Soba, udon, sushi, yakitori, and beer! Daiso and Seria are the largest 100 yen store chains here in Japan, but I think Can*Do has the best charcter tie-in merchandise.
Japanese food-related Pac-Man stickers at the Can*Do 100 yen shop
Dragon Quest campaign at Loft 2025
Last month when we went to Keyaki Walk Mall in Maebashi, I found another big display of Dragon Quest merchandise at Loft! I showed the Dragon Quest sale at Loft last year on my blog. This time it was for the release of DQ I and II.
“Welcome to the Loft Dragon Quest I & II 2025 goods campaign!”
The first things I noticed were all the plush dolls. These retro character sprite cushions look cool.
Cups and silverware.
So much random stuff. Soap dispensers, clips, pins, stickers, and so on.
A DQ raincoat! Wild.
Pac-Man ghost plushies from Shimamura
A few weeks ago, I came across these 45th Pac-Man anniversary plushies of Inky and Blinky on discount at Shimamura. I hadn’t noticed these at the store until they were moved to the front of the store, in the clearance area.
Space Invaders Counter Attack
I was in a small mall in southern Maebashi City this past weekend when I noticed Space Invaders Counter Attack. I have posted before about Space Invaders Frenzy. Counter Attack is a semi-similar game, but this time you’re shooting ping pong balls from a gun at a touch-sensitive screen. I’d never played this game before, and at first I was confused because I didn’t realize that I was supposed to shoot balls at the screen. Defeat the invaders and turn your attention downwards. You then have to repel the Invaders with your shots as they get closer to your base. No matter how much I shot them, I still lost. I really couldn’t get the hang of this game on my first try. Someday I’ll give it another shot, but this is the only place I’ve ever seen this game. I like Frenzy more.
SEGA logo iron beads pinned to the wall
I found a perfect spot to put my new Sega logo iron bead sprite, under my neon Pac-Man sign. I’m so cool that I’m jealous of myself.
Nakoruru iron beads work finished
Another iron beads project finished! This is Nakoruru from SNK Gals Fighters for the Neo Geo Pocket Color. I’ve added her to Athena, Mai, and Yuri on the wall, all from that game.
Earthion ship plus the SEGA logo iron beads
Made some iron beads this weekend! Sega logo plus the fighter from the new Megadrive shmup, Earthion.
Scans of the ladies from the limited edition of Dead or Alive for the Sega Saturn
Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki has passed away. In his honor, I’ll post some pictures I made of the ladies of Dead or Alive from the limited edition of the Sega Saturn game I scanned a few years ago.
I don’t care what the pearl-clutching feminists say. I love Jiggle physics. Jiggle physics make video games fun. As far as my Dreamcast knows, my age is 99 years old. Rest in peace, Itagaki-san. Thanks for the pretty ladies.
Air Gallet intro animated GIF montage
Air Gallet is a shmup by Banpresto from 1996.
The Mikado game center in Ikebukuro
On August 21st I returned to Japan from my trip to Arizona. I stayed a night in Tokyo before proceeding home. I looked up how to find the Mikado game center in Ikebukuro. This was my first time visiting there.
I didn’t take a whole lot of photos, actually. By then I was getting very hungry, so I went to Ueno and went to an Irish pub called The World’s End where I had fish & chips with two pints of Guinness. It was great.
That night I also went to Taito’s HEY game center in Akihabara and took these photos there.
