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Dear J-GAF: Take the 1000 Yen Challenge (approved by Kenji Eno.)

broken_tokyo_10a.jpg


Hi! I know a lot of you people live in Japan, but really this is for everyone who loves buying old games. When I was just in Akihabara, I went on a quest to get as much quality (?) gaming as I could for under 1000 yen or about $10. One of the games I bought was D, which was lovingly defaced by Kenji Eno.

Now, you might say, Chris, did you just start this thread to show everybody your awesomely messed up copy of D? Yes. But also, my idea about trying to buy as many sort of cool, probably weird games as possible caught on with GAF member in exile DCharlie, who did this for only 960 yen the other day:

4012099977_46df9445b9.jpg


DCharlie even created a Twitter hash tag!

Huh? Doesn't this seem like exactly the sort of thing you want to try? And post and tweet about it? Well, doesn't it?

I know, right? Would we print your finds on Wired? Probably.
 
I really wish I could spend only 10 dollars and buy quality games.

In NYC, my only options are some Chinatown stores, a couple of choice Gamestops, and the severely overpriced Videogames New York.

I'd totally buy Majora's Mask and an Expansion Pak. The Gamecube one's not as good as the original. Either that, or choice Saturn and Dreamcast games (and later an actual Saturn or Dreamcast).
 

Mandoric

Banned
This is a bitch to do in the US, where even Mario/Duck Hunt carts go for $5, but if you're willing to ignore shipping when doing the math you can get some pretty good deals from Japanese sellers on auction or private retail sites. The last time I attempted it, I ended up with complete compies of the first print run of Sakura Wars 2, the Saturn version of Aerobiz, sealed Gihren's Greed :lol , SRW3, and SFami Royal Blood for under $1 each.
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
Is that Enemy Zero, Chris? That game is freaking awesome. I know Shane talked about it on the Horror Retronauts like 2 years ago. Another Kenji Eno classic. You should enjoy that one!
 
Mandoric said:
This is a bitch to do in the US, where even Mario/Duck Hunt carts go for $5, but if you're willing to ignore shipping when doing the math you can get some pretty good deals from Japanese sellers on auction or private retail sites

When you say this, do you mean regular sites like eBay and stuff, or are there any special sites? If so, I think I'ma get some J-gaming on!
 

Haunted

Member
Kobun Heat said:
Now, you might say, Chris, did you just start this thread to show everybody your awesomely messed up copy of D? Yes.
emot-argh.gif




Great idea, though. Wonder who'll get the coolest collection together.
 

Mandoric

Banned
Why would you do that? said:
When you say this, do you mean regular sites like eBay and stuff, or are there any special sites? If so, I think I'ma get some J-gaming on!

I've been able to rely on people to remail stuff the past couple years, but ebay was decent in '05 and '06, and most retailers I dealt with off of it also occasionally clearanced out stuff on there. I'm unsure how many insane "our fifty listings all start at 1 cent--and no one's ever heard of this crap, so it's unlikely to rise much higher" deals there are left.

Edit: There's also apparently a huge price war going on in the expat-targeted proxy market; like a third of the google ads I see nowadays are offering to reship from Japan to the US for $10 flat fee up to five kilos, and none of them make a serious attempt at speaking English. Using this with a well-stocked mail-order shop might work out well for you too even though it's another fixed cost or two on top of the actual payment for the games.
 

DCharlie

And even i am moderately surprised
4012099977_46df9445b9.jpg


full round up follows :

Code:
Rallisport Challenge (Xbox) 100 yen - 87
Nectaris (PC Engine) 100 yen - 50 (n/a)       
Legendary Axe (PC Engine) - 100 yen - 50 (n/a)
Super Family Circuit (SNES) - 100 yen - 50 (n/a)
Biohazard : Code veronica (DC) - 100 yen - 93
Enemy Zero (Sat) - 50 yen - 69
Decathelete (Sat) - 50 yen - 76
Virtua Cop 2 (sat) - 50 yen - 83
tobal no. 1 (PS1) - 50 yen - 82
World wide soccer 98 (Sat) - 50 yen - 55 
D2 (DC) - 50 Yen - 64
Anarchy in the nippon (Sat) - 20 yen - 50 (n/a)
Winter heat (Sat) - 20 yen - 78
streetfighter zero 2 - 50 (n/a)
Dynamite duke (MD) - 100 yen - 50 (n/a) 

Total spend                        : 960 yen.
Total games                        : 15
Total platforms                    : 7

Gameranking total points           : 985 
Gameranking exchange rate          : 1 yen = 1.02 Gameranking points

