Friend coming asking where to buy psx games

[Legion]

Hi all,

A friend is coming over from UK.
He asks

" I wanna buy PSX games in Japanese like FF7, FF8, Parasite Eve and Metal Gear etc."

Where should I take him?
In Akihabara are there any stores that he should definitely go to?

I live in Shinjuku so I should take him to the Square Enix store too so he can see Sephiroth in the ground

[Jamtex]

You basically answered your own question...

[ping182]

Basically everywhere. Take him to super potato.

[GaijinPunch]

Basically everywhere.

Except for place that don't specialize in old games.... which is basically everywhere.

Can probably find some in a Tsutaya in Shinjuku or a Liberty if they're around. Those are a piece of piss to find. No reason to go across town and fund the pedo industry.

[Tatsujin]

Book off in Shibuya.

[Shou]

Book off in Shibuya.

Agreed if you don't care about things like spinecards etc. Shibuya Book Off has a ton of PS1 crap there.

[alecjahn]

Agreed if you don't care about things like spinecards etc. Shibuya Book Off has a ton of PS1 crap there.

So does Book Off carry games as well, or do you mean Hard Off?

I know very little about these places, just curious.

[iestyn]

Book Off often has more games than Hard Off.

[alecjahn]

[Cyantist]

I have a question about Japan and the various stores.

You hear about people getting famicoms and shit for a few hundred yen. What stops a person from the states or such going there paying for just the plane ticket there and back (a day ticket maybe they could sleep on a park bench or something) taking a crap load of money and buying up all the japanese gaming shit. Famicoms and Super famicoms seem to be worth a tonne outside of Japan but the shipping almost always kills the deal

[Tatsujin]

Book Off often has more games than Hard Off.

Not just often, in most of the case. But Book Off mostly do not carry stuff pre 32bit era these days. And some even had rejected all the 32bit stuff already (except for some nintendo handheld software).

In Hard Offs in the other hand, you still can dig some real nice 8/16bit treasures.

[GaijinPunch]

You hear about people getting famicoms and shit for a few hundred yen. What stops a person from the states or such going there paying for just the plane ticket there and back (a day ticket maybe they could sleep on a park bench or something) taking a crap load of money and buying up all the japanese gaming shit. Famicoms and Super famicoms seem to be worth a tonne outside of Japan but the shipping almost always kills the deal

Basically the fact that most of what you hear isn't true. Right now w/ the yen being painfully strong, you'd probably lose money. To an extent you can help fund a trip but probably not pay for one... sleeping in a park? With suitcases full of game things? Big things?

It's a logistics nightmare. FC/SFC units might fetch what... $40 if they're in the states already? I mean, you CAN ship them by boat for almost nothing. They'll still run 2000 yen probably (I've not looked in ages) and you have to carry them. Smarter to buy 10 games which take up the same space where you can make 1000 yen apiece.

[Jamtex]

I have yet to really find a Famicom or Super Famicom for less then 1000 yen in Tokyo, if you do find a hard off store, there is no gaurantee they will have anything. If you have a car or like cycling (like me and Tatsujin do) then you might be able to visit a number of hard off stores (else it's trains and sometimes quite long walks or waiting for a bus to hopefully take you there). I worked out by train / bus / walk you could probably visit a maximum of 5 hard off stores in the Tokyo / Saitama vicinity (and that's from 10 to 8pm and spending maybe 45 minutes in each store).

You might get lucky, but I've rarely found a FC in that great of a condition and there is no gauranee for <500 yen it's going to work, SFCs probably do work but most are yellowed to hell and you would still need to buy pads (and they can be more expensive then the console). Recently you will find a large number of N64s, Gamecubes and Playstations, most of these not worth a great deal.

For the time and effort, it's not really worth it and with the strong yen you really need to know what to buy to really make any serious money as Gaijinpunch says games will make a little more money and don't take up as much space.

[GaijinPunch]

SFCs probably do work but most are yellowed to hell

This is so true. It took me months ages to find a reasonably priced, non-yellowed SFC. I recently gave it away to a young North American, apparently getting beat up by the recession. :) But, still... just look at YJ. Grossness.

[zappenduster]

I have a question about Japan and the various stores.

You hear about people getting famicoms and shit for a few hundred yen. What stops a person from the states or such going there paying for just the plane ticket there and back (a day ticket maybe they could sleep on a park bench or something) taking a crap load of money and buying up all the japanese gaming shit. Famicoms and Super famicoms seem to be worth a tonne outside of Japan but the shipping almost always kills the deal

that a ticket from tokyo to los angeles for example costs a minimum of 600 euros one way...

you can transport at least 7kilogramm cabine stuff and around 25kilo in suitcase depending on how good you are at packing maybe u fit enough stuff into them to make it worth

biggest problem is finding stuff cheap enough in a short time in akihabara u can get lost easy 2 days roaming stores

i just bought a psp and a handfull of used rpg games for it (btw 400 and 800 yen each) since i was bored

[Legion]

Thanks guys, anywhere in particular in Akihabara?
I plan on telling them the location and letting them get lost in there whilst I am working during the day :)

[zappenduster]

Thanks guys, anywhere in particular in Akihabara?
I plan on telling them the location and letting them get lost in there whilst I am working during the day :)

ill bought my games at etrader there somewhere heres a map of akihabara with all the shops in it

bert hardy has a good list of the shops
http://www.assemblergames.com/forums...ead.php?t=6332

this is the one i mean

[Tatsujin]

Trader 2 is gone with good old stuff. Now to be found in Trader Honkan :)

[zappenduster]

Trader 2 is gone with good old stuff. Now to be found in Trader Honkan :)

might have been the other trader just remember it was a corner store

[Jamtex]

The good trader (of sorts) is where the old Sofmap game store was, although trader has moved several times over the last 6 years as has Sofmap (although sofmap has a mega store now, but it has lost the charm it had in the old store). Although when trader had a tiny little retro store across from where their other store was it was good as it had many bargains and was more magical.

The Trader 2 has some good memories for me as when I first visited Tokyo, I got there late and it was one of the few stores still open and I bought my first Famicom game there, which was Side Pocket, also picked up a cheapish famicom to play it on too.