Tips For Import Gaming

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Does import gaming intimidate you? Afraid to dip your toes into Japanese games? Fear not! With these tips, you’ll be playing all the goodies that never make their way out of Japan with confidence.

1] Get Into the Right Mindset
If you don’t understand Japanese, import gaming can be overwhelming. If you look at import gaming as an adventure, it might be so bad. Playing a game in your native language provides a single challenge: the game itself. Playing a game in a language you don’t understand makes for two challenges. The game itself, again, as well as learning the ins-and-outs of your newfound adventure. Most games, though, share a lot of conventions, especially games within a given genre. Approaching an import game with some general gamer knowledge, some patience and a willingness to do some trial-and-error, I can assure you, you will be just fine for most games.

As a step up in your import adventures, here are a few very important Japanese words:
はい / Hai / Yes, or ok / Generally used to confirm menu choices and prompts
いいえ / Iie / No, or cancel / Generally used to decline menu choices and prompts
セーブ / Seebu / Save / Look for this to save your game!

Many games utilize some English, often in their menus, and some games are so simple that the language barrier is nearly non-existent. Also be sure to check out sites like gamefaqs.com for fan translations and helpful guides for the more popular import games.

2] Know Your Hardware
An unfortunate truth to import gaming is that many systems are region specific. That is, if you purchased, say an Xbox 360 or a Super Nintendo or a Playstation 2 in North America, it will play only North American games without any kind of modification. With few exceptions, such as the Playstation 3, all consoles are region locked. This can be overcome by something as simple as a cartridge adapter or something as esoteric as chip modification. Personally, I’ve been one to simply purchase Japanese consoles, rather than modify my North American consoles.

On the other hand, just about any handheld system you can think of is region free. From the original Game Boy and Game Gear, to the PSP and the DS, handheld gamers are generally free to enjoy games from all regions. As a side note, the Nintendo DSi is region free, despite many Internet claims to the contrary. It will play retail DS cards from any region. The DSiWare digital store, though, is region specific, but this is true for all digital stores on every system.

Either way, be sure to do a little research before committing to a purchase. No one wants to get burned.

3] Where to Buy Your Games
Even today, some people still think import gaming is an exotic, back-alley deal. This is an incorrect perception. Import games are getting easier and easier to come by. My personal favorite import retail site (and probably the last major one still standing), is play-asia.com. Play Asia carries a wide variety of games, including used retro games, has fair prices, ships relatively quickly and offers many sales. Quite conveniently, Play Asia also tells you upfront what region a game is, and if it’s region free.

There’s bound to be a bit of a sticker shock when seeing Play Asia’s prices for the first time. This isn’t Play Asia gouging you. This is how much games cost in Japan. If you live North America, you might be used to cushy video game prices, and while they may not seem affordable, the rest of the world tends to pay significantly more.

EBay is another good source, although, as with any eBay auction, a level of caution is best. Like Play Asia, number of the more popular import sellers on eBay also tell you what language the game is in, and if it will play in your region’s systems. An added bonus is that many Japanese gamers take care of their games, and often keep the packaging and instruction booklets to their older games. It’s quite common to find old Super Famicom or Game Boy games, complete, and for reasonable prices (far more reasonable than their North American counterparts!).

Conclusion
Honestly, that’s all a newcomer needs to know upfront. It seems daunting at first, but after one or two import games, you’ll be hooked. It’s not nearly as scary as it seems, and it really is an enjoyable aspect of gaming many don’t even bother to look into. I hope you may have learned something from these tips, and may even consider import gaming.

My first import game was Jump Ultimate Stars for the DS, and I never looked back. I highly recommend this game to any first time importers. Firstly, it’s a fantastic game, one of my favorites on the DS. Secondly, it’s never being published outside of Japan, so you might as well import! Third, it’s a DS game, so if you have a DS from any region, you already have all the hardware necessary to play the game. Finally, it’s a well documented game here in the west. Running a search for Jump Ultimate Stars at Game FAQs will return a very thorough FAQ/walkthrough. Even the greenest of importers should have little trouble playing this game!