/vr/ - Retro Games

>2023
>not emulating or using fpga

Yeah you're not getting good prices on ebay or from trendy shops or even from Yahoo Auctions, that's for sure. The days of Yamatoku ebay listings where you could get a box full of decent CIB games for under $100 shipped are long dead, as are the days of bidding on games on Yahoo where your only competition was Japanese collectors who wouldn't bid much because they had the option of just buying the same thing from a local shop. You can still get cheap games from Japan, you just have to know where to look and spend more time finding good deals.

Unlike the US where it seems everybody believes that every old game is valuable, there are indeed some Japanese sellers who are seemingly stuck in 2003 and will sell their rare as dirt games for bargain bin prices. Just this year I saw a legit unreleased, undumped game listed for like $125 because the seller seemingly still had no clue what collectors will pay for that kind of thing.

>>10304476
You can still find games for cheap in the US (and I do all the time). For the amount of effort it would take to get Japanese games for cheap in 2023, you could just get English games. In the end you'll be paying the same price because of international shipping and middleman fees.

>>10304480
Personally I prefer Japanese releases and have for over 20 years at this point.

never had a problem just emulating on pc with a controller or something like a hacked psp (31 year old btw)

>>10304495
>Personally I prefer playing games in a language I don't understand and have for over 20 years at this point
Faggot

>>10304521
>Everybody only speaks English
Eop

>>10304510
oh yeah I will add, I have a huge snes collection, grew up just collecting games and keeping them so I have a large retro collection ranging from snes/genesis onward. when I was younger, I would emulate games I fucking already owned on SNES like Yoshi's Island on OG hacked PSP with frameskip to like 4 and slowdowns. so that's the kind of person I am.

>>10304530
ALSO and I have a Galaxy S21 FE 5G phone and I think emulating on phone just fucking sucks because of the touch screen, even if everything runs flawlessly. you need actual buttons.

>>10304459
I can download all of those for nothing.
Unless you care about collecting, there's no reason to be buying any of these for the prices they're demanding. All you get out of it is some plastic to display on a shelf.

>>10304527

>>10304459
who would disagree with objective facts?
more people buying, more people with money to waste, plus 47% inflation
it will only trend one way
investor fags are parking cash in collectibles/vidya as a hedge
its objective reality
i dont know who you are trying to convince the price charting data is readily available

however, i would say you can still buy games you love and collect
just youre buying less
about half actually

>>10304527
You don't know Japanese. If you did you wouldn't be posting on 4chan. Don't even pretend.

>>10304569
I'm not trying to convince anyone. I'm just tired of seeing videos and articles saying you can get games from Japan for cheaper. I was importing games from Japan 10 years ago when it was cheap but now it's just a blatant lie.

>>10304582
i still poach bidwars from time to time
a local neogeo mvs guy fuckin roasted me in person kek
"u didnt have to bid"
"im cool with a cancellation brother no pressure"
*awkward exchange*
he warmed up a bit after i told him i had literally ZERO carts at the time
ended up showing me some other rare shit he had

>>10304459
>The vast majority of games are in the same price range as their English counterparts or are only marginally cheaper (to the point where you might as well just get it in English).
Not even fucking close.

>>10304575
私は日本語わかりました
Sorry for you fags

>>10304668
You conjugated know in the past tense but I commend the effort. You can learn Hiragana ans Katakana in under a month, and then just expand on simple vocabulary with duolingo or Anki, it's quite a comfy language to learn
And with Pokémon for example you can just improve your kana reading abilities

>>10304668
You understood Japanese? What made you stop? A kick to the head by a horse maybe? I will keep you in my prayers brother.

>>10304575
Lolwut? This is literally prime central for nolife trogs who grinded runic BS just for video games and anigays.

>>10304702
I did it on purpose to spot google translate fags such as >>10304703

Get owned garbaggio ;)

>>10304643
It's not 2010 anymore.
>>10304668
Nobody who speaks Japanese would write that crap.

>>10304714
Of course we would, loser

>>10304705
I'm familiar with djt, they're N100 at best. If they actually knew Japanese they'd be on 5ch or elsewhere.
>>10304709
>I pretended to be bad on porpoise
いや、嘘でしょ

>>10304721
No one uses iso like that lmao
You guys can stop embarassing yourselves now

>>10304714
You can literally still get games like Dreamland 3, X3, megaman 7 and various other "must have" super fami versions for less then a copy of lester the unlikely. Stop buying from ebay fags and sellers that clearly sell jacked up prices to idiots that dont know any better. Do you also buy from DKoldies? I literally just got 34 games in this week from nipland including Saturn stuff i wanted for under a 100 and about 30 from that price was shipping. But hey, more people that bail out, the better for me to finish getting the stuff i want.

>>10304459
Lol where is that pic from? Those are all like 1, maybe 5 at most, yen games that they can barely move because they have so many. Literally a tourist trap.

>>10304582
>I'm just tired of seeing videos and articles saying you can get games from Japan for cheaper.
Are there a bunch of videos and articles saying this? No fucking wonder you can't get them for cheap anymore if EVERYONE KNOWS ABOUT IT. That's what pisses me off about people telling everyone about these things. It's like they're intentionally trying to ruin things for people.

>>10304459
You really haven't been to japan. Shit is actually cheaper then ever, and Pokemon cib last time I was there was like 40 dollars (2013) and in a bookoff.you are making up things.

>Rpgs are retarded.

Beat mother 2 and mother 3 the other day and I haven't even played those beyond the first level in English. Lens has gotten so good that it's almost like I don't need it( of course I save phrases that are common)

>>10304726
If I knew Japanese I wouldn't be on 4chan. The same is true for you, retard.
>>10304739
Nobody in Japan is selling games for 1 yen or 5 yen. Even junk games cost more than that.

>>10304753
There absolutely are places selling that cheap.
>PROOF?!?
I wont say where to go because >>10304745 is correct. But don't believe me if you desire, only makes things better for the rest of us that dont buy from shitty sites/sellers.

>>10304745
Do you live under a rock or something? That's exactly what happened, and it's been happening for years.
>>10304751
>Shit is actually cheaper then ever
No it isn't. Prices are going up and have been for quite some time.
>and Pokemon cib last time I was there was like 40 dollars
I'm calling bullshit because I remember seeing all of the GB/GBC/GBA Pokemon games cib for under 1000 yen in 2017.
>pic
That's an auction you fucking dunce. Everyone bids at the last minute and if it doesn't hit a certain amount the seller will cancel. You're not getting all of those for 5000 yen.
>Lens
That is quite possibly the most obtuse way you could play a game.

>>10304753
Projecting hard
Keep seething I suppose
In all honesty, it's not that hard if you aren't a retarded american who only knows english lol
じゃ待った!

>>10304761
no he's right
i live in japan and have been hunting out here for years, i go all over to find games
literally nobody sells them for that cheap
stop making stuff up, dumbass

>>10304770
You can stop larping now. If you knew Japanese you could have written entire messages in Japanese to prove yourself. Instead you only write a generic parting.

>>10304771
Ive never even stepped foot on that island and i can order a shit load of Famicom, super fami, game boy and 64 carts at this very moment that will not go over 10 US dollars, at most, shipped to me even. Shipping is more expensive then the vast majority of games. Are you living in some foreigners neighborhood? I dont see how there are jap companies selling that cheap online still, yet local shops have apparently stopped, unless they are intentionally grifting tourists.

