18 replies to this topic

[goldenegg]

I'm going to be in San Antonio and Houston for work the rest of the week. Searching online, it appears that Game Over Videogames is the primary retro gaming store in both cities.

I think I'll have more free time in San Antonio, so I figure I'll try to head to that location. I was wondering if anyone here has visited the store and had any feedback about it.

If there are other retro gaming stores in the San Antonio and Houston areas I should check out, please let me know.

[Rex Dart]

If your drive takes you anywhere near Austin, there's also the Gamefellas chain.

[goldenegg]

Unfortunately Austin is too far out. I'm flying in to San Antonio tomorrow afternoon and driving to Houston on Wednesday.

[BadHornet]

Hi Goldenegg. I live in San Antonio and been to Game Over a few times. Its a nice store with a friendly staff. Prices are hit or miss like any other type of store, but they have a good selection to look at. There's another place called Propaganda Palace (location at 2100 McCullough) that just opened. I havent been there, but the guy who opened it had a couple little stores at the indoor flea markets across town, so I guess business has been good and he branched out. As far as flea markets here, they are hit or miss...........thrift stores have dried up, as I have found nothing worthwhile in a loooong time.

[goldenegg]

BadHornet, on Mon May 14, 2012 9:40 AM, said:

Hi Goldenegg. I live in San Antonio and been to Game Over a few times. Its a nice store with a friendly staff. Prices are hit or miss like any other type of store, but they have a good selection to look at. There's another place called Propaganda Palace (location at 2100 McCullough) that just opened. I havent been there, but the guy who opened it had a couple little stores at the indoor flea markets across town, so I guess business has been good and he branched out. As far as flea markets here, they are hit or miss...........thrift stores have dried up, as I have found nothing worthwhile in a loooong time.

I'll see if I have time to check out Propaganda Palace.

Looking at Google Maps street view, am I correct in assuming that GOV is located in the Park North plaza? I'll probably head there straight from the airport, as it seems to be quite close.

[BadHornet]

goldenegg, on Mon May 14, 2012 9:58 AM, said:

BadHornet, on Mon May 14, 2012 9:40 AM, said:

Hi Goldenegg. I live in San Antonio and been to Game Over a few times. Its a nice store with a friendly staff. Prices are hit or miss like any other type of store, but they have a good selection to look at. There's another place called Propaganda Palace (location at 2100 McCullough) that just opened. I havent been there, but the guy who opened it had a couple little stores at the indoor flea markets across town, so I guess business has been good and he branched out. As far as flea markets here, they are hit or miss...........thrift stores have dried up, as I have found nothing worthwhile in a loooong time.

I'll see if I have time to check out Propaganda Palace.

Looking at Google Maps street view, am I correct in assuming that GOV is located in the Park North plaza? I'll probably head there straight from the airport, as it seems to be quite close.

Yes its very close to the airport, in that plaza. The Park North Plaza is a bunch of strip malls and buildings, and can be a bit confusing if you dont know where your going. Game Over is facing Loop 410 right off the access road between San Pedro and Blanco Road. You should see it pretty easy

Edited by BadHornet, Mon May 14, 2012 10:17 AM.

[RARusk]

BadHornet, on Mon May 14, 2012 9:40 AM, said:

Hi Goldenegg. I live in San Antonio and been to Game Over a few times. Its a nice store with a friendly staff. Prices are hit or miss like any other type of store, but they have a good selection to look at. There's another place called Propaganda Palace (location at 2100 McCullough) that just opened. I havent been there, but the guy who opened it had a couple little stores at the indoor flea markets across town, so I guess business has been good and he branched out. As far as flea markets here, they are hit or miss...........thrift stores have dried up, as I have found nothing worthwhile in a loooong time.

Seconding what BadHornet said. Up until they opened up there were no independent stores in the San Antonio area - just GameStops. I've been to the Propaganda Palace stands at the flea markets but have not known about their new location until now - I'll have to check that out later. The best Game Over store is the main one up in Austin but the other ones, including the one here, are pretty good in their own right.

[BadHornet]

Game Over Videogames just announced they are opening 2 new locations today in Texas. One in San Marcos and another in south Austin. Glad to see this chain expanding when it seems many retro gaming stores have been going under or are struggling

Edited by BadHornet, Tue May 15, 2012 3:37 PM.

[goldenegg]

I stopped in to GOV about 15 min ago. The staff was extremely nice. I introduced them to AtariAge, as they weren't familiar with the site.

I ended up grabbing a bunch of Colecovision games. They had several mint Gamecube systems for $30 and I'm considering going back to pick one up. I've been looking for one for a while and the few people I met in Toronto through Kijiji didn't have their system in great condition (looked mint in the pics). Game stores usually sell them for ~$45 in Toronto, so this is a pretty good deal.

Another thing that stood out were some reconditioned Sega Master System controllers, which looked to be in great shape. If I didn't already fix up two of my own, I would have grabbed one for sure.

[BadHornet]

goldenegg, on Tue May 15, 2012 3:45 PM, said:

I stopped in to GOV about 15 min ago. The staff was extremely nice. I introduced them to AtariAge, as they weren't familiar with the site.

I ended up grabbing a bunch of Colecovision games. They had several mint Gamecube systems for $30 and I'm considering going back to pick one up. I've been looking for one for a while and the few people I met in Toronto through Kijiji didn't have their system in great condition (looked mint in the pics). Game stores usually sell them for ~$45 in Toronto, so this is a pretty good deal.

