Is there a place in Korea to find good games?

[b0ub0u]

Hi there,

As stated, I am currently in Korea (Seoul) and will be moving to Japan in 1 week.
I was wondering if there was any place in Seoul where I could find games. I don't necessarily mean new games, I mean more like in Akhiabara where you can find vintage games and such. I know that Korea is much more PC based, as I see only some console games in big electronic places, but these are games that you can find anywhere else (New WII games, DS, 360 and PS3 mostly..)

Anyway let me know if there is any places that I could check.

Thanks,

[Jeff-20]

I've spent time in Seoul. There are two good places I found. One is behind the shopping center called Electric Town. There are alleys with lots of bootleg movies and software. I bought some CDR games and some bootleg carts for the Genesis. There's another indoor place. Just look for bootleg software guys. The usually have bootleg games in boxes under the table of in the back. It doesn't sell as much so you have to ask for it. My korean is really basic, and I managed to communicate the request.

[Porksta]

In my time in Korea, there really wasn't much in terms of vintage games, or NTSC games for that matter. I did see countless SNES boxed wrestling games though.

[DaveD]

Not sure if this is the same place that was referred to above, but if you take the Subway (Line #1, iirc --- the dark blue line) to Yongsan Station, right from where you exit the subway there is the main train station, which then connects via a long covered walkway (accessed on the 3rd floor, which goes over the parking lots and street below) to a main building which has tons of stuff, mostly PC though, but even some of these have console stuff. But past that main building there are several other big buildings that have TONS of small (and larger) gaming shops. Last time I was there (2004) they had many Famicom, SNES, MegaDrive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, PS2, etc etc,...it takes a while to go through all the different stores but I found that it was well worth it. Some of the vendors speak passable to decent English as well....there is all sorts of neat gaming-related merchandise which you can get there which we NEVER see stateside...

Hope this helps some...:)
Enjoy your visit in Korea....wish I could go again soon...

[Flack]

You might also send a PM to BoatOfCar -- he's been living in Korea for over a year now, teaching English.

[Jeff-20]

I got my pirate pokemon Genesis carts there. Koreans are crazy about games maybe more so than Japan. Pirate stuff is everywhere. You won't find much legit stuff.

[Porksta]

Not sure if this is the same place that was referred to above, but if you take the Subway (Line #1, iirc --- the dark blue line) to Yongsan Station, right from where you exit the subway there is the main train station, which then connects via a long covered walkway (accessed on the 3rd floor, which goes over the parking lots and street below) to a main building which has tons of stuff, mostly PC though, but even some of these have console stuff. But past that main building there are several other big buildings that have TONS of small (and larger) gaming shops. Last time I was there (2004) they had many Famicom, SNES, MegaDrive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, PS2, etc etc,...it takes a while to go through all the different stores but I found that it was well worth it. Some of the vendors speak passable to decent English as well....there is all sorts of neat gaming-related merchandise which you can get there which we NEVER see stateside...

Hope this helps some...:)
Enjoy your visit in Korea....wish I could go again soon...

I spent a fair amount of time there (Yongsan Electronics Market) and really came away disappointed. I did see a vertically oriented TV for SHMUPS and a Panasonic Q though.

[b0ub0u]

OK thanks... in one week I will be in Japan. I think I will have a much easier time finding games there ;)

Also, before I leave Seoul, is there a good arcade here? I found some small ones but nothing major so far.

Let me know thanks guys,

Stephane