Retro Gaming Smorgasburg

[Arlia Janet]

I have lived and worked in Japan for about two years now. One peculiar trait that gaijin should quickly learn is that "last year's models" of just about anything you can buy in Japan fall out of vogue pretty quickly and can be picked up on the cheap by those like me who are less concerned with the concept of face.
While shopping for a bigger baby crib that costs less than $1000 and is also NOT made out of wafer thin hairs of plastic supported only by modeling glue and prayer, I stumbled upon a motherload of retro gaming goodness.

The bomberman on the top row is a disappointment to his father on the bottom row.

The store itself could not be more cliche with traditional Okinawan styled music playing over speakers without any plastic in them while a white haired Obasan swept out the narrow stairway/entrance/only escape path in case of a fire with a straw broom. Despite the throwback feel of the place, if you worm your way past the wood paneled record players and glass-sphere fishing buoys, you will find yourself in a retro museum of gaming goodness.

Pretty sure that rapier is stuck right up the pooper.

This place is JAM PACKED with gamer treasures. I got light headed from nostalgia overload when I walked in. It felt like I got uppercut by Mario just by getting so close to his home. I wanted (NEEDED!) a handsome young man to walk in, so I had someone to embrace and share this wonderfully passionate moment with, but that never happened, so I took a deep breath, wiped the tears off of my filthy cheeks, and started digging through the massive selection.

"Ne-en-te-n-do roku ju shi so fu to... this Nihongo stuff is easy!"

It's a healthy mix of used and new- meaning not sold when at retail way back in the heyday. They have everything from untouched Famicoms to beater 3DO's, and as far as games, they have all of those classics plus those region locked games I was always envious of growing up where Nintendo Power made Japan seem like the Mecca of gaming. It turns out I was right all along, but I'm about two decades too late with my pilgrimage.

I'm here now! Take advantage of this opportunity and forget that the weakening yen rate makes you poorer and poorer with each passing day. Or that your phone is almost dead and without GoogleMaps you are 80% likely to not be able to make it back to the train station or anywhere else.

Deep breaths now...

I am literally spoiled for choice. Where to start? Should I get the gray (excuse-to-be-gunned-down-by-a-policeman) Famicom zapper or the sealed box of Final Fantasy 6 with included World of Balance/World of Ruin maps? Should I pick up a Japanese only game like Splatterhouse or that one over there that I secretly suspect is an unlicensed famicom porno game? That Pikachu themed N64 looks valuable... or should I begin digging for the Mother series?

Wait.
What is that in the tatami area?

Oh.
My.
God.

It's so bad.
It's so bad.
2000 yen for a vacuum sealed, in the original box power glove.

Givemegivemegiveme. I know it didn't work when it was new. That's not the point! This is pop culture history and it's mine now.

There you have it. I have found the promised land teased by Nintendo Power's Top 100 lists and teaser prints of games that never came. I need to prepare for my next visit so I'm not dazed by the mule kick of overstimulation. I need to plan my next attack. What's worth having and what's worth ignoring? I should pick up a crib next trip as well.

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