All Your Console Favorites, New In The Boxes!

[blainelocklair]

Hi everyone!

 

Thought I'd share a few pictures from when our favorite now-classic consoles were brand new. I worked for Babbage's for five years, including opening this then-new store in the Asheville Mall in Asheville, NC. It is still there but is a GameStop now. I was the assistant manager of the store. I took these photos right when the store was opening for the first time. You'll find some of the stuff you own right now in them as brand new products. These photos would have been from around late November or early December 1992. They are old and have been sitting in an old photo album, so the quality is a bit low compared to our usual digital photo expectations today. I scanned them in at 300dpi to try to capture as much of the detail as was possible.

 

Enjoy the trip down memory lane. I'd imagine there are at least a few folks here that never saw the consoles they have in their homes today when the consoles were new in the stores. I was 20 when I took these photos.

 

Enjoy!

Blaine

[derFunkenstein]

Those angled side walls of game boxes brought back memories. Thanks for sharing some cool pics

[jaybird3rd]

Thanks for posting! I spent a lot of time as a kid at the Babbage's (or was it Electronics Boutique at the time?) in the Rockaway Townsquare Mall in New Jersey, and I bought most of my PC games there in the late 80s and early 90s. I remember it looking very much like that.

[digdugnate]

dude, those are super cool pics! love seeing all the consoles all stacked up

[8_is_enuff]

I bought my first Jaguar at a Babbages. I had been reading about the Jag--mostly pre release articles.

Then one evening in early 1994, the wife and I were clothes shopping at the mall. I was patient and had barely complained at all. So when I asked if I could look around in Babbages on our way out, she was quite agreeable.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the brand new and much hyped Jags on a high shelf behind the cash register. She saw the look on my face insisted that I buy one. It was $250.

The hour long drive home seemed to last an eternity. I played Cybermorph until about 4 o'clock in the morning.

[8_is_enuff]

Awesome pics btw.

[Keatah]

Great photos from a time when every purchase was thoughtful and held meaning. Somehow that seems lost today.

[jaybird3rd]

Great photos from a time when every purchase was thoughtful and held meaning. Somehow that seems lost today.

Yes, very much so. I couldn't afford very many games in those years, so I had to choose carefully, and the ones that I did buy were usually budget-priced collections of older games like this Tetris collection, this strategy collection, etc. I got a lot of hours out of all of these, and I still have them all today.

[chuckwalla]

Excellent, thanks for the images.

 

I loved Babbage's and the Electronic Boutique and visiting those stores was the highlight on every trip to the Malls here on Long Island in the early 1990's.

 

Was in total awe looking at all of those great 16-bit games even though they were pricey.

 

I didn't have much money back then as I had just started working but managed to buy the Sega Genesis Model 1 with Sonic The Hedgehog that I still have today and greatly treasure it.

 

Only Toy's 'R' Us (RIP) in the early 1980's surpassed those memories when the Atari 2600, ColecoVision, Commodore and Atari computers and software were displayed on the shelves.

It was like a piece of heaven on earth.

[cybercylon]

That takes me back to my early days in graduate school... Babbages, Electronics Boutique, Software ETC. Can't remember which I bought my Genesis or Saturn in (a few years later). I had to think very carefully about each game purchase. I was all into Sega back then. I didn't bother with the SNES until my brother in law got sick of his and had moved on to the Playstation. As a student, I certainly wasn't going to turn down a free console and some games!

[AtariLeaf]

I played Cybermorph until about 4 o'clock in the morning.

 

You poor bastard ?

[Flojomojo]

Those pictures seem like a long time ago yet not that far away. I remember that era so well. I would haunt those stores whenever I could, looking thru bargain bins and picking up deals whenever possible. New games were sixty bucks and consoles were expensive. 3D was rare and games with cinematic stories were the exception, not the norm. Even getting demos and reviews required buying paper magazines, often with information that was written so long ago that its accuracy was dubious.