>>10304774
でも、私たし日本語を話しましう、そして貴方はわかりませんでした, ですね、アノン-kun? :)
So I choose not to humiliate you further. As the other anon said, it's not that hard, you can learn the alphabets at least to play some pokémon green or something
That is, if you aren't a filthty, corn syrup infused american baka gaijin

>>10304775
im in western tokyo (outside of the metropolis where games are expensive) and i frequently travel out into the boonies and also to local thrift shops
and of course i shop online too
how many is a shit load? you can get kusoge for cheap but actual good games cost more
once you get past the marios and the donkey kongs, stuff starts getting expensive
these days i pay anywhere from 2000-3000 yen on average for most games
sometimes I do find interesting games for cheaper, but again it's just the most common games and kusoge that are so cheap
like op said, you can't find rockman and forte for that cheap anymore for example
prices have been going up because of so many tourists buying and importers, and even the government commented on it and cited it as a reason for why the national archive began archiving games
it's legit

>>10304776
Nobody talks like that, dekinai-kun

>>10304768
I'm saying that because they are. The US to yen makes the dollar way more valuable adjusted to inflation.Compare panzer dragoon saga to the japanese copy. Did you expect this sort of shit to stay at current prices forever? They are correct in terms of which the US copy is more expensive due to the abundance.

And honestly if you can figure out the menu system with those games. Granted, if the text speed is set pretty fast that yeah it's stupid.

>>10304784
If you're playing Saturn you should just get a Satiator or something. Even in Japan a lot of the library is stupidly expensive.

>>10304476
>what collectors would pay
You mean what jews force them to pay by cornering the goy markets

>>10304776
This is really bad Japanese.

>>10304787
If my disc drive breaks, I might have to. For now, I'll just use it until it decides to shit itself.

>>10304787
psuedosaturn
>>10304793
this was my original plan/setup
however i have a fenrir now and think its great

>>10304459
I'm going to Japan next month for a few weeks. Am I fucked for buying games out there? I was mostly interested in picking up some systems and accessories desu.

>>10304803
Yeah you're screwed out and not paying anything better than if you were importing.

>>10304459
Best one was Super Metroid. Japanese version has full english and arguably better box art. Used to be a great way to get the game cib for cheap.

>>10304792
I do it on purpose to gatekeep losers online

if we're having trouble playing games from 20 years ago, how the fuck can games be preserved for 300+ years like painting or music or literature?

>>10304787
It depends on what you want, I'm seeing stuff like virtua cop and panzer dragoon for 5-7 dollars on mecari jp. But I think what makes it cheaper if you buy lots of games in larger quantities and pay for shipping in one large sum

>>10304776
>that broken nipponese
Based as fuck

>this thread again

>>10304841
It's a bot. Many of the replies are bots too.

>>10304745
>It's like they're intentionally trying to ruin things for people.
>videos and articles
It's their job. Their job is to tip people off about the sooper sekrets, thereby ruining said secrets. But they do so after they've benefited from them, or they make so much extra cash from that content that they don't care.
Like a decade ago you could get arcade shit for cheap, because arcades were dead and the average modern normalfag gamer had no idea how to play arcade games at home via a supergun and similarly had no idea how to maintain an arcade cab, swap games, get adapters, etc. Now that there's a nearly endless stream of high subscriber YouTube channels and Twitter accounts spoonfeeding that info to everybody, arcade junk has skyrocketed in price because your average Johnny come lately richfag collector is buying up everything.

>>10304702
>You can learn Hiragana ans Katakana in under a month
if it takes you longer than a day you are ngmi holy shit

>>10304791
based reseller jews profitting off collectorcucks

>>10304473
>>not emulating or emulating

>>10304803
You should be able to find systems and accessories especially for decent prices, just go in knowing what you're looking for, and have a rough idea what you're willing to spend. Don't look for "deals" at Akihabara tourist traps, they should be a last resort. Go to Book-Offs, Hard-Offs and small, out of the way game stores outside of the big urban areas and you'll find plenty of deals, it's a fun way to see the Japanese countryside as well. I picked a large Hard-Off combined with a Book-Off and Off-House way off the beaten trail on Google Maps, took the train that would get me closest, then had a long, leisurely walk just taking everything in for an hour or two.

>>10304929
Book Off and Hard Off started hiking up their prices too. People realized they could get more for their games selling online, so Book Off and Hard Off had to raise prices also as they get less stock now. Flea market apps became a big trend in Japan over the last few years and it's really affected Hard Off's business. They're not good for deals anymore.

>>10304914
fpga is not substantially equivalent to shit tier retroarch setups no matter how much salt is mined

>>10304459
I've seen a thread just like this on /g/ (or was it /biz/?) about two years ago, someone complaining about how importing Japanese games isn't profitable anymore. I don't disagree, but don't pretend like this is something new.

>>10304569
i had a fucking friend that would do nothing but smoke weed and collect games. it pissed me off because he didn't play them, he just collected and sold them. he would shun me anytime i was happy for getting a cheap game. i was excited to finally get a copy of fucking banjo kazooie and this motherfucker is like "that game isn't worth shit, put your efforts into something worth more"

>>10305024
that's hilarious

>>10304459
It's certainly no where near as good as it once was, but it's still a lot better than many Western countries for most things. Visited Japan many times over the last 15 years, and it's only gotten steadily more expensive. Looking back it was insane how good the deals once were, picked up things like the Tales of Symphonia GameCube complete in box (pic related) for about ¥6000 from a Book Off in Akihabara of all places in 2011.

I'm going back again this month, and will be having one "last hurrah" dedicating a couple of days to my trip hitting up 10-15 thrift stores. The prices are probably going to be as bad as OP says in the next year or two. It's not original, but the best advice to any anons going to Japan looking for retro vidya is this:
Specialty retro game stores like Super Potato are aware of what foreigners will pay, and jack the prices up accordingly. Get as far away from Tokyo as you possibly can, and go to second hand stores (e.g. Hard-Off), and pray you find something you like.

>>10304459
The times of cheap retro games are over, westerns will buy up all stock in their greed.
The thousands of unsold scalper price sfc games will end up in European and American landfills rather than be returned to the eternal Japanese hard-off cycle.

>>10305013
If it's not the original hardware or discs/carts it's emulation. That's literally what the word means.

>>10304825
Why are you revealing your himitsuwaza

>>10305060
>Super Potato
Super potato just jacked the prices up like everything in Akihabara you're also paying premium on everything else that's to buy there compared with your inaka book off.

>>10305060
Hey retard, in case you didn't get the memo I'll write it in caps for you: THE PRICES ARE GOING UP EVERYWHERE. Not just in the tourist stores, you moron. And you're a big part of why.

>>10305171
youd have to have an american education to read that post and think it wasnt implying all of nippon is going up in price. its true that rural/region second hand shops are still generally more than just marginally cheaper than pal/ntsc-u stuff even if prices have gone up recently.

>>10305171
Oh, I'm very aware prices are going up across the nation. They're still a lot better than most of the West, depending what you're looking for.
I was a big reason why they started going up, long before you watched a MrBeast video that made you think old Nintendo games gave you a personality, you zoomer fuck.

>>10305187
Who the hell is MrBeast?

>>10305004
They aren't if you're in a large metro area like Tokyo or Osaka, but out in the countryside where there's less demand and less foreigner foot traffic where there's a lower turnaround of inventory, there's plenty of deals to be had.

There's also Chiba Kanteiden, which is in Chiba (naturally), and they still seem to have fairly reasonable prices since they are a smaller recycle shop chain contained to only one prefecture.

