There's the general purpose shop that happens to have used retro games (E.g. Book Off) and the specialist stores that focus on stocking everything retro.

Specialist shops are usually way better in terms of selection and quality but you really have to be careful in these places not to get completely ripped off.  They tend to have the more uncommon games but for a hiked up price and I can't really see the real reason as to WHY the price is so hiked up.

A really good example of this is Megaman 2 on NES.  I would see that quite often in the specialist stores for about 1500-2000 Yen (let's call that around $20).  However, one day while browsing the aisles at my local Book Off I found a Megaman 2 cart for 250! Yen.  It works perfectly and there isn't any damage to the cart so I don't know where the other stores are getting their goddamn prices from.

That's not to say that all the specialist shops are terrible though.  A place nearly me will sell you any 3 retro games for 1000 yen as long as individually they cost less than 800.  It's a damn good deal and I've increased my Super Nintendo collection pretty dramatically thanks to that place so really it's just a case of picking and choosing.

I think the real key to amassing a decent retro collection is patience, especially if you're like me and constantly on a budget.  Sure, you could splash out for that game and get it RIGHT NOW or just cross your fingers and hope it appears inside a Book Off one day for about 500 yen.

No matter where you go though, Japan is easily the best place I've been in terms of choice and quality for retro game shopping.

The PS2 Adventure

Oh my fucking god, this shouldn't have been this hard to get my hands on a god damn PS2.

A long long LOOONG time ago when this blog was still nice and young, I made a post about how all my shit had been stolen by a mailing company during my move from England to Sweden.  Ever since then, and since moving to Japan, I've been trying to get my hands on a PS2 so I can start putting my collection back together.

However, finding a PS2 in Nagoya was the hardest shit in the universe.

Near my house, there is a place called Book Off.  Book Off is a used manga store but because my branch happens to be slap bang in the middle of a big city, it does basically everything.  Books, games, clothes, you name it, Book Off probably has it.  What they didn't have in stock for some reason was PS2s.  They have plenty of 3s, a few 4s and a bunch of Vita's and PSPs but no PS2s, which was a real pain in the ass because it's usually Book Off that give the best deals.

Now, on the other side of my house there is a street filled with retro stuff.  These retro stores are for collectors and the owners go out of their way to make sure everything is in as close to perfect condition as humanly possible.  The one store that I usually go to was selling PS2 Slims for about 20,000 yen which is equal to about £116!  

For that same goddamn price I can buy a Wii fucking U and THAT'S a current gen system.

But that isn't the only retro store that sells systems on that street, but the other one is run by a total ass clown who ramps up the prices of his shit so high that it's never EVER worth it to buy hardware from this guys store.

He had an absolute crap ton of PS2s but here is what he wanted for them

7000 for the system
1500 for the video cables
1500 for the AC cables
2100 for a controller (x2 because I need to be able to accommodate people)
and 500 for a memory card

That's 12,600 Yen, which is less than the asking price for a slim but considering that this is the price for a big fat old model PS2 it's still a total fucking ripoff.  So when it comes to buying systems these specialist stores can suck my ass.

But then I waltz into Book Off yesterday and they are selling SLIMS for 6000.  That's still a little higher than the prices that I've heard about in some other stores where a few of my friends live, but for Nagoya it's a fucking bargain.

Moral of the story, if you live in Japan and want a PS2, don't come to Nagoya.  Japan may be one of the best places to be for a retro collector (even though PS2 isn't really retro yet) but good lord is it total bullshit sometimes.

Used Games in Japan (With video examples!)

I've had some bad experiences buying used games in the UK.  For example I once bought a copy of Pool of Radiance, and when I got it home there was a completely different game in the box.  Another time I once bought a copy of Shadow of Memories on the PS2 only to take it home and discover fucking Jam on the CD and despite my best cleaning efforts, that shit just would not work.

In Japan however, I've had the reverse of that.  Every used game I have bought has come in pristine condition with all inlays and extra bits and bobs that came with it when it was new.  I have a friend who got the PS1 version of Metal Gear Solid that came with a load of collectors stickers or something, it was pretty neat.

It also had a Suikoden Demo

So while I was up in Kawagoe doing a bit of a retro game hunt with previously mentioned friend, we came across a copy of Final Fantasy 2 and 3 in a junk pile in a Hard Off.  Book Off is a used book store type deal in Japan that also takes stuff like Video Games and DVDs, Hard Off is like that but for things like old VHS players and TVs, but Hard Off also stocks games.

So for about 200 yen each we took these things back to my buddies place, slammed them in his Famulator and turned it on.  First it didn't work and got a load of gunk inside his system, which we had to clean out before trying again, and then when we did make it work, the sound was a bit.....off.  Take a look!

This is the first time I have ever seen this happen, but it was pretty funny.  Usually used games on carts come with all its save slots full of 100% completed games, this one was just messed up.  Still, for only 200 yen it's not like you can really complain.

Retro Shopping in Japan

Sometimes we all fall victim to nostalgia, a fleeting memory of a game played long long ago swiftly followed by the urge to play said game.  If you've been gaming for a long time chances are this happens to you quite often, old childhood memories of that old Nintendo game that you used to love so much make you want to play it so bad.

But, shit happens, you sell stuff or someone else sells it thinking its junk, something that makes you lose access to your old gaming collection.  Hell, if you've been following the blog, you'll know that a good portion of my collection has been stolen while in transit (at least it was all from this and last generation)

Sure, there are plenty of options for people into their retro stuff now, things like the virtual console, XBLA and PSN make getting hold of old favourites quite easy and it's made even easier if you're the kind of person into emulation.  But it's just not the same, there is a clear sense of happiness I get when I dig out an old console, hook that shit up and play it the way it was originally intended.  There is nothing wrong with doing things through the above methods, it's the same game after all, but there is something extremely pleasant about sitting in front of a TV with an ACTUAL SNES controller in your hands or whatever, it helps increase that nostalgic feeling.

Now I don't know about America but I've heard its a similar situation, where there are basically 0 stores that are willing to sell, or even take games older than the PS2.  In fact, I think just before I left for Japan, GAME in the UK stopped taking PS2 games altogether.  It's complete arse, the vast majority of my early game collection was sold off under the assumption that I wouldn't ever want to play old stuff again, but that was wrong.

However, Japan seems is the complete fucking opposite to this

This is a picture of a store near my apartment, they have pretty much every system ever, old and new for sale, old systems and games stacked to the goddamn roof, it's absolutely glorious.  You could spend hours in there and just constantly be discovering stuff you remember fondly as well as stuff you've never even seen or heard of.  Also, putting together a decent retro collection out of these stores won't exactly break the bank.  The people who run these places know how much shit is worth and they price pretty fairly.  But it's not just the small joints that provide old school gaming goodness.

"Book Off" is a huge chain around Japan but even a store like this will stock anything from famicom to PS3 although the selection isn't quite as good.

To cut a long, gushy story short, if you're into your old school stuff, Japan is the place to be.  Easy to get hold of and affordable and digging through these places is a ton of fun too.  So if you want that SNES collection you lost or never had, book a ticket and get your ass over here.

To end this post, here are some sneaky pictures I took in the first store.  I wasn't too sure if the owner would let me take pictures so I got some badly shot sneak shots, I really wanted to show just how much stuff this place had.

Mostly NES

Consoles, arcade sticks and assorted peripherals stacked to the roof.  Found a MSX joystick in the box on the bottom right!