GAEMTECH: Games Mania are bringing retro consoles and games back into the mainstream

THERE would be a thin crackle, and magic would follow. When the needle and record touched, the sound was like lightning, like Marty and Doc Brown disappearing into the past, their Delorean vanishing in a sharp crack. 

Then, with a soft hiss, the music would come, travelling back through time on spiral grooves, leaving a small boy entranced.

I grew up in a vinyl household, where records were gateways to the past, patrolled by sonic geniuses like the Stones, The Beatles, Michael Jackson and Yes. Now, it appears that gaming has finally earned its own place tending those gateways, as Mario, Sonic and Crash Bandicoot usher in the cartridge generation — those of us who grew up with Sega MegaDrives and Super Nintendos.