>>10305093
ketchup is a "food"
spam is a "food"
so is caviar and filet mignon
some things are better than others

>>10305223
Chiba Kanteidan became fucking expensive. I used to go there after I saw them on Game Center CX and they were the cheapest place I knew but now their prices are literally almost Akihabara-tier. Hard Off is way cheaper.

But Hard Off is still expensive these days. And they're a chain, so their prices aren't that different regardless of which location you go to. They've been leaning more heavily into online sales, and as a result their prices have become more standardized. It's not 2010 anymore.

>>10304751
>last time I was there
>(2013)
We live in a different world than the one from a few years ago, let alone a full decade.

>>10305434
Yeah but the argument was that games aren't cheap anymore. My answer is that it depends on the game. For sure, games went up significantly,but alot of super famicom games are about what I paid for them 10 years ago, fucking mother 3 is still at it's 80 dollar price point.

It's just that the yen isn't as strong because it's economy is shrinking. Most japanese wouldn't give a fuck about games coming out of the country because it's already so small so it's best to get ridve shit anyways

>>10304831
The only people having trouble are the ones hoarding plastic. Anyone with a brain has moved on to flashcarts/emulation already.

>>10304473
/thread

I was in Tokyo during Golden Week this year.
I guess it depends on what you want. I was able to buy Romancing SaGa
2/3 CIB with new internals for 1000 yen, but other more "rarer" games were usually around 4000+
Consoles were a completely different conversation and I don't know why. A Gameboy Color all seemed to be 10,000-20,000 and I don't get that. Was finally able to get a Japanese PS2 along with SRW OG and DQV so that was fun.

Gotta thank all those Gaijin Youtubers that post their videos from Hardoff and Mr Potato... Americans are truly a cancer.

>>10304480
There are no middleman fees if you don't buy from a middleman

>>10304459
Weird. My local game store sells Japanese import games dirt cheap somehow. Saw Dragon Quest V and VI for $15 each. The shipping costs alone ought to be triple that. How are they able to do this, anons? It's not old stock, either, because I see new Super Famicom games every time I walk in the store.
>importing RPGs is retarded because you would have to study to language to a high level to even be able to play them
I remember playing Tales of Symphonia on the PS2 as a kid by using a GameFAQs translation guide. And we're talking about JRPGs, so there's no reason NOT to use guides. They were made to sell them in the late 90s onwards, with all their exclusive timed side quests and stuff.

>>10305267
>food analogy

>>10305959
>How are they able to do this, anons?
Possibly because they're intelligent adults instead of babies who buy shit on ebay

>>10306035
A quick look and it seems DQV on the SNES costs about 15 bucks on Ebay too. So, it might just be low demand.

>>10304459
Yeah even just two years ago prices were still good, I got some things that went up a lot like special edition nip gameboy colors that were broken (easy fixes), those all shot up. Wish I had got a little more but glad I got some stuff before the boom.

>prices really are kinda going up everywhere
>thankfully JUST on the most popular youtuber trendy shit
>my favorite games and games i've been eyeing have been declining in price
>finally picked up sly cooper for a decent price and in good condition after its been bullshittedly gouged for years
honestly just stop caring for nintendo games and anything talked about most right now and you won't break the bank
that said we're fucked if normies start collecting saturn imports, that'll trickle into PS1 and N64.

>>10306032
>nooooo!! you can't use widely understandable analogies!!! 4channel told me that was cringe!!!!!!

>>10304459
If you're on the ground in Japan, can you still get good prices by poking around in local stores or Japanese-only websites that don't ship internationally? Or have prices fully caught up? Japanese collectors must be fuming if that is the case.

>>10306447
You can still get decent prices in the boonies, for now.
YouTube is full of retarded gaijin videogame "investors" filming themselves digging through countryside second hand shops.
Yahoo auctions is also full of people who caught on to the fact that western hoarders now use proxy bidding Services to buy up crates full of junk times, so the prices also skyrocketed there.
It'll probably be like stamp collecting. Prices will rise until they pleateau because all serious collectors have their finished collection and hoarder style scalpers don't wanna sell "under value" and once millennials die off their grandkids will throw all the plastic junk in landfills, just like how stamps turned worthless after the greatest generation died off.

>>10306047
>>10305959
Draque V used to 100 Yen in Japan for nearly 3 decades.
Took one vacation to Japan and $200 to get you a nearly unlimited supply. $15 is a hilariously inflated price for one of the most common SNES games.
I think even now you rarely see that game for over 500 yen in Japan. Maybe 100 CIB.

>>10306909
*Meant 1000 CIB obviously.
People are just used to being scalped for $100 for a loose booger encrusted module of NTSC secret of Mana or something so they think $15 is a reasonable price (it isn't )

it's not just gaming. eveything has gotten expensive. it's like they want us to own nothing and be happy.

>>10304459
>>10304473
The other option is ports/remakes/compilations made by the original developers which I also appreciate or something like NSO which while wonky is still arguably cheaper than paying scalpers. I bought emulator handhelds for my friends so they could also enjoy some of these old games, it makes me happy that they will finally be able to experience some of them for the first time.

>>10307149
ports and rereleases are OK. remasters and remakes are not. 99% of the time they ruin the game.

>>10307149
How is paying monthly to access these games cheaper then a one time purchase?

>>10307149
I don't think the term scalpers is the correct term. They'd be buying the same item. eBay does have Japan resellers though

??? just get an everdrive, never switch carts out again

>>10306271
>that said we're fucked if normies start collecting saturn imports, that'll trickle into PS1 and N64.
They already do. I recently bought Advanced V.G. 2 via my friend who lives in Japan, because on eBay prices for this one are outrageously high. Still, it was expensive, but not THAT expensive.

>buy a chink everdrive
>done

>>10306404
>no you can't use real analogies instead of fake anti software emu bullshit
retroarch has lower latency than real hardware, shaders, graphical effects and more, hardware emulation is useful for his compact size and inherent board based way it works making for faster breakthroughs on emulation but aside from that both of them are equal and excellent with no disadvantages for each of them, stop this retarded debate and accept that hardware and software emulation is equally good.

>>10307392
no
retroarch is shit
mame is even worse
they are in direct competition
to see who can make the worst Ui
i will never stop using real hardware

>>10307374

>>10307437
no.
retro arch is excellent on objective reviews and you are blind.
mame is excellent too.
i never wanted you to stop using real hardware but that you see that emulation works perfectly and as nicely as hardware, stop denying you from the greats of emulation by lack of tact anon.

>>10307392
>>10307437
Tell me again about how emufags totally don't shit up threads they have no business posting in

>>10304459
>mfw i got a scratchless ps vita for 60 bucks from some random book off this year
yeah the japanese export market isn't as cool as it used to be, but this almost exclusively affects cartridge coomlectors so who cares. flash carts are the way to go, and most retro consoles are still cheap and plentiful even in the west.

>>10307570
the other started first and i just spoke the truth.
i will go outside of it so you can talk about the price bubble caused by destroying local markets and ironically made by wanting physical things which don't help the game devs who made those games but resellers and making it worse for people who want to check game chips or just play them on the first place on the original hardware.

>>10309098
Truth is subjective. And my truth is that emu shitters shit up every goddamn thread. No one cares that you downloaded a file as much as the next dude who buys a game from an online auction site.

It sucks for sure, but honestly what can YOU do about it? Would you like Japan to close its borders to foreigners so it's already sinking ship of an economy and punishing work culture can provide you with a piece of plastic?

