I return! Before I delve into the fruitful world of merch once more, I’d like to say a big thanks to Paul Street and the TSS gang for holding the fort while we were roaming Japan; nice one guys and gals!
So anyway, to answer my question in one word…yes. There is most certainly Sonic merchandise to be had in Japan, some particularly nice stuff at that. The long answer, however, is that you really have to look for the stuff…and in some cases, you really need to look hard.
The COSPA brand are currently selling a range of high quality Sonic shirts and apparel, including a nifty selection of stylish shirts, a bandana and a tote bag. There’s even a reversible Sonic World Adventure shirt – so you can have Sonic on your sunny days and crack out the Werehog at night…just turn it inside out! The selection is not cheap though; you can expect to pay about ¥3000 (£22/$32) for a shirt, and ¥4200 for the reversible shirt. There’s even a Sonic Zippo lighter…but don’t expect to get it cheap! If you want something a bit more affordable, UNIQLO (another Japanese brand who produced a couple of Sonic UT print shirts last year) also have a Sonic shirt in their current Video game shirt line-up…and for a meagre ¥1500 it’s a bargain!
Considering JOYPOLIS is SEGA’s Mecca for state-of-the-art arcade games, there’s surprisingly little in the way of Sonic related goodies to pick up. The gift shop inside the complex is still selling boxes of its trademark Sonic Chocolate cake and sweets, as well as a set of mini plush toys of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy – each setting you back between £5-£7; a steal for nice little additions to a collection. You can also pick yourself up an odd little friendship bracelet set; very girly!
Having said that Sonic stuff is hard to find in general, Sonic soundtracks are not. Walk into any HMV or Tower Records in Tokyo, and not only do they have an extensive selection of game and anime soundtracks, you can grab the two recently released Black Knight Soundtracks as well as the Sonic World Adventure OSTs. It’s also not unusual to see earlier OSTs too…or a certain debut album by a Mr. Bentley Jones! We also spotted Charles Hamilton‘s CD going in Manhattan Records too – these guys get everywhere!!!
If retro gear is what you crave, then Akihabara really is the place you want to be! The main street is dotted with stores that stock immaculately kept copies of games and consoles of yesteryear. A copy of Chaotix on ebay can easily fetch £50 upwards; we managed to pick up a pristine copy for less than half that, as well as a copy of Tails Sky Patrol, complete with box, for a tenner. If you’re looking for any old magazines or references – put aside a few hours to rummage through shelves of “good as new” copies of magazines from well over fifteen years ago!
If you want to check out the COSPA range you can do so on their website, and if you’re interested in checking out some retro stores in Akihabara, my first recommendation is a store called Super Potato.
Good to be back TSS – continue to keep your eyes peeled for more Sonic stuff Merch Hogs!
Welcome back T-Bird! I knew you wouldn’t come back empty handed, that bunch of treasure looks awesome. You’ll have to let me know what Sonic cake and sweets taste like. Hope you guys had fun!
Good to have you back T-bird. You know from what you write in this article it seems that us Brits just aren’t getting enough Sonic love. Thanks for the links too; gonna check out some retro stuff.
I spy with my little eye Sonic themed chocolate cake… yum yum… is it any good?
Wow, never thought there’d be so much Sonic stuff up for grabs in Japan in this day and age… I was there (at an airport) overnight a few years ago, only managed to score a Yoshi plushie 🙁
nice i think i could spend a future if i went to Akihabara (staring into space, drooling)
good job the megadrive is region free and i have a sega saturn Action replay cart that makes the saturn region free,
ive always wanted to go too japan but i wanted to go when I’d learned some japanese
Thanks for the welcome backs guys. Sonic cake tastes…well…very cake-ish. Dread, Jemnezmy and myself ate it all in the park itself. I don’t think there were any hedgehogs in it though. I haven’t eaten the sweets yet, so lord knows what they are like!
sweet Merchzilla, welcome back
Welcome back!:D
Wow you lucky people, glad to know you had a good time over there. You know, i’ve been wanting a Sonic shirt from COSPA for aaaages….
Haha Sonic cake XD. Too awesome.
ワオー！買いたい！買いたい！
OK, overkill on the Japanese. Cool swag!
HOLAS: ™
“The selection is not cheap though; you can expect to pay about ¥3000 (£22/$32) for a shirt”
in my country that’s the price of a common shirt (a good “insert popular clothes name here” shirt, considering the value of argentinian money the cheap shirts would be like….. 8 dollars xD)….. so i don’t see the problem here o.o
Whoah, that is some very cool merch! I am especially interested in that item on the far left middle border that looks like a booklet. It has the same design as the white t-shirt with the light blue design of Sonic. What is it?
Why doesn’t Lewis get a mention for discovering that rather awesome SEGASonic the Hedgehog soundtrack aswell as the Sonic 1 video game guide? I’m not resentful in the slightest… 🙂 Only joking, great article man. I should get in the swing of scanning things soon.
Waffle Head: You can order stuff from COSPA using a deputy service, but it won’t be cheap – expect to add about $25 to an order to get it sorted and sent to you! It is a shame they don’t export…
Suonike: Those are bags from Joypolis – I purposely bought things separately so I got a whole range of them! (Sad, yes). They are quite nice quality bags though – hence the obtaining of them!
Lewis: Yes yes, I should really give you credit; Lewis did spot me stuff – as well as a copy of Cuts Unleashed. I hope you’re going to put your haul on Segadriven!
Wasn’t their a Sonic Stadium article on how to spot bootleg Sega soundtracks? I ask because a link to it would really help. I have a suspected bootleg Space Channel 5 that I want to verify.
@ Sonics mate.
Actually, even though the Megadrive is region free, the Japanese version of the MD cartridges are a slightly different shape to NA/EUR cartridges (They have these bumpers on the edge). So I don’t think it’ll fit =(
Barry: follow the link for the article:
http://sonicstadium.org/article/a-guide-to-sonic-merchandise-part-4-finding-the-faker
Thanks for that! As suspected, the SC5 disc is a bootleg. Ah well, it was only $5 bought 7 years back.
And yes, I yelled “Found you faker!” at it.
@Sonicyoda: Sonic 1 game guide?!! Where is it??! I would almost kill for a copy! I have an old old rare Japanese one but my desire is not completely sated. Please respond.
Suonike – I picked up probably the copy you have: the level guide is very step-by-step with hand drawn maps of each part of each level…well, the guide sort of looses interest by Starlight Zone!
Oh shit. I need to get Tails’ Sky Patrol for my friend JJ, because he hates it.