Japanese Imports

[NESCollector75]

I leave for Japan in 10 days and need to know what I should bring back! So far all I know is PC engine stuff and alot of it! IS there anything else I should be looking for (rare imports??) Also do they play any import games over there? Games I should bring with me??

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Kroogah]

Well...pretty much anything from Konami's Bemani series (Dance Dance Revolution, Beatmania, Guitar Freaks + Drummania, Pop'n Music, etc.) is a surefire sale.

Maybe get some cool Japan-only Nintendo stuff:
Fire Emblem games (Famicom/Super Famicom)
Mother 1 + 2 (Game Boy Advance)
Nintendo 64DD
Animal Crossing (Doubutsu no Mori) merchandise
Wrecking Crew '98 (Super Famicom)

[GaijinPunch]

Well, (shameless plug) check out Japanese Gaming from the links section here. DP's very own out-of-work Geelw has made acountless contributions. Some good info and scans there. Oh, yeah, if the link in the links section doesn't work, try this one:
http://dynamic5.gamespy.com/~japangaming/index2.html
Going through some changes, unfortunately.

That should get you started.

Just go to Akihabara, and be ready to spend all day - longer if you can't make out japanese (only katakana/hiragana would actually help) b/c most of the old games will only have their spines exposed.

[digitalpress]

Here's a link to our "greatest imports ever" thread. Get anything from the here that you can find!

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6354

[maxlords]

Just so you know, except for the hardware and the really rare games, the botton has dropped out of hte PC Engine market...even the shooters are selling for less than they were a year or two ago. But if you cna get em cheap, some of hte PCE stuff is worth it...most notably games like Sylphia

I'd recommend Saturn, Mega Drive, and SFC games that are easily playable, as well as cheap PCE stuff, and maybe things like Sin & Punishment for N64. Just don't overpay for stuff, which is REALLY easy to do if you're going to Akihabara!

[k8track]

Here's a link to another, earlier thread (I'd asked the same question a long, long time ago):

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5084

[GaijinPunch]

What MaxLords said is right (Hi Max - it's Paul).

When I meant "you need a full day to go through Akihabara" that's b/c you literally need to go through every store, take mental notes (or real ones) figure out who's got what the cheapest, then go back and buy.

I saw two mint/complete Sapphire's last week in Akihabara, but there was a $200 price difference between the two.

Too many times I've paid $20 for something, and walked down the street and seen it for $8. There's also the mis-priced stuff, which rarely happens, but when it does, it's worth it.

[geelw]

oddly enough, that's sort of what this month's column is about- basically: unless you're buying stuff for other people, BUY WHAT YOU WANT TO PLAY first. if there's a system you don't have yet and are curious about, well, just ask for recommended titles here. we'll be more than happy to help you out!

[AB Positive]

The Fire Pro series is always good, if you like wrestling and know the japanese product somewhat well. Just be ready to do a lot of name changing

-AG