It's fair game if the item is on a market place. Of course people are going to go after money, no gymnastics is going to convince some freeta in Okinawa otherwise, and did those Retro game shops would have a right to refuse service, and did they? No lmao.

Honestly if you can't afford it then yeah emulate. But if you can, then whatever.Doesn't matter anymore.

All the mental illness stuff is ultimately a construct created recently so you can display a sense superiority over each other. /Vr/ really has sucken into a deep cesspool of shit.

>>10309578
>Would you like Japan to close its borders to foreigners
Yes. The pandemic was amazing in Japan, there were no foreigners anywhere.

>>10309623
>locks door
>everyone in the room magically disappears
lol. Maybe when you're big enough to reach the door knob you'll figure out how locks work. There were even stories in the local news about foreigners getting locked in.

>>10309623
Yeah but I was still able to import even if the borders were shut.

Some stuff is actually going down, I saw that stupid PS1 cutem up go down in price significantly, like 1000 to only 300 dollars.

>>10309623
Also, newsflash. Japan was always a country of letting foreigners in, fucking westerners came in by boats introducing medicine and classics into their culture. If you couldn't tell by now from it's high fantasy clones, they already love the west. The fucking taxi cabs drivers phone had a picture of a western booba if you're looking at it from an everyday microscopic level.

If the japanese really are concerned about selling there shit to foreigners then maybe they should just take down all the shit theyve listed on Yahoo auctions close all the hardoffs. If that's what a western American who is commenting on these retarded complaining threads that are devoid of argument.

Here's a simple advice:

Don't have the money to experience it? : emulate it, don't buy it?
Rich, or with a fuckton disposable income and like collecting, regardless of what some vr user or redditor has to say? Buy it.

>>10307504
Shit still can't do Xbox games without tickering. JSRF crashes, spikeout battle street cutscenes are pixelated, otogi cant render the character textures.

>>10306271
all the good genesis games are atleast 40usd on ebay loose which is too much for me. Essentially never spend more than 30 dollars on a videogame.

>>10309772
There's something about the needlessly verbose, agressive and defensive way you wrote this that makes every normal person think you're someone who feels really guilty about a thing and gives the strong impression the opposite of what you claim is true, regardless of truth content.

>>10309837
I'm glad you feel whatever way you feel or anyone else you everyone else is preciveing in that matter.

I do import if that's what you'd want to hear.

>Normal person
>on a niche image board, let alone /vr/

Now that is denial of mental illness.

>>10309763
No there wasn't. New visas and visa wavers weren't handed out, nobody was forbidden from leaving. You're retarded.
>>10309764
Doesn't matter, the less foreigners I have to see the better. If I see one more Johnny Somali-type I'm gonna go on a kamikaze mission.

>>10309998
I dont even want to go to J-Pan, i just want to steal all your games.

>>10309998
Look here Slant-eyed-joe, just hand over the PS1 Kino and we won't have to send Jamal to fuck your pretty little waifus... >>10310018

>>10304459
japanese games are inferior and in a weird language, why would anybody wants those

>>10309998
>No there wasn't
Yes there was. Maybe you couldn't read it because you are only fluent in the Kanji and the Osaka dialect? Or were you too busy practicing with your Katana?
>New visas and visa wavers weren't handed out
Are you retarded? You don't need either to leave. Is this cope or are you really that stupid?
>nobody was forbidden from leaving
More cope. How do you leave? Swim?

>>10304753
This was all from a seller in Japan, donkey Kong country cost the most at .99 American. The rest he sold me each for less. Paid 4 dollars In shipping. Now I made friends w the guy but that was after I made these purchases.

>>10310390
>picrel: you and the seller after a successful transaction

>>10309998
>>10310018
>>10310048

YOUR GAMES. YOU WILL GIVE THEM TO ME. THIS IS NOT REQUEST.

>>10310063
>the versions lacking cut content are inferior

>>10304459
I don't care. I've been collecting japanese games since 2015 and I'm still doing it today. My one Famicom haul from 2016 that I paid $130 for is now easily worth over a thousand dollars.

>>10310390
64 games are retarded cheap over there. Mario part 3 is like 3 us dollars, probably less.

4 years ago i purchased every single console and handheld pokemon game in damn near perfect cib condition from japan from the first up to x and y for less than $200 shipped, almost 30 something titles , and now they want cib pokemon yellow for like $30, i remember buying them for less than $2, fucking resellers fucking it up for the rest of us

Nothing is funnier than faggots on here either:

1. Pretending they’re Japanese
2. Are whites living in Japan pretending every other weeb faggot besides them doesn’t belong but they do

Both in the above groups should hang

>>10311021
Imagine living in this fantasy.

>>10304668
>>10304726
>>10304776
Ah, embarrassing underage larping with a hint of samefagging. Makes me nostalgic for my younger days.

>>10304459
Ok but where do I sell my retro stuff in the US easily. Like is eBay the best bet?

>>10304473
Based

>>10304459
doesn't impact me whatsoever

>>10311862
>i replied because it doesn't impact me whatsoever

>>10311469
You put it on ebay, get fleeced by some scalper reseller and he puts up your shit immediately for thrice the price and that's when dweebs start getting hooked and pay out the ass to get their hands on your old shit for a premium.
Thats just how it works these days.

>>10306271
every single good game on the genesis is fucking expensive.

>>10312861
not a problem i had 2~ years ago. Bought the whole sonic collection for around the price i paid for DKC 1+2 and Yoshis Island. SNES is ungodly expensive for 99% of that library, i have a big genesis library and none of the games cost me over $80 each.
Screenshot me some of the prices you've been looking at, bossman, i'm really curious. Even EWJ is going down in price, gonna pick that up sometime soon.

>>10304476
>know where to look
>Japanese sellers stuck in 2003
No.
I live in Japan, and none of that garbage is true. Everyone is onto the retro market being hot, and prices are in line with what you see online. You're not getting "deals" unless you're buying stuff out of the junk bins at a Hard Off.
If you're poor and you just want to play on real hardware buy a flash cart. Retards.

>>10305614
RPGs have always been and will always be cheap. Language barrier obviously..consoles and Handhelds have gone up because they're still cheaper than they are overseas in most cases.

>>10305667
Nobody is flying to Japan en masse to buy games. The real problem is people making videos about proxy services and being sponsored by them (Sendico). Buyee has made things really easy for the average normie to shop on Yahoo Auctions.

>>10306447
No. Only exception is junk bins.

>>10307586
You definitely did not unless it was junk. Vitas go for 9000 now in working condition.

>>10309772
Anon please Google "sakoku" and let the adults talk now.

>>10312889
>Nobody is flying to Japan en masse to buy games. The real problem is people making videos about proxy services and being sponsored by them (Sendico). Buyee has made things really easy for the average normie to shop on Yahoo Auctions.
Yahoo auctions is already busted as far as videogames go.
But that's because videogames are such an object of greed in the west where every nigga thinks he's gonna be an "investor".
Boxes of "junk" super famicom modules sell for hundereds of dollars now, instead of 10 like they used to.
And then ebay gets flooded with tons of obscure majong and horse racing games from japan for $20 each.
>>10305667
It's not limited to americans, seen a lot of europeans also do that shit.
But I really do wonder if this isnt self-limiting in some form?