Best rated game                    : Biohazard : CV (DC)  - 93 points
Best per yen performer             : Winter Heat (Saturn) - 1 yen = 3.9 pts
Worst (rated) per yen performer    : Dynamite Duke (MD) 
Worst (non N/A) rated game         : Dynamite Duke (MD)

Some (currently self imposed) guidelines :

1. Games not listed on gameranking default to 50 points.
2. Ideally must be games you have interest in - i did buy stuff here that i already own but either in poor condition or missing box (i threw out thousands of game boxes last year)
3. this is all a bit of fun , enjoy yourselves :)
4. no bargain bundles, year end boxes etc. there were some incredible 500 yen Saturn bundles that would have threw this into the stratosphere.
5. no cheating, there's no prizes so it's all an honour based system :)
 

Zoc

Member
Do they all have to be bought on the same day? These are some games I've bought, in Akiba and elsewhere:

Onimusha 2 (new and sealed!) ¥200
Vib Ribbon ¥250
Sambo de Amigo (with maracas!) ¥200
D2 ¥144
Sonic Adventure ¥80
Tokyo Bus Guide ¥180

Total ¥1054

I have to say, though, I feel handicapped by not having a Saturn or a PC Engine. Those are the platforms that get the really cheap, ten- and twenty-yen games.
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
Just last month I got every first party DC sports game, tony hawk 1+2, two copies of powerstone 2!!, and a bunch of other Dreamcast stuff (including three working consoles!) for eight bucks at a yard sale.
 

beelzebozo

Jealous Bastard
Man God said:
Just last month I got every first party DC sports game, tony hawk 1+2, two copies of powerstone 2!!, and a bunch of other Dreamcast stuff (including three working consoles!) for eight bucks at a yard sale.

yeah, in the u.s. the best places to get cheap games are at yard sales and at flea markets. but you can't even rely on all flea markets to be good for cheap games because even old men with "game price guides" are getting a clue, so you've got to hit up the old grandpas cleaning out their son's collection without his knowing for the real steals.

five or six years ago i got some great nes games in their boxes with all the booklets and maps you'd expect:

final fantasy - $1
metroid (yellow box) - $1
q*bert - $1
rygar - $1
ikari warriors - $1
lolo 2 - $1

i think that's all the ones i got. i could've just said "i got six games for $1 apiece!" but i think the effect was better this way. final fantasy was particularly great because the nes release had oodles of big maps that i've never used but look cool when you show people.
 

DCharlie

And even i am moderately surprised
I have to say, though, I feel handicapped by not having a Saturn or a PC Engine

i don't mind collating some of the info but i really do believe that the either the Saturn or the Dreamcast is the prime bargain system right now.

PC Engine games prices are swinging back upwards.

The Saturn has some great bargains though for sure :
Grandia (i already have it) would have been a good pick up too - whole boxes of them in Aki for 50-100 yen, get a 50 yen copy and that's 87 gameranking points, netting a GR FX rate of 1 yen = 1.74

I could really get into this!
 

DCharlie

And even i am moderately surprised
You both got Enemy Zero! Yay!
that was a cheaty one on my part

i already have it - but i don't have the weird hologram style cover and thought "well, why not?"

Great game - genuinely quite unsettling.
 

Brofist

Member
Do consoles count? Pretty sure there is a handful of systems that can be found for under 1000 yen. I saw Saturn systems for like 500 yen and haven't played one of those in ages ;)
 
Probably should've gotten paid some cashola for Anarchy in the Nippon...what a sucker I was for buying that at release just because some supposedly badass VF2 players helped design it. At least they did a pretty impressive subway stage (with interactive moving train) for a home game at the time. Signed Eno stuff is cool...I'm jealous. (Is he ever going to make new console stuff, JGAF?)
 
1. Games not listed on gameranking default to 50 points.
2. Ideally must be games you have interest in - i did buy stuff here that i already own but either in poor condition or missing box (i threw out thousands of game boxes last year)
3. this is all a bit of fun , enjoy yourselves :)
4. no bargain bundles, year end boxes etc. there were some incredible 500 yen Saturn bundles that would have threw this into the stratosphere.
5. no cheating, there's no prizes so it's all an honour based system :)
Yeah, if you want to do a pure run (by the Kohler ruleset), you want to:

- Only buy games that you are actually interested in owning for whatever reason. Do they look bad, but the kind of bad you could write a funny article about? Have you always secretly wanted to play them? Are they just awesome deals?
- Blind bundles/fukubukuro aren't really recommended for a few reasons: You don't know what's in there, so you can't actually know whether you want them, and odds are you definitely don't want them.
- You have to actually play and write about them. This is optional for you.
- Shoot for less than 100 yen ($1) per game. You're looking for a minimum of ten games.
- At least one should be a Kenji Eno game.