 

That was a simpler time for sure. I don't want to go back there ...but it's fun to visit with emulators and collections. It still blows my mind that I can download the entire contents of a 1990 Babbages and store it on a microSD card the size of my fingernail.

[PFG 9000]

Seeing these photos has really made my night. It's like taking a step right back into my best childhood memories. Thanks for sharing.

 

Great photos from a time when every purchase was thoughtful and held meaning. Somehow that seems lost today.

Wow, that's a really good way to put it. When I was a kid with my first game system, a Lynx II, I would pour over the Grey Matter magazine, looking at screenshots and reading the write-ups over and over, and then I would go to Electronics Boutique to see if they had any of the games I most wanted. Then I had to pitch the game to my folks, and finally I might be able to go get a new game. And then I would play it for dozens of hours.

 

Now I get whatever I'm mildly interested in, and I don't even play a lot of what I buy. Or if I do, it's not usually for all that long. I have literally hundreds of games that I've played for less than an hour. It's such a far cry from my gaming hobby as a kid.

[Tanooki]

I never saw or made it into a babbages, but eb and software etc I did visit a lot. EB is where my Gamecube came out of, GBA too, and Software Etc I know the GBC, N64, and Virtual Boy came from. I wonder if anyone has any pics of those cool 'Captron' video game shops from malls in the late 80s earlier-mid 90s. That place was fun, lots of selection, counter people had to know their stuff, and they held competitions to win gift cards for $ off in the shop.

[Keatah]

That was a simpler time for sure. I don't want to go back there ...but it's fun to visit with emulators and collections. It still blows my mind that I can download the entire contents of a 1990 Babbages and store it on a microSD card the size of my fingernail.

 

In comparison today, the early "Multi-Media" era was like consuming everything through a straw. It was cool, new, and flavorful, but in drip quantities. I would not want to return back there either.

 

Never visited a Babbages, at least I don't recall doing so. Biggest shops were Electronics Boutique and Software Etc. And Egghead too.

 

I recall buying Doom shareware (GT Interactive) for like $1.00 or getting it free from Software Etc. I also got Activision ActionPacks from Electronics Boutique, and Microsoft Arcade from Egghead. And tons more.

 

---

 

As far as the density of microSD, there's still room to increase planar density. But the main trend now is to build vertical, and that means hundreds of more layers to go. So expect to see capacities continue to increase.

 

I'm fairly certain these little silicon crystals surpass anything envisioned in early sci-fi or anything to come out of Hollywood. They're just not glamorous with gleaming laser lights and Disco lens flares. They don't make noise or have sound effects built in either.

Edited October 7, 2018 by Keatah

[Video]

Wow those pics take me back. So much game stuff and no cancerous pop vinyl carp to be seen.

 

I've been to eb and babbages back then before GameStop bought out everything.

 

I don't think there was anything really different between then and now from the games side of things, more a difference of perspective from our side. It was a world of difference convincing mom and/or dad to part with money for some silly video game, while as an adult I can spend my own money and as games are what I'm into, it's pretty easy to buy more, and more expensive games...that said, in a way, it kind of ruins things as you can to easily just go to something else if you're not into it, unlike as a kid when you were stuck with it and learned to like it regardless.

 

Anyhow, great pics, I'd love to see similar from the 80's when Atari and the like were the big thing.

[Flojomojo]

It's weird that some of you don't remember some of these chains. It's ok, they were all basically the same, pre-millennial versions of GameStop. Here are the main differences betweeen then and now that I remember.

 

Back then, they had;

- Productivity software. You could buy a graphics suite or office suite for hundreds of dollars.

- a generous, probably overly generous return policy. So long as you weren't a frequent flyer, you could take something back if it was incompatible with your computer (which was common) or you just didn't like it, because it was typically difficult to duplicate the stuff. And it was expensive so you had to make your purchase count.

- many, many platform formats in a store. Depending on the time, there were multiple computer formats (Commodore, Atari, IBM DOS PC, Apple, more). Some stores were more likely than others to carry non-mainstream stuff. I've literally never seen Odyssey 2 games on a (contemporary) store shelf, despite owning the machine.