In Japan it always used to be a cycle of people buying stuff and bringing it to hard-off and surugaya or any of the other second hand chains. So there always was some circulation.
But westerners just hoard this shit, put some on ebay and then sit their asses on dead stock for decades.
I dont see how this is sustainable at all.

>>10312861
Both of them?

When will the retro youtuber trip to japan meme end. Seems like they are all doing it right now

>>10304745
every youtuber gaming asshole has gone by now

>>10314078
> click on one video of some zoomer fumbling his way around rural bookoffs to buy inhumane amounts of old gameboys
> suddenly my entire feed is full of every single asshole who ever owned a n64 at some point filming themselves rumaging through rural japanese hard-offs and surugayas
>sponsored by BUYEE
I've never seen a niche destroy itself this rapidly.
If your entire thing is "le epin retro" shit and you fish all your waters dry, there will be nothing to it anymore.
Same goes for buyee and yahoo auction sellers having caught on you can put shit up for the same inflated gaijin prices as on ebay.

>>10304768
>That's an auction you fucking dunce. Everyone bids at the last minute and if it doesn't hit a certain amount the seller will cancel. You're not getting all of those for 5000 yen.
I have bought shit from yahoo auctions for peanuts and I've never had someone cancel on me.
Even yahoo auctions has "buy it now" features and always had minimum prices.

>>10312889
That was only for 200 years theyre are accounts of Europeansn didn't read the fact they let the dutch(Europeans) into the country. And that was only for a small period. If there wasn't western influence and foreign trade I highly doubt you'd have the innovations you'd have now.

Google (rangaku)

>>10314113
Just saw one video where one of these shills complains about the prices being so high. There is no self awareness with these people.

>>10314137
What I dont get - those hard offs were a nice place to buy a cool retro game you read about or wanted for a long time once every blue moon.
Why did some people feel like it's a good idea to completely and entirely ravage their stocks to put it all on ebay for inflated prices?
I dont think that many people are buying, so they gotta sit on massive amounts of old super famicom games with games that have become so inflated in price (due to scalpers like them) nobody really is buying anymore.
Like what is the endgame here other than them putting themselves into a unwinable state?

>>10314226
Short term gains. The you tubers show up make their sponsored video by some Japanese shipping company. Scalpers see the early video on patreon or move to scoop it all up. Scalpers do get burned often, but there's always people willing to be scummy for quick money.

>>10314236
Seen a obvious scalper reseller on ebay and decided to check out his business adress on street view, it's in one of the most fucked up looking run-down condos you can imagine.
So there seems to be some overlap with greedy scalpers and mentally ill hoarders.
Like shitty moldy dingy appartment stacked to the ceiling with unsellable old videogame crap.

>>10314113
>> click on one video of some zoomer fumbling his way around rural bookoffs to buy inhumane amounts of old gameboys
The Retro Future? I hate that little Bonger Zoomer fag. He's obsessed with the actual Gameboy hardware and doesn't seem to know shit about actual games on the Gameboy and isn't interested in anything else but Gameboy and Pokémon.

>>10314265
Woah, hey though he can take apart a gameboy and put it back together so inspirational. Don't forget to use sendico!

>>10314265
>The Retro Future?
Looked it up, yeah that was the one. For some reason this twerp really pissed me off.
Is doing dumb shit like collecting ungodly amounts of old gameboys gonna be the zoomer equivalent of gen x buying every vinyl record on the planet to put in their "music room" shelves and never touch again or listen to?

>>10314272
I mean at least we can argue that the millennials who do this shit actually were alive and gaming when it came out. I have no idea what the zoomer excuse is. Did they see their dad playing with a gameboy before he told them to shut up and watch their ipad or some shit growing up?

I did just talk to the Tokyo preservation foundation.when in done with playing a lot of these, I think I will donate it to them. It would be fair to give them the rarest ones.

>>10314265
>The Retro Future? I hate that little Bonger Zoomer fag. He's obsessed with the actual Gameboy hardware and doesn't seem to know shit about actual games on the Gameboy and isn't interested in anything else but Gameboy and Pokémon.
>google him
>first video in his uploads is titled "THE FORGOTTEN GAMEBOY COMPETITOR"
>its an image of the Neo Geo Pocket
Not even the lynx or wonderswan - the fucking NGP

>>10314276
Yeah that's why I'd buy them, when I was a kid back in the 2000s I used to dream of wanting a japanese PS2 to play japanese licensed anime games. It was mystical when I went there in 2013 getting imported wii titles. Getting from buyee desu has lost a bit of that. But I do buy from them.

>>10314276
I do wonder what the fascination is.
I'm not opposed to zoomers being interested in retro games, after all they're fun - but I wonder what drives them.
When it comes to playing retro games while I do have some superficial interest in games that were released before I was born - I would never start collecting rare TV Tennis and TV Pong machines.
I'd probably play with one if you'd hand me the paddle, but collecting something obsessively that you dont even have that much of a connection to just era wise is odd.

>>10314293
For me its similar. Finally getting my hands on super street fighter x for saturn felt nice.
I looked at the screenshots in magazines back in the 90s and wondered why that street fighter looked so much cooler than my crummy snes street fighter.
To me its very much a "buying things I have some kind of emotional connection with" thing, rather than just hoarding piles of old shit I dont care about or have any connection to.

It’s over boys, you aren’t going to cool off the hobby, it’s blown up like almost everything post coof. Get comfortable emulating or FPGA, or if you have the disposable income to continue participating good on you but for the average person save your money instead of bankrolling these e celebs. If you must spend money spend on on hiring people to assassinate e celebs.

>>10314278
Am I mixing things up or wasn't there some game preservation thing which basically was just some weird dude's private collection and he had no interest of sharing any of the shit he collects and dumps in any way shape or form?

>>10314318
>Get comfortable emulating or FPGA
While you can't buy a CIB saturn for 20 bux anymore you can still get one for 70 bux.
So that's 10 saturns you could buy for one fpga.
I agree in the future just by scarcity fpga will be useful, but right now buying a real retro console and getting a free CRT at craigslist beats buying a fpga to hook it up to a laggy lcd screen.

>>10314326
Can’t mister hook up to CRTs? Otherwise yeah real consoles with flash carts are a great option as well. Just the games themselves are totally fucked price wise.

>>10314320
This is the place I talked to. If that is who it is then I'd reconsider.
https://www.gamepres.org/en/overview/members/

>>10314320
The Japanese Game Preservation Society is fairly legit:
https://youtu.be/H7X1ueD_tls?si=2VBdq76OAlGUYFjw

You're probably thinking of either John Hancock who's been claiming to be working on a museum theblast decade while still taking "donation" for it that just end up in his personal collection, or Frank Cifaldi with his "Video Game History Foundation" that gets a ton of funding yet still does not have a public location for people to see the collection and has nebulous-to-zero plans for such a thing even though that should be the priority but PLEASE donate to us to preserve video game history, guys!

>>10314330
Those guys seem to have a good reputation, even though they also just archive the games and romdump them but keep the romdumps private.
I dont think their archive is publically accessible, so basically its a fancy private video game hoarder club.

I do believe them when they claim they are genuinely interested in preservation of video games. But it's just odd they then put them in their archive forever to never resurface.

>>10314341
>You're probably thinking of either John Hancock who's been claiming to be working on a museum theblast decade while still taking "donation" for it that just end up in his personal collection, or Frank Cifaldi with his "Video Game History Foundation" that gets a ton of funding yet still does not have a public location for people to see the collection and has nebulous-to-zero plans for such a thing even though that should be the priority but PLEASE donate to us to preserve video game history, guys!

