Retro Game Store Reviews: Book Off Super Bazaar Hirakatashi (Osaka)

I’ve been sitting on this shop for a while because I wasn’t sure if it had enough stuff to make it worth a trip to, but after seeing what’s available in the Kansai area, it’s looking better and better to me. It might not compare to some stores in the Kanto area near Tokyo, but I think it’s pretty good in its own right. I’ve also talked to a few other people in the Osaka area and they agreed that this shop was one of the best ones they’ve gone to. The full name of the store is the Book Off Super Bazaar 307 Gou Hirakatashi Ikenomiya store, but it’s much easier just to shorten it to the area you will find it in. So why should you go? Let me see if I can convince you.

The Selection

From a retro game standpoint, the Hirakatashi store has a very strong selection of Famicom, Super Famicom, PS1, PS2, DS, 3DS, and Wii software, and a decent amount of PS3 games. When I say strong, I mean they are in the top 10% of all Book Offs I’ve been to in terms of stock. Their PS1 and PS2 were especially impressive. They also had more than an average amount of Nintendo handhelds compared to other Book Offs. They was a huge amount of Nintendo Switch and PS4 games too, so if you’re looking for both new and old stuff this location has a great balance of both. You can also find many strategy guides at this store, with more uncommon and rarer ones than you’d usually see at a Book Off. This was not a great place for consoles, Sega software, or accessories however. Their showcases focused mainly on Nintendo products, so unless you’re looking for Famicom, Gameboy, or Gameboy Advanced games you won’t see much else inside of them.

The Pricing

This is probably the #1 reason you want to check out this store. They had some of the best, if not THE best prices on games at any Book Off in the Kansai region. Prices have been creeping up at most Book Offs in Japan, especially those that are in heavily traveled areas. If it’s not the prices going up, it’s the inventory. Sometimes you might find a shop with good prices, but they have almost nothing there because it’s too far out in the countryside and people don’t sell stuff to them. The Hirakatashi store is lucky to be able to benefit from both. It’s far enough from the heavily traveled areas to keep their prices down, but also close enough to the big city centers that they benefit from people wanting to sell their things there. The prices on a lot of their games and things like guides were about 30-50% cheaper than other places. Good luck finding any guide Metroid related for less than 3500 yen outside of this store (I’ve found none).

I still buy newer games from time to time so the real barometer for me if a store is worth going to is how they price current gen games. At the time of my visit, Xenoblade Chronicles X had been out for a few months and while most places were selling it for 4500-5000 yen preowned still, this store had it for 3600. That’s usually the lowest you’ll see popular games sell for at peak inventory at a Book Off. I also picked up Dragon Quest 3 HD, Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, and Metroid Dread at these prices. To be honest these type of Book Offs have some of the best prices of ANY thrift stores or specialty shops when it comes to newer product.

Access

This is where you’re going to hate me and why I was on the fence about whether to include this store or not in my recommended shops. If you are going to walk, the closest station is Hoshigaoka and it will take you about 25 minutes. That is not an easy feat, especially if you are doing this in the summer time. The more prudent route, and the way I got there with my wife when we checked it out, is to take a bus. Most of the buses from Hirakatashi station on the Keihan line will take about 15 minutes to get there. Much easier on your legs, especially if you end up buying a lot of stuff on your visit. The closest bus station is Kokudo Ikenomiya, and then it’s another 7 minutes or so to walk there.

The Keihan line, where Hirakatashi is, can be reached most easily from Kyoto. If you’re hanging out there and sightseeing and want to check out more shops you can take a train from the eastern side of the city where the Keihan line is located. If you’re coming from Osaka station, you can head to Kyobashi station on the Loop line and then transfer to the Keihan line there. Thankfully Hirakatashi is a major hub so all trains will stop there, including the fastest Keihan express train.

The Verdict

• Selection: 3.5/5
• Pricing: 4/5
• Ease of Access: 3/5

These are the type of thrift shops I like to go to the most. They are a bit of a challenge to get to but the payoff for gamers is usually worth it. It’s great for treasure hunting and for the near future you’ll probably be able to get some great deals there. If your search is very narrow you might come off disappointed, but if you have a variety of things you are looking for you might be able to find them there.

These types of shops are becoming rarer and rarer as the “tourist tax” spreads through entire thrift store ecosystem, so you should enjoy them while you can. If you are not comfortable taking Japanese buses though I would reconsider going. Personally, it would be hard for me to justify walking 25 minutes to get there. If you do end up checking it out though, I would recommend planning a Keihan line tour, such as going to the Ojamakan near Fujinomori station, the Surugaya near Gion Shinjo by the Kawaramachi shopping arcade, and maybe some of the Furuichi (Furuhon Ichiba) in the area. Making a day of game hunting would be more fun, and I think the Keihan line even has discounts for all day passes between Osaka and Kyoto.

But wait, there’s more!

Do you like this type of content and want to see more? Be sure to let me know by joining me on various social media and dropping me a line. I hope to bring hundreds of articles to this website about not only about my gaming experiences, but also about gaming in Japan, game collecting, and even game stores over here! If you plan to visit and are big into gaming (be it on modern systems or retro ones), be sure to bookmark this website and stop back from time to time for updates.

How to contact me:

• Bluesky: @thejapanhobbyist.bsky.social
• Twitch: TheJapanHobbyist
• Instagram: thejapanhobbyist