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Did you ever import games from Japan?

lachesis

Member
All the time since SNES/Genesis days.
Used mail orders from GameFan and also NYC local import stores up to DC/PS2 days. These days - not really, unless the game doesn’t support my native language.
 

PanzerCute

Member
I used to mainly buy japanese games during Dreamcast/PS2/GC era yes. It took way too much time for the game to release in Europe back then, and you could find translations online easily.

Good times!
 
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Dr. Suchong

Member
Yes.
Demons Souls, Radiant silvergun,
Dungeons and Dragons Tower of Doom/Shadow over Mystara.
Maybe more I'm forgetting.
 
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phant0m

Member
I imported Yakuza: Ishin and played through it on PS4 with a translation guide. 10 years later it finally got a Western release!

I also imported MGS V special edition for the goodies (I also bought an English copy to actually play)
 
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Celcius

°Temp. member
I've imported 3 games using PlayAsia:

Tales of Vesperia ps3
Gundam EX Versus Full Boost
Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 Scarlet

and also an anime cd one time.
 
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German Hops

GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief
I import from americaaaa
e02e5ffb5f980cd8262cf7f0ae00a4a9_press-x-to-doubt-memes-memesuper-la-noire-doubt-meme_419-238.jpg
 
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F31 Leopard

Member
PS1 and "Goldfinger" connected to i/o parallel port let me play japanese games.
Imported games:
Initial D
Touge Max
Racing Lagoon
Option Tuning Car Battle
 
Ive imported a few titles throught out the years. Couldnt wait for localization.

- Densetsu no Stafy 3
- Daigasso! Band Brothers
- Jet Set Radio
- Super Princess Peach
 
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Lucumo

Member
Yes, a lot of PC games, a decent number of PC-98 games as well as some selected console ones (Shenmue I & II limited editions, Sakura Taisen etc).
 
Dream Machines and Tokyo Joe were my usual importers.
I never used Tokyo Joe my main Import shop was Ice Distribution, before Colin did a runner I then used a bit of Krazy Consoels before I found Lee and Dreammachines and never looked back
One of my happiest ever importing memories was asking Lee if Virtual Cop had come in for the Saturn and he said Yes and it's 'basically the Arcade game at home'

I miss those wonderful Saturn import days so much
 

Papa_Wisdom

Member
I’ve got a huge collection of japanese Dreamcast and sega Saturn games, also got 2 Dreamcast karaoke players, Japanese arcade stick and both the Saturn and Dreamcast twin stick controllers for virtual on, probably got a lot more that I can’t remember as it’s all in storage atm.
 

stn

Member
Yup. Yakuza 5 (PS3), Ninja Gaiden Master Collection (PS4), Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition (XBX). Only because I wanted physical editions.
 
All the time! It's my passion!
70% of my discs/cartridges collection was imported from jp! Some really rare.

I also import some rare old Doujinshi Fighting games, and still buy some on Dlsite.

PS: If some of u guys want some doujinshi fighting games, or have some missing on your collection, just send me a pm, i can share with you!
 
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Isa

Member
I've imported a bunch of stuff over the years though admittedly not as much recently since thankfully a lot more games make it over now, though in cases of censorship or the rare case of a game not getting an official western release I'll still import. I personally started during my late teen's ala 2000 and later, with my biggest splurge being during the Nintendo DS era since they had so many cool colors, I got a different one for my sister and I along with a slew of neat games. The PS3 era also saw me importing quite a few games especially with Demon's Souls and many more. I really love region free consoles lol makes life so much easier.

Lately the only things I've gotten are Switch releases, a few PS4 games. Asian Region stuff is especially great lately if you want a physical release with English. Also plenty of music, figures, snacks, artbooks and wallscrolls. Some were gifts for others though. Its great fun! Granted PlayAsia is more HongKong I've imported a bit from Japan directly. I like the care put in to the packaging and all the extras one gets as opposed to western releases, its like night and day. Partially why I don't buy western physical very often save for older releases I'm collecting.
 

fart town usa

Gold Member
Nah but my brother's friend would get SNES games from his father's work trips to Japan. It was wild looking at the small piece of plastic on the SNES and how it served as a region lock. Easiest hard-mod ever, ha.
 
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GloveSlap

Member
The original Smash Bros on N64 from Japan. Because Nintendo said it wasn't getting a US release at the time.

Dreamcast and games from Japan. I was just too hyped and it was a long wait for the US release.
 

Impotaku

Member
Barely a month goes by without something from Japan landing on the doorstep, my purchases are mixed between uk japan & the usa but mostly japan. This months example although the pickups thread is full of the stuff i buy from month to month.
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SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
Absolutely. I had tons of imports on PSX, Dreamcast, GameCube, and GBA. I fell off a bit after that because it got harder to play imports and companies got better about localizing them, but I do have a couple on Switch.
 

RAIDEN1

Member
No, but I did import from Hong Kong, namely Metal Gear Solid twin snakes for the Cube and Metal Gear 4 for the PS3 as I couldn't wait for the UK release to come around and I wanted MGS4 a.s.a.p....same couldn't be said however for Metal Gear Barren 5...
 

xrnzaaas

Member
Nope, the new Yakuza might be my first one if in fact even Europe won't get a retail release (and apparently English version is included).
 
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Vandole

Member
One time. In 1997 I bought a copy of Final Fantasy 5 for the SFC. I downloaded a 30-page translation off of the internet. It was fun and a cool thing to be able to say I was one of the few people in the US who had played Final Fantasy 5 at that time. But the extra expenses more enough to make me pass on doing it again.
 
Was never a Japan import guy myself but did import MGS3 ps2 from Canada back in the day. It was either play it on imported launch of November 2004 or wait 4 months for European launch and with spoilers likely everywhere. No brainer really.
 
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Only thing I imported from Japan was from Pokemon Promo box back in 2016 for £50 now it's worth 7 grand somehow :|

Only game was Pokemon Perl in 2007 from America because the UK wasn't getting it till months down the line.
 
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