More Retro outside USA?

[First Spear]

It seems like 16-bit and older systems have more stores and outlets in countries outside the USA. Am I perceiving that correctly?

[+BBWW]

The third world struggles so with technology. :-)

[Flojomojo]

Probably a combination of perception, economics, and geography. The Retro Gamer magazine is produced in the U.K., which is geographically smaller and therefore cheaper to distribute than a similar magazine would be in the United States.

 

Taxes and tariffs are generally higher in other parts of the world, which means we in the United States can get new goods more cheaply. It makes sense to stretch your money farther with retro so you can experience more stuff.

 

There are lots of retro stores in the United States (especially if you count eBay!), they're just more spread out!

[catsfolly]

Here in Japan, most people seem surprised to hear that there were video games before the Famicom (NES).

There was a Famicom retro-boom a few years ago (because of the many clone players that came out), but it seems to have died down now.

 

But, I never saw an actually Famicom-mini in a shop anywhere, so they must have all sold out quickly.

 

Occasionally, I see items like "Super Cartridge Vision" Games. Some Retro shops in Akihabara have the old Bandai Inteiilivision, but in most Japanese shops they have just the maintream stuff: Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and NEC.

 

Catsfolly

[carlsson]

Occasionally, I see items like "Super Cartridge Vision" Games.

Epoch Super Cassette Vision, surely? I tend to buy those games from eBay as long as the price is right - they're not terribly desired so thus one of the cheapest retro gaming systems to collect for. Some of the ~30 released games though are remarkably more rare than the others so there may be gems there if you look. The very last game released was Pole Position II, which I think is extremely rare to see but there are other titles fetching $100++ loose compared to the regular $3 games.

[First Spear]

I am looking for retro game outlets in the USA to check out on Twitter and FB and it seems like my searches seem to turn up primarily UK places. Weird.

[Intymike]

I always have the feeling that you guys in the US are so blessed with garage sales, thrift stores and other opportunities to get retro stuff we here in Germany only can dream of!

[Flojomojo]

I always have the feeling that you guys in the US are so blessed with garage sales, thrift stores and other opportunities to get retro stuff we here in Germany only can dream of!

You only hear the good stories. I haven't gone "thrifting" in ages, because finding nothing has conditioned me to do other, more rewarding things.

[First Spear]

Southern New Jersey is completely dry and has been for years. There is one guy at a regular swap meet/flea market with cleaned-up Atari VCS stuff that charges serious money. Not interesting for me.

 

I think that Ferg used to prowl around my area, I suspect he has sucked up a lot of good retro stuff over the years...

 

 

 

You only hear the good stories. I haven't gone "thrifting" in ages, because finding nothing has conditioned me to do other, more rewarding things.

[spacecadet]

I always have the feeling that you guys in the US are so blessed with garage sales, thrift stores and other opportunities to get retro stuff we here in Germany only can dream of!

 

I do think this is very regional if it exists at all, and it probably only *seems* like a common thing because the US has 318 million people. If 20 of them have great luck at thrift stores and post about it all over retro gaming communities online, it might seem like a lot but you'd probably have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than having the same luck.

 

I belong to a retro video game Facebook group in Long Island and I do see people posting garage sale finds there periodically, but I never understand where people are finding that stuff because I *never* run across anything good. I sometimes feel like the posts are even fake, like somebody just wanted to post something so they grabbed some of their own games and wrote a "Garage sale find!" post. That's probably not true, but I do wonder sometimes because I just never, ever find anything.

 

OTOH, we do have a couple of retro game stores near me. But that's being lucky in a different way, because plenty of areas of the country have nothing like that. Also, the store closest to me actually has reasonable prices, whereas most retro stores I've been to in the US are just outrageous. I mean that literally; the prices are so high they actually make me angry. I think most retro stores in the US probably buy stuff on Ebay and then mark it up from there.