Issues of Import – Japanese Flair

While PC fans can deck out their rigs with cold cathode light mods and snazzy water cooling systems us console luddites are left with only a few meagre choices for how our systems look. I don’t know about you, but I’m not the type to stick a ghastly skin or decal to my favourite gaming system, no matter how many Kirbies adorn it.

We have a few options on the table. Buy one of the stock colour systems (cheap, but dull), a limited edition unit (reasonable; might raise an eyebrow on the train or when you invite a friend around) or go all-out and import a rare system from abroad with a variant shell that’ll gobsmack anyone remotely into gaming. Be honest, it’s nice to show off a little. Do you really need to eat all that healthy food? Wouldn’t you survive just fine on good old British tap water and six kilos of Tesco value pasta for the next wee while? Go on, treat yourself.

If anywhere is the home of the limited edition console, it’s Japan. From Final Fantasy IV Game Boy Micros to a Kasumi-chan Blue Xbox units, stores around the country are littered with designs you’ve never seen on any shelf in the West. Being over here myself, it’s been hard to contain myself. Yes, having an obscure piece of gaming history comes at a price. But what better way to declare your love of a particular system than to pick it up a splendidly frivolous odd colour? Whether you set it as the crown jewel of your collection on your mantlepiece or shove it under the TV, it’ll be worth it one day.

Just imagine how you’ll be ale to act all nonchalant when a friend notices your Japanese Club Nintendo-exclusive Chotto Peach Edition 3DS. It’ll have all been worth it. Then you’ll explain how it was all luck of the draw as you won it in a raffle. But deep down, you know you dropped £400 on it on eBay last week and that’s why you’re sharing food with the cat until payday comes around.

So, I’ve persuaded you. You’ve tracked down and bought a Pikachu Pokémon Center DS Lite. All you need now is someone to quell the inevitable buyer’s remorse that will ensue. Someone to notice your limited edition DS on the train, catch your eye and give you a quiet nod.

This is me giving you that quiet nod.

Keep on importing!