If you're doing this in the U.S., all rules are off since you're pretty much at the whim of the flea market gods.
 

DCharlie

And even i am moderately surprised
You have to actually play and write about them. This is optional for you.

i might do a brief video play of each game... in space year 2051 when i have time! ;)
 

rareside

Member
For anyone who likes old sports games this should be awesome. GEO always had sports games (usually baseball) that would go for 100yen.
 

DCharlie

And even i am moderately surprised
Code:
ZOC score sheet.

note 1 : Over 1000 yen - one game should be removed ;)
note 2 : bonuses for marracas potentially! 

game            plat    cost    GRank
-------------------------------------
Onimusha 2	PS2	200	84
Vib Ribbon	PS 	250	70
Samba de Amigo	DC	200	86
D2		DC	144	64
Sonic Adventure	DC	80	87
Tokyo Bus Guide	DC	180	70


Total spend                        : 1054 
Total games                        : 6
Total platforms                    : 3 

Gameranking total points           : 461 
Gameranking exchange rate          : 1 yen = 0.44

Best rated game                    : Sonic Adventure (87)
Best per yen performer             : D2 - 1 yen = 1.09
Worst (rated) per yen performer    : Vib Ribbon - 1 yen = 0.28
Worst (non N/A) rated game         : D2 (64)
 
For the UK-Gaf just modify this for ten pounds and start searching Car boot sales and charity shops. Should be able to get a lot of games for a pound or less.
 
Virtua Fighter 2 (SS) - 84 yen
Sega Rally (SS) - 84 yen
Sega Rally 2 (DC) - 84 yen
Street Fighter 2 Turbo (SFC) - 147 yen
Shinobi (PS2) - 500 yen

Grand total : 899 yen



other cheaper games i bought :

Dracula Gaiden (GB) - 609 yen
Genij (PS2) - 624 yen
Dracula Gaiden II (GB) - 819 yen
Ridge Racer Type 4 (PS1) - 819 yen
R-Type (PCE) - 819 yen
Klonoa 2 (PS2) - 950 yen
Excite Trucks (Wii, new) - 980 yen
 

Tiktaalik

Member
This is sooooo only possible in Japan. :(


When I was last there I got tons of fantastic Sega Saturn classics for frequently less than 200 yen.
 

cvxfreak

Member
ei5fex.jpg


Xbox - Dead or Alive 3 - ¥100 - 85 points
DC - Sonic Adventure - ¥100 - 87 points
DC - Sega Rally Championship 2 - ¥50 - 82 points
DC - Sega GT Homogolation Special - ¥50 - 81 points
DC - Soul Calibur - ¥50 - 96 points
DC - Ready 2 Rumble Boxing - ¥50 - 84 points
SAT - Fighter's Megamix - ¥20 - N/A
SAT - Fighting Vipers - ¥20 - N/A
SAT - Virtua Fighter - ¥50 - 89 points
SAT - Virtua Fighter Kids - ¥50 - 73 points
SAT - Virtua Cop - ¥50 - 75 points
SAT - Virtua Cop 2 - ¥50- 83 points
SAT - Shinseki Evangelion - ¥50 - N/A

Total Spend: ¥690
Number of Games: 13

Not bad, I say.
 

lobdale

3 ft, coiled to the sky
If I had any of the systems that I needed to play these old things I might give it a shot. I frequently pass up nifty deals in the Tsutaya bargain pits ;_;

Spice Gamecube for 490 yen, where were you five years ago?
 
Okay I made a trip to denden today and spent about an hour roaming stores for cheap stuff. Ended up coming in at exactly 1,091 Yen

4028799076_9ee2ff0515_b.jpg


I tried to only buy games that I had never played before. Out of those I have played Ehrgeiz, Code Veronica, and Wave Race 64.

It broke down like this.
Virtua Fighter 2- ¥10
Biohazard: CV- ¥100
Ehrgeiz- ¥100
Wave Race 64- ¥20
OVERDRIVIN' GT-R - ¥50
DON'T PANIC! SEAMAN- ¥100
CounterRevolutionWar- ¥100
King of Fighters '96- ¥50
Samurai Spirits PS1 ¥50
CyberBots- ¥252
Sakurai Taisen- ¥9
SD Gundam X- ¥50
Valken 2- ¥200

So CyberBots came out to be the highest priced buy. It was also the last buy I made which explains why I went over the top. The cheapest buy is given to Sakura Taisen which cost me exactly ¥9. They just had a box of 50 at the cash register, all for the same price so I said what the hell.

