Today I went to visit to check out two retro video gaming stores in Osaka. Bot are related to the same ‘Super Potato‘ chain stores. The first store is in Nipponbashi Denden Town and the second one called ‘Super Potato Namba’, resides in Namba.
If you are a gamer and love gaming or you are a fan of old school retro games, I’m sure you are going to enjoy this post. In this post, I’ll share my experience from the Super Potato in Nipponbashi, Osaka. In a second post, I’ll share my experience from the other store
Super Potato Nipponbashi Store
Address: 556-0005 Osaka, Naniwa Ward, Nipponbashi, 3 Chome−8−18
Opening hours: 11AM-9PM (Monday to Friday), 10:30AM-8PM (Saturday and Sunday)
Super Potato gaming store in Nipponbashi is my favorite one among all the gaming stores I’ve visited in Osaka, Japan. My hostel is in Shin-Imamiya, so it’s around 20-30 minutes easy walk to where the store is located.
This game shop is heaven on earth for everyone who not just love videogames, but a fan of retro games. It is, literally, a free open museum for the world of gaming.
It’s amazing walking through the shelves and seeing how the world of console gaming was back then. By that, I mean in the 80s and early 90s. Keep in mind that the focus on this store is not for PC games, but for retro console games only. I actually asked them about a specific game, and they told me that that game was for “Personal Computer” (PC), it’s not a console game.
It’s important to note that Super Potato is a large branch with many stores, including among others: Akihabara, Nagoya, Ikebukuro, but many of their stores are located in Osaka. There are 5 stores in Osaka, including Nipponbashi (the one I am reviewing here), Namba, Taisho, Showacho and Suminoe.
What Console Games Are Available at Super Potato?
Super Potato has a huge selection of games, many in their original packaging. You can find retro games for Family Computer, Dreamcast, GameCube, Nintendo 3DS, SegaSaturn, Game Gear, Game Boy Advance, WonderSwan, Mega Drive, Sega Mega Drive, Neogeo, Wii, PSP, Playstation 2, Xbox, Nintendo 64, PC Engine and others.
You can also find games for modern consoles in some stores, including Nintendo Switch, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Wii U, Xbox One X, Xbox 360, PS Vita, etc.
What Other Things I can Buy at Super Potato?
Well, it depends on the specific store. In the Super Potato video gaming store in Nipponbashi, Osaka, you can also purchase many different types of complementary accessories for old-gen consoles. This includes connectors, memory cards, controllers, consoles in their original packaging or without them. You can buy gaming books and magazines, toys, and even some snacks and drinks if you are already spending hours inside the store.
The Nipponbashi store also has Nintendo Virtual Boy headset (released in 1995) that is functional and you can actually play a game on that one. I tried it myself and I’ll share more information about it on a future post.
How Much Games Costs in Super Potato?
The price of the games varies of course. It mostly depends on the availability of the game. There are some rare retrogames that are very hard to find, and those will obviously will cost much more.
There are also special version for certain games, which were released in low quantity, so these ones are also more expensive. I’ve seen games ranging from a few hundred yen to ones that cost tens of thousands of yen or more.
The rarest retrogames are locked behind a glass cabinet for obvious reasons. The other ones which have high availability and cost around 1000-3000 Japanese Yen are located on shelves open for everyone to observe and check them out.
I wish there was a way to try out a game on an open console, but there isn’t an option for that. Some stores have one or two retro games that are playable at the store.
The atmosphere in the Store
The atmosphere in Super Potato store in Nipponbashi is amazing. You get inside and you feel like you enter another world, a world of old-gen gaming. As I mentioned, it’s like getting to a museum, but this time, one that is about things that are close to your heart, videogames!
It’s not a large store, but for its size, it packed tons of merchandise. I’ve seen lots of bigger stores but they don’t even come close to what this store has to offer.
As you walk you hear the 8bit gaming music in the background. You walk through small corridors and inspect the games. Luckily, there aren’t tons of people in the store, so you can still spend some time in a certain spot without needing to always make room for others. The store is also airconditioned, so it’s comfortable to be in for a relatively long time, especially if it’s humid and hot outside.
Finding Your Favorite Retro Game
My first goal when I arrived at Super Potato Nipponbashi store was to find a few of those games that I played when I was a child. You know, to relive those childhood memories, even if I won’t be playing them on their original console. By that I mean, Sega Mega Drive and Commodore 64. By the way, Commodore 64 counts as a PC computer, not a console, this is why they don’t have games for it (oof!).
Also, note that almost all of those games are ones that were released in Japan originally, so they might have different packaging than the ones released for Europe or the United States.
I was searching for Wonder Boy game for Sega Mega Drive. Unfortunately, I didn’t find it. I can order ones from eBay, but I am not too enthusiast to do it. If I had the chance to buy it in the store right there, I probably would (depends on the price).
That time where you find an old game that you enjoyed playing when you were younger is a moment that you won’t forget. It automatically unlocks those precious memories that you have already forgotten. Somehow, they come back, fresh like they happened yesterday. For me, it was memories from more than 30 years ago, so just imagine how nostalgic and emotional that was for me and how it can be for you.
Summary
Super Potato retro game store in Nipponbashi Osaka, is by far my favorite store. It’s a must-visit place for anyone who is passionate about gaming. It doesn’t matter if you are just playing new console or PC games, it’s a place that will show you how games were like back then.
Here are some more photos for you 🙂
For the young ones, this is certainly something very exciting. For aging gamers like myself, this is like visiting a museum and the experience is very nostalgic and brings up so many precious childhood memories.
If you relate to what I am saying, you have to do yourself that favor the next time you visit Osaka, to go and check out the Super Potato gaming store in Nipponbashi. Have fun.