The State of Retro Gaming in Japan: 2025 in Review – Nintendo

I meant to do this article back in January but I wanted to get out those articles comparing the USA and Japanese prices first (check the two posts before this one). The last article about the overall state of retro gaming was in July, so this one ends up coming in about 6 months later which is a perfect time to summarize what happened with retro games the rest of 2025. Since moving to the Osaka area of Japan in October, I have been able to check out a much wider area of retro game/thrift stores to get an even better idea of what’s going on in the market here. The theme of this update is going to be “tourist taxes”, but before I jump into that, let me explain what this series of articles is about.

Ever since retro gaming got big in western countries and prices got out of control, I’ve liked to compare the prices and inventory to those in Japan. For a while it didn’t seem like the retro boom was going to have any if much impact at all here in Japan, however slowly but surely tourists visiting Japan have had an impact. People that grew tired of paying exorbitant prices for retro games and gaming things came to Japan and picked up many things for pennies on the dollar thanks to the Yen exchange rate. This is why inventory in Akihabara in Tokyo is a shadow of what it once was in years past. The majority of tourists who game go there, and due to the lower inventories, prices have either doubled or tripled and the quality of other things has become much worse (as the stores will buy anything traded in just to have stock on their shelves). But is this true of all Japan or is it just a Tokyo thing?

In this article I hope to give my readers some insight on retro gaming as a whole in Japan. Having been part of the retro gaming scene in Japan since 2021 and having visited close to 100 stores in more than 8 prefectures, I’d like to comment on my experiences. People coming to buy retro games in Japan, or those living in Japan that want to get into the hobby would be better served if there was some information out there to help them with their choices. I’ll be covering a number of topics that I hope will be helpful:

• Quantity = How much is available as a whole for each game system
• Quality = What level of quality buyers can expect of goods
• Price = How much buyers can expect to pay for goods

I will then be going into more depth on each of these topics by covering the quantity, quality, and price (QQP) of hardware (consoles), software (games), and accessories. After that I’ll comment on the health for each category with high, moderate, or low. For example, Something could be in High Quantity (large number) but Low Quality (many loose games, not many with boxes) and moderate price (affordable but not a deal). For a full description of each meaning please check below.

• High Quantity = Large number of products, very easy to find
• Moderate Quantity = Medium number of products, popular products harder to find
• Low Quantity = small number of products, popular products very hard to find

• High Quality = Most products will have boxes and be complete, not damaged
• Moderate Quality = Half of the products might be without box/manuals, some scratches or damage on things
• Low Quality = very few products have manuals/boxes, bad batteries, many products with damage

• High Price = You can expect to pay close to the western price for these products
• Moderate Price = Some good deals if you look around, very affordable compared to outside of Japan
• Low Price = Very cheap, easy to buy, amazing deals

I can’t honestly say I’ve been following ALL of the inventory, the prices, and the quality of products for EVERY platform but I will do my best to comment on how I’ve seen these products change from the start of 2025 to the end of the year.

Nintendo Products

Famicom (NES)

• Hardware(Console): moderate quantity, low quality, moderate price
• Software(Games): high quantity, low quality, low price
• Accessories: low quantity (high for clones), low quality, moderate price

There hasn’t been a huge change in Famicom products or prices since the last article I wrote. While some popular games like Mario and Zelda might have gone up in price, overall the size of inventories and their prices haven’t moved much. I think this could change in the future though as people buying up popular titles might want to supplement their collection with other games. It’s going to take a long time for these inventories to see any significant change in my opinion though.

Super Famicom (SNES)

• Hardware (Console): moderate quantity, low/moderate quality, low price
• Software (Games): moderate/high quantity, moderate quality, moderate/high price
• Accessories: low/moderate quantity, moderate quality, moderate price

I feel like Super Famicoms have gotten more popular over the last few months, and the biggest reason is people picking up a number of popular titles that the system offers. The Legend of Zelda, Super Metroid, Final Fantasys IV-VI, Super Mario World, and even the Dragon Quest games have be becoming harder to find thanks to collectors picking them up. The games are still a good deal compared to their counterparts overseas, but historically speaking, they are at their highest prices ever in Japan. The overall prices and inventory of most Super Famicom games haven’t changed much, but the volume of sales of popular titles has had some effect. As for the accessories, I feel like it’s still rather easy to find storage boxes, Super Scopes, and things like Mario Paint, but it is becoming a little more uncommon to see them in stock at shops.

