In Japan - What to look out for?

[SystemFreak]

Hey everyone,

On a somewhat last minute trip to Japan and was wondering what I should be on the lookout for that's rare, even for Japan? Going to be in Osaka tomorrow through Friday and back in Tokyo until Tuesday. Already saw the gold Super Dodgeball cart in Akihabara and on the lookout for MD Tetris... Adol, if I find it for less than 400,000 yen, I'll pick it up. Saw Gundam and Virtual Bowling for VB at decent prices and on the hunt for a complete Darius Alpha (saw a Hu only for ~79,000Y).

Suggestions welcome!

[Captain Wrong]

I'll tell you what to look out for in Japan, people passing gas in public. I lost count of the number of tightly packed stores where someone would crop dust me and there was no route of escape. It didn't help that it was a rainy day, so the air was moist and warm and heavy...

[MachineGex]

(Question) In Japan - What to look out for?
(Answer) Drunken Ninjas

Sorry, when I saw the thread title, this is the first thing that popped into my head.

[AB Positive]

If I were in Japan, I'd be looking for saturn games personally, especially fighters. Asuka 120%, Groove On Fight, any of the SNK or Capcom ports are awesome.

Alternately, there's a ton of great PSX imports that you can probably snag cheap - but stay away from Linking Sentient Dream a.k.a. LSD - that game is horrendous.

-AB+

[Ed Oscuro]

(First...apologies for the long post, there's a lot of ground to cover.)

Ideally, you'd take a crash course on identifying rare game titles and know to stay away from common stuff. Unless you have a very large list, keeping an eye out for things probably isn't gonna be worthwhile 'cuz your chances of coming across any specific game is going to be small; it sucks being a collecting n00b, doesn't it? And you also should know to stay away from the big name game stores like Trader - places that will make you pay big bucks for everything. If I was in Japan, I'd be looking out for stuff on my want list, and picking up anything that was rare/ worthwhile / small and could be resold quickly & cheaply on eBay (making a quick buck = A++) because shipping stuff back is always a hassle. Luckily you can put together a big box of stuff; I don't know how much I've spent over the years on shipping because I found something I wanted but nothing else from a seller.

One thing you can and should abuse the heck out of are those game flyers found in stores - pick up a ton of them, people love 'em. I know I'd like a few myself.

Lately I've been telling anybody who will listen (and others) that it's useless to buy games you don't enjoy unless you want to resell them. Be careful what you purchase because you'll have to bring it back somehow.

400,000 yen is crazy talk; that's nearly $3900! At that price THEY will be making the money, not YOU.

And who gives a sh&! about owning some rare version of Super Dodgeball or Tetris anyway? My whole X68000 collection (including two machines and over 50 worthwhile titles) hasn't cost me that much. If it makes you hard to have that game, go for it, but keep in mind the best thing you can do with a game like that is keep it until you'll make significantly more money on reselling it.

Really, you have to know your games very well to be able to judge everything you come across, just like visiting thrifts in North America or Western Europe. Few people can do this; it takes years of following around various titles to know what's worth money and what isn't.

Keep in mind that some series are trendy and popular over there but not over here so a lot of your dragon quest / gundam / etc. stuff is not likely to be worth your time, if you're looking to maximize your dollar value.

If possible you want to find the smaller stores or places that might not sell games exclusively, i.e. thrifts. It'll help to get out of Akibahara.

What would I go looking for myself?

[ubersaurus]

I found that you can get the saturn games that use the 4meg cart pretty cheap there if you don't want the cart. I snagged xmen street fighter and vampire savior for all of 500 yen each.

Definitely shop around. There's some hardcore price differences on games, even at shops right next to each other like in Osaka.

[norkusa]

What prices did you see for SD Gundam and Virtual Bowling? I know Bowling used to be insanely high at one time ($1200-$1500) but now I think it tapered down to around half that.

[Push Upstairs]

(Question) In Japan - What to look out for?
(Answer) Drunken Ninjas

Sorry, when I saw the thread title, this is the first thing that popped into my head.

Really? My answer would have been "Godzilla".

[smork]

What prices did you see for SD Gundam and Virtual Bowling? I know Bowling used to be insanely high at one time ($1200-$1500) but now I think it tapered down to around half that.

There's been a no box VB at Traders for months now for 39000 yen. Boxed seems to be 20000 more than that.

SD Gundam varies quite a bit -- maybe 50000-80000.

Pretty crappy prices all around, I'm camping for the mega good deal myself. Its out there, with patience....