GAEMTECH: Games Mania are bringing retro consoles and games back into the mainstream
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.
Like my dad’s vinyl collection, children all over the country are being entranced by the bleeps and bloops of old consoles booting up, opening those gateways with the press of a start button. Retro gaming is becoming a big business and this kind of nostalgia, of parents sharing joypad memories with their children, is only growing.
Games Mania is a shop on North Main street in Cork that specialises in old consoles and Joe Higgins, who deals with the customers there, cites many reasons for the popularity of their products.
“Primarily, it is for nostalgic reasons,” says Joe, who has two children of his own that he games with.
“People want to visit stuff from the past with their kids.” But that’s not the only reason, he says.
“Old games are also never faulty. They never break. They still work the same now as they did 20 years ago.”
The lack of violence, too, plays a role in retro gaming’s popularity. “Older games have less violence in them, so they’re suitable for small kids. I like to play these with my children because there’s no killing.”
Of course, modern gaming has plenty of non-violent titles for kids to play, especially on the DS and Wii U, but Joe’s point still stands.
Games Mania isn’t the only retailer targeting this market.
The Sega MegaDrive was hugely popular in Ireland during the early ’90s, and Argos is stocking a product that will surely appeal to the cartridge generation.
The device is a redesigned ‘MegaDrive’ that comes with 80 games preinstalled on the device. While the console design is a little different to the original, the gamepads and general aesthetic are almost identical.
It costs E76.99 and sales this month have risen more than 400% from last year, according to Argos.
“The Sega MegaDrive is fondly remembered by the 90s generation who would spend hours helping Sonic The Hedgehog to defeat his arch nemesis Doctor Robotnik,” Laura Hamblyn, gift buyer at Argos says. “It’s fantastic to see parents buying this console to relive their childhood and introduce their own kids to some old-school gaming.”
Unlike Nintendo and Sony, Sega stopped producing consoles many years ago, after their ill-fated Dreamcast flopped. This opens the door for retailers like Argos to revive the MegaDrive in new form. For older Nintendo and Sony products, you’ll need to visit a retro-specialist store or buy the consoles online.
Most interesting of all is the obvious value placed on the aesthetic of older consoles over their modern digital forms. All of these older games are easily available to buy in digital form on modern consoles.
Yet some people are opting to seek out the originals instead, even though the content remains the same.
The feel of a chunky cartridge, clicking into place like a piece of LEGO Duplo, those oversized buttons that get stuck after too much use, the d-pad that made a callous on your thumbs after too many hours, the giant plastic power buttons that, when switched on, signalled the beginning of a new challenge and a new adventure, all these things essential to the memories that people hold dear.
These games have taken their place by those gateways to the past, ready to open the doors to a new generation. But, if you do sit down to play them with your kids, a word of warning from Joe.
“My favourite game is Pokemon Snap,” he says with a laugh. “The problem is, my kids are much better than me!”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
