Pop'n Music ASC Owners, Help!

CatchyPhraseOwen · Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2003 7:02 am Post subject: Pop'n Music ASC Owners, Help!

Hey, I made a topic like three months ago about building a more arcade-like Pop'n Music controller, but it never really worked out, so I've been giving some serious thought into buying one. I had a few questions, though.

-If it were available, what would an acceptable price to pay for one of these be? They cost $399 at Hemiyah (or whatever...), but I was hoping to get one a bit under that. My mom has an international credit card, so I imagine I could register on YJ, and I have a friend on another board who has an account, but do they actually go any cheaper there? I thought the list price in Japan was around $280, but I could be wrong.

-Are they readily available on the streets of Japan, or available with a bit of proding, or do you actually need to get one straight from the company? I have a friend who visits Japan every summer and winter (family) and if he were to go (and I gave him my cash) would he be able to track one down fairly quickly?

-How good of a buy is it? Of course I am assuming that it will be great fun, but from an owner's perspective; is it really worth the cash you'd be throwing down for it? I could afford one, but it would take a large chunk out of my other funds, and I'm not sure it would be the best decision...

-And finally, how well built is the controller? Do I risk having it just break down on me at some point? I have a bit of skill with this sort of thing (I'm constantly opening up my other Bemani controllers and fixing smaller things), but if a button breaks or something like that happens, I'd be stuck since they aren't the easiest things in the world to get replacements of I'm assuming. My Cobalt Flux was a big investment at the time (more than a year ago, now), but it had a good warantee, and the makers are in the US and it wouldn't be a problem to get it repaired if something happened that was out of my league. I own several other Bemani controllers, but none of them have cost $300 aside from the Flux, so this worries me a bit.

Thanks for any help, Owen.

djp -bemanistyle- · Trick Member Joined: 15 Aug 2002 Location: Anaheim, CA

You might as well buy through himeya, Yahoo! Japan doesn't ship internationally, so the credit card thing doesn;t factor into it. If you were to get it from Y!J auctions then you'd have to go through rinkya which even if you won the auction for like $280 would still end up costing you over $400 after shipping and commission.

The controllers are ONLY available through Konami. All others that are being sold have been purchased by 3rd parties to sell online.

If you have the money and no qualms with spending it I'd say it's an EXCELLENT buy. I LOVE my asc.

The controller is extremely durable. It's made from arcade parts so they can withstand ALOT of beating. If it does break, I wouldn't know about how to repair it depending on the problem, but the only problem I can see you having is the possibility of some of the wires coming loose which is fixed by soldering them back onto the microswitches which takes like 2 minutes.
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Opethian · Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2003 1:51 pm Post subject:

yes the controller is quality!
im cant imagine playing the game without it
or on a popniidx controller heh
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CatchyPhraseOwen · Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2003 2:27 pm Post subject:

A lot of people on YJ ship internationally; I've had a US friend order stuff for me before, and it was shipped directly to my house. It depends on the seller, actually.

I may go with Himeyah, but they're still not available there, and it's gonna cost me like $400+, so I may tough it out and wait for eBay or something else. I have no idea, though. Anyone know of any other places that have them?

EMAGDNIM · Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2003 3:28 pm Post subject:

Nope...they're the only place that has it right now. Rinkya fees are too high so you can't go there...(Unless you like wasting money). also the shipping for it is not to bad (It's factered into the price some what). Cehck it out...EMS shipping for me was only $15 US

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CatchyPhraseOwen · Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2003 7:55 pm Post subject:

Sweetness, I might do so.

-Oh, I get what you mean.. Uh, I still might check YJ though, first. I really don't want to spend $415 on it, $350, despite the fact that it's only like $65 less, just seems more acceptable lol. We'll see though.

StarCreator · Trick Member Joined: 24 Jan 2002 Location: Maryland, USA

Likely, the shipping will cost you an arm and a leg on the YJ route. As I pointed out in another thread, Himeya factors in the majority of the shipping charges into the price of the product itself, which is why their shipping options seem so cheap - it's only a fractional price.

Pop'n ASCs are oversize and weigh quite a bit - I wouldn't be surprised if shipping runs close to or over $100 on one.
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CatchyPhraseOwen · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2003 7:12 am Post subject:

I wouldn't need one immediatly.. I could just do some sort of registered air with insurance. I remembered that I do have a friend in Japan who will be visiting his family at Christmas, so that might solve my shipping problem right there, since he'd be flying home, and Priority would be MUCH cheaper.

StarCreator · Trick Member Joined: 24 Jan 2002 Location: Maryland, USA

Yep, the cheapest way would be to get it into the country via airplane. Of course, you'll need to tell him to bring extra luggage to be able to carry it. ^^;
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CatchyPhraseOwen · Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2003 9:04 am Post subject:

Yeah, I think that's what I'll do, but the other problem is that I can't easily get ahold of him.. He lives on the East Coast (I'm in California) making the times he's on AIM a lot different than mine. If I can talk to him though, I'd be a happy man.

SuPa |LÂ©| · Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2003 12:53 pm Post subject:

rampage · Administrator Joined: 24 Jan 2002 Location: Redmond, WA

I cannot speak for the build quality of the Pop'n ASC, but if it's anything like the IIDX ASC, the build quality isn't really great or anything. You're really paying a premium for the arcade-like accurate switches and arcade-like sizing.

ninjafetus · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2003 5:08 pm Post subject:

The Himeya site was updated today... the Pop'n ASC is now on "Buy Now" instead of "Pre-Order".

Also, the better news, it's $60 dollars less (439). So, if you were waiting for a chance and a small price drop, this is your chance

(Oh, yeah, I guess that means mine must have shipped too

)
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ninjafetus · Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2003 6:20 am Post subject:

Er... um... did I say $60 less? I meant $40 more >_<... Sorry, misread teh hundreds place and assumed they had jipped me.

Well, I guess it's not your chance, unless you don't mind the price. I'm glad I pre-ordered

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