- Later on, the PC section would be the only one left, and maybe a tiny single overpriced shelf for Macintosh.

- Paper literature. Strategy guides were important, as were magazines. They weren't given away with purchases or membership, they were sold for $6/issue. They were thick and heavy and colorful.

- Pre-orders were relevant, even important. This was the best (sometimes only) place in town to buy games.

- Apart from Funcoland (later consumed by Gamestop), trade-ins and "pre-owned" (used) games weren't important for a while.

- Literal bargain bins were awesome. K mentions Egghead, which was like a paradise to me.

- Apart from the millennial days of Pokémon, few of any toys. Just boxes of software.

- BIG boxes. No standard size for PC games. They came in big showy boxes, sometimes with elaborate trapezoidal origami, like for Prince of Persia or SPECTRE. Even PlayStation (one) games came in long boxes for a while, like 3DO games, or record albums vertically sliced.

- Multimedia demos of the unobtainably pricey gadgets like 3DO or Sega CD.

- In a mall or urban (or isolated) area, stupid high prices. I remember paying way above retail at a city mall for Monkey Island 2 for Macintosh. Early on, there's a joke about not knowing a good story even if you paid sixty bucks for it. I paid almost ten dollars more than lost price (probably double the normal street price), because of the location and my unwillingness to wait for mail order.

 

Sipping from a (very expensive) straw is correct. It was like not being able to see a movie until it came to your town, then only in theaters, where it would stay for a month. When it was gone, you wouldn't see it again for five years until it ran on television, with commercials, and you either stayed home to watch it or you waited another year until it was shown again. No at home recording, let alone on demand streaming. Stone knives and bearskins.

[Eltigro]

A bit later and a bit of a different environment, but I started working in the electronics department sometime between the release of the Playstation and N64. I wish I had photos, but wasn't going to bring a camera to work and didn't have a cell phone to take photos with back then (did anyone?). But I do remember the Christmas season and seeing pallets full of Saturns, Playstations, and N64 systems. I kept some of the Sega Saturn promo material that we had, but that's really pretty much it. People working in places like that today need to be sure to take and save photos of things like XBox One S and PS4 Pro and Switch stuff... in twenty years, those will bring a lot of nostalgia on sites like these.

 

Thanks for the photos! Great stuff!

[cybercylon]

A bit later and a bit of a different environment, but I started working in the electronics department sometime between the release of the Playstation and N64. I wish I had photos, but wasn't going to bring a camera to work and didn't have a cell phone to take photos with back then (did anyone?). But I do remember the Christmas season and seeing pallets full of Saturns, Playstations, and N64 systems. I kept some of the Sega Saturn promo material that we had, but that's really pretty much it. People working in places like that today need to be sure to take and save photos of things like XBox One S and PS4 Pro and Switch stuff... in twenty years, those will bring a lot of nostalgia on sites like these.

 

Thanks for the photos! Great stuff!

 

Especially since aside from mom and pop stores selling old games that existed on physical media, there may not be major chains around selling video games.

[Eltigro]

 

Especially since aside from mom and pop stores selling old games that existed on physical media, there may not be major chains around selling video games.

 

True! You heard it, kids! Take pics of the Sony Online Store and XBox Live stuff now! lol

[cybercylon]

 

True! You heard it, kids! Take pics of the Sony Online Store and XBox Live stuff now! lol

 

I have to stand corrected on that one.... it is already way too late since our Gamestops carry mostly the Think Geek nick nacks. All that is left are the mom and pop places!

