The shop is located on a side street that runs parrallel to the main street in Den Den town. There are a lot of Otaku related shops on the street so its kind of a cool place for a stroll.
Prices are on the steep side: you won`t find any bargains there. But oh what a place to browse! I have never seen so much beautiful Famicom stuff collected in one space (save my closet)!
Look at all the Famicoms:
And Twin Famicoms and Disk Systems!!!
The hyper rare stuff was, as you might expect, the best. They had a Famicom Box, which I had never seen in person before. This was a coin operated type of Famicom that they used in hotels back in the 80s. They are pretty hard to find. They are also interesting because they use the NES-type controllers and gun rather than the Famicom ones. The game carts, which you can`t really see from the outside, are also shaped like NES ones:
They also had some rare Famicom carts, including these gold copies of Binary Land and Rockman 4. The Binary Land was (according to the written explanation on that card) made especially for the wedding of one of the game`s developers where it was handed out as a gift to guests, meaning there were only a couple hundred ever made (hence the 84,800 yen price tag). The gold Rockman 4 is even rarer, only 8 of them were made. At 628,000 yen (about $6,500 US) it is by far the most expensive Famicom thing I have ever laid eyes on.
And of course they had a ton of CIB Famicom carts too. Prices were way too high for my taste but it was cool to see them:
Anyway, this is an awesome shop to visit if you are in Osaka, but like I`ve said don`t expect any bargains (except for that sucky N64 shogi game they have a million copies of up there). Think of it more like a quasi-religious experience for true Famicom believers:)
Related Posts:
Kansai Retro Game Shops 2: Den Den Town in Osaka
Kansai Famicom Shops 1: Kobe
I've been to the one in Akihabara a few times. I never buy that much when I go, but it's always worth looking around. I love the retro arcade on the top floor, too.
ReplyDeleteI have never been to the Akihabara Super Potato but it is definitely on my to-do list. I`m hoping to be able to make a trip up to Tokyo sometime in the next few months and if I do at least one afternoon will be set aside for Akihabara. I really want to see that throne made of Famicom carts if they still have it.
ReplyDeleteI just discover your blog and its amazing. I bought a famicom AV few month ago, and your pics of all these games you can find at such amazing prices are really appealing.
ReplyDeleteThanks Reimmstein, I hope you are enjoying the AV Famicom!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely love your shopping trips, glad to see you made it to super potato !!!
ReplyDeleteCheck out my place at www.Finalbossreview.blogspot.com
Thanks Johnny, love the blog! Nice collection.
ReplyDeleteTaking into account the selection of goodies available, this is hands-down the best retro video game shop in Japan that I know of. Yes, the prices are on the high side. But the quality of the items (state of boxes and games) is usually also high, and you pay a premium for the fact that it is all there, waiting for you. The Tokyo branch is cool as well, but in my experience the Den-den town one is even better. This is also the original Super Potato. For years Super Potato only existed in the Kansai area, before they opened one in Tokyo. Did you know that the next door neighbor (Retro TV Game Revival) which you wrote about in the previous post is also part of the Super Potato empire?
ReplyDeleteHi Erik,
ReplyDeleteWow, I had no idea that Retro TV Game Revival was also part of the Super Potato empire, are they owned by the same person?
I agree, this is the best retro game shop I`ve been to in terms of selection and quality (mind you I have never been retro game shopping in Tokyo but still....). As you say the quality of everything there was quite high,which is nice.
One thing I noticed was that Super Potato seemed to have a second location in Den Den town. There was a little shop on the main street with a Super Potato 7 sign on it. It was closed and shuttered when I went by so I couldn`t see what was in it, have you ever been there?
Just standing outside Super Potato 7 now and it's still shuttered. I think it's shut down.
DeleteStill shuttered eh? Must be permanently closed. They did, however, just open a new Super Potato in Nagoya last month so I guess the chain as a whole is doing pretty good.
Deleteif 7 is the one in denden town then it is actually still open or at least it was when i was there in November last year
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