Other import game sites like Play-Asia?

aoiddr · Jun 22, 2017

Been out of the import game buying scene for a while, but all these recent USA digital only releases and limited run stuff has had me nabbing Asia and UK editions of some PS4 and Vita games as of late (stuff like Deemo, DOA Xtreme 3 Fortune, inFamous First Light, PS4 port of Heavy Rain/Beyond: Two Souls, the asia version of the Gravity Rush Remaster because the USA one is out of print, etc).

What are some websites that stock import games now besides Play-Asia, random ebay/amazon sellers, CDJapan, and NCSX?

fake · Jun 22, 2017

Amazon.co.jp ships games to the US now. It's supposedly a very smooth process.

oliverclaude · Jun 23, 2017

fakeXsound said:
Amazon.co.jp ships games to the US now. It's supposedly a very smooth process.

You mean, you can actually go on amazon.co.jp and order something there with your US password? But probably only with sellers, who accept amazon payment, I guess. And international shipping.

Anyway, you should try Solaris. Trustworthy shop with an outstanding service.

MattBlah · Jun 23, 2017

oliverclaude said:
You mean, you can actually go on amazon.co.jp and order something there with your US password? But probably only with sellers, who accept amazon payment, I guess. And international shipping.

Anyway, you should try Solaris. Trustworthy shop with an outstanding service.

I'd not heard of that one before. I'm having a browse now.

I find with Play Asia I always get custom charges, but I never do from any other purchases from Japan.

I still miss Lik-Sang.

Colorado Rockie · Jun 23, 2017

I import nearly all of my Japanese games from Nin-Nin, Solaris, and Nippon-Yasan.

Liquid Snake · Jun 23, 2017

I miss diehard gamefan...............

JoeAwesome · Jun 23, 2017

oliverclaude said:
You mean, you can actually go on amazon.co.jp and order something there with your US password? But probably only with sellers, who accept amazon payment, I guess. And international shipping.

Anyway, you should try Solaris. Trustworthy shop with an outstanding service.

As I understand it, you can use Amazon Japan when buying directly from them, and not other sellers.

There's also some people in the Vita thread who know where to import from Europe if you're looking for those versions.

Edit: pixeljunkie might know.

BlackaneseNiNjA · Jun 23, 2017

+1 for nippon-yasan. Great site imho and I've never had any issues with them. However, their inventory tends to lean more towards figures and collectibles. When it comes to game imports they don't seem to offer the larger selection that play-asia often does from what I've seen over the years.

Piggybacking off of JoeAwesome's statement regarding purchasing from secondary sellers on Amazon japan, some will actually ship internationally. It takes some hunting, but it appears to be up to each individual seller whether international shipping is an option or not.

For harder to find japanese retailer/mail-away exclusives, I tend to use proxy buyers or contacts in japan rather than ebay as some items can simply be that hard to get a hold of.

Good luck and happy hunting!

fake · Jun 23, 2017

oliverclaude said:
You mean, you can actually go on amazon.co.jp and order something there with your US password? But probably only with sellers, who accept amazon payment, I guess. And international shipping.

Anyway, you should try Solaris. Trustworthy shop with an outstanding service.

You need to create a unique account for Amazon.co.jp. All required fields are presented in English. Only games offered directly from Amazon qualify. And they also have to qualify for international shipping. So there are some restrictions but any high profile game should be available for purchase.

DevilRedeemed · Jun 23, 2017

Are SFC games that expensive nowadays?
Final Fight at Solaris is 7990 yen. Seems like way more than it should be lol. I didn't know that system's catalogue had gone up

Edit. Checked eBay and price seems to be less than half what that site has it for. What gives?

oliverclaude · Jun 23, 2017

JoeAwesome said:
As I understand it, you can use Amazon Japan when buying directly from them, and not other sellers.

There's also some people in the Vita thread who know where to import from Europe if you're looking for those versions.

Edit: pixeljunkie might know.

fakeXsound said:
You need to create a unique account for Amazon.co.jp. All required fields are presented in English. Only games offered directly from Amazon qualify. And they also have to qualify for international shipping. So there are some restrictions but any high profile game should be available for purchase.

