Fricking everything is 2-3x cheaper in Japan than in America. Everything from games, to consoles, to controllers, even random accessories. In the US, I hardly see anything under $15 anymore.
I understand that Japanese games, being in Japanese, would be worth less, but the consoles? Prices have been rising globally, but man is it a night and day difference.
Japan has become an impoverished country.
pretty sure 90% of retro stuff are in hands of scalpers, they bought cheap, now sit on it waiting price increases.
Even when prices fall they'd rather sit on something for years than sell it at a moving price that'll get some cash in their hands.
Actually with their responsible birthrates, homes and apartments have slowly gotten bigger. Many now have actual bedrooms with actual beds instead of efficiency-apartments where your living room is your bedroom, and the futon or floormat is the bed. Apartments that small, which used to be the norm, are now for the poorest of the poor on the shit sides of town.
Not true. The Japanese like the finer things and getting rich too. You'd know that if you've seen the Ginza or Roppongi Hills areas.
Because things used to be 1/10 the price in Japan and then went up.
Where else do you imagine they would be? In the hands of philanthropists who are keeping them in storage until the prices are so high that the worm fuzzy they get when they give them away will be exceptionally warm and exceedingly fuzzy?
>I understand that Japanese games, being in Japanese, would be worth less, but the consoles?
It costs them money to ship a console so they it can be a bit cheaper locally, I guess. Aside from that, the exchange rate and the tendency of Japanese to look after their stuff so a large amount available for resale.
>the exchange rate
I work in Japan and this fricking kills me. Now it's like everything back in the US is suddenly 50% more expensive. And it's only going to get worse.
I don't feel it living day to day here since I'm mostly buying locally in yen too, but going back to visit my family last month was brutal.
It's fricking ridiculous how I can get a huge plate of curry & rice with my choice of meat for 600 yen in Tokyo, and the exact same dish with (usually less) food will easily be close to $20 in any major U.S. city.
>the exact same dish with (usually less) food will easily be close to $20 in any major U.S. city
yep. Which is also like 3000 yen at this current exchange rate. Fuuuuuuuuuck
because best of 80s and 90s tech came from japan. they quite literally MADE AND SUPPLIED the tech. so the home country obviously had a surplus of that stuff, especially for its tiny island population. imagine if small country made breakthrough leap in technology and supplied its citizens free of internal imports or exports... technology was domestic. i know it's hard to believe for you zoomer brain high on taiwan imports who supplies whole world now, but that was possible to have home grown chips, and japan did it
It'll be possible in the west again because europe and america are both building chip manufacturing due to geopolitical concerns (also the realisation putting everything in Taiwan and a stone's throw from China was moronic)
what's moronic is vilifying other countries or bombing peaceful populations, restricting freedom of travel or embargoing tech with sanctions
the more it continues the more i believe in propaganda of usa being imperialistic, because how else would you call it
>how else would you call it
Saar…
The USA is obviously imperialistic. There's no propaganda necessary. I don't see how that's exactly relevant to what he said, though. Abandoning an entire domestic market for another across the globe, regardless of your relationship with that other country, is in fact moronic.
You can recognize that the USA is imperialistic while also understanding that China isn't any better. They're genociding most of their minorities and moving Han people onto their territory right now, while their overseas populations control most of Southeast Asia and keep the natives impoverished. But nobody cares because they make cheap stuff and muh sinophobia handwaves all concerns
Frick, the Chinese could give upon Taiwan and the country could still get leveled by a typhoon or tsunami.
You're a fricking idiot, I hope you know that. Western developed tech was light-years beyond anything Japan was cooking up, and they actually DIDN'T supply the tech in the 80's and 90's, as that was when the US still manufactured its own microchips and tech. Over 1/3rd of all microchips were produced in the US in 1990. The fact is, the West simply failed to have a staying interest in consoles due to the implosion in the Western market, until the early 2000's, when Microsoft entered and blew Japan out of the fricking water in terms of tech with the most advanced console ever made with the Xbox original, that used a fricking PC graphics card as its base.
Japan offered some innovations sporadically, but it was peas and carrots compared to what was happening in the West, specifically on home computers.
