Topic: FUNCOLAND

[crisis]

In the 90's, there was this little store called FuncoLand. I remember going there for all my Nintendo needs; I recall the giant wall of endless NES and Gameboy games. That place was awesome.

FuncoLand - "Back in Five Minutes" Commercial (199?)

I don't know how common FuncoLand was in other states/countries, but here in New York, they were everywhere.  Occasionally I would go to Toys 'R Us to buy some games. Back in those days you would go to the game section, pick out a snes game by taking a paper slip with the title and number printed on it, take the slip to the register/counter and they would go in the back and grab the physical copy. As the years progressed, new game stores starting popping up, such as Electronics Boutique, Software Etc., Babbages, just to name a few. I remember these stores for having funky little Japanese trinkets here n there, stuff I've never seen b4. These were the stores that were commonly in malls around my area. FuncoLand was still around, but they were quickly becoming few and far between. Gradually, a new store called "GameStop" started emerging. At first I didn't mind them, they were humble and just wanted a piece of the pie like everyone else. But then I started to see all my other favorite game stores disappearing, and being replaced with GameStops. The once quirky themes of Babbages and Software Etc. suddenly became the less-attractive and more generic GameStop. And then FuncoLand just stopped happening. And with this, classic games for retail started disappearing.

What I came to find out is that GameStop began a takeover of the industry, as they now literally have a monopoly over gaming stores nationwide. Gone are the independant, consumer-friendly stores of my era. There's not one town or state that you won't find a GameStop in, and for some people that's a good thing because GameStop is all they have, and unfortunately, all they'll ever know. There are many reasons why an individual might dislike and sometimes hate GameStop, but the most common thing is their "trade-in" policies. They literally dick you over with the amount of cash they'll give you if you choose to trade in something. But back in the days, things were a lot better.

Funcoland's old trade in value compared to GameStop's

Last time I've seen a FuncoLand still in business was around 2005 or 2006, it was a single store and I was shocked to see it still operating. But now, since GameStop is running everything with their shady business tactics, the casual game store is so rare nowadays. But there are still stores here and there that don't adhere to GameStop's monopoly. Play N Trade, which is FuncoLand's spiritual successor, seems to be thriving in my area. They sell classic games (going as far back as the Atari 2600 and up) as well as all the new stuff. I haven't been to a GameStop in years.

Does anybody have any memories of shopping at any of these stores, before GameStop took over everything? Do you agree that things were better back then, then they are now? I mean, shouldn't it be the other way around? What kind of ass-backwards society do we live in?

[X]

Occasionally I would go to Toys 'R Us to buy some games. Back in those days you would go to the game section, pick out a snes game by taking a paper slip with the title and number printed on it, take the slip to the register/counter and they would go in the back and grab the physical copy.

I remember doing that too. It was in Vancouver that I went to a Toys 'R' Us store, picking out a paper tab and then purchasing my game. incindently that was the very time I first bought Super Castlevania IV  Till you brought it up I have never heard of FUNCOLAND, but I can just imagine the isles upon isles of games.

[Belmontoya]

My very first job was at Funcoland!

It was great!

The store started out in Minnesota where I live. I got my copy of Simon's Quest from the very first Funcoland store. I remember it was in a really weird location. Like in an industrial park or something. I'm not sure if that's correct or not, that's just the way I remember it.

Most of my Castlevania collection was bought at Funcoland stores.

Anyways, it was a great place until Gamestop bought them out.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Thankfully I have DigitalPress nearby.  It does everything FuncoLand did, but better (it also sells modern stuff).
Plus the staff is really cool.

[Abnormal Freak]

I remember FuncoLand dicking me out of some pretty hard dollars.

My favorite store was a little shop in the Mall of America called EBX, which I'm pretty sure was part of the Electronics Boutique brand. That's where I bought all my Dragon Ball tapes. It was more of a general geekery type store; I'm pretty sure it had computer games and even parts (memory, graphics cards) as well. Quite a difference from the walls stacked with PS3 and 360 games with barely little in between.

S'where I first learned of Kirby's Dream Land 3, seeing it on the shelf.

[Bloodreign]

Backn in the day we had a Babbages and a Zowie Games. Zowie would not only sell video games, they'd also allow you to sit back and play them for an hourly fee, any game you wanted. Sadly they didn't last long, but damn did their selection look awesome. Eventually Gamestop took over that section in the mall and things didn't seem bad yet. Fast forward many years later Electronics Boutique opened up, seemed like a fair place at the time, and the staff didn't seem like a bunch of doofuses like at the Gamestop stores (they knew shit about games if you asked me. I'd troll them asking if they had any NES games, or throw some knowledge on them about something foreign or on the Saturn, the looks I'd get were classic).

EB Games were then absorbed into Gamestop and for a good while it was all we had. But one day Play N Trade showed up and my interest piqued from ads I saw on TV about retro games. No longer did I have to rely on ebay for my needs, or a local pawn shop, I now had the way to grow my small (for that time about 200 games, now about 1,070 counting 2 on the way) collection. Another retro shop opened called Game Over, in the short time they were open I found some of the hardest to find games for cheap (except that one copy of Little Samson they auctioned on ebay, grrr. A week prior I had to open my mouth and make a joke about the games value, FML.), I snatched up as many rarities as I could quickly. Now the owner of that shop runs a Gamestop and can't sell his old stock.

When I went to Texas, there was a place called Game Over there, a chain of stores now. Not the same as the place we had here, these folks deal a lot in classics and modern (ala Jorge's Digital Press store in Joisey), but the closest store to me is over 250 miles away. I remember blowing damned near $200 on just 8 games, one extremely hard to get one that wasn't cheap, and another that wasn't cheap either. I found some of the rarest of Saturn titles there, and I now own one of the hardest to snag cheap Saturn games (Image Fight/X-Multiply PS1 from Irem, goes for about $200 online, $50 there). Some of their prices are about or over ebay values, though some of the things they offered were cheaper than ebay (IF/X-M anyone), shame there's not one closer to me, their staff is actually knowledged on the oldies, something I love to see.

Gamestop rarely has anything to offer me, other than for awhile Wii VC Points cards, and the occasional DS or PS2 title.