If you're thinking about "trading" with used game stores here, they'll only offer you something like 10% of what they'll turn around and sell for.
To get full value for anything, you basically have to sell directly to customers who are willing to pay the full market value on Yahoo Auctions. eBay is not a thing here.
Bringing anything of value on a trip overseas when you're not sure of its value in the market or even if you can find a buyer in a language you might not understand may open you up to the risk of losing it somewhere, getting shortchanged or much less than you would in a market that appreciates it, or simply wasting valuable luggage space on unsold items.
My advice: save the space and just bring spending money.
Cheesemeister: Do they ever have retro gaming conventions over there in Japan like we have over here. We just had the Super Famicon convention here in Greensboro, NC last month. There seems to be some gaming convention someplace in the US just about every month of the year. Can you think of anything like this that would provide an environment that encourages the hobby or trading? ...Doesn't necessarily have to be in Akihabara
Japan does not have retro game flea markets where collectors sell to each other, as Yahoo Auctions serves that purpose. There are also still game stores and recycle shops like Book-Off/Hard-Off that do trade-ins and used sales. In terms of video game events, we have...
Seems like buying nes games in japan is the way to go then seem them back here. Non sports games always bring better than $3 as a general rule.
What? No. Please re-read my post. What few NES games there are in Japan specialty game stores are generally priced well above US market value, and attempting to sell to a store here won't get you anything close to that value.
It just seems like a complete waste of time to go halfway around the world to lose money attempting trade-ins. Vacation time, which can be quantified with a dollar per hour value (don't forget local train fares), is much better spent just shopping for games instead.
Another vote for the "Don't bother, bring cash" option here!
I was in Japan earlier this year for five days (sounds like you are proposing a similar, or perhaps even shorter trip), and I only had two half-day opportunities to really go game hunting. With all the time you are spending on the subway and traipsing between the limited number of retro stores in a given area, and stopping in other unrelated stores if you have other interests (or travelling with company), and stopping for food W/C breaks... basically you want to spend as much time as possible in the actual game stores themselves browsing and lining up potential purchases. Fitting a series of trade-in negotiations to this is going to be disruptive, to say the least...
Are you going up to the counter first, to line up your credit, then going into the aisles to pick out your purchases? Are you picking stuff first, only hoping that when you get to the counter they are gonna offer you enough to make the whole thing worth it? These stores are positively CRAMMED with more games than you can possibly look through, and your head is gonna be spinning thinking about what you actually want to buy. You could seriously spend 3 hours in one of these places and not see everything, especially when you are comparing prices in your head and budgeting what little spending money you have left.
Besides, having been to these places recently, I can tell you, negotiating in English is not gonna be an option. And they are real sticklers for condition, to boot... You aren't gonna be able to rock up with a dusty copy of Castlevania 2 or a sun bleached mario 3 and walk away with a huge payout. Then you're juggling unsold trade items in your backpack with the treasures you've picked up in the stores...The whole thing seems unrealistic to me, based on my experience.
There is a ton of stuff to look at and I didn't want to spend my life in just super potato. My suggestion to you is do what I did, take screenshots on your phone and go up to the counter and ask them if they have the item in your pictures. It's how I found what I wanted.
Comments
If you're thinking about "trading" with used game stores here, they'll only offer you something like 10% of what they'll turn around and sell for.
To get full value for anything, you basically have to sell directly to customers who are willing to pay the full market value on Yahoo Auctions. eBay is not a thing here.
Bringing anything of value on a trip overseas when you're not sure of its value in the market or even if you can find a buyer in a language you might not understand may open you up to the risk of losing it somewhere, getting shortchanged or much less than you would in a market that appreciates it, or simply wasting valuable luggage space on unsold items.
My advice: save the space and just bring spending money.
Cheesemeister: Do they ever have retro gaming conventions over there in Japan like we have over here. We just had the Super Famicon convention here in Greensboro, NC last month. There seems to be some gaming convention someplace in the US just about every month of the year. Can you think of anything like this that would provide an environment that encourages the hobby or trading? ...Doesn't necessarily have to be in Akihabara
Japan does not have retro game flea markets where collectors sell to each other, as Yahoo Auctions serves that purpose. There are also still game stores and recycle shops like Book-Off/Hard-Off that do trade-ins and used sales. In terms of video game events, we have...
