The following photo is my favorite because it includes colorful Famicom carts as well as Super Potato's similarly colorful signage.
For pics of the store's Dreamcast and Mega Drive sections, as well as photos of Yamamoto's pick-ups, check out this Flickr set.
Said Flickr set includes photos of other drool-worthy sites, by the way--such as the Dragon Quest-themed Luida's Bar, a shot bar called Muteki Mario and the life-sized Gundam statute that resides on Odaiba, an artificial island near Tokyo.
Super Potato looks awesome. If I ever go to Tokyo (if I had the money I would have already gone. As soon as I get money for it I will be gone) one day I'll make sure to stop buy this place.
ReplyDeleteDrool.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, Adam -- this place will be a definite stop when the hubs and I finally go to Japan. Not sure when that will be, of course, but still... :P
ReplyDeleteYes, Justin. Droooooooooooooooooool :)
ReplyDeleteYay! It's so difficult to focus in there.
ReplyDeleteBTW, the white Saturn and Twinkle Star Sprites were around 3200 ($42) each!
Yay, Super Potato! I have a little story to tell about the retro shop.
ReplyDeleteSome years ago I took a trip to Tokyo mostly because I was in the right place at the right time. Because of the short span of time between knowing I was going and actually, well, being there were so short I didn't have much time to research anything.
So basically one day I was out in Akihabara and had no clue as to where Super Potato was and just knew "GOTTA GO THERE". Most Japanese people in the area didn't know English, so at the counter of one arcade I tried my best asking about the store as well as drawing the potato-y mascot. Up comes this kid who apparently knew what I was asking for and drew simplistic directions to it.
And then I found it! It's a lovely place and although it's certainly not the best retro shop, it is a really great one (and blows anything here out of the water).
Darwin: Are you saying you could buy the white Saturn for just $42? If so: Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh! :P
ReplyDeleteMarcus: That's a great story :) I probably would have tried drawing a potato, too, BTW. Also, did you bring back any particular 'finds' from that trip?
ReplyDeleteI did grab some stuff! Although they probably wouldn't be hard to find elsewhere I grabbed some Silent Hill games and a few miscellaneous things from the cheap bin. I almost bought a Virtual Boy because there were heaps of them there but decided against it. Still, it was quite the experience!
ReplyDeleteAh, I understand getting some "typical" games, Marcus. Who says you have to buy something rare? You'd probably overpay for such a game/system, anyway -- although not as much as you'd likely overpay if you used eBay, etc., back at home.
ReplyDeleteCool pix. Thanks for sharing the link.
ReplyDeleteYou may also enjoy a post I did some time ago:
http://www.tokyotimes.co.jp/post/en/216/Video+Game+Walhalla.html
Ah, thanks for the link, Erik Some of those photos really made me drool :P
ReplyDeleteI love pics of the Tokyo game shops like Super Potato. I`ve been to Tokyo a couple of times but have never had the time while in town to check out the retro game shops.
ReplyDeleteA couple of things from those photos stand out in contrast to the shops I have down here:
-Stacks of Twin Famicoms and AV Famicoms on the shelf. Even the best game shops in Fukuoka rarely have any of those, let alone several in a stack.
- The Famicom carts. I love the way they display them there with the best ones having their labels face out. Some of the shops do that here and some of them even have as decent a selection of games as the one in that photo, but still. The presentation at Super Potato really beats any of the Famicom places here hands down.
Hey there, Sean! You know what? At this point, I'd take any Japanese retro games shop I can get -- even one that has nothing more than used, loose copies of Baseball, Golf and Mahjong :)
ReplyDeleteOther than that, thanks for letting me/us know how Super Potato differs from the shops near you. I always love hearing about this sort of thing. I wonder, though, if prices at shops near you are cheaper than those in Tokyo?
My new goal in life is to eat a slime shaped meat bun! lol
ReplyDeleteHa! I hear ya, Kaze. I'm not sure I could eat the little buggers, though, since I have *such* a soft spot for DQ slimes...
ReplyDelete