You do know that it was Sony who invented the CD and DVD don't you? The Japanese contributed a lot to technological development. They're not dead weight. They didn't just sit there, wait for white man to invent everything, then say "YOU GOTTA INCLUDE US FOR DIVERSITY OR YOU RACIST."
>when Microsoft entered and blew Japan out of the fricking water in terms of tech with the most advanced console ever made with the Xbox original
It was a fricking PC with all PC functionality stripped out to focus solely on being a gaming console. That's how Microsoft got it out so fast. Its architecture, hardware, underlying software that ran games and everything came from PCs. Microsoft still uses the same PC architecture for its consoles because it's a no-brainer scheme for them. Find the best hardware you can get for the lowest price, and package it into a gaming console. What you call "the most advanced console ever made" was actually a down-graded PC.
The PS3, on the other hand was the most advanced console ever made. It had the world's first multi-core processor that was so far ahead of its time that most developers said "WHAT THE FRICK DO WE DO WITH THIS?" It also had a media drive that was so advanced that it's still used to day (blu-ray).
>ps3
so advanced that every game ran like complete shit and had way more glitches than the 360 version
Yet the PS3 still had the only exclusives worth playing and the only control that wasn't garbage.
>m-m-muh ergonomics
Shut up babyhands, 360 and it's lowered d-pad and lazy flipped SNES buttons was garbage.
western game bubble is mostly an american thing. pal games are also a bit cheaper (though not nearly as much as jp games) even for optimised games or consoles that support pal60.
Also, many online sales go through an actual auction site, unlike ebay where people just put stuff up for absurd sums and wait for a sucker.
don't really want to make this into a 7th gen console war thread, but both consoles had strong exclusives that gen.
a console with the peaks of Halo and Forza, plus gears, project gotham racing and fable isn't lacking in worthwhile exclusives.
>controls
the ps3 controller feels too small for my hands. the 360 one rests nicely in my palm while the ps3 one requires hand origami to be comfortable. why is "babyhands" always the default insult for people not liking a controller?
>the ps3 one requires hand origami to be comfortable
You don't hold it in the palm, you hold it in your fingers. I don't personally get the problem, but I've been mainly a PS console guy since the first and have put the majority of my gaming hours in on those controllers.
The best ps controller by far is the SCPH-1180. I don't know why they ever made the handles shorter. Plus the concave sticks are nice.
I don't think I've ever seen that controller. I've certainly never held it.
I just realized that the DS4 is held in the palm, and comparing the grips to my older PS controllers, they're longer. I wonder if they're the same length as what you posted. As for concave sticks, I definitely personally do not like ones like that. My fingers slip around on my Xbox controllers far more than the convex PS ones. The ridged sticks that kind of do both on the DS4 are good.
I am also now realizing the DS4 would be a pretty great controller if not for the terrible battery life.
>it was Sony who invented the CD and DVD
No, it was James T Russell and later Phillips as the LaserDisc. CD was a result of joint operation between Phillips and Sony.
>YOU GOTTA INCLUDE US FOR DIVERSITY OR YOU RACIST
Back then they were included because they had cheap overworked labour, just like China today.
>It was a fricking PC with all PC functionality stripped out to focus solely on being a gaming console.
No, it had integrated graphics, shared RAM, and custom firmware made from the ground up (which was the hardest part of the system's development, as the x86 and windows were really complicated). It was a groundbreaking and innovative design that became the basis of modern consoles.
>Microsoft still uses the same PC architecture for its consoles because it's a no-brainer scheme for them.
In fact, everyone does now.
>was actually a down-graded PC
All Japanese sprite based consoles were colecovision derivatives and Dreamcast and Gamecube were downgraded Mac. American companies designed the N64 hardware and the SNES superFX chip was designed by brits.
>The PS3, on the other hand was the most advanced console ever made
Designed by IBM.
Every Cyberpunk author up to the end of the nineties characterized the japanese as technologically superior specifically because of their postwar output. You can fling your jingo shit all you want, but at the end of the day we’re discussing this on a board system designed by the japanese because your american overlords are too busy censoring you every two words, you fricking moron. Yeah, GREAT use of technological prowess. Oh yeah and before you continue your shitty little tirade: After 2010, it’s now the Chinese who own you. Take a look at social media and its effects on western civilization and cry, dumbo. America is on a decades long decline and the inertia alone is killing us, and I’m not talking just about tech.
