We returned to Akihabara today. If you'd like to read a more videogame-centric recap of day one, I'd encourage you to check out this post I made at 30 Lives. It's on the nerdy side, so approach with caution.
So, let's assume you didn't read that post and have no idea what Akihabara is about. Well, it's nicknamed Electric Town and for good reason. It's like the promised land for anyone into gadgets, toys, videogames or anime. For me the big attraction was looking for all the videogame goodies. And there were pleanty to be had.
Unfortunately, videogame shopping in Akihabara isn't exactly an ideal activity for a non-Japanese speaker. The stores are all so small and narrow that you really can't browse and with most shelves stocked titles out, you really can't tell what the heck you're looking at if you can't read the language. Not to say it's impossible, just saying being a big, sweaty American puts one at a huge dissadvantage.
Oh yeah. Akihabara has it's own weather system. It's humid. Very humid. You realize after a while you're almost swimming in the collected flop sweat of everyone you rub against trying to navigate the stores.
There were two stores in particular I was looking for, Mak Games and G-Front as those were two shops specalizing in arcade boards. Well, I never did find Mak, but I found G-Front. The problem was again, the language barrier. They had more arcade boards than I'd even seen in my life, but I had no clue what I was looking at. Aside from that, I've read their prices aren't so hot, so no harm, no foul.
Some of the stores I did shop in include Sofmap, Traders 2 and a few others I really don't know what the heck they were. It kind of got to be a blur after a while.
A lot of stores here sell used stuff, which is good. The problem for me is there was a ton of Nintendo stuff, and I'm much more of a Sega guy. Granted, I saw lots of Saturn games (no big bargains, sadly) but there was just so much Famicom and Super Famicom, I couldn't believe it. Mostly what I came away with was used PS2 games which were really easy to find.
So, let's have a look at some games, shall we?
Gunner's Heaven. I found this in a cheapie pile. Looks like a Metal Slug type thing. At least, I hope it is.
Psyvariar and Sonic Wings Special from the first trip to Akihabara.
Cheap Jogcon and Disney DDR for Kristen. (That sucker goes for stupid money in the US.)
Treasure Box Sega Ages collection and the bizarre button pushing game Switch (aka Panic on the Sega CD.) I'd only found out this existed for PS2 this week and lo and behold a cheap copy found it's way to me. Read more about this one here.
XII Stag and Trizeal.
Random picture of some cosplay girls handing out flyers.
We also bought soundtracks:
Some game soundtrack CDs. That's Atari Music 1 & 2, Shoting Game Sound Omnibus 1 & 2 and Space Invaders Anniversary.
Bunch of DDR soundtracks. (These are Kristen's.)
And Gamera?
Part 2 of the Gamera box set with yet another Gamera figure.
But the best thing I bought today was probably this:
It's a 1998(?) set of vinyl figures of all the critters from the classic Gamera films.
RARRRRRRHHHHHH!!!! Giant monsters attacking Tokyo!!!!
That was a bargain at about $28.
There's more, but I'm too tired to get into it.
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