The English-language version is due on the American wing of PSN next month, but for those of you who just can’t wait to play a disc-free version of what is undoubtedly one of the good’uns in Square Enix’ hit-and-miss series of epic RPGs, well, Final Fantasy IX is now officially available for download from the Japanese PlayStation Store.

Weighing in at 1550MB (the original was split across four discs) and costing 1,500 yen, everything about the reappearance of FFIX a decade on from its original release says “BIG ADVENTURE”. Thing is, have you even finished FFXIII yet?

Posted by J.D. on 20/05/10 in Import Essentials, Japan, Retail, Spotlight, Top Japanese Games, and tagged with FFIX, Final Fantasy, Game Archives, PlayStation Store, PS3, PSP, retro, RPG, Square Enix.
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There doesn’t seem to be any reason behind the schedules for uploading content to PSN/XBLA/wherever. It’s almost like the people at Sony/MS/wherever haven’t bothered to plan months in advance, and instead make do with Tuesday 9.30am “emergency staff meetings” where much coffee is consumed, whiteboards consulted and some bright spark called “Hideki” remembers that Hudson actually left a couple of games on the company servers last week.

It’s just as well for Hideki that both of these PC-Engine titles are excellent examples of a genre popular with “hardcore” Japanese gamers – and we’re not talking bouncing boob observation sims! Nope, 600 yen will instead buy you PS3/PSP-compatible versions of Gradius (pictured above) or Deta na!! Twinbee (pictured below). Both are top titles, with Gradius edging things by a light year or two. No boobs, though, otaku pack. Blame Hideki.

Posted by J.D. on 19/05/10 in Hardcore, Japan, Retail, and tagged with Game Archives, Gradius, PC-Engine, PS3, PSN, PSP, retro, shmups, Twinbee.
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Lots of old games for not very much money - but do you want them?

There’s a lot to be said for buying in bulk, though it doesn’t always work out (just ask Manchester City fans). With that in mind, I trawled through the infinite pages of Yahoo! Auctions to find some of the best job lot game auctions on the site. Here are some of the best and worst deals I clicked on:

100 PlayStation games – no duplicates, all with instructions, some missing their spine cards – for a starting price of 3,800 yen and with a Buy It Now of 7,800 yen.

300 Super Famicom cassettes for a starting price of 15,000 yen – that’s 50 yen per game, but most of them are probably pachinko simulators…

200 Famicom cassettes for a starting price of 10,000 yen – same deal as above.

400 Super Famicom cassettes for a starting price of 20,000 yen. OK, let’s move on.

100 Super Famicom cassettes for 3,000 yen? That’s more like it – the photos show you exactly what you’re getting, and what you’re getting includes F-Zero, Star Fox, DQV and FFVI!

And at the other end of the pitch:

100 rare Famicom games, all boxed and everything… for 80,000-120,000 yen! Hey, if you like your games mint…

More than 100 Mega Drive titles for a starting price of 262,000 yen, for which you could very possibly buy a car.

Posted by J.D. on 18/05/10 in Gaming Culture, Hardcore, Japan, Retail, Spotlight, and tagged with retro, Yahoo! Auctions.
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If you’ve always dreamed of owning a 1/100 scale resin cast model of one of the two main ships from Cave shmup Ketsui, firstly: respect.

Secondly, that dream can come true if you’re quick to sign up for one of Japanese company RC Berg Ltd.’s super-limited run of Tiger Schwert and Panzer Jager productions! Each kit costs a hefty 14,700 yen (£110/$160) plus delivery. Orders need to be placed here by June 30 at the latest, and RC Berg will start shipping the kits out at the end of June.

RC Berg has form in this field, having recently produced an awesome high-detail replica model of the Type-A ship from Dodonpachi Daioujou as well as this superb Solvalou replica.

Posted by J.D. on in Gaming Culture, Hardcore, Import Essentials, Japan, and tagged with Cave, Ketsui, models, shmups, Toys.
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Eight new (old) PlayStation games were uploaded to the Game Archives area of Japan’s PlayStation Store the other day, and they’re not all that rough – diamonds in the mix include Cave’s legendary DonPachi and TechnoSoft’s curious mech battle thing Steeldom.

These games are 600 yen apiece as usual and all are compatible with your PSP, if you still have one lying around somewhere. Here’s the full list complete with single-line summaries:

DonPachi - a heavenly trip through bullet hell, developed by Cave but not in a cave.

Zero Divide 2 – clanky robot fighting with rusty polygons and a distinct lack of oil. Not nice.

Steeldom (aka Koutetsu Reiiki) – Virtual-On meets Armored Core on a 60fps historical excursion. Is nice.