>Every Cyberpunk author up to the end of the nineties characterized the japanese as technologically superior
Every American businessman in the 80's feared that Japan would overtake America. It was a widespread belief at the time, and Japanese culture was just becoming popular in the west. Of course that trickled down into pop culture.
Japan got economically fricked in the early 90's and has stayed that way ever since.
By the time period we're concerned with, this era was at it's end/over.
I thought it was because japanese people generally don't have a ton of space to hoard junk, so they buy a game, play it, and resell it, resulting in a sane secondhand market.
It is *exactly* this. Japan is becoming increasingly urban and the only houses that *might* have space for hoarding games are in the countryside where no one wants to live anymore. Urban spaces are just big enough for maybe one bookshelf for all of your games, movies, etc., so you can only keep your absolute favorites and sell back the rest. Also, since only Japanese and the biggest of weebs can play Japanese games (excluding games with English options or minimal text/speech like old arcade ports), their international value remains somewhat limited as it's purely novelty purchases in most cases. All of the Japanese market games I've bought I'll probably never play in a real system, or at most will try it just to see if it works and never again.
japanese people dont have the space to hoard useless plastic for muh feels. japan is also a much poorer country than the USA. theres still a plethora of manchild wagies with half decent paying jobs in the usa willing to pay out the ass for their nostalgia.
Ah yes the honorable japanese would never hoard
>don't have the space
Even in small US apartments there's still usually enough room for a few bookshelves of games. Japanese people usually have space for about 1 bookshelf before their shoebox apartment is overcrowded.
surprisingly they have way more cases of tamekomi-sho compared to other countries
>Fricking everything is 2-3x cheaper in Japan than in America.
LMAO No. Not everything.
wow guess you're right, given the compelling argument backed by evidence you just posted
Why don't you take a couple minutes to research the topic before you make an ass out of your self. Compare Contra: The Hard Corps from Japan to Contra Hard Corps in the USA. Then get back to me.
luv this board, me
Maybe don't speak in absolutes, moron.
I'll never speak in absolutes again, General Kenobi
>General Kenobi
Based af because only sith do that..
heh
>process literal meaning first
does it mean im autistic? because im pedantic? but wasnt it just that... pedantic and not autistic? autism some zoomer invented garbage
Let's be honest it is not you. It is goof offs who burned their neurons on sitcoms or some social media tras. They think it is natural to speak sarcastically or in niche culture idioms.
People say autistic people have trouble understanding nuance. These same people speak in euphemisms, innuendo, implications, and double-meanings.
Meaning THEY have the communication problem.
they euthanise scalpers
It's a cultural difference. The US turns everything to capitalism. Everything becomes an excuse to make money and the mentality is, if you rip-off someone, you're not the bad guy, the bad guy is the person getting ripped off because he deserves it, you're just a smart American plus MUH FREEDOM you wouldn't be anti American communist scum now would you ?
Then, a good part of the world still mimics everything the US do because of globalization and because they still idolize the US, even the European countries that have no idea what true capitalism is like.
Japan isn't as much affected by that as the rest of the world (still is, just not nearly as much) because they're still insular and self-centered.
Basically the world hasn't changed for decades. Americans like to cry how nothing has been the same since 9/11 but that didn't really change anything in this regards.
Japan just didn't give a shit until the United States went ape shit after the pandemic. Then the nostalgia bug and the realization that people would pay good money for their property became a reality in Japan.
Have you two been to Japan recently? TCG shops are everywhere now, like fricking weeds. And you're trying to spin this story of the noble Japanese, give me a fricking break lol
He's right, some stuff is cheap relative to the west but everything desirable is expensive.
This isn't true anymore, prices are standardized regardless of whether you're in Tokyo or Aichi. You only rarely find things underpriced unless it's junk.
Twin Fami is not rare by any stretch but you don't see them in stores often.
Japs live in 2x2 meter apartments so they have to throw out their personal effects constantly
megadrive is like 3x the price of the us though in japan
It's because it was incredibly unpopular when it was released, but has a good reputation now.
Same reason TG16s are way more expensive than PC Engines.
yeah i know
still stands that the market for it is healthier in the US than in Japan, even if it does have a reason for being unhealthy(being a flop and uncommon in JP).
