WAUKESHA тАФ Many might be nostalgic for their childhood тАФ and whether itтАЩs the тАЩ70s, тАШ80s, тАШ90s, or 2000s, one way to travel back in time and feel like youтАЩre a kid again is to pick up your favorite video game.
Whether you remember hanging out at an arcade in the тАЩ70s or тАШ80s, or gathering with friends around your first gaming console in front of your tube TV, some area businesses are making it easier to connect with your past.
Universal Collectables, N90-W16937 Appleton Ave., Menomonee Falls, Owner Alex Huiras said the store is a buy, sell and trade business specializing in video games. The store has been operating for 21 years exclusively as a brick and mortar store.
Before opening his own store, Huiras originally worked in the first video game store in all of southeastern Wisconsin in Menomonee Falls. The store ended up shutting down around the 2000s.
Retro Games has Big Monetary value
Huiras spoke of the first gaming system, the Magnavox Odyssey, which came out in 1972 тАУ a very basic system with little memory.
He said in 1977 the Atari was released, which тАЬexplodedтАЭ in the market. ThatтАЩs when the classic and popular games were released in the тАЩ80s, including Space Invaders, Pac-Man and Donkey Kong.
Huiras said now, the most popular classic video games are on the old Nintendo systems, GameCube and Wii.
To name a few popular classic games, Huiras said they are Mario Brothers 1, 2, and 3; GoldenEye 007; Mario Kart; Zelda; and more. Pokemon is тАЬsmoking hotтАЭ on all game systems, Huiras said.
Of course, handheld games, including Game Boy and the Nintendo DS, are also popular.
Huiras said most game systems will work on a flat screen; however, for some games like Mario Duck Hunt, a tube TV is needed.
Huiras has watched video game technology continue to advance throughout his career and said trends arenтАЩt that predictable. However, things keep going up in value тАФ as more people collect, the supply gets harder to find, he said. Recently, a rare, graded copy of Super Mario 64 sold at an auction for $1.56 million.
тАЬI had one of those, a brand new copy of that, that was mint (and) I sold it for $350 two years ago to a guy who took it to get graded,тАЭ Huiras said.
Huiras thinks he would have gotten $2,000 - $3,000 for the item back then. HeтАЩs unsure what he would have gotten for it now, but said the $1.56 million buyer тАЬwent crazy.тАЭ
David Scott, a Hartford resident who said he travels regularly to Universal Collectables, said he collects game memorabilia and video games due to nostalgia.
He fell in love with video games when he was introduced to the Nintendo when he was 4 or 5 years old.
Scott doesnтАЩt keep his items in mint condition and considers himself a private collector.
тАЬI have a lot of stuffed animals from certain lines тАж I have nieces and nephews, they come over, I donтАЩt keep those in cases,тАЭ he said. тАЭTheyтАЩre meant to be played with, theyтАЩre meant to be loved.тАЭ
In Action on Arcade Machine
Arcades
If youтАЩre nostalgic for your favorite тАЩ80s arcade atmosphere, The Garcade, N85-W15920 Appleton Ave., Menomonee Falls, is the place to be. The business opened in 2017 with around 50 arcade games and has grown to have about 200 games available to freeplay all day for $15.
Co-Owner Gar Nelson started to collect arcade games in 2010 as a family hobby and decided to open his own arcade when he ran out of storage space.
Nelson said it has become harder to find vintage arcade games as itтАЩs grown to be more popular тАФ especially more recently throughout the pandemic. Arcade games have been destroyed in the past by owners avoiding storage hassles and some have developed technical issues.тАЬ For the most part the whole geek culture, nerd culture has exploded over the last 25 years,тАЭ Nelson said. тАЬAll of those (nerdy) things (from) back in the 1980s, 1990s (have come back) тАж the kids that may not be necessarily sports-oriented can find more things to do now than ever before, they find more social acceptance than ever before.тАЭ
New indie games are also becoming popular, including Wreck-it Ralph and Fix-it Felix, Nelson said. A new arcade game has also seen popularity тАФ Cosmotrons тАФ created by developers in Sussex, Nelson said.
тАЬItтАЩs nice to see that thereтАЩs still new, educational property being developed,тАЭ he said.
Music
Classic tunes that come along with the gaming experience also can flood someone with memories. Another business selling vintage video games and music sells something video game fans may have not heard of тАФ vinyl video game soundtracks.
Stephen Howitz officially opened the doors to his shop Nostalgia Music and More, 321 W. Main St., Waukesha, on Jan. 5.'ItтАЩs a mix of new or used vinyl depending on what youтАЩre looking for,' he said. '(ItтАЩs) quality, not quantity тАж and we specialize in video game vinyl, which is weirder and nerdier.' Some niche video game records he has are тАЬMario,тАЭ тАЬKirby,тАЭ тАЬZelda,тАЭ тАЬSonic,тАЭ тАЬDoomтАЭ and more. The business also has two arcade games available for the public to play.
Source :- https://www.gmtoday.com/business/retrogaming-gains-in-popularity/article_e4af82f8-e707-11eb-9c4f-578d64a16745.html
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