Oh yeah, I was probably thinking of these guys.
Pure fucking scum.

>>10304459
Once in a blue moon mandarake will have a decent deal. For instance, recently I was able to get the entire Gash Bell manga set for 100 bucks after shipping and a DX Kamen Rider toy for well under value… but covid really, really shot the import prices. Now the shipping costs just as much if not more than the thing you’re ordering. Mix that with the upped vidya prices and there’s just no point of trying to collect any more unless it’s something you absolutely love (even then, the way this economy is hitting nobody should really be spending money of frivolous things).

>>10314379
What the FUCK is up with shipping costs?
Like what's the official explanation for them still being THIS high even with air traffic between japan and the rest of the world having normalized?
It used to be "duh EMS ships their stuff with normal planes, they dont have their own cargo planes" but now normal air traffic has returned and the prices are still inflated.

>>10314384
I have no idea. What’s weirder still is that on eBay mandarake offers normal (or even free) shipping, but on their official site they still claim that covid has messed with the prices and it’s still around 5,000 to 8,000 yen if not more and it’s that way for most Japanese specialty sites that aren’t eBay or Amazon.

>>10314368
My stuff is already publicly available online, (Neo organic bioform, little Ralph,LSD,Germs,Gvector) but I really like the idea though of preserving the really rare games in my collection.

I talked to the video game history foundation and they seemed more interested in prototypes above nything else.

>>10314393
I think you have to mass order stuff(like 8-20 items) which would make it cheaper to import. It is a rip off to import only one item.

I forgot to mention there's this scum king on tiktok like auction site bulk buying japanese shit only for gullible idiots to buy scratched and damaged bullshit for high prices. It's some place in Rhode island. The people running that stream are a bit narcissistic and come off assholish.

I got in an argument over stream about the og Xbox having games and he got flabbergasted like a retarded fanboy.

>>10314402
Sell them to super potato when you wanna get rid of them. Super potato is basically a museum at this point, because with their inflated prices nobody is buying. lol

>>10314413
Aren't you required to have id/citizenship to sell stuff/trade in at those places?

>>10314402
>I talked to the video game history foundation and they seemed more interested in prototypes above nything else.
Frank Cifaldi is a very specifc type of autist, what is this called where he's obsessed with only prototypes and no commercially-released games, regardless of accessibility or rarity?

>>10314413
I mean there last sentence is pretty convincing "Your donation will be kept in our Tokyo archive and after it's preserved it will be available for research and copyright holders."

Prices are actually fantastic everywhere at this exact moment because of the weak yen. (Right now $1 is 150 yen.)
If you have anything you've been waiting to buy you should jump on it.
I've been going ham these past few weeks. I bought I think 86 books in total? These prices are just too good to pass up, I don't know when they're going to be this good again.
Coolest find so far is the first three Puyo Puyo novels. I'm skipping just having these on my shelf; can't wait to read them.

>>10314450
Exactly, Its really not expensive unless you only buying one thing. I've been doing that for the past year and was picking cheap Saturn games for 3-10 dollars.

>>10314424
Doubt it, but with japan's autism you never know.
>>10314437
Means your game will be locked up in a storage box until nintendo calls because they lost the rom to little ralph.
In theory this entire idea is cool, but I'm probably too burned by grifters and scammers in the videogame scene to take them by their word.
I mean how do you qualify to be a "researcher" and what does that entail?
Gotta be buddies with the club members?
Academic reserach?
It all sounds good but I would need practical examples of what theyre doing to trust them.

>>10314450
Books and a lot of different things will stay cheap for the time being. Used books have never been expensive in japan in the first place.
It's just videogames that got inflated. And some toys.

>>10314498
Art books aren't that cheap though. But I guess that depends on rarity

>>10314265
>>10314272
Glad im not the only disgruntled fuck that hates this lil shit.

>>10314517
>oy m8 its like a gamebruv, innit?

>>10314517
I just don't understand how you can be obsessed with one hardware platform, enough to attempt to own every variant of it and display them prominently, and have almost zero interest or knowledge about the games you're intended to play on the hardware, his obsession makes zero sense.

>>10314526
>remoinds me o me uncles facken speccy
>good ole days innit

>>10314526
Gross wtf
Get a shot of his """"""""""teeth""""""""""

>>10314531
that's free 'elfcare in action innit bruv

>>10314320
Something i find funny as fuck, is these game preservation organizations are similar to a scam i tried to pull as a kid in the early 90s. I was selling shit in a yardsale and i had the idea to scrawl out on a piece of notebook paper that all proceeds from the sale would go to the Arcade Game Preservation Museum, aka money for me to buy more video games. Guess i was ahead of the curve.

>>10314534
>WELL AT LEASHT OUR SKOOOS UNT GET'N SHOTOP

>>10314527
I had no strong feelings about this clown, but his japan videos rubbed me the wrong way immensely.
Seeing him walk through golden gai while rambling about "ITS LIKE IM REALLY IN CYBERPUNK" with fat tourists left and right to him really stung.
Like not enough to promote that hard-off raiding shit but also trying to get even more retarded tourists to destroy golden gai (pic related)

>>10314425
He seems to be more obsessed with gaming ephemera these days than he is with prototypes. And when it comes to prototypes, it seems like he's primarily interested in unreleased NES games (even if the game were released in another region - see: that Napoleon NES prototype auction that he shilled for on Twitter, resulting in the game selling for like $20,000 even though it was a localization prototype of some C-list Famicom game that nobody cares about)

>>10314538
>*whistles through the gap were his front teeth used to be* gawd save da facken king m8 love me faken gameboi innit

>>10314536
>Something i find funny as fuck, is these game preservation organizations are similar to a scam i tried to pull as a kid in the early 90s. I was selling shit in a yardsale and i had the idea to scrawl out on a piece of notebook paper that all proceeds from the sale would go to the Arcade Game Preservation Museum, aka money for me to buy more video games. Guess i was ahead of the curve.

Here's a video of the place.
Ihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyXaJvw_-B0

Agent 47 in a appartment full of videogames people donated to him.
I'm sure his motivations can be construed in either way.
Makes you wonder though.

>>10314526
Millennial and Gen X gaming YouTubers were just the tip of the turdberg.

>>10314541
I know its not all like this, but i just feel like japan becoming such a huge tourist location has made me not ever want to visit it now, or atleast not the big cities. I would be wondering the entire time how much is apart of an authentic experience intended for those living there and how much has been changed to appeal to foreign tourists or those to appeal to the weeb/JAPAN IS SOOO SUGOI mindset crowds that only very superficially give a fuck about seeing things in the country (which im sure can be said for all popular tourist destinations).

I think if i did go, i would have to wear a suit and carry a briefcase with me and larp as a foreign businessman since id feel so self conscious and embarrassed at promoting more of the very thing i feel like is killing the authenticity of a foreign country and how it presents itself to outsiders.

Yes im aware its autism.

>>10314296
dunno, they're interesting. especially finding stuff exclusive to my region (australia) like john sands sc-3000 stuff and HES atari carts.
though I played atari games as a kid, so I have at least some connection to those older games.

>>10314296
>I do wonder what the fascination is
The average zoomer buying this stuff is now in their early/mid 20s. Think about what was popular for nerdy, not-like-the-other-kids tweens and young teens ~10-15 years ago; they were watching Let's Players and game-based entertainers on YouTube, stuff like Game Grumps, JonTron, AVGN, etc, who frequently covered 80s/90s games. They were like the cool older brothers who told naughty stories and introduced them to things that weren't like what the other kids at school were playing, so naturally the young zoomers in the audience developed a fascination with those old games. It eventually snowballed into the popularity of Twitch streamers, which furthered the drive to accumulate 25++ year old games.

