Day 9: Akihabara (the return continued)
Eventually I stumbled across Traders, which is one of the bigger game stores in the area. Aside from all the first run releases, they had a real random assortment of odds and ends, such as this other shump superplay DVD…
As well as a bunch of old systems (including the Jaguar CD?!?!) stuck literally in a corner, below the stairs…
Plus this blanket near the adults only section of the store…
I had heard that Traders had a good reto section, and it turned out to be very true…
It’s such a shame that even Super Famicoms get discolored like the American SNES…
RECCA SUMMER CARNIVAL!!!!
Though next stop was the grand Mecca of classic Japanese gaming goodness: Super Potato! The one retro video game store to rule them all. It had been a dream, an obsession to one day make it there, finally the culmination of a grand journey as at hand…
The first floor is pretty much entirely dedicated to 8 and 16 bit consoles, mostly the Famicom, Super Famicom, PC Engine, and Mega Drive…
I was surprised by how many consoles were available for purchase, and price for them were not at all bad!
And a lot of them were available to mess around with…
The Famicom had the largest share of floor space, software wise…
There was also plenty of Mega Drive and SuperFami soft was well…
As well HuCards…
And Neo Geo carts…
Even MSX games!
Found this Japanese Atari 2600 near the floor…
And here’s a stack of bootleg Mega Drive units, which is obviously from the same mold that the Genesis 3 (which I have) is based upon. I’ve love it if not for the fact that video board is so fucking flakey (and missing the Z90 chip, so I can’t play Virtua Racing)…
Before becoming Pac Man, you had Puck Man…
There was also plenty of game related goods, like toys…
I really wish I could understand, otherwise I would have gotten these; they’re superplays DVDs, I think? From what I saw, there was this one dude who played Super Mario Bros 2 (the Japanese original, or “Lost Levels” as it’s know here in the US) with electrodes hooked-up to him. Plus he spoke as he played (what he was saying I have no idea, obviously). Was damn good too (the game is hella hard). I also get the sense he had been playing for days straight without sleep or something else experimental…
The way up to the second floor…
… Which was filled with PSone, Saturn, N64, and handheld stuff, mostly original Game Boy and Game Boy Color…
There was even a good number of Game & Watches to be found…
They even had vintage strategy guides…
Plus some game soundtracks…
Sealed copies of various PSone games, including Pazner Bandit, Lain, and Geppy X…
The special Saturn section included multiple copies of the holy grail, Radiant Silvergun. There was even one sealed!
And in the special Dreamcast case, you had De La Jet Set Radio, which I wanted to buy for the cover alone…
Some covers to old Namco newsletters on the wall…
Good ol’ ROB…
And the top was a retro arcade, with Solid Snake watching over…
