Retro Game Stores in Japan

[franjipane]

Hi folks,

I'm new here but have enjoyed reading a few threads about retro games shopping in Japan.

I'm going to Japan in a few weeks and would like to do some shopping, I'll be in Tokyo for a few days and will check out the shops in Akiba. I'll also be going to Takayama, Kyoto and Nara and have plenty of time for chilling out and browsing game stores.

My question is, has anyone been to the Hard Off in Nara and could recommend it for an afternoon's worth of hunting?

Cheers!

[Parodius Duh!]

any hard off, book off, super potato....thats your best bet, youll see some spectacularly rare items at super potato. Even the few ma and pa kinda shops you might find some used cartridge games in. Ive even seen famicom games repacked and sold via hanger tabs at 7-11.

[ubersaurus]

Hi folks,

I'm new here but have enjoyed reading a few threads about retro games shopping in Japan.

I'm going to Japan in a few weeks and would like to do some shopping, I'll be in Tokyo for a few days and will check out the shops in Akiba. I'll also be going to Takayama, Kyoto and Nara and have plenty of time for chilling out and browsing game stores.

My question is, has anyone been to the Hard Off in Nara and could recommend it for an afternoon's worth of hunting?

Cheers!

When I visited Takayama there wasn't much of anything in way of game shops there, so that one is pretty much a bust for that purpose. Kyoto and Nara are pretty good, though.

There's a couple nice game shops along Teramachi-dori in Kyoto - one is further past the station, where it ceased to be a covered shopping area - as well as the fantastic a-cho arcade, which is very worth much checking out. A lot of hardcore Japanese gamers go there, and there's a pretty good mix of games.

In Nara itself I visited a decent little game shop where I picked up a boxed AV Famicom and a few cheaply priced game, but I don't know the name. It was on the way from the JR station to Kofukuji Temple, according to my journal entry from that time.

There's a fantastic resale shop outside of Nara that has a nice selection of game stuff. It's a bit of a hike, but the prices are very, very good - I picked up a boxed Turbo Duo-R for about $130 back in 07, as well as some other cheap goods - which is in Kashiba City, reachable via the JR Nara line and the southern Kintetsu line between Osaka and Yamato-Yagi. The shop itself is a freestanding building, not too far from Horyuji Temple. If you're interested I can get you the directional information that was sent along by Smork to me a few years back.

If you visit Osaka, there's Super Potato in Den-Den Town right next door to another great classic gaming shop!

[WesternNYCollector]

The names of stores in Japan, just plain classic.

[franjipane]

Great stuff, thanks guys. I'll post some pics of what I find, I'm not going for a few weeks still though.