Because America is a sheep-shearing operation, and every single organization, governmental otherwise, exists to explicitly frick you over and make things worse. Even on small things like retro game prices.
Because soulless speculator collectible market bullshit is an American brainrot concept. Japan doesn't have the """hustle culture""" of constantly looking for the next gold rush hobby to rip people off in. Retro games over there are reserved for people who actually want to play them.
And the westerners that get caught up in the retro gaming hobby/business are too lazy to learn Japanese so those games hold no value to them. Shame this doesn't extend to consoles though.
because its the country of origin for most retro games. It's like asking why old american made products are found cheaper in america. you might be moronic
Because they don't have a fricking butthole sales clerk telling you that a game that sold 10 million copies and millions more downloads is rare, nor do they tell you that a console that sold 100 million units is rare.
>but the consoles? Prices have been rising globally
Where I live you can get a perfect-condition PS4 in any pawn shop for $100 - $150 depending on the hardware, while a PS2 at any game store, flea market, or anywhere is in the $175 - $200 area. It's stupid bullshit.
Because smaller demand, and the fact that most retro shit is in the hands of a hard off and not some rabid collector, also most westoids don't get most Japanese versions because they can't understand Japanese.
This is changing however, the greater west community realized that Japan just has an affordable goldmine and certain Japanese sellers (mostly in Akihabara) realized this and is charging a pretty penny for their stock.
Or it's because there's a shitload of vintage game shops in Japan, and competition keeps prices down. "Super Potato" is probably the most famous, at least locally, and it's a chain of stores.
I heard Super Potato has started charging more for games, or at least applying a sort of "Gaijin tax", as everyone and their mother knows of it now.
Super Potato isn't cheap, you need to go outside tourist areas to get low prices on games
>Why are retro games so much cheaper in Japan?
Japan's retro scene isn't dominated by israeli fricks and e-celebs calling everything under the sun a "hidden gem" in order to jack up the prices.
>e-celebs calling everything under the sun a "hidden gem" in order to jack up the prices
Instead you have Arino, an actual celebrity (maybe not that big, but he's well known in Japanese gaming circles) playing almost everything under the sun and suffering for the pleasure of many.
Not sure but I play a lot less than I ever have in the past so it's not a problem anymore
I only have 5-10 favorites for every console and already bought most of it on sale used online. Used to think it's worth collecting everything but really even the hidden good games are only maybe another 3 to 4 games per console. I'm not gonna blow a ton of money just to say I own an entire library. Just seems ridiculous when so many are filler
Because Japanese society is extremely pro-corporation and they take pride in exclusively buying whatever modern slop will make companies money rather than buying anything secondhand.
Wow, just like America!
I love Japanese thrift stores so much it's unreal. Bought a "broken" Super Famicom for ¥800, replaced a voltage regulator and now it works perfectly. Can't even get broken connectors for less than $40 here.
Broken consoles* I'm phoneposting without proofreading
You got ripped off. I bought dozens of working consoles for less.
Because the retro bubble of retro game is man-made and purely american.
There are japanese games that never got localized and barely sold that aren't wprth even half of some popular games available in 6 different countries, why do you think that?
cause those games were usually shit
because nobody wants them but most were kept into the market instead of destroyed so there is insane supply and a tiny demand
I saw a YouTube video of a fricking FC Twin that was just sitting on a Hard Off shelf.
I don't know if those are just whatever over there but at least from where I'm sitting that is a pretty cool find if I saw it.
FC Twin is a combination clone famicom and super famicom.
That's a Twin Famicom.
That black model isn't common, but I wouldn't call it rare either.
But it is definitely the most common model you will see.
Ironically it's probably because demand is higher in unit terms
Japs won't emulate, but no one that would just emulate in the us is going to pay speculator prices for an ancient used game. So shops sprang up to serve those people selling them for what they're worth in direct competition with all other entertainment options instead of as speculatorshit
The reason is more particular than people think.
When I was in high school, I had friends that worked at gamestop.
They threw out HUNDRENDS of cartridges into dumpsters and would even try to lock them eventually to prevent employees from getting the games. North American scarcity is a thing in big part because of them and retailers like them.
Some of the retro stock that exists was literally recovered from trash bins.