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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

No related posts.

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!

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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:

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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.

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As of today, anyone with access to Japanese DSiWare and 200 DSi Points in their wallet can get a software version of the Shooting Watch called あぁあの懐かしのシュウォッチ (”That Dear Old Shooting Watch”). But it’s actually quite a bit more than the gizmo it’s based on: new features include music from Star Soldier, a proper stopwatch function and “slot game” mode, and the option of signing your best feats to make sure no one else takes the credit.

Check out the inspired demo videos here if you need proof of the value of あぁあの懐かしのシュウォッチ in a social setting!

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The new Ikki on PS3

Already available in Japan via PSN in its original arcade format as part of Memorial Series Sunsoft Vol. 1, 1985-vintage “thieving” game Ikki – a distant Japanese ancestor of Grand Theft Auto (perhaps) – is currently being prepped as a modern PS3 game called Ikki Online to coincide with the original’s 25th birthday.

New features include online play, with 12-player battles between teams of Peasant/Farmers and “Evil Edo Governors” and a “prisoner system” that means defeated players can be captured by the opposition, single- and two-player co-op options in the main game, and the choice of new or “classic” (see below) visual styles. No chance of nicking a copy as it’s down for a release via PSN, but Ikki Online looks like it could make the summer a good one. Trust Sunsoft to deliver.

Ikki Online in "classic" mode

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Wonder Project J2: anime adventuring from 15 years ago.

Back in 1996, when even the most limited of N64 developers were feverishly working to plagiarise Super Mario 64, and failing, Enix (then without Big Sister Square’s shoulder to cry on) came up with an anime-styled adventure that went completely against the grain. It was called Wonder Project J2, and it starred a girl who was a robot and your quest was to help her become human (as though that’s some kind of step up!). Of course it was never given an official* English-language release.

The news? You can now play this classic on your iMode-capable keitai for 600 yen. And yes, all 6,000 conversational exchanges are preserved just as they were in the N64 original – great for kanji practice!

*If you don’t mind getting your fingernails dirty, click here for the excellent fan translation of the N64 version in shady ROM format.

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