All-Japan Cocktail Cabinet Fan Association https://m.facebook.com/cocktailcabinet
BitSummit http://bitsummit.org
Comic Market (section w/ new indie games for sale) http://www.comiket.co.jp/index_e.html
Japan Game Museum (closed for renovations) http://www.one-more-time.jp/game/
Japan Retro Game Association http://jarga.or.jp
Pixel Art Park http://pixelartpark.com
Tokyo Game Show http://expo.nikkeibp.co.jp/tgs/
Of the price tags that can be read, we see...
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DPdkT1BUMAA5f8M.jpg:large
1600 yen Dynowarz
2200 yen Home Alone 2
2800 yen Legendary Wings
2500 yen Low G Man
2580 yen Q-Bert
2000 yen Total Recall
So if we compare what you'd potentially get assuming 10% for trade-in values vs. the current eBay values...
160 yen vs. $5.99 Dynowarz
220 yen vs. $6.14 Home Alone 2
280 yen vs. $7.99 Legendary Wings
250 yen vs. $5.50 Low G Man
258 yen vs. $7.01 Q-Bert
200 yen vs. $4.22 Total Recall
And yes, they do have StarTropics in stock as of this photo.
If I were collecting NES games in Japan, I'd sooner import from the US. And that's exactly what I did, with the following exceptions:
2500 yen Balloon Fight
1301 yen Defenders of Dynatron City
480 yen Gumshoe
172 yen Hoops
9000 yen Metal Storm
1500 yen Monster Truck Rally
648 yen RoboCop
The rest is just crap. It's ironic, I've been playing through a lot of this crap recently for the Famicom book I'm writing.
No love for Star Tropics?
Seems like buying nes games in japan is the way to go then seem them back here. Non sports games always bring better than $3 as a general rule.
What? No. Please re-read my post. What few NES games there are in Japan specialty game stores are generally priced well above US market value, and attempting to sell to a store here won't get you anything close to that value.
It just seems like a complete waste of time to go halfway around the world to lose money attempting trade-ins. Vacation time, which can be quantified with a dollar per hour value (don't forget local train fares), is much better spent just shopping for games instead.
The rest is just crap. It's ironic, I've been playing through a lot of this crap recently for the Famicom book I'm writing.
No love for Star Tropics?
The rest is just crap. It's ironic, I've been playing through a lot of this crap recently for the Famicom book I'm writing.
No love for Star Tropics?
It is like if Earthbound was a Zelda-like instead of an RPG...and was actually a good game
Ooh, shots fired.
The Grid based movements are integral to the design. Zoda's Revenge removed that aspect and suffers as a result
Very true, but it does take a minute to get used to it if you've never played a game like it before. Once you're a little ways in, it isn't an issue.
The Grid based movements are integral to the design. Zoda's Revenge removed that aspect and suffers as a result
Agreed, Zodas Revenge is very much inferior as a result.
It completely compromises the puzzle style to have fluid movement rather than grid based movement.
I was in Japan earlier this year for five days (sounds like you are proposing a similar, or perhaps even shorter trip), and I only had two half-day opportunities to really go game hunting. With all the time you are spending on the subway and traipsing between the limited number of retro stores in a given area, and stopping in other unrelated stores if you have other interests (or travelling with company), and stopping for food W/C breaks... basically you want to spend as much time as possible in the actual game stores themselves browsing and lining up potential purchases. Fitting a series of trade-in negotiations to this is going to be disruptive, to say the least...
Are you going up to the counter first, to line up your credit, then going into the aisles to pick out your purchases? Are you picking stuff first, only hoping that when you get to the counter they are gonna offer you enough to make the whole thing worth it? These stores are positively CRAMMED with more games than you can possibly look through, and your head is gonna be spinning thinking about what you actually want to buy. You could seriously spend 3 hours in one of these places and not see everything, especially when you are comparing prices in your head and budgeting what little spending money you have left.
Besides, having been to these places recently, I can tell you, negotiating in English is not gonna be an option. And they are real sticklers for condition, to boot... You aren't gonna be able to rock up with a dusty copy of Castlevania 2 or a sun bleached mario 3 and walk away with a huge payout. Then you're juggling unsold trade items in your backpack with the treasures you've picked up in the stores...The whole thing seems unrealistic to me, based on my experience.