US tourist David Madrigal is overjoyed after paying $200 for a “vintage” console at a busy Tokyo store that caters to booming global demand for retro gaming gear.

“When I entered this store, I was like a child entering a candy store,” Madrigal, 23, told AFP at Super Potato in the Akihabara district, famous for its Japanese pop culture stores.

“This stuff is my passion. I love older consoles,” he said. The PS Vita, a 2011 console he bought, “would normally cost me about $600 in the U.S.”

Super Potato has three floors filled with Game Boy cartridges, plastic-wrapped Sega Dreamcast consoles and old-fashioned arcade machines where nostalgic customers can play Street Fighter II again.

Prices can be eye-watering. A Nintendo Game & Watch portable electronic game from the 1980s – featuring “Zelda” – cost 250,800 yen ($1,750).

About 70 to 80 percent of customers are foreign tourists who have flocked to Japan in record numbers this year, branch manager Komura, who gave only his last name, told AFP.

Soul Game

Part of the appeal, Madrigal says, is that many modern games are a bit “more of the same” compared to the games of his childhood.

“There was a different kind of innovation,” he said. “Companies weren’t afraid to think outside the box. They were willing to take risks.”

Video game historian Hiroyuki Maeda said the additional demand from collectors stems from the fact that some consoles are marketed differently outside Japan.

For example, Nintendo’s Famicom and Super Famicom consoles were released overseas under different names and with different and more colorful designs, he said.

“When you come to Japan and see a machine you’ve never seen before, you want to buy it. That stimulates the collector’s soul,” said Maeda, who has written dozens of books on the history of gambling.

“The definition of retro gaming varies depending on the era that the people who engage in it feel nostalgic for,” Maeda told AFP.

“Super collector”

Amidst rice paddies and lotus fields two hours north of Tokyo, Proudro (his online persona) has amassed a vast treasure trove of video game relics.

The “super collector” has filled an old building across from his family home with several thousand vintage games and consoles, as well as fully functional arcade machines.

“The appeal of collecting retro games lies in the nostalgic memories of childhood in game stores or of playing together with friends,” says the 50-year-old collector.

“To be honest, I don’t really play games,” he added.

“Being surrounded by games, their sounds, their atmosphere, watching them and dreaming, that’s enough for me to be happy.”

Stuffed into containers

Proudro spent generously on building his collection.

Retro games can fetch astronomical prices: A still-boxed version of the 1985 game “Super Mario Bros.” was sold for $2 million in 2021.

Until the late 1990s, however, old games were virtually worthless, according to historian Maeda.

“They were stuffed into boxes in stores” and sold for just 10 yen (seven U.S. cents today), he said.

Proudro says he traveled through Japan 20 years ago, looking for collectibles in toy stores and bookstores.

“Often there would be stocks of Super Famicom or Game & Watch in a corner, covered in dust. The older people who ran these stores would tell me to take them away to clean them out,” Proudro said.

“Since I work in the vegetable wholesale trade, I gave them a box of onions or potatoes and everyone was happy.

“Today that would no longer be possible. Those shops have disappeared and with the Internet everyone has started reselling their goods,” he added.

Wanting to share his passion with others, Proudro founded a club for retro gaming enthusiasts and is happy about the interest from people all over the world.

“But to be honest, I also think that Japanese products should stay in Japan. It’s a bit like the Japanese woodblock prints in the past that were taken abroad where they were more appreciated before they were bought back by Japan,” he said.

His country, he complains, is only slowly “recognizing the value” of his works.

© 2024 AFP