Mandai is a pretty big chain of stores here in Japan. They specialise in almost everything retro, used, or quirky in some way. The only trouble with these stores is that the prices vary dramatically, and to get a good deal it can be rare. Still, I have bought some very nice items from this place in the past, but on this trip it was not to be.
It’s always a good sign of an interesting store when there is a giant robot out the front right?
And it’s even better (as a sign of a place I want to go into) when the giant robot is sporting a game controller as a belt buckle. 😀
The range this place carries is nothing short of amazing, but the stock doesn’t seem to rotate all that often unfortunately – mainly due to the prices. Don’t get me wrong, the prices are quite fair on average, but they’re just not the usual jaw-droppingly cheap that a game hoarder becomes accustomed to here in Japan.
This item bellow is something I hadn’t seen before. Maybe Sean from the Famicom blog can shed some more light on it. It is a Karaoke unit for the Famicom of all things. I would love to hear the 8-bit renditions of 80s J-Pop that would come with it! I was very tempted to pick this up, and in all honesty I might go back and grab it if anyone can fill me in on it.
A few N64s for the taking. 😀
There is so much here that getting everything in a single shot is pretty much impossible. Bellow we have a few pics of the Super Famicom sections.
As you can probable tell this far into the post, this particular shop is large, very large, but the pictures really do not give the size away. Even when there in person, the front door of the shop opens up to almost a Tardis like experience. The first thing you notice is a massive Pachinko/Pachislo parlour, then the place opens out into a myriad a colours and sounds in an almost seizure inducing mess.
Some Saturn,Dreamcast, NeoGeo, and VirtualBoy stuff.
Here we have one of the isles. This one has a fair bit of the N64 stuff, and some more Super Famicom carts.
Sorry for the blurry picture on this one guys. As I have mentioned before, taking pictures in Japanese stores isn’t looked on too kindly, so I had to rush around to get these pictures. Unfortunately this means that the Famicom carts ended up being a bit on the blurry side. 🙁
OK enough of the games for a second…. Like I mentioned above, this place is massive, and stocks so many different things that you will never get through the lot in one go – that is not an exaggeration! I usually get into complete meltdown after about 50% exploration. Bellow I have taken some random pictures of stuff that I thought would suit fellow geeks. 😀
A life sized Yoda! Yes, I understand that Yoda is not real, but if he were, this is how big he’d be. 😀
Hentai section for all that is cute, fury, tentacle-like, or a combination of all three. 😀
Yes, Godzilla is in fact smaller than DarthVader – always knew this was the case.
I was not expecting to find Coneheads toys!
And finally we have the Megadrive section on the left and game books/tutorial on the right. The picture bellow that is an area of the PS2 section that would fit into the frame. I kid you not, that would be less than 20% of what’s there for PS2!
Just looking through these pictures makes me realise just how much game gear I have missed! I missed the GameCube, Handhelds, any current Gen machines and games, plus so many other interesting sections of the store. This place is amazing to walk through for any serious Otaku, but I would definitely recommend going on a weekday if possible – people just add to the claustrophobic feeling of the place.
Insane. Nothing else to say!
Yep, that just about sums it up Dave. 😀
Looks like an awesome shop, I wish we had one here in Fukuoka.
About that karaoke studio controller, I actually have one of those. I did a post about it here http://famicomblog.blogspot.jp/search/label/Karaoke%20Studio
They are pretty hard to find CIB like that, mine is missing the cartridge with the songs on it so I`ve never been able to use it (not that I would be likely to know how to sing any 80s J-pop songs even if I did have it). Definitely a cool thing to have though:)
I just read up about your Karaoke thing there Sean – 100?! amazing! This one is closer to 4,000, but it does seem to be complete. Worth 4k though? Hmmm, I don’t know….. Specially when I am trying to generate cash to complete the Hucard collection. I will have to give it some thought I reckon.
Yeah, 4000 yen is probably a fair price for that, meaning that it isn`t overpriced but it isn`t a bargain you need to snap up right away before somebody else does:)
Some of my photos of shops are blurred like that too, I hate those policies against taking photos in stores. Mandarake in particular has a really nice Famicom section that I can`t take photos of because it is right in front of the cashier.
BTW, is that a vintage Return of the Jedi Y-Wing in the background of that photo of Yoda? I`m always on the lookout for old school Star Wars stuff but pretty much every shop here is just loaded with crap from the 90s-00s.
Yep, pretty sure that one is an original judging by the price on it. This place does have a few original StarWars bits and pieces, but the majority is of the 90s variety.
So very, very awesome Hollo 🙂 My inner nerd screams with jealousy and excitement at the same time 🙂 Great work in sneaking those pics, it’s always appreciated by Western otaku 🙂
Not long before you’re over here Sean, so you better start filling up that credit card. 😉
Robot statues for the win!
Wish we had stores like that here, maybe we should all go into business together and open Australia’s first (huge and fairly priced) Japanese retro gaming store!
If it were me, I’d snap that Famicom Karaoke unit up immediately. You could always sell it if you decided you wanted your money back.
How much are they asking for those 2 VB consoles?
Don’t reckon stores like these would survive back home – they barely survive here unfortunately. 🙁
Yeah, I reckon I will have to head back and grab it at some stage (the Karaoke thing I mean).
Those are the two VBs I told you about the other day Frank. All around the 7,000y mark, and that’s including the loose one you can just see above the others there.
Another impressive store to make all us lads jealous, my friend would love that Mazinger robot out the front. How are the prices compared to other stores? Do we have another giant shopping spree in the works 😀
I would love that Mazinger too! Pretty sure the wife wouldn’t though. 😀
The prices aren’t too bad on some things, but pretty expensive on others. I have bought a few things in the past, but nothing like the extreme buys that I get from other places.
This is just one of those places that entertains by letting you walk around and look at all the cool stuff.
Where is this? I wanna go!
Sunny Ishikawa – using the word ‘sunny’ loosely of course. 😀
Please, can you put the address on google maps?
Thankyou.