Used Games: Japan and England

Gaming is a pretty expensive hobby, or at least it can be if you want to stay completely up to date with the latest stuff.  To offset the strain on ones wallet, people like to buy games used rather than new since the used price is obviously going to be a bit cheaper than brand new.

What I'm basically trying to say in a really long winded way is that I have bought a lot of used games over the years.  A lot of those used games in the last couple have been from Japanese stores that sell retro stuff like NES and Super NES games.  Since coming here and dealing with the used game market in Japan, it's quite clear that Japanese people (generally speaking) take WAYYYY better care of their shit than they do in the UK.

I bought so much shit in the UK that didn't work that I almost developed a fucking phobia of buying games used from GAME or CEX, the condition of some of those discs was fucking atrocious.  I still remember one time during my teenage years I bought a used copy of Shadow of Memories on PS2

I took that shit home, opened up the box and I shit you not, the fucking bottom of the disc was fucking COVERED in Jam (that's Jelly for you Americans).  I mean how the fuck did that even get taken by the store in that condition and HOW THE FUCK did no one in the store think to clean/test the disc before they took it?! 

Needless to say I cleaned the shit out of that disc but even when I took the jam off it, it still didn't function.  What makes this story even worse is that I swear to God I know the guy who traded it in because he is the only guy on earth that has the capacity to smear a game in jam and not give a fuck about it when he goes to trade it in.

There have been other examples of this shit too, like when I bought a copy of Kingdom Hearts new and GAME tried to fob me off with a used copy.  When I took it home the game would fucking freeze when leaving the first island so I had to take that shit back and get it traded for an actual new copy like I fucking paid for.

Then there was that one time I bought a old PC game from a Gamestation in Manchester called Pool of Radiance.  I got home and opened the box and there was a different fucking game in there called P.O.D

The icing on the shit cake with that one was that when I took it back to the store, they didn't have any copies of Pool of Radiance left!  Of course I didn't want to just give up on that damn game so I ended up spending £10 more getting another copy from a different shop and when I eventually did get to play it, I remember thinking that it was a bit shit.  Still though, I wasn't very good at DnD style RPGs back then, so I'd like to hunt it down and try again at least.

Let's contrast this with Japan

That is a copy of Metal Gear Solid for PS1 that my friend got from a used book store.  The discs were immaculate, not a single blemish on them at all.  The demo of Suikoden on the bottom there was also immaculate.  Just to top it all off, it even came with a sheet of fucking stickers in PERFECT condition, it's as if the previous owner didn't even open the fucking thing the condition was so good.

Hell, just take another look at my new retro haul video

In that video I show a copy of a game called Sangokushi 4.  The game is fucking boxed with all the little pamphlets and the manual in absolute perfect condition.  On top of that the game came with the original fucking map that looked like it hadn't even been touched and this thing only cost me like 200 fucking yen.  If something in that kind of condition was available in a UK store it would be priced out the arse.

On top of that, in my local retro store I have seen the staff taking the old cartridges off the shelf so that they can clean them and put them in new plastic wrapping.  When I say clean, I don't just mean they give the underside a blow and then re-wrap them, I mean they properly get the fuck in there and give them a good clean and test before putting them back on the shelf.

I mean Japan isn't perfect, they do tend to overprice on a lot of shit, especially in these specialist retro stores.  Like the other day I found Silent Hill for 1500 yen, but a few months prior my friend had found another copy in a different store for 500 yen.  You really have to be careful not to get totally ripped off when buying retro games in Japan.

Still though, Japan is way better than England when it comes to dealing with and purchasing used games.  Fucking sort your shit out England

That Gundam Game I've Never Played

While Gundam is a pretty big thing here in Japan, I've never been too much of a fan.  That said, one thing that has always sparked my interest is Gundam: Bonds of the Battlefield.  Most people probably don't even know it's called that because it's usually written like 機動戦士ガンダム 戦場の絆, but it's most famously known for its huge pods that the player must sit in to play.

So as far as I understand it, you get in that giant pod and pilot a Gundam to blow the shit out of other Gundams and fulfil objectives.  You can customise your giant robot so it can do all sorts of fancy shit, and as far as I know you can play online against other people all over Japan.

Sounds fuckin' awesome right?  Well you'd probably be correct but there is a problem with this game, and that's the pricing.  Gundam: Bonds of the Battlefield is not the kind of game where you can just hop in and start playing. 

Before you even think about playing you have to drop 300 yen on a stat card.  This used to be called a pilots licence but I think it was recently changed to some generic stat card that works with other games.  Then on top of that you have to drop another 300 yen...for ONE CREDIT!  300 yen for a single play is pretty steep considering I can play regular games for 100, and older ones for anything between 10 and 50 yen.

Not only that but you have to wade through all sorts of menus to set yourself up and then read absolute shit tons of Japanese so you know what your doing, how to play, the objectives etc etc. it's head spinning.  It's the kind of game that you have to study, and I don't really want to have to do a crash course in giant robot related kanji to enjoy game about blowing shit up.

In something like Sengoku Taisen, the card battle game I've mentioned a few times on here, there is lots to read but you can do it at your own pace.  Also you can generally figure out what each new card does just by giving it a spin, and on top of that for 600 yen I can get anything between 3-5 plays depending on which game centre I go to.

Not to say that this Gundam game is bad, it's probably really fucking good, but it's not the sort of time/money investment I want to make when I know my time in Japan is limited right now.  Maybe when I make a return (and trust me, I will), I'll whip out the dictionary and give it a spin, but until then I'll stick to my trading cards.

(If someone wants to e-mail me a crash course, the address is on the side)