Orochinagi: The King of Fighters

Looking for a stick?  Looking for parts?  Retro goods?  Vintage consoles?  Or just cheap / used console accessories?  If so, this guide is for you.  If you’re looking for anime goods, go back to the main page and select the link from there.

MAK JAPAN

Go up this road, where the white van is

Just go here and get your parts ok?  The owner is very nice and you’ll find loads of old kit such as MVS carts in bundles for insanely cheap prices, as well as the newest Sanwa and Seimitsu parts (plus other brands).  Walking along Chuo dori, the main street of Akihabara (same street as HEY arcade) towards Souehirocho station, look for Excelsior Caffe on your left.  Turn left into the side street directly before you hit Excelsior, and then look on your left hand side for a passage way into the building.  There is a little sign outside that details the shops on each floor.  Mak Japan is on the 5th floor.  There is an elevator, take it!

Go through this door!

MAK Japan’s website

[ google map link ]

trader-messe-sanoh-map

Trader 1 and Messe Sanoh on Chuo Dori. Beware of prices, but take note of stock.  Trader 1 had the Garou NG stick for PS2 and Messe Sandou was the only place I saw 2k2UM in stock…

LAOX Computer has closed down so don’t bother trying to find it.

LAOX Duty Free is a bit of a joke – they were trying to sell Guitar Freaks (Heroes) World Tour Box Set for 28,000 (US$294 / £175) when you can get it for much cheaper in your own country!

It’s easy to find LAOX DF, you’ll see it at the top of Chuo Dori, as you’re crossing the road near Sega/Hey.  The selection of console stuff was barely a corner’s worth and if anything to judge by, the whole store was pretty empty.  Fancy a US PS2 for 20,000 yen?  Are you mad?  It may be better to buy other things there – they were selling their “top model” Canon EOS 10MP camera for 474,286 without duty.  Note for those trying to shop duty free in general, you only get the duty free price if you spend over 10,000yen and don’t forget to bring your passport.  Theoretically you could bring all your receipts to the airport and try to claim there but I’ve never had the time for that kind of paperwork.

Trader 2 (left side)

Trader 2 is under the bridge opposite KFC.  The ground floor greeted me with VF5 and DOA4 sticks for around 7,300 yen and upstairs a floor’s worth of vintage including the Hori Neogeo Stick for 1,680 and MVS KOF 96 for 3,880.  Note I didn’t see any KOF 98 carts ANYWHERE.  New 98 boards were being sold at Mak Japan, for crying out loud.  Trader reminds me of CEX in the UK- 2nd hand goods at quite expensive prices for the mainstream, but of course when they’ve got something rare, what can you do?  You should visit all the Trader shops, really.

Messe Sanoh‘s Import Shop. If you’ve just arrived from the West, don’t step into this shop.  It’s an import shop, selling all kinds of US games and stuff.  However, seeing their GI Joe collection, with Blanka still sealed in his card, gave the visit some sort of merit.

[ Google Map Link ]

Ishimaru – Big department store around the back, past Messe Sanoh’s import shop.  In my notes, I wrote down “shit” so I guess there’s not much else to say.

Super Potato.  Serious about vintage.  Obviously you’ll get a nice feeling of nostalgia when you reach the 3rd and 4th floors, I just hope you got some cash to spare!

Super Potato (on the left)

[ google map link ] It doesn’t go close enough – however, if you come from this direction, it’s obvious.

NS Time

NS Time (Duty Free Game Shop) Across the road from Book Off, this store looked like some dingy oriental stall compared to the usual shiny store, but in the spirit of exploration I decided to nip across to check it out.  Here is where I found a PS1 generic stick, a Sega Saturn Stick and both versions of the KOF XII sticks.  Uh… so much for HRAP.  God bless the spirit of exploration.  The store owner seemed quite proud to sell me the NG stick 2 and said something about hachiban… uh… oh well (Edit- I’m told he most probably just had a funny accent – so he was actually saying “kore wa ichiban” which means “this is the best” hehe damn right!).  But anyway, definitely worth a visit if you’re into sticks, that was the only place I found the NG stick 2 for PS3.

NS TIME

[ google map link ]

Book Off

Book Off is a chain of stores that specialises in manga with the odd small game section (for example the Ueno store has practically nothing) but the store in Akiba has lots of console stuff.  This is where I saw the Japanese SFIV Fight stick for 14,000.  Here I bought KOF MIA / Another Day box set for 1,500 yen.  OMG CHEAP!  In fact, the cheapest prices I saw for 2nd hand games in general.  And yes, it was mint condition.

[ google map link ]

Yodobashi Akiba is worth a look.  It is a massive department chain store but it also stocks 2nd hand goods.  It has a decent selection of sticks too.  I found PS3 Neogeo Sticks on sale for £14.  You read correctly.  I was laughing.  You can hate me now.

yodobashi-akiba

[ google map link ]

Softmap

Another department store, and there’s loads around Akiba.  Go early, and check them out.  You will be exhausted.  I can safely say visit this one (map link).

Unsorted Notes

There’s a shop next to Trader 1 on Chuo Dori selling the ROYDS Stick EX for 3,980.  The ROYDS stick has interchangable button layouts and can be modded (but I think the buttons are soldered on?).

Buying a HRAP3: Softmap was selling it for 6,890, while the shop next to Trader 1 sold it for 7,500… just shows you gotta shop around…

Done?  You should check out the other sections of this guide: food, anime etc.

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