Gameboy/Gameboy Color

• Hardware (Console): moderate/low quantity, moderate/low quality, moderate/high price
• Software (Games): high/moderate quantity, moderate quality, moderate/high price
• Accessories: low quantity, low quality, moderate price

The Gameboy handheld situation is a little more difficult to explain. In terms of stock, some stores will have tons of Gameboys to sell, while others will have none or barely any at all. It is definitely becoming more of a crap shoot to find them consistently. The other thing you have to worry about now is that even if you find them, the prices can range anywhere from affordable to outrageous. I haven’t seen any Gameboy Colors for less than 11,000 yen in major cities or places with heavy tourist traffic. Heck, most of those places will probably be selling Gameboy Colors for closer to 20,000 yen. But as soon as you go to a more local area or a place many tourists don’t go to, you can find then for as low as 7000 yen. A good tip for finding them is to look for new stores opening up or having just opened up outside of the big cities. They usually get stocked with a lot of stuff from their warehouse for their grand opening and the prices are decent.

Gameboy Games haven’t been immune from the “tourist tax” either. Go to any store in the city and you’re going to see CiB Mario and Kirby games for 5000 yen +, Metroid 2 in box for 20,000 yen, and most of the Pokemon games are over 10,000 yen (with some places like Super Potato charging upwards of 30k for copies). Anything remotely popular with tourists has gone up in price. Just how much depends on where the store is located. Boxed items in general also seem to have gone up in price.

Nintendo 64

• Hardware (Console): moderate quantity, moderate quality, moderate price
• Software (Games): high quantity, moderate quality, moderate price
• Accessories: moderate quantity, moderate quality, low/moderate price

Just like with the Famicom and Super Famicom, overall the prices on hardware and accessories haven’t moved much from last year, but popular titles on the system have been inching ever upwards. Your Mario games, Zelda games, rare stuff like Castlevania, and the Pokemon stuff are higher than they were before, but for the most part you can still find some good deals on N64 games (even boxed stuff). The N64 seems to be like it’s in a tough spot. There aren’t a ton of memorable games for it in Japan compared to things like the Gameboy of Super Famicom, so it doesn’t seem to be as popular as it is overseas. Probably a good target for people looking to collect retro stuff in Japan.

Gameboy Advance

• Hardware (Console): moderate quantity, moderate/low quality, high price
• Software (Games): moderate quantity, moderate/low quality, moderate/high price
• Accessories: low quantity, moderate/low quality, moderate price

Another victim of the tourist tax. The Pokemon games have exploded in price on the Gameboy Advance, and many of the bigger stores have started to increase the prices on popular series like Final Fantasy and Zelda games as well. The Metroid and Castlevania games have been perennially high, even before this recent uptick in prices, but now it’s becoming tougher to get any other well known title too. Unboxed items aren’t too bad, but boxed games have seen the biggest increases in price. Luckily the hardware is still pretty easy to find, namely the original and SP versions of the Gameboy Advance. Their prices haven’t changed much since the previous increase, but I’m hesitant to say that they are stabilizing. Most stores have stocked up pretty well on these handhelds, and while the overall market price hasn’t changed on them, stores in the city are still trying to capitalize on their popularity and charging a premium for them.

One change I’ve noticed a lot over the last half year though is the disappearance of Gameboy Advance accessories. Things like the cartridge cases and handheld system cases have always been hard to find, but even the cables these days are getting hard to find. I felt like accessories boxes at stores used to always have the GBA to Gamecube or GBA to GBA cables for multiplayer play, but it’s been hard for me to track these down (at least in the Kansai area). Prices don’t seem to have changed, so perhaps it’s just companies don’t want to stock them anymore or offer any money for them when people sell them. Not even a year or two back you’d find them in junk sections of Hard Offs and other stores, not anymore.

Gamecube

• Hardware (Console): moderate quantity, low/moderate quality, moderate price
• Software (Games): low/moderate quantity, low/moderate quality, moderate/high price
• Accessories: moderate quantity, low quality, moderate price

Gamecube items, as a platform, seem to have stabilized. Earlier in 2025 I felt like they were on a trajectory to have severe inventory issues, but since the summer I haven’t seen too many changes. Prices of games, even the popular ones have fluctuated up and down, and the prices of consoles don’t seem to have changed much. I believe one of the reasons for this is because Gamecube games are now on the Switch 2, and that many people are waiting to see what will be released on it. Games like Fire Emblem on the GC have even dropped, and other ones like F-zero GX don’t seem to be going anywhere. The ones that don’t end up on Switch Online could see potentially big upswings however (like Zelda Twilight Princess and Metroid Prime 2 Echoes, which are pretty expensive now). Both the N64 and Gamecube are looking like they’ll become collector items instead of things speculators can scoop up and sell.

