Retro gaming stores in London?

[S3M]

Despite having now live in London for 9 months, I'm stilling having trouble trying to find a decent retro games store or even a good games stores, imports are also a pain to get hold of.

CEX in rathbone sells very little retro these days and gamefocus is so over priced it's a joke. and is lacking on the retro these days as well.

There's the odd second hand store that sell a few bit's and bob's, but on the whole there just seems to be a lot of generic Game's, HMV's and Virgin's.

Anyone know of good game shops anywhere in London?

[Pavey]

That's your lot mate, f*** all.

Welcome to the capital!

[Nu-Eclipse]

Despite having now live in London for 9 months, I'm stilling having trouble trying to find a decent retro games store or even a good games stores, imports are also a pain to get hold of.

CEX in rathbone sells very little retro these days and gamefocus is so over priced it's a joke. and is lacking on the retro these days as well.

There's the odd second hand store that sell a few bit's and bob's, but on the whole there just seems to be a lot of generic Game's, HMV's and Virgin's.

Anyone know of good game shops anywhere in London?

Three words spring to mind - "wild goose chase".

Several years ago, there were a few decent retro gaming shops in and around London (Retrogames, Retro Gamer X, etc). Sadly, they have all long since closed due to the simple fact that they made next to no money.

In the eyes of the British/European general gaming public (probably more so than anywhere else in the world), retro = old = simply not worth playing in light of the current PS3/XBOX360/Wii/DS/PSP generation (absolute twaddle of course). Indeed, CeX and Game Focus have pretty much stopped selling classic videogames for this reason, which is a shame as the former used to have one of the best dedicated Retrogaming stores ever seen on Whitfield Street, a few blocks from Rathbone Place.

Your best bet is the internet these days.

[Escape-To-88]

Take a train from Victoria to Beckenham Junction mate that's where Raven Games is - but bring a new set of undergarments as you may well crap yourself from laughing at their ridiculous prices. For the record I worked P/Time in the Ratty CEX store a good few years back it was indeed splendid -no more though, it now bears a musky aroma of old potatoes.

[Nu-Eclipse]

For the record I worked P/Time in the Ratty CEX store a good few years back it was indeed splendid -no more though, it now bears a musky aroma of old potatoes.

Right you are.

Am I really the only one who remembers the CeX Retro Shop on Whitfield Street?

That's where I bought an as-new Sega Multimega years ago...

[Escape-To-88]

Whitfield!? I remember the one on Tottenham Ct. Road. Never worked in that one but it used to sell Saturn stuff as when I worked in the rathbone one i picked up a copy of X-men from there...Hmmm...know most of them in and around the London area as worked in a couple...but not sure as to the one on Whitfield. That said my memory is hardly stellar.
EDIT: Ah hold up is Whitfiled street not off tottenham ct. road? is it quite a small store? think i know the one you mean. That may have been CEX' first store.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Whitfield!? I remember the one on Tottenham Ct. Road. Never worked in that one but it used to sell Saturn stuff as when I worked in the rathbone one i picked up a copy of X-men from there...Hmmm...know most of them in and around the London area as worked in a couple...but not sure as to the one on Whitfield. That said my memory is hardly stellar.
EDIT: Ah hold up is Whitfiled street not off tottenham ct. road? is it quite a small store? think i know the one you mean. That may have been CEX' first store.

Yep - that's the one.

For a short time, CeX had a dedicated Retro Store based there, and it was the shiznit.

[MonkeyJuggleDX]

For a short time, CeX had a dedicated Retro Store based there, and it was the shiznit.

That it was. I remember the days of Mark Starkey, Eoin McLaren & Barry Morgan working downstairs. Used to make the trip down from Leicester every couple of months and pick up a load of SFC/PCE gear. Barry & Eoin were 2 of the best people ever to work in a game shop.

Oh happy days!

[Montario]

Yep, visited Game Focus and Raven games, had a good chuckle. There's X Electrical in Kingston but don't expect to be overly impressed. Unless you want Italia '90 on the megadrive, lots.

They do have the occaisonal nugget of interest though, picked up a mint PAL Gunstar Heroes there that I glanced at random, it got me back into megadrive so I'm glad I popped in.

[Escape-To-88]

There's X Electrical in Kingston but don't expect to be overly impressed. Unless you want Italia '90 on the megadrive, lots.

I dunno mate, that's where I picked up my Garou boxset for £40. It's strange though as all their other gear is really overpriced - Hi-Saturn's for over £100!
Anyone remember T.O.R.C software in Feltham? They were around 95'ish nice little place with a lot of decently priced PSX/Saturn titles the only disadvantage was you had to go to Feltham - probably ended up on fire or with the windows kicked in

[MoFo2]

I'm going to London tomorrow, not much to see game-wise it seems then.

[12-51-00]

That's your lot mate, f*** all.

Really? I know there's loads of old second hand shops that are full of old Gameboy/NES/SNES/MegaDrive/Saturn stuff. I'm not into any of that but a mate of mine has something new everytime I see him (literally).

There's also an Anime/Cosplay shop in Soho that imports from Japan. They stock non-anime DVDs, J-Pop CDs and Games too but games-wise it's mostly PS2/3, Wii and DS stuff now. They have some retro but it's mostly Nintendo these days.

When I discovered it about a year ago. I was buying a Kill Bill Premium Box DVD thingy and noticed they were selling off a load of Dreamcast stuff, I hadn't played a game since 2001 and thought I'd get back into it. I picked up most of the more common releases (Crazy Taxi. Jet Set Radio, Sega Rally 2...) at between £1.49 and £5, I got some other bargains too:

Confidential Mission (Brand New & Sealed!) - £12.50
De La Jet Set Radio - £9.89
Dead or Alive 2 (the one with the black cover) - £12.80
Garou Mark of the Wolves = £13.99
King of Fighters '99 Evolution + 2000 + 2001 - £18.70 for all 3!!!!

Everything mint with spines etc,

[Tirian]

Game Focus were replacing their front windows last time I passed it, mid last week. And when I popped in, there was about half the stuff that there used to be in the retro cabinet at the front ...

I half wonder whether they got a 'mate of a mate' to do the dirty deed so they could claim on the insurance, since most of that stuff had been in there for a few years without shifting (perhaps something to do with things like Twinkle Star Sprites for Saturn at ?65 without spine)

CEX on Rathbone Place used to have the occasional gem in it - but all it has now is about 30 copies of Sonic 2 for ?7 each, a pile of loose GG carts, a ROB (not for sale though) and sod all else.

[Velcro]

Anyone remember T.O.R.C software in Feltham? They were around 95'ish nice little place with a lot of decently priced PSX/Saturn titles the only disadvantage was you had to go to Feltham - probably ended up on fire or with the windows kicked in

I used to work there for a few years & yes, the local's did burn it down

[On The Edge of Insanity]

12-51-00, do you know what the Anime store is called in Soho?