Nipponbashi - Gamer's Heaven

Enough of the small things; we must get to the good stuff. What exactly did we grab whilst in Nipponbashi? What could one look forward to in such a place? Let me tell you, there is no disappointment to be had here. Between my friend Nick and I we got our hands on these:

GBA Mother 1 + 2 (Approx. $55)

Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland

Tingle’s Balloon flight

Archaic sealed Heat ($1)

Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem: Heroes of Light and Shadow ($20)

Monster Hunter limited edition 3DS + MH3G (second hand, $180)

Bravely Default: Flying Fairy (3DS)

Ocarina of Time and Ocarina of Time: Master Quest (GC)

Super Smash Bros (N64)

N64 JP only games:
Evangellion
Bangai-O
Sin and Punishment
Animal Crossing
Custom Robo and Custom Robo V2
Bomberman 64
Fushigi no Dungeon: Fuurai no Shiren 2

This is a photo of my haul for the day (I apologize for poor photo quality):

And the above is only a taste of what is possible to buy in Nipponbashi. You don’t even need to worry about consoles; these stores have stacks of them. If you write down the games you are after and ask a staff member (or for those who find Japanese difficult, show them a picture), they will help you find what you are after. Also, never be afraid to haggle. When buying my 3DS I haggled with the staff member to bring it down to 20yen less the price, with an extra 16GB SD card included. This saved me about $20 as the 3DS didn’t originally come with an SD card. There was a pretty limited edition Fire Emblem 3DS there as well, but it was $50 more and I am more serious about Monster Hunter than I am about Fire Emblem.

So if you’re heading to Japan and want to get your hands on some great deals and some rare games, I would recommend Nipponbashi, located in Osaka. Bring your own wishlist and make sure you have plenty of time and money. We spent all day in Nipponbashi and still left wishing we had more money for more games.

Also if you’re in the Osaka, head up to the Pokemon Center located in the Daimaru Department store next to Osaka JR station. You are bound to find lots of Pokémon goodies, people to battle with and a decent amount of StreetPasses whilst you are shopping. I’ve also heard that waiting in line on the 26^th of December to get into Tokyo Disneyland brings in over 100 StreetPasses from all sorts of prefectures in Japan. And, well, indulging in the atmosphere of Japanese gaming is quite magical. It’s worth the trip, and the money! Who knows what you will find!

Last of all, I would like to mention the ever-amazing video game arcades of Japan. If you’ve got time to kill, there is one in Nipponbashi. Like all arcades, they have many claw machines with Hatsune Miku collection dolls and Pikachus to grab. The highlight of these arcades is not, in fact, the DDR machines, as you’ve all seen one of those, but the Taiko no Taijutsu game and the table-flipping game. Taiko no Taijutsu is exactly what you’d expect; two taiko drums with drum sticks. The table-flipping game, however, might be a bit of a surprise.

You’ll have to see the games for yourself. Trust me; it’s worth it.