One store that comes up often enough in the retro gaming community when talking about where to buy retro games in Japan is Super Potato. Their devotion to retro titles is difficult to match in Japan, and if you've ever been in one of their locations, it's quick to see why.
My little brother and I just returned from a two week vacation in Osaka, Japan and had the pleasure is visiting Super Potato located in Den Den Town. Den Den Town is a special shopping arcade that stretches along the main street in the ward of Nipponbashi. It focuses purely on electronics, which extend to video games, anime, movies, figures, and almost all other corners of nerd culture. Some refer to it as the Akihabara of Osaka.
Super Potato is very easy to find. In fact, we really just stumbled onto it, rather than having to search for it. It sits proudly in the middle of Den Den Town on the west side, and has a big 'ol Mario out front.
On the first floor are all the current and relavant consoles. Playstation 3, Playstation 2, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Gameboy Advance, Nintendo Wii, Gamecube, and so forth. But upstairs is the true treasure. Upstairs has software from pretty much every other console not represented downstairs.
Sega Saturn, PC Engine, Game Guides, Mega Drive 32x...
Nintendo 64, Mega Drive, Game Boy, Game Gear, Wonder Swan, Mega Drive CD, Master System, Sega Dreamcast, Neo Geo, Neo Geo CD...
Super Famicom...
Famicom and Famicon Disc System...
and Playstation
Each of those pictures is a thumbnail to a larger panoramic picture. Click to see!
Personally, I was only looking for Dragon Quest Rocket Slime on GBA, but I had a list of several other games that friends and family were looking for. Most notably, I was looking to buy a Famicom, a Disc System, and a couple of games for my brother-in-law. And this was definitely the place to do it.
Thanks to Super Potato that was an easy task to stratch off of my to-do list. I picked up 10 games to go along with the consoles. Some were Japanese-only Famicom titles, and a few were Japanese version of games released here in the states.
Super Potato didn't have everything I was looking for, and their prices were slightly higher than other stores, but it's definitely a sight to behold.