For those who grew up with imported pce in Europe

[Ergot_Cholera]

I remeber the ads featuring the Toby cartoon strip in the back of CVG and gamesmaster magazines when I was a kid, and I vaguely remember seeing PC Engines advertised and wondering what they were exactly (I only had a Master System at the time). The prices were way out of my league coming from a working class family from the north of England.
I wish the CEX stores that you see today were anything like the store that you describe here, but they don't sell any import games at all now.

[kosko99]

Here is Spain it was almost non existent.... I don't remember seeing any, even on import games shops which had the Atari Jaguar.
Only 1-2 magazzines did talk about it from time to time for games like Dragon Ball, Street Fighter 2, Castelvania, PC Kid and Jackie Chan.

Even now with all this retro boom I only found 2-3 PCE users, and when there is any retro event with shops selling imports... PCE presence is close to zero.

[Digi.k]

Here is Spain it was almost non existent.... I don't remember seeing any, even on import games shops which had the Atari Jaguar.
Only 1-2 magazzines did talk about it from time to time for games like Dragon Ball, Street Fighter 2, Castelvania, PC Kid and Jackie Chan.

Even now with all this retro boom I only found 2-3 PCE users, and when there is any retro event with shops selling imports... PCE presence is close to zero.

Apart from the UK magazines doing their small but occasional pc engine reviews.  Fortunately I was able to pick up US mags in the newsagents particularly around Whitechapel and Bethnal Green which sold imported EGM and I think the other mag was Games Radar  or was it Gamers Republic ?  I think I started collecting them around the time Ys Book I & II and Ninja Spirit received perfect scores.


I also remember doing trades with a few fellows around London which I think were from personal ads in the LOOT newspaper. 

[Otaking]

I was obsessed with LOOT newspaper through that period, I used to buy and sell stuff through it constantly, mainly PC Engine and Neo Geo stuff. Met loads of cool people through doing that, was introduced to a kind of network of hardcore gamers throughout the UK at the time.
Also through the buy and sell sections of magazines such as Super Play.

[gojira1954]

I remeber the ads featuring the Toby cartoon strip in the back of CVG and gamesmaster magazines when I was a kid, and I vaguely remember seeing PC Engines advertised and wondering what they were exactly (I only had a Master System at the time). The prices were way out of my league coming from a working class family from the north of England.
I wish the CEX stores that you see today were anything like the store that you describe here, but they don't sell any import games at all now.

The toby cartoons were drawn by Charlie Brooker, love his TV shows!
He did a comic, think it was only one issue though

[Alienjesus]

Reading about all these independent shops you used to be able buy games at in London is super interesting. I didn't grow up around these parts, but I live in London now, and it's really sad how all the old haunts and arcades have basically all shut up shop.

[Otaking]

Reading about all these independent shops you used to be able buy games at in London is super interesting. I didn't grow up around these parts, but I live in London now, and it's really sad how all the old haunts and arcades have basically all shut up shop.

Admittedly in London back then there was tons, but also most big towns and cities across the UK had at least one games shop that carried imports. What part of the UK were you in back then?

[Alienjesus]

I lived in a small town in Northamptonshire called Corby. Our options for buying games were Woolworths or Dixons

[Digi.k]

I lived in a small town in Northamptonshire called Corby. Our options for buying games were Woolworths or Dixons

You would have been able to do mail order back then provided you were able to get hold of video game mags back then.


In those days it was a quick call up to a shop and then  pop a cheque or postal order in the post and you would have received the item in a week or two.  Videogame imports and console passion are still going today as they were in those days although may have been trading in different guises back then.

Other great thing about london was the comic shops and arcades.  There were great arcade places around central london.  My faves at that time were the one at tottenham court road next to the KFC and even a CEX opened quite near to it.  There as also LAS VEGAS in soho plust a few more I can't quite remember the names, where I got to play arcade versions of Dragon Saber, Parodius Da! Detana Twin Bee which was Bells & Whistles here in UK..
There was also an arcade just at the corner to the start of China Town I think it's Gerrard Street where after I'd have dim sum on Sunday would go there and have a few rounds of Gradius, R-Type and Ghouls n' Ghosts, Bubble Bobble and Mr Do!
But my fave was the Trocadero where they opened a massive arcade area back then..  Plus I think it turned into SEGA World or something like that.. plus somewhere just off Picadilly Circus and heading towards the Strand/China Town one the old cinemas that used to show XXX movies was later converted into Namco World..loved it!  But I think this was getting towards the 32bit era..


Advance Console Entertainment were amazing too.  I think they were two main middle eastern guys who were at first selling pc engine and megadrive imported games and consoles and provided RGB Modifications.  They originally rented out a room in one of those posh and expensive Georgian houses just near Regents Park and I think the closest subway train to them was Great Portland Street.
 They later on opened their own shop in Carnaby Street and they continued with RGB mods and repairs for all consoles, PC engine, Genesis and Super Famicom.  they somehow faded and shut shop during the 32bit era.   They were great and I miss those guys.

[dave_van_damn]

This was the basement to that shop.  Unfortunately all the retro stuff is no more and instead a den for selling blu rays and DVDs exist.  Plus an old CEX advert.

