Retro Game Store Reviews: The Hamura area

Hamura is a city in western Tokyo prefecture (not the city most people think Tokyo is), and it’s pretty much as far as you can go west in the prefecture before hitting the mountains. My wife and I visited the area about a year and half ago when we were checking out the thrift stores all over the area. It’s quite a ways out there and not one store is probably worth going all the way out there for by itself, but what if I said the area had 3 stores and was in close vicinity to more?

While I continue my research of other stores in the Kanto area of Japan (outside of Tokyo), I currently don’t have any other solitary stores that I feel I need to talk about. Therefore, I’m doing the next best thing: making a list of areas with the highest concentration of stores with retro games. If you’re looking to save time and just hit up the best ones, then this article probably isn’t for you. This is for everyone who loves to explore and find treasure in the middle of nowhere, and also for those people who don’t mind a little hike. Better get those comfortable shoes ready, because we’re going for a walk.

Hard Off Hamura

Hard Off Hamura might seem unassuming but it’s probably the biggest reason to check out the area.

The Selection

Hard Offs usually have a good selection of consoles, but this one was above average. Not only did the Hamura store have 5 shelves of hardware, but it also had a well stocked showcase with various handhelds. The accessory section was also very well stocked. You’d be lucky to get a few boxes of accessories, if any at a normal Hard off or Book Off, but this branch had about 30! The majority of it was skewed towards newer systems, but there’s a chance you’ll find older stuff in there as well.

The number of games the had for each console was impressive as well. While they’re not going to have the really niche stuff like Neo Geo games, you can count on them to have a strong inventory of games from the most popular systems. From my point of view, there seemed to be about double the inventory that most other stores usually have. It’s not quite Surugaya level, but was pretty damn good. There even was a section with PC games there! While I didn’t find anything I was looking for during my visit, you just might find a few things on your list.

The Pricing

It’s been about a year so I expect some prices of things like 3DS and Vita handhelds to have gone up a little, as well as some of Pokemon games, but overall I think you can still expect to find some relatively good deals at this store. Being about as far away from Tokyo as you can while still being in Tokyo (technically) usually means you won’t be getting ripped off. I didn’t buy anything during my first trip out there, but if I were to go back I would probably find a few things on my list cheaper than I have at other places.

Access

Expect a long train ride to this area if you’re coming from pretty much anywhere. There are going to be a few transfers to the Ome line if you’re coming from either Yokohama or Shinjuku in the western part of downtown. I was already in the area checking out the Tachikawa area for retro games so it wasn’t a wasted trip to go up there. Once you get to the Ome line the closest station is JR Ozaku station, but it’s actually almost right between there and Hamura station. If you don’t mind the walk you could stop in Hamura to check out the other stores I’ll be talking about and just walk from there, but you’ll probably be looking at about a 20 minute walk from there. The Hard Off website says it’s about a 15 minute walk from Ozaku.

The Verdict

This store was a pleasant surprise after finding so many other stores with small or incomplete selections of games. As I stated above it’s probably not worth the trip if your time is limited and you want to hit the biggest places with the best chance of finding the games you’re looking for, but if you’re “treasure hunting” and exploring as many retro game shops as possible, be sure to mark this one on your map. You should expect to find at least a few games on your list, and there is a good chance they’ll be at a price point you’ll be happy with as well.

• Selection: 4/5
• Pricing: 3.5/5
• Ease of Access: 2.5/5

Hobby Off Hamura

The first time I went to the Hamura area I actually didn’t have time to go to the Hard Off due to its distance from the stations, but the Hobby Off in Hamura was a different story. Usually Hobby Off just means that there are a lot of anime goods, models, and figures in their inventory, but due to how far it is from other stores this one has developed its own selection of retro games as well.

The Inventory

I went with the wide-shot pictures for this store but don’t let the lack of photos fool you. It had a decent amount of games, consoles, and accessories. The “junk” area of the store was also pretty impressive. If you’re looking to cannibalize old consoles for parts this is a pretty good location for that. One of the benefits of being in a large store area like this is that you can easily see their stock and not have to dig through boxes or finger through spines of games to see what they have (which can be a struggle if it’s all in Japanese).

Not any one console had an amazing selection, but nonetheless what they did have was solid. The number of accessories, consoles, and handhelds is also less than the Hamura Hard Off down the street, but you might still find stuff here that the other store doesn’t have.

The Pricing

While negligible, the pricing at Hobby Offs do tend to be a little bit higher than that of Hard Offs from time to time. There are still probably a decent amount of games you can find for about the same price you would at a Hard Off, but others might be about 10-15% higher. I think that’s because Hobby Offs tend to focus more on collectors items like special versions of handhelds and rarer accessories (at least that’s the vibes I’ve gotten from the ones I’ve visited). You can still find good deals here, but I would recommend comparing it to other stores (which luckily you have a few nearby to compare to).

Access

This is where Hobby Off Hamura beats all the other stores in the area. It is incredibly close to Hamura station on the JR Ome line, about a 5 minute walk. If you end up going here first, you could probably walk to the Hamura Hard Off in about 25 minutes (because it’s in the opposite direction). You could also just as easily walk here from the Hamura Hard Off after starting at Ozaku station. Just keep in mind it’s probably not worth the extra steps to go back to the station then wait for the train to just go to the next station and walk backwards to the other one.

The Verdict

The ability to walk down the road to another shop to look for something you can’t find at this store and vice versa is definitely a plus for this shop. I saw some rarer stuff in their cases that I had never seen at other stores, and their prices weren’t bad. But the draw back of having 3 stores so close to each other means that the inventory will be a little sparser than if there was only two or one. If you’re going to the area to visit one of these stores, you should definitely visit the others though.

• Selection: 3/5
• Pricing: 3.5/5
• Ease of Access: 5/5

Hard Off Shinmeidai

The last shop to visit in the Hamura area is the Hard Off Shinmeidai branch. While its main focus tends to be more on the tools and electronics side of things, it actually has some retro games there too and is probably worth a few minutes of your time.

The Inventory

If the Hobby Off had about half the inventory of the Hamura Hard Off, then The Hamura Shinmeidai Hard Off store has about half that of the Hobby Off. Their handheld and console selection was pretty good, but there was a lot less when it came to software. Each category was pretty compact, meaning that you had very few choices when it came to games. It’s worth checking out to compare prices though.

The Pricing

The prices here were pretty much in line with what you would pay for them at other Hard Offs. For the most part they were affordable and nothing really seemed overpriced. When you see a place with a lot of things locked in a glass case you can probably guess that many of those things will be priced high to warrant being held behind a locked glass door, but luckily this store didn’t have much like that aside from what you see in the picture above. Again, due to it’s distance from downtown Tokyo, you probably won’t have to worry about getting ripped off here at all. Just cross your fingers and hope you find something on your list.

Access

The Hard Off website puts the store at about a 15 minute walk from Hamura station, but if you are walking from the Hobby Off nearby, it’s just another 10 minutes or so. Very walk-able, and very easy to get to. You just need to be able to get all the way out to Hamura station first.

The Verdict

As I said above, the Hamura area is a great place to treasure hunt but probably not a place to go out of your way to get to. It’s close to Tachikawa, which also has lots of stores to check out, but that’s about all it has going for it. Don’t be surprised if you come all the way out here and check out the store for about 30 minutes just to find nothing. Thankfully all of these stores are walk-able, including this one.

• Selection: 3/5
• Pricing: 3.5/5
• Ease of Access: 3.5/5

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