Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten
This 2006 English-Japanese and Japanese-English dictionary adds kanji (the complex Chinese characters) recognition to the somewhat crippled 2005 edition, and is a phenomenally useful translation tool.
While it doesn't quite match the vocabulary of pocket translation computers costing up to $400, it's close enough - and it's a steal at only a tenth of the price. Like the pocket translators, it's aimed at Japanese speakers who want to look up words in both languages, but it's quite useable in English.
Japanese definitions do have a lot of kanji, which isn't friendly for beginners, although if you were considering splashing out on a dedicated machine to do the job in your Japanese classes, you might as well buy this first and use it until you feel the need to upgrade - which will probably be never, unless you plan on becoming completely fluent.
For those of you still not convinced, it even has a few Game & Watch titles built in. It's so good and so cheap, you'd be crazy not to get a copy if you're learning Japanese - but make sure you don't get the kanji-free 2005 version by mistake.
Above: As soon as we figure out what this gun-toting man-boy wants, we'll gladly hand it over
