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Retrogamers are the wave of the futureBy ROBB GUIDO © St. Petersburg Times, published July 6, 1998 "My wife said I should get into something I want to do,"' said the 37-year-old Dunedin resident who began playing games in his late 20s. "She said, "You have the mind of a child, so this would be fitting right in.' " Noffz bought into a video game chain called Game Force and opened his store in Palm Harbor about a year ago. In addition to selling new and used Sony PlayStation and Nintendo 64 games, he sells recycled Nintendo, Super Nintendo and Genesis systems and carries nearly 500 games for those platforms. Noffz's clients, known as retrogramers, collect and play these old video games. Retrogaming seems to have emerged in its own right, as newer games bulge into interactive extravaganzas of rendered polygons, CD sound and rumbling controllers. It's as if players have gained a newfound respect for the primitive roots of this electronic pastime. And many player pioneers are turning a profit on the equivalent of playable memorabilia. Aaron Brooks, whose sister ran a store in Seminole that featured used video games, has a number of rare Atari games, some valued at $300 to $400, and a brand new Rob the Robot from Nintendo, once taken off the market for safety reasons and of exceeding worth to collectors in the know. Brooks, like many Generation Xers, was practically raised on video games. It was in 1985 that the advent of the Nintendo system made video games a household fixture. Before then, the unrefined software for Atari and home computers was as much an experiment for programers as it was for players. "Many Nintendo games stick out still today," said 21-year-old Jeff Miller of Tampa. "Contra, Super Mario Brothers, Metroid -- now that was a great game." Miller, who works at Microplay, a Tampa chain of video game rental and trade stores, may be one of the most die-hard gamers in the area. He owns almost every game system released since 1980, including an Intellivision, Atari 2600, Nintendo, Sega Master System (the predecessor to the Genesis), a Genesis, Super Nintendo, Sega Saturn, PlayStation and Nintendo 64. He even owns Nintendo's ill-fated Virtual Boy, a SegaCD and 32x and three 3D0s. Then there are all his hand-held systems. "I like to possess," Miller said. "I like to walk by my shelf of games and say, "Wow, those are mine.' I don't think I've ever sold anything of mine." But selling games is just how enterprising businesspeople make their money. They buy up systems and games that have become garage sale bait in many homes, boost the prices and sell them to players bent on recapturing the past. "I guess it makes people feel like a kid again," said Richard Lucas, owner of the Microplay in Temple Terrace. "Twenty-five and 26-year-olds come in and see games they played 10 or 12 years ago and pick them up." Simon and Lynn Chang were among the first to spot this trend seven years ago, just as the 16-bit era had dawned. Over the years, the couple have amassed hundreds of 8-bit Nintendo games, which they sell between $2 and $25 (for rare classics like Final Fantasy that include their original box). Market value often depends on the rarity of a game in a particular area, and of course what collectors opt to pay. Simon Chang says their business, Video Byte, is like a community service, set up every weekend at the Oldsmar Flea Market. "With department stores, whenever something slows down, they say bye-bye to it," Chang said. "But we can't do that. We need to hold on to things." When Video Byte started, Chang says, it was the only business like it in the bay area. Today, many small stores and even chains like Software Etc. have jumped onto the used game bandwagon. As the 32-bit era rises, one Gainesville-based company seems set on winning big in the used game market. Rhino Video Games, founded by video game enthusiast Michael Vorce, has evolved over the last eight years from strictly a video game rental store into a business that derives 50 percent of its income from video game buyback and resale. Already, eight Rhino stores operate in Central Florida, with another planned in Jacksonville. With expansion on its mind, Rhino has its eye on the bay area. "We see a lot of potential there," said Tully McQueen, a Rhino manager in Gainesville. Rhino Video carries an impressive inventory of Super Nintendo games. In fact, it has almost every one made. The 16-bit SNES, released in 1991, has sold millions of units worldwide, 30-million between it and the Sega Genesis. As McQueen and the company see it, "a game doesn't have to be 32-bit to be fun"' -- as many players have already realized. But McQueen says what really has made Rhino a success has been its customer service, sorely needed to make not-so-cheap purchase decisions about new titles, and its concentration mainly on 16-bit software. "That's the great thing about what we do," said McQueen. "We're not really in direct competition with anyone. We have over 700 SNES titles on display. Chains like Toys "R' Us have maybe 20." Perhaps only the Internet, with almost 50 sites such as www.classicgaming.com dedicated to used video games, can foil Rhino's plans, but McQueen seems certain the two can co-exist. His theme seems to be that the audience for video games in general is expanding and enough of a secondary market exists from this $10-billion a year industry for everyone. "The hobby is growing," McQueen said. "It still hasn't peaked."
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ames Noffz got hooked on Nintendo when it first came out in the '80s. So when he decided to open his own business, his wife's suggestion for a store that sold his favorite old video games seemed perfect.