Nintendo DS

• Hardware (Console): Moderate/high quantity, low/moderate quality, low/moderate price
• Software (Games): moderate/high quantity, moderate quality, low/moderate price
• Accessories: low quantity, moderate/low quality, low price

I feel that as the original Gameboy Advance systems go up in price and the amount of stock dwindles, many thrift stores have shifted to pushing out their stock of Nintendo DS and GBA SP handhelds. It seems like I see more and more DS Lites and DSi out there all the time in console cases at thrift stores. Another possibility could be that the increase in popularity with the 3DS has shifted some interest back to the DS platform as well. I can’t really be sure, but where there used to be fewer of these handhelds in stock, there now seems to be a lot to choose from which is why I’ve changed the quantity from moderate to moderate/high for this update. The price of these handhelds has also gone up, but mostly in bigger cities. Prices in the countryside have been mostly untouched. If you go to a store in Osaka or Tokyo you’ll probably be paying over 10,000 yen for a DS Lite or DSi these days, but outside of them they are still around 5000-7000 yen.

There has been some slight movement in the prices of the popular titles on the DS, just like with the Gameboy Advance (again, the tourist tax is to blame on things like Final Fantasys, Chrono Trigger, and Zelda titles going up). However, there has been some big movement on Pokemon games. Heart Gold/Soul Silver, Platinum, and Black/White have all seen their prices increase dramatically. Just how much depends on where you find them. I’ve seen Pokemon games on the DS go for more than 20,000 yen in the big cities and closing in on 10,000 outside of them. Even heavily stocked Pokemon games like Diamond and Pearl are going up. I would say prices have doubled on these games since I last wrote this article.

Nintendo Wii

• Hardware (Console): high/moderate quantity, moderate/low quality, low price
• Software (Games): high quantity, high quality, low price
• Accessories: high quantity, moderate/low quality, low price

The Nintendo Wii continues to be one of the cheapest retro systems you can buy in Japan. There are still so many consoles out there and for very low prices as well. So much so that you usually see a lot of Wii stuff in the outlet sections of larger stores so they can make room for other games. A large majority of the games are still available, and aside form titles like the Metroid Prime Trilogy, there really aren’t that many expensive ones. Wii-motes and their grip covers still have packed boxes devoted to them in junk sections merely because so many have been traded in and it’s hard for stores to get rid of the volume. Some stores have tried to raise prices on Wii things in tourist areas, but only just so. They are trying to squeeze out a little more profit on them even though everything can be had for pennies outside of town.

Nintendo Wii U

• Hardware (Console): Low/moderate quantity, moderate quality, moderate price
• Software (Games): moderate quantity, high quality, low/moderate price
• Accessories: moderate/low quantity, moderate/low quality, moderate/low prices

The Wii U has also stagnated in Japan over the last year I think. Remakes have caused a lot of the games to stay on the shelves, and the touch screen controllers seem to be a hassle for stores to stock due to them taking up so much space. I haven’t seen much change at all with this platform over the last half year and don’t think I’ll see much in the next half year either.

Nintendo 3DS

• Hardware (Console): moderate/high quantity, moderate quality, moderate/high prices
• Software (Games): moderate/high quantity, moderate/high quality, low/moderate prices
• Accessories: low/moderate quantity, low/moderate quality, low/moderate prices

Let’s start off with the good news. Most games haven’t gone up in price much, if at all on the 3DS system. The bad news? The Pokemon games, the Kirby games, and many of the other popular titles like Zelda: Majora’s Mask have. I don’t think the price increases are anywhere near as bad as how high the Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, and DS games went, but they are getting there. I also guess that there have been leaps and bounds with mods because region locked 3DS systems seem to be going up again due to tourists picking them up. The original 3DS systems used to be around 11000 yen and the 3DSLL were about 17000, but now you going to find that most of the smaller 3DS are in the 13000 to 17000 yen range, and that the larger 3DS are anywhere from 22000 yen to 30,000 (for rarer models). Boxed items take those prices even higher. Luckily there seem to be a lot more 3DS in stock than before due to how hot of an item they are with customers (both foreign and local). For the love of god, please stay away from the big cities if you plan on buying one though. You’ll blow your entire budge just on a 3DSLL if you do.

To Be Continued

The tourist tax, aka the prices of popular games and systems going up due to tourists wanting to buy them, shows no sign of abating and until the yen gets stronger or tourists stop buying these things, I can only foresee prices going up even further. For the next year at least I believe that these popular titles will go up in price even more, but that it will probably be slowing down and peaking by the end of 2026. My next article will be about Sony, Sega, and other products but at the moment I don’t have a schedule as to when it will be released. Hopefully it will be next week sometime. Until then, please enjoy some of my previous articles!

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