>>10314559
Good idea to study inner calmness techniques in preperation for what's to come.
>>10314564
> I think if i did go, i would have to wear a suit and carry a briefcase with me and larp as a foreign businessman since id feel so self conscious and embarrassed at promoting more of the very thing i feel like is killing the authenticity of a foreign country and how it presents itself to outsiders.
That's what I've been doing for 20 years now.
Dress like the locals.
Some areas of tokyo have been utterly obliterated by normie overtourism right now. And I think it would be half as bad if tourists at least dressed properly and not like fucking survivalists or in their silly shorts, sandals and white socks combo.
Also Akihabara while I still love it has also really gone to shit. You see more foreigners there than japanese people, so you get situations like entire tourist families walking down melonbooks straight into the hentai manga area, obvious normie tourist guys with their grumpy looking girlfriend walking into the erotic figurine stores.
And all prices are now with 500% tourist markup in akihabara.

>>10314583
have to love tourism. japanese come here to see the grand canyon. americans go to japan to see the toy store.

>>10314583
>entire tourist families walking down melonbooks straight into the hentai manga area, obvious normie tourist guys with their grumpy looking girlfriend walking into the erotic figurine stores
These people are playing with fire. Keep it up and these insecure Western women will start screeching about Japanese stores selling too many sexy anime girls and it'll all go away.

>>10314583
These thumbnails might make me into a serial killer, I swear

>>10312774
i replied because im having a good time!

>>10314584
>have to love tourism. japanese come here to see the grand canyon. americans go to japan to see the toy store.
Not only the toy stores, there's a few "cultural" areas in tokyo that are also overwhelmingly flooded with foreigners right now.
When I walked through ueno park this summer I legit saw more tourists than locals. Cherry on top was some white chick pushing around her black baby in a stroller next to benten-do in ueno.
Was like a 4chan meme come to life.

>>10314583
That sucks, but glad to see my suspensions from cursory observations were accurate.

Its probably great if you know locals in a smaller town or neighborhood less foreigners visit, who can show you authentic experiences in the area and not just consumerist glorified tourist traps. I mean id feel like an alien going there without even knowing Japanese.

Going there in the last 3 decades of the 20th century and being able to navigate yourself around must have been an incredible experience.

>>10314583
Are zoomer girls impressed when a skinnyfat broccoli headed zoomer boy shows off his collection of beat up SNES carts and custom painted GameBoy?

>>10314590
Yeah, you see a lot of those normie dudes wandering into otaku areas with their girlfriends and the girlfriends always look like theyre about to blow a gasket.
But they're also planning on redeveloping akihabara now into a more tourist friendly instagram spot kinda thing.
https://www.nhk.or.jp/shutoken/wr/20230915c.html
Shibuya has been almost entirely gutted anyways, also full of retard tourists and japanese country bumpkin chavs.
Havent been to osaka since 2019, but last time I was there dotonbori and namba were basically full of chinese tourists shopping for milk powder.
Also some of favourite izakaya streets near shiodome was entirely razed to the ground and replaced with huge-ass faceless hotel/mall fronts and some wine-bar thing where I only saw tourists gather.
Before that you had an entire street full of old wooden shaks full of all kinds of izakayas.

>>10314601
Does this guy even have a collection? I didnt bother clicking on his video but I assumed he bought the N64 pad for switch and just played the nintendo online roms.

>>10314564
visited a few weeks ago, it's plenty authentic outside of major tourist spots. most tourists seem to just go to the same places. spend as little time in tokyo as possible, learn at least some japanese, an you'll probably have a good trip.

>>10314598
First time I came to japan was 2004, back then I would see maybe 1 or 2 foreigners in places like akihabara or shibuya at max.
Was actually kinda shocking to see other gaijin back then.
I'd say japan is still worth a visit, depending on what you're looking for.
I mean even akihabara is still fun, I will never not love that place.
Knowing locals is great, but doing solo adventures until you meet some locals that wanna befriend you can be fun too.

The most important thing is knowing basic shit like body hygiene (dont be a smelly bastard), knowing how to stand on marked spaces (so you dont block trains) and generally be somewhat observant and attentive and know some basic language.

>>10314581
That actually makes sense.
I forgot how fucked up zoomer social dynamics must be from getting babysitted by freaks like egoraptor and all the other copycat gen x "retro game freak dude" niggers.

Preservation time

>>10314595
The only Japanese you'll find in ueno park are the homeless that live there

>>10314557
He looks like a fucking mannequin.

>>10314296
>>10314272
>>10314309
I wonder if it has to do with the fact that culture has stagnated so much and nothing new is really created. Nothing to look forward to so they look to the past and are nostalgic for things they never knew.

>>10314718
It's not so much stagnation, its just that the constant availability of everything at your fingertips has fundamentally changed culture in a sense that most people dont realize.
There is just as much good stuff being made as garbage was churned out in the past. It's just that now you can watch every classic movie at any given time, watch any classic cartoon show at any given time and play any given classic videogame whenever you want.
A lot of games in the past were considered "classics" 3 years after they released already.
You had to physically own a video game or a movie, some were physically rare, etc - some movies you only saw on tv during special occasions.
So some things still having a status as "classic" is a carryover from the times where it was just harder to constantly access media and things felt larger than life due to that.
Blade Runner 2049 was released 6 years ago.
In the 80s and 90s a 6 year old movie of that quality would be regarded a "classic" just because it was harder to access the movie after 6 years.
Now a 6 year old movie still feels fresh because you can instantly stream it on the shitter if you feel like it.

>>10314379
>>10314450
I collect doujinshi and the past couple of years year have been a dream for me with the exchange rate. Makes me glad that there's no YouTube audience for that sort of thing because the "treasure hunt" aspect is still alive and well.
>>10314564
I just came back from there a couple days ago. I had low expectations because of all of the doomposting about culture erosion over the years, but I enjoyed my time. If you want an authentic experience, my advice is to visit during the off-season and to do most of your sightseeing around sunrise, lunch hours, and around/after sunset when the local population is outside. Foreigners in touristy areas are unavoidable, but I was usually the only foreigner in a train car or walking down a street on most occasions outside of those specific places. The one thing that shocked me however are the tour buses packed with tourists that you would occasionally see clogging up some attraction. I remember walking to Himeji station and seeing a giant herd of literal boomers shuffling out of an alley like zombies to presumably see the castle with their tour guide. It makes me wonder who and what convinced them to visit Japan. Anyway, just visit and see for yourself before a natural disaster or war makes it impossible to visit. Every year there are more countries becoming inaccessible, so seize the opportunity to experience it before it's too late.
>>10314615
This, the level of tourists drops off dramatically as soon as you reach areas that aren't within close proximity to JR line stations or cities that aren't considered as major destinations to visit. The best thing you can do is to rent a car or to build your stamina to the point where you can walk far away from the main train stations.

>>10314965
>I collect doujinshi
Anything in particular? Happen to have any centered around old games which were published while the games were still current?
I used to be a huge collector but kinda lost interest and just have them all stuffed in boxes. Outside of porn (I remember shitposting on /h with scans from my copy of Double Princesses, back when it was unscanned and one of the most hotly desired doujins), I mostly went after "unique" stuff, like I have a Terminator 2 doujinshi from the early 90s, a Zelda-series doujinshi from years before the release of Ocarina of Time, a The House of the Dead one, and several based on Western cartoons (from before those became relatively commonplace during the 2010s).

