This afternoon, I hit the streets of Akihabara. I wasn’t looking for the best deals, but the most expensive games I could find.
No doubt there are other expensive games and hardware, but here are the pricest ones I found at Beep, Mandarake Complex, Retro Game Camp, Super Potato, and Surugaya Specialty Store (note: Friends was closed today).
The rap on Akihabara has long been that it’s expensive, and the prices here seem to be running high. The quality of the games and boxes did look top-notch.
At Super Potato, one of the rarer Japanese Mega Drive games Maximum Carnage is going for 598,000 yen ($5,572). The price of this game has gone up. Kotaku first spotted it at Super Potato in 2008 for a mere $950. What a steal! I wonder if it’s the exact same copy.
Also at Super Potato, Metal Slug X is priced at 698,000 yen ($6,505) and Sengoku 3 is 498,000 yen ($4,641).
Here is the part of the article in which we marvel at expensive Neo Geo games.
Several of these Neo Geo games cost between $1,000 and $2,000 at Surugaya Specialty Store. Blazing Star is a cool 598,000 yen ($5,573).
At Mandarake Complex, more Neo Geo games costing two thousand dollars, three thousand dollars, and up.
Shoot-’em-up Eliminate Down is one of the Mega Drive’s rarer titles and has been climbing in value over the past few years. Retro Game Camp has it for 150,000 yen ($1,398).
The same shop also has Magical Pop’n, a game that is often faked. It’s priced at 140,000 yen ($1,300).
2nd Super Robot Wars isn’t *that* old of a game. It was released in 2004, but its Famicom Mini Game Boy Advance version (pictured) was a bonus to those who purchased Super Robot Taisen GC. It was limited to only 2,000 copies. Retro Game Camp is asking 100,000 yen ($931).
Karaoke Studio was a karaoke game Bandai developed for the Famicom. It was released in 1987 and for the in-box version, Mandarake wants 120,000 yen ($1,118).
Both Pachinko (priced at 250,000 yen or $2,330) and Space Slalom (priced at 120,000 yen or $1,118) were for Sega’s early hardware SC-3000 and the SG-1000.
While this is hardware and not a game per se, it is expensive. You are looking at the PC Engine LT, the portable version of the PC Engine. The hardware has been overhauled, and the asking price at Beep is 598,000 yen or $5,572—plus tax.
Surely, there are more pricey treasures to be unearthed in Akihabara.