Scan taken from EDGE RETRO mag




I just remembered there was another shop I think they were a chain based and called the same name in Notting Hill Exchange.  They also ran a small videogame shop selling and trading retro games too.  But I hated the way they stuck the prices on the packaging with that really tough to remove glue that would just rip off the packaging if it was cardboard.

Yes! I remember this place. I had heard about CEX in magazines, but we had nothing similar (to my knowledge) in Newcastle. I was about 12 when I visited that basement and I thought I'd died and went to heaven. I remember seeing a NEO-GEO MVS home converted system and feeling like I was in a museum. I didn't have a lot of cash but I saw a copy of Lethal Enforcers for the Mega CD complete with gun for 11 quid. I was just about ready to buy it but I decided not to at the last minute for some reason. The guy in the shop probably thought I was a right spaz.

Great thread

[Otaking]

I lived in a small town in Northamptonshire called Corby. Our options for buying games were Woolworths or Dixons

Would Northampton have been your biggest local town?

Around 1991/92 time I went to visit my cousin who lived in a village just outside Northampton. We took the bus into Northampton town and he took me to a game shop that I'm pretty sure had imports, memory of it is very foggy. Also remember going to Games Workshop and a model shop and looking at the Tamiya RC cars, they were big back then.

[Digi.k]

ah did anyone go to those Computer Entertainment Shows that were held at Olympia in Kensington/Earls Court?
The times I went it was mostly for Commodore 64 stuff and then later on Amiga software but the Genesis/Megadrive was getting serious business there.
I remember one time we went there and saw a really small booth tucked away in some corner where they had on display the uk version of turbografx and cd-rom attachment and they had Wonderboy III monster lair on display.  I grabbed the controller but some european guy in a black suit told me not to touch it... so we left.  I thought how the hell are you going to sell a system with that attitude!

I also have memories back around 93 where I brought a few college buddies to my parents house and Dracula X had arrived in the post.  I remember the first bit where Richter was fighting death on the horse cart and my fellow students were commenting on how it looks like Bram Stoker's Dracula movie.  I am sure upto that point I had traded the pc engine briefcase system for Megadrives, Supergrafx, Superfamicoms and back to a DUO-R system with RGB mod. 

EDGE January 1995


Anime V mag


Anime UK

[gojira1954]

I'd forgotten the name of the place on carnaby st - that was probably the best shop in London! They didn't have masses of stuff but were friendly and it was great to have a place for repairs & mods
Nice to see the Anime UK mags too - it was a fantastic at the time. They had their office by oxford st tube stn, bopped in there a couple of times!
I used to go to the ATEI computer/arcade trade shows in earls court with bs registration details, was great

[Alienjesus]

I lived in a small town in Northamptonshire called Corby. Our options for buying games were Woolworths or Dixons

Would Northampton have been your biggest local town?

Around 1991/92 time I went to visit my cousin who lived in a village just outside Northampton. We took the bus into Northampton town and he took me to a game shop that I'm pretty sure had imports, memory of it is very foggy. Also remember going to Games Workshop and a model shop and looking at the Tamiya RC cars, they were big back then.

Depending which way I went on the bus, either Northampton, Milton Keynes or Peterborough. They were all a bit of a trek though, and seeing as I was just a kid then I doubt I couldve convinced my parents to take me 

[Otaking]

ah did anyone go to those Computer Entertainment Shows that were held at Olympia in Kensington/Earls Court?

I used to go to the ATEI computer/arcade trade shows in earls court with bs registration details, was great

These exhibition centres were near where I lived. Throughout most of the nineties (as a teenager 13-18 years old) on the weekends I worked in a toy and model shop just down the road from Earls Court exhibition centre. All the staff would get passes each year to a big industry only toy fair that was there, there would be lots of new video games there. One year I remember playing Star Fox on a Nintendo stand before it was released and it just blew my mind.

Also I went to the first Future Entertainment show at Earls Court, it was absolutely packed.
I remember I had Street Fighter II fever (playing on my sfc) and I went into the trade hall there and picked up Hiryu no Ken S: Golden Fighter and also the shooter D-Force both on the Super Famicom, I took a punt on them just going on the boxes, both games turned out were absolutely shit, I was gutted.
Video of Bad influence at the Future Entertainment Show

More the latter part of the nineties each year I used to go to the video games industry show ECTS at Olympia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Computer_Trade_Show
I somehow blagged a load of industry passes for me and a load of friends, I can't remember how. We looked really out of place, it was mostly dudes in smart suits. One memory that sticks out was SunSoft had a stand showing off Waku Waku 7 on a Neo Geo AES and nobody cared, was just tumble weeds, everyone was all about PS1 and N64.

Speaking of the Earls Court area, I remember Sega had their European headquarters there, was a massive building. After we left secondary school a friend got a full time job there as a games tester, he got the job through our local job centre, which in this day and age just seems crazy. He went to the job center, they asked what he was interested in, he said video games and then he got a job playing games all day for Sega, wtf  lol. Things like that just wouldn't happen these days