Simple 1500: Sekai Saikyou Ginboshi Igo 3 – Go!

Simple 1500: The Darts – probably the only darts game with an American comic-style story mode.

Simple 1500: The Helicopter – take a guess.

Simple 1500: The Casino – with chips.

Simple 1500: The Puzzle 2 – Mr. Driller in different clothes and with no shoes.

Posted by J.D. on in Hardcore, Import Essentials, Japan, Top Japanese Games, and tagged with D3 Publisher, Donpachi, Game Archives, PSN, retro, shmup, Simple 1500, Technosoft.
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There’s apparently just one week remaining until the mystery of SEGA Japan’s next-360action.sega.jp site is explained by a mustachioed Belgian as we assemble in the Internet’s study and scoff canapés and try to look interested. Today’s countdown comment chirps, “At one time there were loads of these ‘preview sites’ around, but you don’t see them much these days, do you?” (Or Japanese words to that effect.)

So what could it be? Answers in the comments section.

GaijinGamer’s 100% Unreliable Prediction? A new IP featuring space marines. Or Virtual Shenmue – a Shenmue simulator.

Posted by J.D. on 17/05/10 in Hardcore, Japan, Top Japanese Games, and tagged with 360, countdown, SEGA.
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You always know where you are with Yuji Naka. Like so many of the best individualist Japanese game creators, he seems to operate carefully and quietly inside a rainbow-colored bubble floating high, high above the turd-brown modern gaming landscape of FPSes and BIG WAR. He probably doesn’t even know what a “space marine” is. So it’s quite appropriate that Prope, his preciously constructed team of developers, would produce something like this:

And it’s just a predictable (in a good way) that, having perched Ivy on the DS and Wii last month, Yuji Naka and his people would follow that up with the release of a book guaranteed to delight any child who has yet to learn what a “space marine” is. If that’s YOU, lucky reader, get along to Amazon.co.jp and order a copy of this 28-page marvel right away.

Posted by J.D. on in Bizarre, Gaming Culture, Hardcore, Import Essentials, Japan, Retail, Spotlight, Top Japanese Games, and tagged with .
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Safe in the knowledge that no one can resist the offer of another T-shirt of their favourite game character at a disgusting price, Nintendo and Japanese clothes retailer Right-on (actually a very good store, and a worthy alternative to UNIQLO in the threads-for-Japan’s-masses stakes) have sat down with their tailors and Singer sewing machines to design and weave a new range of six retro-ific Super Mario tees also featuring Yoshi, Koopa, Kinopio, Wario and Star.

To get kitted out you’ll need 2,600 yen (£20/$28) and access to a Right-on store, 300 of which are dotted around Japan. As the shirt above says, GET THE COINS!

Posted by J.D. on in Cosplay, Gaming Culture, Hardcore, Japan, Retail, and tagged with fashion, Mario, retro, Right-On, t-shirts.
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Nintendo has been using and re-using the celebs-on-a-sofa-in-a-screen-full-of-white-space TV ad concept for so long now that it’s like The Zelda Rap* never happened. At least these chaps are clearly having fun playing Super Mario Galaxy 2, and aren’t just deliriously happy because they each got a 1,000 million yen bonus for 20 minutes’ work…

*NCL’s marketing team were once capable of this:

Posted by J.D. on 12/05/10 in I Don't Understand, Japan, Retail, Top Japanese Games, and tagged with Arashi, J-pop, Nintendo, Super Mario Galaxy 2, TV CM, Wii.
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(Image cheekily borrowed from Inside-Games)

So you live in Japan and fancy some iPad gaming for those times when you’re reclining on the tatami, sipping a vegetable chu-hi and waiting for the somber news bulletin to end before the genki baseball broadcast resumes? Well you’re in luck, as the iPad’s Japan launch is just a few weeks away!

Here are the core details for fans of bullet points and juicy Apple info:

Apple Stores, Softbank shops and “electrical retail outlets” around Japan have been accepting iPad reservations since May 10th.

The thing will be available to buy, hold and caress on May 28th.

Wi-fi models come in at 16GB (48,960 yen – that’s £355/$525 at current rates), 32GB (59,040 yen) and 64GB (68,880 yen).

3G-capable models that feed off Softbank signals are slightly more expensive – 16GB at 58,320 yen, 32GB at 67,920 yen, and 64GB at 77,280 yen.

There are two Softbank data subscription plans for 3G net access: a two-year contract at a basic 2,910 yen (£21/$31) per month, and a pre-paid service allowing charges for 1GB of data transfers for 4,410 yen (£31/$47) with no need for a contract.

Posted by J.D. on 11/05/10 in Retail, Spotlight, and tagged with Apple, iPad, Japan, Softbank.
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