More Retro Game Shopping

In a previous post I covered the game shops and arcade at Wannian Plaza. Since posting my findings I have not been sitting idly by, sipping oolong tea while gazing out my apartment window. Oh no, unsatisfied with my findings at Wannian, I have continued my search! And I am happy to report that I have found quite a few nice game shops. Details below:


Location

All of these shops are located in Taipei City Mall, an underground shopping mall running beneath Civic Blvd near Taipei Main Station. Check out the map here. I haven't explored the entire mall, but the shops I've found are all in the area around mall exit 5. One easy way to get there from the MRT station is through the Station Front Metro Mall on the west side of the station. Take exit 7 from the Station Front Mall and walk north along Chongqing Rd. to exit 5 of the Taipei City Mall. Walk down the steps and you should see one game store almost directly in front of you. This shop has a lot of new releases, but if you walk east a little ways you will see several other shops selling a variety of current and classic releases. There are also some shops to the west, but most of the good ones that I found are to the east.


The Goods

Several shops were well stocked with retro games and consoles. All the classic consoles were there, though not in large numbers. One shop even had the Super A'Can! I eventually bought a Japanese Megadrive 2 and two games -- Shadow Dancer and Elemental Master -- for around $80. Not too bad, although Shadow Dancer was pretty expensive at $30. One vendor had Panorama Cotton, but at a price of nearly one month's rent, I had to pass. Between the various shops they had most of the classic Megadrive games, which is one reason I went with the Megadrive over a Saturn. They had some pretty good Saturn games, but most of the great ones are just too expensive. I think I will stick to the Megadrive for now.

Overall, the shops here beat the ones at Wannian in every way. The only thing missing is a good arcade. I'm planning on heading back here to try and score a copy of Under Defeat when it is released later this week.


Tags: Taiwan, Taipei, gaming, videogames