Retro Game Store Reviews: Mandarake Umeda (Osaka)

Yikes. It’s been almost a month since I’ve updated my blog but let me explain. I had the Japanese Language Proficiency Test in early July and had been studying for it right up until the day of it. I think I passed but I won’t find out for sure until late September. After that, I had day after day after day of work and didn’t really have a break until recently (and when I did have downtime I preferred to play games and stream). Now that things have calmed down a bit, I hope to continue with updating my blog with more store reviews as well as other helpful information about retro gaming in Japan. If you’ve been following my Instagram (@theJapanHobbyist), then you’ve seen that I have been updating it a lot more often than I have over here. It’s always good to check it out if you are wondering what else I’ve been up to or what is going on. Anyways, let’s get started with today’s article!

I have a lot of history with Mandarake stores. I was first exposed to it in Nagoya when I lived there from 2011 to 2017, but back then I saw it as more of a collectible toy store with anime and cosplay things. They did have games, but I didn’t care much for them back then. When I moved to the Kanto area in 2017, I visited both the Akihabara and Nakano Broadway flagship store in Shinjuku. Even before the pandemic caused retro games to spike, I thought the prices at this retro toy and multimedia chain in Tokyo were really high. I continued to think this the entire time I lived in Kanto, and I steered clear of the shop whenever I went to those areas. They had good selections but the prices were insulting at times. That might still be the case in the Tokyo area, but visiting the satellite shop in Kobe last month changed my mind about it so I decided to give the Umeda store in Osaka a chance.

The Selection

You might not notice right away, but there are very few loose games at Mandarake. If you go to a Hard Off, Book Off, or even Surugaya’s, you are bound to find walls and boxes full of loose games. Mandarake, much like some other specialty shops, don’t seem to take them in for trade. This store seems to be mostly focused on collectors so you’ll find that 95% of the items at their shop have boxes, manuals, and any other loose items that come with it. It’s a great sight to see, just shelf after shelf of complete boxed games. And it’s also a very deep selection of games. You will find a large selection of Nintendo, Playstation, Sega, and even Neo Geo games there. It’s quite the spread, but if retro isn’t your thing then you can find modern games from the PS4 and Switch there too. This Mandarake also had a massive shelf full of guidebooks that I spent a good deal of time looking through.

For as good as their selection of games and guides is, their selection of consoles, handhelds, and accessories was kind of depressing. As I was saying before, Mandarake tends to focus on collector items so unless something is really rare they probably won’t accept it at their purchasing counter. I’m willing to forgive this though, since they had such a large selection of complete games (and a pretty good amount of unopened games as well!).

The Pricing

Remember how I said I didn’t really care for the stores in the Tokyo area because of their pricing? Well the Kansai area stores changed my mind. They are by no means cheap and you won’t be finding any great deals here, but the stores in this area are much closer to the Surugaya chain in terms of pricing than Super Potato or other specialty shops. I don’t know if this is because they decided to lower their prices overall to be more competitive, or if their prices are seen in a better light now because the prices of most retro games have gone up all over Japan in the last few years. Whatever the case is, you can still find affordable games here, and sometimes they might even be cheaper than most of the other retro game shops. Mandarake Umeda is definitely worth comparing prices against if you’re in the area. The Surugaya in Umeda is not too far of a walk as well, so you could save a couple thousand yen if you don’t mind walking the distance between the two.

Access

This store is actually pretty close to Osaka station, but it’s even closer to Higashi Umeda on the subway line. There is an underground shopping area near Osaka station called Whity Umeda, and if you can follow it to the end and go up the M2 exit, you can walk there in 2 minutes. It’s also pretty close to the J4 exit by Hankyu station, just a few more minutes down the road. You’ll find the store in a shotengai area (a covered street), but be warned that it’s pretty close to a “night time” district so it’s probably best to check it out in the day time :). As I pointed out in the previous paragraph, the Surugaya in Umeda is in the general area, but is walk-able from this store if you wanted to check both out. For those that haven’t visited Umeda station before, it’s located right next to Osaka station and can be reached pretty easily from there or if you’re traveling from Shin Osaka where the bullet train station is by taking the subway from there. All in all it’s an easy walk from the major Osaka transport hubs.

The Verdict

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

The game selection is probably closer to a 4.5, but the lack of hardware and accessories hurt that score for me. The pricing is fair, but not great and that’s why it got a middle of the road score. As for the access, it’s one of the easier stores to get to in Osaka, and far enough off the beaten path that you probably won’t be dealing with too many other tourists. Most people will be going further downtown into the Namba and Nipponbashi areas near Den Den Town to get their games, so there will be less competition for titles you want and also more responsible pricing by the store since they aren’t in a major tourist area. Overall, I believe this Mandarake is worth a visit if you’re in the Osaka area.

But wait, there’s more!

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