Thanks for the clarifying, guys. Till now, I used Tenso to buy from the Japanese amazon. Could be worth a try to do it for once w/o a proxy.

DevilRedeemed said:
Are SFC games that expensive nowadays?
Final Fight at Solaris is 7990 yen. Seems like way more than it should be lol. I didn't know that system's catalogue had gone up

Edit. Checked eBay and price seems to be less than half what that site has it for. What gives?

I do recommend them for current gen stuff like the mentioned PS4 & Vita. Had some good 360 deals there, too. Never cared for their "retro" section, but now that you mentioned it... well, 65 Euro seem steep, but it's complete with postcard and apparently in top condition, which means a lot for carton boxed games. Maybe both have something to do with the higher price tag?

But then again, I'm not really into SFC prices. Got only one game for that system anyway and it happens to be related to your avatar

.

DevilRedeemed · Jun 25, 2017

oliverclaude said:
Thanks for the clarifying, guys. Till now, I used Tenso to buy from the Japanese amazon. Could be worth a try to do it for once w/o a proxy.

I do recommend them for current gen stuff like the mentioned PS4 & Vita. Had some good 360 deals there, too. Never cared for their "retro" section, but now that you mentioned it... well, 65 Euro seem steep, but it's complete with postcard and apparently in top condition, which means a lot for carton boxed games. Maybe both have something to do with the higher price tag?

But then again, I'm not really into SFC prices. Got only one game for that system anyway and it happens to be related to your avatar .

ha!

NeuroticMoose · Jun 26, 2017

JoeAwesome said:
As I understand it, you can use Amazon Japan when buying directly from them, and not other sellers.

There's also some people in the Vita thread who know where to import from Europe if you're looking for those versions.

Edit: pixeljunkie might know.

I ran into this issue when buying some Arrow blurays from the UK off amazon, the third party sellers usually won't ship outside of their region, my workaround was that there was a guy I knew online who I had the stuff shipped to and then he forwarded the stuff to me, not like thats going to work for everyone in every situation, just what I ended up doing

wju2004 · Jun 29, 2017

One website I found that has special editions of games, sometimes, is Rice Digital out of the UK. Only bought a few from them, but I check what they've got sometimes.

ChopstickSamurai · Jun 30, 2017

I recently discovered badpandashop.com. Looks like they sell HK and Asia territory games and movies. Might be a good place to get those English Asia Vita and PS4 releases. Anyone here ever use them?

Neo Alec · Jun 30, 2017

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/

Ships direct from Japan at Japanese retail prices.

Tanooki · Jun 30, 2017

I've recently used YesAsia and I was happy about it. They also do free shipping for a $39USD+ and higher cost item(s) so I ended up getting I Am Setsuna for Switch there as a physical release. It came maybe at most 2 weeks later (didn't ship for a few days until stock returned.)

Ralfakick · Jun 30, 2017

http://www.japangamestock.com/

ChopstickSamurai · Jun 30, 2017

I forgot about YesAsia, haven't ordered from them in years. CDjapan used to be my go to for Japanese media of all kinds, but now I price compare with Amazon Japan.

Ralfakick said:
http://www.japangamestock.com/

That's a blast from the past! I had no idea they were still around. Same webpage design as well from 20 years ago.

Tron · Jul 1, 2017

Ralfakick said:
http://www.japangamestock.com/

Still a good site for buying older imports.Though prices sure have been climbing for games that are complete.

xelement5x · Jul 7, 2017

http://heavyarm-asia.com/shop/

Have not personally used but heard good things about.

Other import game sites like Play-Asia?

Over Top Auto Mechanic

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout

General Morden's Aide

Baseball Star Hitter

Terry Bogard's Taylor

I am untouchable

I survived Secret Santa, It wasn't Easy.,

The Fatal Fury Disciple

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout

teh

General Morden's Aide

teh

Super Spy Agent

Armored Scrum Object

I have earned the, right to PM Rot.,

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout

War Room Troll

J. Max's Chauffeur,

I have earned the, right to PM Rot.,

Test

Galford's Armourer