In a single purchase it was the original Japanese PlayStation and games, an extra controller and a memory card. I think it was around $900. On the plus side I had a PlayStation, Ridge Racer, Cybersled, and Toshinden for about a year before practically anyone in the US did. I gave up my NeoGeo collection to afford it, which was sort of a terrible mistake, but the PlayStation really was a technical marvel for a while.
I've imported almost nothing so the most expensive thing I've imported was probably the NTSC version of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It came out in the US a considerable while before it was set to be released in the UK and back then the Freeloader software still worked for Wii, so I imported the game, and Freeloader.
I've imported a lot of stuff, but it was almost always because it was cheaper (even including shipping) than getting the game over here. So the most expensive thing Is probably some PSP game for about €40 or something. I have been thinking about getting a US DSi though, because I have a US copy of KORG DS-10 plus, and the stupid thing is regionlocked. Slightly too ex
I haven't exactly imported much, maybe some soundtracks I've payed like 90$ for? But I don't think I have any import games.
Wait, I did import Pokemon Gold from japan when I was like 9 years old. It wasn't that expensive, actually. Of course, it was basically only a preview of the game cause I couldn't figure out how to save, and I had little idea where to go without instructions.
The Mother 3 Deluxe Box for $200. Sadly that price, although high, was a sale price at the time. Sure it comes with a Mother 3 GBA Micro, but most importantly, it comes with a Franklin Badge. That kind of protection against lightning doesn't come cheap.
I have never imported a game. All the games I have are PAL-region except for a Pokemon game a friend gave me, which was from the US. I didn't pay to import it though, so it couldn't really count. If I have any games that are imported, they are not games I have actually imported myself.
During an extended time of no internet, I ordered the International edition of Final Fantasy X and a little device that lets you play non NTSC games on an NTSC Playstation without having to mod it. All together it was about $120
The international edition of FFX includes some extra secret hard bosses called the Dark Aeons which you pretty much had have a maxed out sphere grid to beat and an hour of combat per boss. I thought I'd kill my boredom by beating them. I got halfway through the storyline before I could start the grinding process to get ready to fight them and I got internet back. Haven't touched it since.
" The Mother 3 Deluxe Box for $200. Sadly that price, although high, was a sale price at the time. Sure it comes with a Mother 3 GBA Micro, but most importantly, it comes with a Franklin Badge. That kind of protection against lightning doesn't come cheap. "
That is a safe price. The cheapest I've seen that go for is about 350 USD and I've seen it go for as high as 900 USD.
When I finally decided to cave in and buy the home versions of Pop'n Music (We still didn't have a machine in NorCal and my monthly visits to LA weren't enough) I think I spent over $400 bucks for the controller and all the PS2 versions of the game up until that point. But that was one big shipment. As for single items, I spent $130 on the Mushihime-sama Futari Limited Edition for Xbox 360, but that was largely because the LE came with one one of the DLC packs that would have been a pain in the ass to purchase off the Japanese Marketplace.
Edit: Also, I do want to say that I think importing new titles is a lot more affordable these days. If you want a Japanese PS3 or 360 game the week of release, you'll probably only pay $10 bucks over the retail price. I remember importing PSOne games for $100 bucks and it sucked.
Weirdly enough, I'm drawing a blank as to what mine could possibly be at the moment, despite doing a fair amount of it over the years. I guess technically speaking my debug PS1 I got online for about $250 a few years could qualify, if only because that thing has no region or copy protection built into it whatsoever. (I also just have a serious developer hardware fetish like that.) As for actual games, it was probably something for my N64 or GameCube like Sin and Punishment, but even then, I'm such a cheapass that I just pay close attention to market fluctuations and pounce on import games I want when prices are down.
That being said, Catherine will easily top any single game record on its own when I get that pre-order fulfilled in February since I'm a crazy, impatient Japanese major who doesn't feel like waiting for an English localization when I understand what's going on anyway. That's easily $80-plus with shipping, although it could easily get closer to $90 or $100 if I decide to bump up the shipping speed. Likewise, I'm also considering nabbing copies of the DS and/or PS3 version of Ni No Kuni, the former of which already fetches upwards of $80 before shipping just because of how much stuff it comes with, as well as the size of the box. Even knowing that, things could still get more expensive when I move back out to Japan next year, when I may be finally tempted to start a NeoGeo collection because those things and their games are way easier to find in the wild than where I live currently. We'll see.
I think the only things I've ever imported were the UK version of Shenmue 2 for the Dreamcast (and then my Dreamcast died halfway through the game. Never finished it) and Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 for the N64.
I ordered a Japanese Neo Geo for about $180 about a year ago. I had always wanted one, and that was one of the cheapest prices I had seen it at (at least with full packaging).
Japanese launch day PSP at 250€. It took six extra months to get to Europe, so it was a pretty damn fine purchase, even if the early adopter thing meant that I was stuck with a dead pixel on my screen for the duration of the thing, which I still own and works just fine.
My Red DS Lite or Charcoal Red as it says on the box. Unintentional though as I wasn't expecting the £30 import fee to be slapped on top when it arrived at my door.
One of the reasons I rarely bother importing anything, its something of a crapshoot here in the UK as to what the import fees (if any) will be. I honestly think they must have devised so sort of wheel that they spin to decide the final charges.
Both my imports are quite small. Jump Ultimate Stars on DS for £40 and a white PS3 controller for £50, both from Japan. Although you can get white controllers here in the UK now for £40
Would a Simpson's Bowling PCB and track ball control count, even if it wasn't imported? That set me back over 2000 dollars... then I hated it and didn't even get half back what I paid for it.
Anyway, as far as strictly imported products go, an Atomiswave motherboard with HnK probably would have to take the prize at about $1500... and I didn't care for it either, but at least TRF 2 is good.
" I'm Importing a Japanese 360 and Catherine soon, so that will be a pretty penny out of my pocket. "
Just out of curiosity, is there a reason why you wouldn't get a domestic PS3 and import Catherine for that? It could save you some money. Not that I should be giving advice on saving money... just curious.
@sterbacblu: My PS3 recently broke, to make things short my friend was planning on getting a Japanese 360, so I decided to buy a Japanese 360 and sell it to him after.
" @sterbacblu: My PS3 recently broke, to make things short my friend was planning on getting a Japanese 360, so I decided to buy a Japanese 360 and sell it to him after. "
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