Another thing that stood out were some reconditioned Sega Master System controllers, which looked to be in great shape. If I didn't already fix up two of my own, I would have grabbed one for sure.

Glad you liked it. If you make the one in Houston, let me know how that one was!

[pce_collector]

goldenegg, on Tue May 15, 2012 3:45 PM, said:

I stopped in to GOV about 15 min ago. The staff was extremely nice. I introduced them to AtariAge, as they weren't familiar with the site.

I ended up grabbing a bunch of Colecovision games. They had several mint Gamecube systems for $30 and I'm considering going back to pick one up. I've been looking for one for a while and the few people I met in Toronto through Kijiji didn't have their system in great condition (looked mint in the pics). Game stores usually sell them for ~$45 in Toronto, so this is a pretty good deal.

Another thing that stood out were some reconditioned Sega Master System controllers, which looked to be in great shape. If I didn't already fix up two of my own, I would have grabbed one for sure.

Not familiar with AtariAge? They must be living under a rock I tells ya.

[goldenegg]

pce_collector, on Tue May 15, 2012 7:41 PM, said:

Not familiar with AtariAge? They must be living under a rock I tells ya.

I was surprised with that myself. When I mentioned AtariAge, I just got a blank stare. To give them the benefit of the doubt, I used to hear about AtariAge and never bothered to visit as I thought it would be Atari only. Not that I don't like Atari, but I just didn't see myself participating in discussions about the company. Turns out I was very wrong Hopefully they'll grow to love this place as much as I have.

I've decided to pick up the Gamecube tomorrow. I'll pop in to the San Antonio location before I leave for Houston, then hit the Houston location before checking in to my hotel. I'm hoping the Houston location has a few more Colecovision games I can snap up and potentially a mint copy of Thunder Force 2 for the Genesis (the SA store had a mint box and cart, but the manual was in bad shape) ... and maybe a few good Gamecube games too, as all of mine are currently in storage.

[goldenegg]

I stopped by the Houston location today. Same size store, but I didn't really find much there. They basically had no Coleco stuff, except for a few DK carts in pretty bad shape. It was a little disappointing, but I fully appreciate that their stock depends on what people are trading in.

I don't know if I'll have a chance to hit Propaganda Palace tomorrow. Given that I'll be working until 5pm, I don't know if I'll be in the mood to deal with traffic to get there.

Edit:

Whoops .... just realized Propaganda Palace is in San Antonio. Guess I won't be going then

[Almost Rice]

Try GamesPlus. Its a small chain in Houston

http://www.gamesplus.../Locations.html

Edited by Almost Rice, Thu May 17, 2012 10:36 AM.

[FujiSkunk]

I've been to the Houston location a few times. Yeah, the selection for certain systems leaves a bit to be desired. They have very little in the way of Coleco, Atari 8-bit or Commodore stuff. But for the 2600 and other systems they have a good assortment of stuff. And going there just to stare at everything on the walls and back in the museum display cases is fun too.

Edited by FujiSkunk, Thu May 17, 2012 1:59 PM.

[goldenegg]

Almost Rice, on Thu May 17, 2012 10:34 AM, said:

Try GamesPlus. Its a small chain in Houston

http://www.gamesplus.../Locations.html

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately I won't have time to check it out. I was stuck at the office late tonight and I have to be at the airport by 10am tomorrow.

[BadHornet]

Well glad you were able to find a few things...its good to see some retro gaming stores doing well here in TX


Now if we can get a classic/retro gaming expo back to Texas, that would be awesome


Austin.....2003......sigh......memories.........

Edited by BadHornet, Thu May 17, 2012 10:43 PM.

[Bloodreign]

I've been to the ones in San Antonio, Sunset Valley, and Austin. Prices on some games are high, some aren't too bad (Kyukyoku Tiger II Plus for $50 isn't too bad I'd say, got it in San Antonio when I was there, wish I could go back. Living 300+ miles from there with no transportation does suck though). The game system museum is a nice touch, the one in Austin on Anderson Lane has a Sunset Riders cab, and a MAME cab. The one in San Antonio has a MAME cab, a tabletop Space Invaders cab (it's beautiful to me), and Strikers 1945. I feel like when I got back home, I still feel like I left a ton of good stuff behind, though with 8 games in total picked up, I paid nearly $200 (big yikes there, but no regrets).

There is something there I really wanted, but passed on in the San Antonio store, someone from another forum has told me if he goes there he'll snag it for me since at the time I was a tad short on cash. Now some prices were good, $17 complete Shinobi III which I snagged in Sunset Valley, but stuff like a loose Moero Twinbee FC for $40 is a bit on the "hell no" side. I also asked how much Gunstar Heroes goes for if any of the stores get one, I was told $40 loose cart only, I'm better off getting that off ebay or Amazon.

All in all I picked up 2 SMS games while in San Antonio (loose R-Type, complete Wonderboy) and some Genesis titles, along with 1 Saturn import game.

Edited by Bloodreign, Today, 7:12 AM.

[Rex Dart]

Bloodreign, on Thu May 24, 2012 7:05 AM, said:

Prices on some games are high, some aren't too bad (Kyukyoku Tiger II Plus for $50 isn't too bad I'd say... I paid nearly $200 (big yikes there, but no regrets)... stuff like a loose Moero Twinbee FC for $40 is a bit on the "hell no" side. I also asked how much Gunstar Heroes goes for if any of the stores get one, I was told $40 loose cart only...

I'd mentioned this in some other thread here, but I mainly only buy hardware at Game Over. The games are pretty much guaranteed to be overpriced; some are still within reason, but controllers are almost always a good price.