>>10314992
>Anything in particular? Happen to have any centered around old games which were published while the games were still current?
The majority of what I have are h and non-h doujins of various anime and manga, but I'll start expanding the range of what I purchase to include fan doujins of older games. I only just started collecting in 2019, but I feel that it's still an accessible and affordable medium since there's a general consensus that used doujinshi are considered as low value goods similar to how retro games were viewed 15-20 years ago. The survival rate tends to be much lower(especially anything pre-2000s or pre-2010s) and the percentage of doujins that are unscanned dwarfs the percentage of games that are unreleased/untranslated, so it's a rewarding feeling whenever you find something unique or rare whereas with most games, every pixel on every level has been discussed online at some point. Hopefully you're able to hold on to your collection, it's something that possesses a lot of sentimental(and monetary) value.

>>10315075
Yeah, I don't plan on getting rid of them. I pretty much stopped collecting by the early 2010s, so a lot of my stash would probably be considered older. Thinking back, I even have an official release of a Tsurikichi Doumei H-CG floppy disk (with Mai Shiranui on the little cover). One or two of the Akira doujinshi I have date back to the 80s. Even though I've stopped buying doujins, I'd still like to find some Breaking Bad doujinshi, though I've only seen two which weren't text-only, and they seem to be hard to track down.

If you like H-doujin and old games, Super Mario Collection is a fun one. Long since been scanned, but the book itself still looks cool, being a knockoff of the SFC box plus the reflective foil Mario emblem.

>>10314276
>I mean at least we can argue that the millennials who do this shit actually were alive and gaming when it came out.
Depends on what group of millennials we're talking about; the '80s born ones, or the '90s borns that overlap with the group of zoomers who consumed trash like Fred and Ray William Johnson?

>>10315116
What are you even talking about

ITT: it’s ok if I’m a fat fedora wearing slob creep in Japan but If someone else does it it’s cringe

>>10315315
Yes.
>>10315109
Nice.

>>10315315
It's moreso about scalpers and vloggers harvesting the Japanese retro game ecosystem at an unsustainable rate. And as with visiting any country, it's ideal to try to see areas that aren't specifically designed to attract and cater to tourists if you want the most authentic experience. It might sound cringe, but the times I enjoyed the most were walking around borderline empty neighborhoods while taking in the sights.
>>10315109
Thanks for the recommendation. I bought it since there were actually a few copies for sale on Mandarake. If they're still active online, you might be able to contact the circle(s) that released the Breaking Bad doujinshi order to find leads.

>>10315292
You know damn well what I'm talking about.

>>10315564
I have no idea who the people you mentioned are

>>10315576
Much like I have no idea who these specific sorts of "zoomers" you people keep referring to are

Gayjin ecelebs ruined everything

>>10315423
The same artist also did a Super Mario RPG bit in another book, Muha!, which also features Guardian Heroes and Resident Evil. Again, long since been scanned, but it's still pretty great to see a Mario RPG doujinshi from when the game was still current (book was published in August 1996, and rhe artist's little box on the back even notes how he wants an N64). The artist even pokes fun at SMRPG's lack of a search command preventing the cast from rummaging through places and stealing shit. The end of the SMRPG strip teases Mario 64, but I don't think such a comic was ever released. The guy is clearly a Mario fan, so it's too bad he never continued. From a quick look he was releasing doujinshi as recently at 2018, so I assume he's still around.

>>10315423
Yeah but that’s not what half this thread is, it’s fat betas who were unsuccessful in the west so they took the teach English in Japan meme because they thought life would be like anime there, complaining about tourists, it’s Reddit tier embarsssing

>>10315758

>>10304473
>2023
>Not pirating your games and playing EVERY game on og hardware

>>10315817
Yeah that’s a good picture of the fat betas getting ignored by women in the US lmao

>collectors insist on buying up all the old cartridges
>prices get stupid
>collectors start buying up famicom games
>moonruners start complaining about dirty gaijin buying up all the games and driving prices of the used market up, ruining their retro hobby
>"tough shit, it's not my fault I can't buy a mint copy of X game for a decent price in the US!"
>prices for famicom games start getting stupid, and many JP sellers jack up the price for exports just because they know the collectors will pay
>collectors: surprisedpikachuface.jpg
The people complaining about this problem were the cause of it, so why the hell should I care? I already switched over to flashcarts, modchips, and ODE's ages ago.

>>10315920
It's not collectors that are the problem, it's hoarders and scalpers. A lot of the scarcity in japan was not caused by your average tourist collector going over there and buying one module but by weirdo reseller dweebs who just bulk buy all the games a shop has for a few thousand quid and then immediately put them on ebay for massively inflated prices.
That's the shitty thing, greedy retards aggresively buying up all stock.

>>10316068
>A lot of the scarcity in japan was not caused by your average tourist collector
Same in europe btw.
Germany had relatively sane retro prices but 15 to 10 years ago some scummy reseller shop from berlin basically batch bought every second hand shop, ebay auction, etc and put them all back with his "prices" and now those are the defacto prices.

>>10316074
Feels good to see le ebin 4chan libertarians get dabbed on by the “free” market over and over again then turn around and to bros what can we do to stop this?

>>10316089
Go back to /pol/ to fling shit with other brainlet election tourists.
Like what are you even talking about here?

>>10316089
retarded take
what do you suggest smug democrat?
have the big daddy goverment put laws in place to regulate the prices of fucking used videogames

truly unhinged
seek help anon
brainwashed AF

>>10315751
Thanks again, both of these were worth reading. Yeah it would've been interesting to see how he would've perceived and adapted Mario 64 and its mechanics. Even if he never continued down that specific path, it's still nice to see that a wide range of what he's published is still available online and it's also good to see his longevity as an artist considering that his circle has been actively releasing for decades with a pretty consistent artstyle at that.

>>10316419
>>10317576
Your solution to controlling prices is to go on an image board for retro games and uh, shit talk people into stopping? Good luck with moving the needle on that, this is a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the people actually buying these

>>10314256
Did you feel like James Bond?

>>10314384
Ever Given fucked up shipping schedules.

>>10310392
Lol

>>10304459
Why would I buy the real deal when I can have a single flashcart with all the games and still play on OG hardware.

>>10318167
You wouldn't get it. Its something those who still have a penis can only understand.

>>10318183
I'm not going to argue with a retard like you, you'll bring me down to your level and beat me with your experience.

>>10318190
I accept your defeat and lack of genitals.

>>10317870
this might be hard for your brain to understand
the free market will sort itself out
stop obsessing over what other people do
you cannot control other people

>>10304459
Pay the market price or play another way. The resellers are the ones keeping these games in stock. If you want to blame someone blame the governments retarded copyright laws that don't let people make new cartridges of old games.

>>10318407
It’s doing that right now and leading to sperg seethe, it will “sort itself out” at extreme prices and it will never go down because they aren’t being made anymore

>>10318440
So for some reason japan had 30 year of a working second hand market with proper storage and listings until greedy resellers swooped in, bought up all stock, inflated prices and now nobody is buying or selling anymore while the games wither away in some dingus' moldy condo, thus reducing the absolute volume of good sold?
Sounds like fucking bad business to me.

>>10318631
It’ll reset, just like the housing market, 2 more weeks