For those who grew up with imported pce in Europe

[Artabasdos]

As always, I love that these threads have grown and eclipsed over the years.

I really think that all of the info/scans/photos here is invaluable since you old bastards will soon be routinely forgetting what you had for lunch yesterday.

What I am most curious about: how, exactly, did U.K./US importers source the consoles/games? I have always been curious about that aspect of the business.

I'm only 28 you saucy git.

[Ex_Mosquito]

As always, I love that these threads have grown and eclipsed over the years.

I really think that all of the info/scans/photos here is invaluable since you old bastards will soon be routinely forgetting what you had for lunch yesterday.

What I am most curious about: how, exactly, did U.K./US importers source the consoles/games? I have always been curious about that aspect of the business.

Hey I'm not old, I'm only 38 ....No wait. I often wondered that. Apparently Leigh from Dream Machines used to supply PC Engine Supplies with their games.

[Otaking]

If there was enough of us I would start a dedicated forum (and website maybe) about the "grey import" UK retro games scene.
Its just it seems there's not enough of us about though, so feel it would probably be completely dead. 

[Otaking]

In the US "importing" Neo games was usually pointless. With most games being released in all territories In every language on the same day for virtuality the same price there was no need to deal with actually importing it.  Of course, eventually the carts became so hard to get that the only places carrying them were...import shops. NCS would just ask you what language you wanted because they carried both US and JP.

Yeah here in the UK with regards Neo Geo AES I'm not sure how much of it was imported from outside Europe. There was a mix up of Euro, US and Japanese games and when it was sold I don't recall the region being defined so much with it. For example with the SNES it was very clear whether it was US, Japanese or PAL.

I suspect alot of the mailorder companies who sold "grey imports" for all the other platforms (MD, SFC, PCE etc.) but when it came to the Neo Geo AES it was mostly the Euro region they stocked.

[Ex_Mosquito]

Heh yeah that would be great. I'd love a website with a comprehensive list of UK indie import shops from late 80's early 90's complete with pictures of the insides and display shelves

I'm not sure if I've posted this before but there is a cool thread on the Jamma+ forum about PC Engine importing.

http://www.jammaplus.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=46461&title=the-pc-engine-appreciation-thread

[Artabasdos]

Heh yeah that would be great. I'd love a website with a comprehensive list of UK indie import shops from late 80's early 90's complete with pictures of the insides and display shelves

I'm not sure if I've posted this before but there is a cool thread on the Jamma+ forum about PC Engine importing.

http://www.jammaplus.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=46461&title=the-pc-engine-appreciation-thread

Well, why don't you start one?

[LMS]

I think a lot of the UK based importers of that early era didn't really have a storefront of any kind aside from the adverts they placed in C&VG, Mean Machines, etc.

I read the other day that PC Engine supplies was run out of Steve's front room prior to partnering up with Colin Diamond to become Console Concepts. When I used to visit Shekana on Tottenham Court Road it was essentially a small glass cabinet of games hidden at the back of an electronics shop full of hifi equipment.

On that last note, did anyone else find themselves really drawn to the small form factor of the mini disc  format when it first arrived? Like an extension of an existing fetish for hucards

...notable exceptions to this were Video Game Centre in Bournemouth and the early incarnations of the Tottenham Court Exchange that went on to later become CEX, both of which where crazy places to walk into at the time. Raven Games always sticks in my mind as being the most impressive though, especially once the arcade cab was present (R-Type Leo anyone?).

[esteban]

^ I was in high school/college and couldn't afford mini-disc (my money was focused on music and rent). I wanted DAT, too. I've never owned any hardware for these formats, though.

[Artabasdos]

^ I was in high school/college and couldn't afford mini-disc (my money was focused on music and rent). I wanted DAT, too. I've never owned any hardware for these formats, though.

Wow, mini-disk. There's a thing I haven't seen mentioned in years. That shit was huge in the U.K in the late 90s and early 00s.

[esteban]

^ I was in high school/college and couldn't afford mini-disc (my money was focused on music and rent). I wanted DAT, too. I've never owned any hardware for these formats, though.

Wow, mini-disk. There's a thing I haven't seen mentioned in years. That shit was huge in the U.K in the late 90s and early 00s.