Will try to play as many as I can, although right now I can't play the Saturn games. But I have to say I am so excited about OVERDRIVIN' GT-R that I might have to run out and buy one tomorrow!
 

DCharlie

And even i am moderately surprised
WOAH, nice going guys - i tried to have a quick go at lunch but had erands to run :/
 

entremet

Member
I've never been to Japan, but one thing I notice is the decent conditions these games are in, unlike your random Gamestop, which accepts trade ins without boxes or manuals and then stickers them up in with labels that take one sixth of the cover's surface area.
 
entrement said:
I've never been to Japan, but one thing I notice is the decent conditions these games are in, unlike your random Gamestop, which accepts trade ins without boxes or manuals and then stickers them up in with labels that take one sixth of the cover's surface area.

Yeah most of it is in good shape, although there is some junk in the bargain piles of course. Pretty sure that PS1 Samurai Spirits is gonna be too scratched to play but we will see!
 
Yeah, that's the crazy thing about Japan. If you're paying full price for something, it's in absolutely perfect condition. All of the things that we totally accept about used and collectible games in the U.S. -- that they'll occasionally have crumpled instruction manuals, missing bits, worn corners on the boxes -- are considered flaws in Japan.

Sometimes you get a deep discount on stuff that, to your untrained barbarian eye, looks gem mint. I saved a lot of money on SG-1000 games by finding complete, boxed games that a store employee decided were in less than perfect shape.

But if something is missing the case, manual, or has any kind of imperfections, it's just tossed into a box on the floor, marked "junk," and sold for literally pennies.

Which is awesome when, you know, you live in America where Japan's junk is your treasure.
 

Brofist

Member
Kobun Heat said:
Yeah, that's the crazy thing about Japan. If you're paying full price for something, it's in absolutely perfect condition. All of the things that we totally accept about used and collectible games in the U.S. -- that they'll occasionally have crumpled instruction manuals, missing bits, worn corners on the boxes -- are considered flaws in Japan.

Sometimes you get a deep discount on stuff that, to your untrained barbarian eye, looks gem mint. I saved a lot of money on SG-1000 games by finding complete, boxed games that a store employee decided were in less than perfect shape.

But if something is missing the case, manual, or has any kind of imperfections, it's just tossed into a box on the floor, marked "junk," and sold for literally pennies.

Which is awesome when, you know, you live in America where Japan's junk is your treasure.
Yea completely true. I bought Little Big Planet used for like 1500 yen because the case and disc supposedly had scratches. I examined that disc and could not find a scratch for the life of me.
 

rykomatsu

Member
Mandoric said:
Edit: There's also apparently a huge price war going on in the expat-targeted proxy market; like a third of the google ads I see nowadays are offering to reship from Japan to the US for $10 flat fee up to five kilos, and none of them make a serious attempt at speaking English. Using this with a well-stocked mail-order shop might work out well for you too even though it's another fixed cost or two on top of the actual payment for the games.

Links? I usually rely on my relatives, but some games have cover-art I'd rather them not see and most proxies I find usually charge 1500+yen in fees alone not including shipping... :/

kpop100 said:
Yea completely true. I bought Little Big Planet used for like 1500 yen because the case and disc supposedly had scratches. I examined that disc and could not find a scratch for the life of me.

Got Tales of Vesperia for 1500yen or something for the same reason too last december :p
 

DCharlie

And even i am moderately surprised
yeah, the "OMG NO SPINE CARD!?!?" for one man is the "Woot! 2000 yen off!" to another.

It really is amazing. If you are prepared to go for REALLY damaged goods you are going to score a ton of bargains.

I also like the fact that JUNK here is basically the equivalent of a UK A grade! lol.
 

cvxfreak

Member
kpop100 said:
Yea completely true. I bought Little Big Planet used for like 1500 yen because the case and disc supposedly had scratches. I examined that disc and could not find a scratch for the life of me.

They still try to refurbish discs whenever possible. I saw one store in Shinjuku where they do game buyback, and they have these these people sitting on a counter cleaning and polishing packages with air-dust blowers and all sorts of other interesting gadgets.

End result is something that looks pretty darn good. :p
 

McBacon

SHOOTY McRAD DICK
dreamcastmaster said:
For the UK-Gaf just modify this for ten pounds and start searching Car boot sales and charity shops. Should be able to get a lot of games for a pound or less.

It's October, I'll freeze my balls off :p

Although you could do the GREAT LONDON CHARITY SHOP RUN. That would be fun.
 
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