Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 2 Just Shipped Three Originals
Master Collection Vol. 2 landed August 27 with MGS4, Peace Walker, and Ghost Babel. Here's where to find the original Japanese releases of all three, with product codes.
Kataban Blog
Buying Japanese games, explained
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2026-08-28 -
2026-08-28Akihabara Deep Cuts: BEEP and the Retro Game Camp Dungeon
BEEP Akihabara and the Retro Game Camp Dungeon Store sit a short walk past the routes in Parts 1 and 2 — one for Japanese PC hardware and arcade boards, the other for the loose cartridge piles.
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2026-08-27Persona 4 Revival Gets a February 2027 Release Date and New Story Trailer
Persona 4 Revival launches February 18, 2027 on PS5, Xbox, and PC. Atlus revealed a new story trailer at Gamescom 2026 — find the games that started it all.
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2026-08-26Capcom Announces "Mega Man: Dual Override" for the Series' 40th Anniversary
Capcom announced Mega Man: Dual Override for 2027, with both Mega Man and Proto Man playable. Here's what was revealed, and where the series started on the Famicom in 1987.
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2026-08-26"Console Archives BUBBLE BOBBLE" Brings the 1987 Disk System Original to Switch 2 and PS5
HAMSTER's Console Archives series brings BUBBLE BOBBLE to Switch 2 and PS5. The 1987 Famicom original was a Disk System release, not a cartridge — here's what that means for collectors.
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2026-08-26What Does "CIB" Mean When Buying Used Games in Japan?
CIB (Complete In Box) means the game, case, and manual are all present. Here's what to check before buying, and how it maps to Japanese listing terms.
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2026-08-25Terranigma Is Getting a Remaster in 2027 — Here's the Original SFC Version
The 1995 Enix/Quintet classic Terranigma (Tenchi Souzou) is coming back in 2027 on modern platforms. Here's what was announced, and where to find the original Super Famicom release.
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2026-08-25Ninja JaJaMaru-kun Is Back — A New Action Game Is Coming in 2027
City Connection has announced Jajamaru no Hyakki Yakouden, a new dungeon-crawling action game in the 40-year-old Ninja JaJaMaru-kun series. Here's what was revealed, and where to find the original 1985 Famicom game.
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2026-08-23The Akihabara Chain-Store Crawl
Four big chain names, four very different shelves — what Suruga-ya, Hard Off, Book-Off, and Lashinbang actually sell for retro game hunters.
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2026-08-22Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 Is Coming — And the Japanese Alien Games That Came Before It
Four-player co-op lands August 25. Japan's game database tells a stranger story about what came before — and the closest thing you can actually buy isn't officially Aliens at all.
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2026-08-22What Does "Junk" Mean When Buying Used Games in Japan?
It's not garbage — it's a price category. Here's what "as-is, no guarantee" really means before you buy.
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2026-08-21Golden Axe Is Getting an Anime. Here's What the Original Japanese Releases Actually Look Like
Five regional releases, one myth about censorship that keeps getting repeated — and the product codes for the versions that never left Japan.
Know the code, find the game
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