It might seem like there aren't many places to go video game hunting around San Jose State, but there are a lot more hidden gems in the area than you might think.
Here are my top five favorite video game stores in San Jose and the surrounding Bay Area.
#5 SpaceCat
Located at 1415 W San Carlos St. in San Jose, SpaceCat is a store that primarily sells comic books and collectibles, but it also has a solid selection of video games.
The store carries a variety of video games and consoles such as the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, PlayStation and Xbox consoles.
SpaceCat also had extremely rare video games into the shop, including Lickle, a Japanese video game for the Nintendo Famicom.
The Famicom, a gaming console, is the Japanese equivalent to the Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly known as NES.
Lickle, known as Little Samson in America, goes for $2,308.66 for just the loose American cartridge alone, according to Price Charting, a website used to help gauge the value of video games.
The Japanese counterpart only goes for $299.79 for the loose cartridge, according to Price Charting.
While other stores have rare titles as well, SpaceCat is one store that I've seen consistently get some of the most notable and rare titles in the local retro gaming community.
The shop has a variety of items for every gamers needs, not only for rare and expensive video games, but also as a cheaper alternative for those who want to obtain old nostalgic titles.
They even have one of the biggest selections for replacement cables and chargers for multiple video game systems that I've ever seen across any store.
Whatever the case may be, SpaceCat serves as an amazing place for anyone who wants to go video game hunting in the area. I would highly recommend this fun stop to anyone who wants to see some amazing items in retro gaming.
#4 Retro Rewind
Retro Rewind, located at 1343 Jacklin Rd, Milpitas, has a great selection of video games from all different consoles.
However, where this store really shines is in their customer service and repair.
As with many other video game shops, customers can have their disc-based video games repaired.
Retro Rewind will put your discs in their own resurfacer machine for a small fee of $4.00 a disc.
The machine works by shaving a small portion of the underside of the disc, but not enough to hurt the disc, according to Venmill Industries, a website for a major professional disc repair equipment manufacturer.
After the disc goes into the machine, it comes out looking all shiny and new again, almost as if you had just bought it.
On top of these services, Retro Rewind makes sure their customers are taken care of, offering as much as they can for trade-ins and providing discounts for those who buy multiple items.
Retro Rewind offers not only a good selection of video games, but it also strives to help the retro gaming community in the area. They work with Cartridge Cartel in Fremont and The Retro Fix in Campbell to unite the retro gaming community through video game swap meets.
#3 Gameshop Downstairs
This place is higher up on the list, as it is extremely close to San Jose State.
Located at 124 E Santa Clara St. in San Jose, Gameshop Downstairs is commonly missed for those who don't have the eyes of a hawk.
Situated underneath a phone and laptop repair store, Gameshop Downstairs has an array of video games and consoles from all different years.
This place really shines with its customer service and wide selection of imported video games from Japan and Europe that we may not have gotten here in the U.S.
Afterall, Japan and other countries seem to consistently get better box art, cartridge labels, or in some cases, better video games than in the U.S.
This is actually a running theme, which is constantly discussed in the video game community, as it always seems to be true, according to GamesRadar+, a popular media news site.
The store can also double as a one-stop shop, serving the local retro gaming community a wide variety of video games, trading cards and collectables.
Gameshop Downstairs even carries a variety of other media, including DVDs and VHS tapes for anyone who collects old movies and TV shows.
#2 Cartridge Cartel
Cartridge Cartel is further from SJSU, but owner John Flores works with both The Retro Fix in Campbell and Retro Rewind in Milpitas.
Located at 43134 Christy St. in Fremont, Cartridge Cartel is a small but powerful retro video game shop that strives on bringing gamers together.
They run tournaments for video games like Street Fighter, according to their Instagram page.
Upon entering the shop, any hardcore gamer would immediately notice the plethora of video game memorabilia and wide selection of Nintendo Power Magazines that flood the store.
I say this because the shop actually moved to its current location from Fremont Boulevard and is now bigger.
The additional space made room for more wall decor and other promotional items, immersing customers into the video game golden era of the 80s, 90s and early 2000s.
Aside from just a solid selection of video games and impressive decor, I put the shop at number two on my list simply for its community outreach.
Cartridge Cartel works with two other stores to bring more people in the local retro gaming community together, bringing more attention to the other shops in other areas and the immediate area of Fremont, a city that hasn't really had anything worth going to as far as retro video game stores for a while.
Speaking from experience, other than Half Price Books in the Fremont Hub, there wasn't a solid way to get retro video games in the immediate area of Fremont before Cartridge Cartel.
Half Price Books itself isn't really feasible anymore either, as retro video games and accessories have been increasingly harder to find without going to multiple places.
Because of the retro gaming popularity increasing in recent years, it's hard to compete and find anything in Half Priced Books or places like that anymore, according to MetalJesusRocks and Kesley Lewin in a Feb. 9, 2016 YouTube Video.
MetalJesusRocks and Kelsey Lewin are two respected YouTube personalities within the retro gaming community. A “lack of inventory” was especially felt in Fremont, where local brick and mortar support for the retro gaming community previously may have felt more dormant for a while, before Cartridge Cartel.
#1 The Retro Fix
My favorite place to go video game hunting in the Bay Area is The Retro Fix. Located at 400 E Campbell Ave. Suite 200, it’s a retro video game store located above an arcade bar.
The shop has a wide variety of video games and systems from all different eras of time. From my own experience, this is the biggest stop for any gamer who is into Limited Run Games.
Limited Run Games is a video game publishing company that specializes in premium physical releases of digital and indie video games that are more niche onto today's newest consoles.
The company has collaborated with big companies such as Konami and LucasArts to bring more physical copies of video games to today's collectors, according to the Limited Run Games website.
The company works to help video games remain physical with their own slogan being that the industry should stay “Forever Physical.”
Limited Run Games tends to release its video games in small, single print run, with the only exceptions being for damages and possible event inventory, according to their website.
The Retro Fix often has an assortment of these video games and many other rare titles that you will very likely only see there.
Anything running from custom Game Boy consoles to video games that are worth as much as a few thousand dollars, The Retro Fix has one of the best selections I've ever seen in a retro game store.
The only two places I've ever seen that rivals The Retro Fix in its selection would have to be Retro Game Trader in Beaverton, Oregon and Wii Play Games, all the way in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Aside from just having an outstanding retro video game selection, The Retro Fix is runned by a man known to customers as Mr. Rudy, who’ll often work with customers to help with any questions involving video games and systems.
The employees, who are present when he's not there, are very friendly as well, being extremely polite and willing to help any customer who walks into the store.
For anyone who doesn't have a direct interest in hunting for retro video games, you can still have loads of fun down in the LVL Up bar, playing a wide array of arcade games like Street Fighter, Pac-Man and even a few Pinball machines as well.
Guests can enjoy these games while watching local sports and drinking beverages like a Thai-Fighter, the bar’s own version of a Mai Tai.
For anyone who really loves to party, you can level up your drink and request for more alcohol.
The shop's customer service, the quality of the store’s selection and this wide appeal makes me put The Retro Fix as number one for my favorite place to hunt for retro video games.
