Japan is renowned for its vintage video game shops and retro arcades and is a classic gamer’s heaven. One of Japan’s most famous retro video games shops is Super Potato, with locations in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya including their flagship store in Akihabara.
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From classic video game consoles like Nintendo NES and Neo Geo to lesser known video games systems like MSX 2 and WonderSwan, Super Potato Japan is a treasure trove of vintage video games and awesome arcade machines from the last few decades.
We’ve visited most of the Super Potato stores (including the Tokyo Akihabara branch) and loved exploring these retro video game palaces, almost akin to living museums of games and consoles.
Here is our guide to visiting the video game stores Super Potato in Japan:
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What is Super Potato in Japan?
Super Potato Japan is a second-hand video games and console retailer with several locations across Japan.
In each store, you’ll find multiple floors of second-hand consoles and hand-held games machines, replacement parts and thousands of used games cartridges.
As well as selling second hand video games and games consoles, Super Potato stores have classic games arcades (usually on the upper levels) with retro arcade machines like Street Fighter, Blast City and Super Mario.
There are said to be over 80 million gamers in Japan and it is the third biggest video games market in the world – so there is a big second hand video game market in Japan.
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What Does Super Potato Japan sell?
Super Potato Japan stores are best known for selling second hand video games, handheld devices and games consoles plus spare parts – it is almost like a thrift store for gaming!
The products that Super Potato in Japan sells include:
Vintage video games and retro consoles
Across each floor, you will find hundreds of shelves with literally thousands of second hand games cartridges, games controllers and video game accessories.
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Soft toys and video game figurines
Super Potato Japan also has cabinets of vintage video game memorabilia like Super Mario and Yoshi figurines and Dragonball models.
Plushies, toys, stickers and other collectibles
Super Potato also sells video game stickers and video game character plushies – cute cartoon plushies we’ve seen on sale include Pokemon plus Toad and Princess Daisy from Super Mario.
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Candy Corner
We also really liked the retro sweet sections in all the stores we visited AKA Candy Corner – usually next to the retro arcade machines, you’ll find lots of low priced classic sweets like UFOs, super sours and sherbert!
Vending machines
Super Potato also have drinks vending machines if you are in need of an ice cold Coke or Fanta after a heavy session of vintage video gaming.
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Super Potato Prices
Second hand video game prices in Japan’s Super Potato stores really vary, as some games consoles and cartridges are more rarer than others.
However, many bargains are to be had and we’ve even seen bargain bins where you can pick up bits and bobs for less than 100 Yen (usually video games stickers).
Example game prices we’ve spotted (in 2023):
- Sega Dreamcast James Bond 007 The Duel – 7548 Yen (around £40 / $50 USD)
- Donkey Kong Jr. Nintendo Famicom NES 1982 HVC-JR – 638 Yen (£3.50 / $4 USD)
- Mario Open Golf Nintendo Famicom NES – 528 Yen (around £3 / $3.50 USD)
Example second hand games console prices:
- Game Boy Advance in mint condition – 10,780 Yen (around £60 / $73 USD)
- Game Boy Color ; 9548 Yen – (around £52 / $64 USD
- Bandai Bank Gang LCD handheld game from 1982; 14080 Yen (£78 / $95 USD)
If you are willing to fix video games consoles yourselves, you’ll find some very cheap repairable gaming machines too and spare parts.
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Classic Consoles
Super Potato’s retro gaming range covers so many different games consoles and hand-held devices.
Second hand games console brands and accessories available include:
- Sega Game Gear
- Nintendo Game Boy (Light, Advance, Color)
- MSX2
- Nintendo Famicom NES (a popular 1980s games console in Japan).
- Sony Playstation (various models)
- SNES / Nintendo 64
- Sega Dreamcast
- NEOGEO
- Wonderswan by Bandai
- PC Engine
- Nintendo GameCube
- Bandai LCD handheld games
- Virtual Boy and much, MUCH more
Barcode Battler Japan
One of our personal favourite discoveries at Super Potato was a whole section dedicated to the Barcode Battlers!
We hadn’t seen a Barcode Battler in years so we were blown away to see you could buy them second hand – such a blast from the past.
For those that haven’t heard of Barcode Battlers, they were a short lived handheld gaming system / console from the early 1990s whereby different barcodes given with the device could be scanned to create different characters with different powers.
Weirdly, you could even scan random products like crisps and sweets from convenience stores to see if they had an effect on your characters / game-play.
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Spotlight on Super Potato Akihabara
The largest Super Potato video game shop in Japan is located in Akihabara in Tokyo.
The most popular retro video games store in Akihabara (if not Tokyo), Super Potato Akihabara has three floors of classic consoles, used hand-held games consoles and thousands of second hand games cartridges.
From Donkey Kong to Zelda, Sonic to Pacman, you’ll find all your classic video games here and more!
We were lucky enough to visit Akihabara in 2023 – the first two floors are dedicated to retro games and second hand consoles plus a large range of collectibles and cute character models in display cabinets – otaku heaven and cute kawaii alert!
Floor 1 and Floor 2 at the Akihabara store is dedicated to retro games (like, tens of thousands of old video games at various prices) – it also has premium gaming products plus game music and video guide strategy guides.
The third floor of the Akihabara store has a retro games arcade complete with games like Street Fighter and Bomber World. It also has a cute candy corner in case you need to top your sugar levels after an intense Sonic session!
Weirdly, the Akihabara arcade also has fake tree foliage above the arcade machines so it kinda feels like you are in a forest or some kind of Legend of Zelda Kingdom (to be fair, that might be just us after having too many sour sweets…)
Also check out the huge Gameboy model at Super Potato Akihabara – surely this must be the biggest Gameboy in Japan?
Akihabara in Tokyo is easily one of the best places for second hand retro video games in Japan – other Akihabara video game stores include Retro Game Camo Akihabara and Traders Headquarters Akihabara.
The Akihabara store in Tokyo is open daily from 11am to 7pm (opening hours may vary on public holidays).
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Super Potato Japan Locations
There are currently 6 Super Potato video game stores in Japan as of September 2023.
There are 2 stores in Tokyo, 3 stores in Osaka and one shop in Nagoya.
The 6 Super Potato video game shops in Japan are located in:
- Super Potato Akihabara store (Tokyo flagship store)
- Super Potato Ikebukuro Game Alley (Tokyo)
- Super Potato Otaroad store (Osaka)
- Super Potato Suminoe Osaka store (Osaka)
- Super Potato Showacho Osaka store (Osaka)
- Super Potato Nagoya store
Please note the Taisho store in Osaka closed in late 2021.
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Super Potato Mail Order Website and Overseas Sales
Hopefully we’ve inspired you to check our Super Potato on your next / current visit to Japan (particularly if you are close to Akihabara – gaming and otaku heaven).
However if you aren’t able to visit Japan any time soon but still want to buy vintage video games and classic consoles from Super Potato, check out their website here or check out their official Ebay page here.
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