[blainelocklair]

I think my time with Babbage's was the most customer friendly time in video games. As was mentioned above, if a customer didn't like a game, even console ones that were opened, they could exchange them or return them. I don't know of any major retailer that allows that now. Even the PC stuff could be returned opened if a buyer didn't like it or it wasn't compatible. Did the open return policy get abused once in a while? Sure, but only for about 3-4 abuses for a frequent flyer before they weren't allowed to return anymore. They were certainly the exception and not the norm. It was a wonderful, gamer-first environment that offered a very personal type of relationship between business and buyer. I knew people by first names because they came back regularly. When I go to game stores now, the only place I ever see an employee is at the register checking out customers and attempting mandatory upsells. Not their fault; they are trained by their companies to focus on the cash register first instead of the customer. By the way, I wore business attire to work (shirt and tie or suit and tie). Now, some employees have holes in their clothes and that's ok. I loved Babbage's for its people, its customers, it founders, and its culture. Still my favorite place I've ever worked. I still have my Babbage's name tag, and I last worked there 23 years ago.

 

Interesting side note: video game prices have actually never kept up with inflation. I remember selling tons of copies of Super Mario Bros. 3 for NES for $49.99 in 1992 money. There are Switch games out there right now for similar money. Consoles are generally a bit higher, but some aren't (think Jaguar, Lynx, and 3DO at launch in 1990s money). Inflation has driven the prices of some things up by hundreds and thousands of percent, but video games have decreased in price when measured against inflation. Plus, the quality of the games and production costs have gone WAY up, making them an even better value when compared to inflation. I'm not an economist or anything, just happened to have been there when games like SMB3 flew out of the store for $49.99 as quickly as the shipment boxes would arrive.

 

I'm glad you are enjoying the photos. I wish I had more. I've looked for two decades for picture of the Barrel of Fun arcade in Northwoods Mall in North Charleston, SC where I spent my youth and have never found even one. The mental pictures of it are as clear in my mind today as they were 35 years ago when I last stepped into it, but having pictures of it would be a cherished part of my youth. Maybe one day...

[atarilovesyou]

Fantastic! Thanks for the share...I dont think Babbages made it to Canada, can somebody confirm? These are great pics, would live to see more.

[derFunkenstein]

Interesting side note: video game prices have actually never kept up with inflation. I remember selling tons of copies of Super Mario Bros. 3 for NES for $49.99 in 1992 money. There are Switch games out there right now for similar money. Consoles are generally a bit higher, but some aren't (think Jaguar, Lynx, and 3DO at launch in 1990s money). Inflation has driven the prices of some things up by hundreds and thousands of percent, but video games have decreased in price when measured against inflation. Plus, the quality of the games and production costs have gone WAY up, making them an even better value when compared to inflation. I'm not an economist or anything, just happened to have been there when games like SMB3 flew out of the store for $49.99 as quickly as the shipment boxes would arrive.

 

Remember, game prices DID scale. Super Mario 3 sold for $49.99, but I paid $59.99 for the Genesis version of Super Street Fighter II and $70 for Wrestlemania 2000 on N64. All were some of the biggest ROMs produced for their respective systems. Thankfully CDs came along and drive physical component prices down.

 

Edit: https://www.maxconsole.com/threads/nintendo-switch-cartridge-reverse-engineering.44232/

 

Flash chips nowadays are a couple bucks to produce and mount inside a Switch cart because the production is almost totally automated and they're tiny - very small amount of materials wrapped up in it.

Edited October 8, 2018 by derFunkenstein

[Tanooki]

That's true to a point. I saw a few N64 games go over $50 but it was not normal, usually it was some third party trying to take advantage of consumers because the game was a hot stuff arcade property like how MK Trilogy was $70 as was KI Gold (KI2) as they knew suckers would pay it to get practice at home. I remember SF2 going up to $60 for the same reason with the arcade, and also Square-Enix due to the rep of Final Fantasy shot #2 and #3 over the normal as well as Chrono Trigger too. It was strange, the games weren't even on larger sized chips compared to comparable stuff but the price acted like it.

 

It is fair to say that cheap discs did some serious damage to those trying to go high with prices. And the Switch cards, look at the size. It's a known that the 8GB cards have the same expense to assemble as a blu ray game, which is why you can get so many of those Switch releases for like $30-40 these days instead of $50-60. (Also why there's no 64GB card yet because it would go over $60 retail for third parties so Nintendo won't allow it.)