Buying Physical Games Overseas

At the end of 2025, my partner and I went on an impromptu holiday to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. We created the trip around a Tool concert and have been to Japan many times, but hadn’t spent much time in Osaka or the nearby port city Kobe where the concert was held.

We spent a week exploring those two places, as well as an overnight stay in Koyasan (Mount Koya,) a world heritage site for Shingon Buddhism. Then, we spent two weeks in South Korea, staying in the K-pop capital of the world Seoul, and then Busan which reminded me of a slightly more squeaky clean Gold Coast. Finally, we spent the last five days in Taiwan’s capital city Taipei which was a complete hidden gem of a holiday destination. We really loved it and hope to return soon.

Now, I know this isn’t a travel blog. I’m just attempting to provide a little context to what this post is really about…. The video games we bought over there!

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure I was ever going to post about this cause it feels frivolous and ridiculous, especially with what’s going on in the world right now. However, maybe people need the distraction or maybe it’s informative to a degree? Either way, we’re here now… 😬

In terms of physical media, games weren’t the only thing we brought back from our trip… I also added a few vinyl records to my collection! I love collecting physical media, whether it’s books, vinyl or sometimes games (I mostly play games via Steam so I only usually buy physical versions of my favourites.)

I particularly like picking up media from overseas because they tend to have different versions or stuff I’ve never seen before. Our combined collections are richer and a little more interesting for these souvenirs. However, the rest of the world seems to have cottoned on to how great and well preserved physical media is in Japan which, based on a conversation I overheard at a record fair yesterday, is not great! (These two guys were talking about the multiple crates of vinyl they brought back from Japan. Yikes!) Japan has a huge secondhand market for physical media and I don’t think it should be abused by tourists or those seeking stock to sell on. Anyway, that conversation is for a different post altogether. I will point out though, that we primarily seek out second hand first and foremost and that’s in general, not just overseas.

Here’s a list of what we grabbed and I’ll talk a little about my picks (if anyone wants more info on the others, let me know):

Tamagotchi no Appare! Niji-Venture (たまごっちのアッパレ！にじべんちゃ) JP only, Nintendo DS

Everybody’s Golf World (aka Everybody’s Golf Hot Shots), JP Edition, PS5

Returnal, JP Edition, PS5 (disc only)

Stellar Blade, Korean edition, PS5

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, JP edition, PS5

Once Upon a Katamari, JP edition, Nintendo Switch

Neon White, JP Edition, Nintendo Switch

Urban Myth Dissolution Center, JP edition, Nintendo Switch

Dariusburst EX+ Another Chronicle, European edition, Nintendo Switch

Bear & Breakfast, European edition, Nintendo Switch

Detroit Become Human, JP edition, PS4

Tamagotchi no Appare! Niji-Venture

(たまごっちのアッパレ！にじべんちゃ)

The new Tamagotchi game Tamagotchi Plaza was released while we were travelling, and I was interested in buying it, but ultimately decided that getting a Japanese only Tamagotchi game would be better. I’ll need to use a translator to play this as there’s no English, but I think it will be fun to dust off the ol 3DS!

I also bought an actual Tamagotchi which you’ve gotta do when you’re in Japan…

Urban Myth Dissolution Center

I bought this purely because it looked interesting. I initially thought it was the Japanese edition of an English game, but it’s the other way around. It’s by Japanese developer Hakababunko who are known for the Makoto Wakaido’s Case File series. Urban Myth Dissolution Center is described as being many things - a paranormal, mystery, adventure game, and/or a psychological horror, visual novel. The player is tasked with investigating strange goings on in the “Dissolution Center” from cursed relics to dimensional anomalies. I’m looking forward to diving in as I don’t play many horror or mystery games!

Dariusburst EX+ Another Chronicle

If you’ve been following me for a while, you might have read my post about arcade games and how much I loved the 4 person bullet hell extravaganza that is Dariusburst. The soundtrack is especially memorable so I decided to check if it has ever had a release outside of arcades and was surprised that it was on the Switch in Europe and the US, but not Australia or even Japan where it’s made! I kind of put it out of my mind, so imagine my surprise when I stumble upon it in a secondhand stall in an electronics centre in Seoul! What are the odds?!

Detroit Become Human

I’m on a bit of a sci-fi kick at the moment after getting a touch of medieval fantasy fatigue, so I’ve had a couple of sci-fi and cyberpunk games on my wishlist to look out for. I was going to get this one next time it was in a Steam sale, but I stumbled upon this Japanese edition for PS4 in Seoul.

Neon White

This was one of my partner’s picks and I’d never heard of it before but I’m very intrigued! It’s a first person shooter and puzzle game about exterminating demons in heaven. The art style is awesome and you play as White, an assassin “handpicked from Hell to compete with other demon slayers for a chance to live permanently in Heaven.” I’m sure this game is gonna be quite hard for me to play, but I’m willing to give it a crack!

Here’s a little fun bonus… a Korean language player guidebook for one of my all time favourite games Dragon Age: Origins!

I’d love to know if you’ve ever bought physical media from overseas and how it went.

Thanks so much for reading, I know it’s been a while between posts but hopefully I’m back on track. I appreciate your support x

KO-FI