It was niche over here, but It was fun reading about "the future"...

[Otaking]

Heh yeah that would be great. I'd love a website with a comprehensive list of UK indie import shops from late 80's early 90's complete with pictures of the insides and display shelves

Yeah I would like to see pics from back then.

http://www.jammaplus.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=46461&title=the-pc-engine-appreciation-thread

Nice I'll check it out.

When I used to visit Shekana on Tottenham Court Road it was essentially a small glass cabinet of games hidden at the back of an electronics shop full of hifi equipment.

Yeah.
The space in the shop they got for games did seem to get larger as the years went by, but still  relativity a small part of the shop.

On that last note, did anyone else find themselves really drawn to the small form factor of the mini disc  format when it first arrived? Like an extension of an existing fetish for hucards

I never got into mini disc myself but a lot of my friends had them. Were popular for recording DJ sets from your decks.

...notable exceptions to this were Video Game Centre in Bournemouth and the early incarnations of the Tottenham Court Exchange that went on to later become CEX, both of which where crazy places to walk into at the time. Raven Games always sticks in my mind as being the most impressive though, especially once the arcade cab was present (R-Type Leo anyone?).

The most impressive stores I remember were Machine Shack in Streatham and Computer Exchange in Notting Hill Gate in the early days.

But probably the no.1 as you said and we discussed earlier was when CEX first unveiled their "retro museum", with that wall of thousands of PC Engine games and thousands of other platform games too, that was just mental.

I wasn't keen on those 2 guys who ran Raven Games, so kind of spoilt the experience for me there.

I wanted DAT, too.

I didn't realise consumers bought DAT machines?? I thought they were only for studios to record music. I had a DAT machine as I used have a hardware studio. It cost me an absolute fortune at the time (like all the other gear did)
I had this model:

[Digi.k]

I think a lot of the UK based importers of that early era didn't really have a storefront of any kind aside from the adverts they placed in C&VG, Mean Machines, etc.

I read the other day that PC Engine supplies was run out of Steve's front room prior to partnering up with Colin Diamond to become Console Concepts. When I used to visit Shekana on Tottenham Court Road it was essentially a small glass cabinet of games hidden at the back of an electronics shop full of hifi equipment.

On that last note, did anyone else find themselves really drawn to the small form factor of the mini disc  format when it first arrived? Like an extension of an existing fetish for hucards

...notable exceptions to this were Video Game Centre in Bournemouth and the early incarnations of the Tottenham Court Exchange that went on to later become CEX, both of which where crazy places to walk into at the time. Raven Games always sticks in my mind as being the most impressive though, especially once the arcade cab was present (R-Type Leo anyone?).

I picked up a mini disc player much later certainly around 2000 but they kept breaking, but certainly around the time of the pc engine I never went out without a walkman mostly AIWA models busting around with my 90 minute tape of pce hucard and CD-rom track recordings.

I still got those tapes! NERD!!!!!!



not forgetting that life after Shekana... and I remember taking their advert (which was advertised in like C&VG mag) to get 10% discount on C64 games there.  Although I really liked Shekana as I got my first pce there they were a little shady as I remember the middle eastern lady that worked there and iirc she had a mole on her chin area she was happy to sell UK NES carts to USA visitors and not say anything about incompatibility between the regions...

But one of those guys left Shekana and partnered up with a few more fellas to form ACE - Advance console entertainment just tucked away in Carnaby Street.  Shekana also had another store somewhere I think it was up near Wood Green. 

But those guys in ACE were cool and I would find them in the NAMCO world after hours.

There was also a small video rental shop in Barking that started importing pce stuff and also later imported supergrafx

[esteban]

I picked up a mini disc player much later certainly around 2000 but they kept breaking, but certainly around the time of the pc engine I never went out without a walkman mostly AIWA models busting around with my 90 minute tape of pce hucard and CD-rom track recordings.

I still got those tapes! NERD!!!!!!

I made cassettes, too, but I never made any video game art—I would just take a silly advert for a foot cream or ________ and repurpose it as cover art.

The Dungeon Explorer and Legendary Axe tape was a favorite of mine, ha! I still remember biking certain stretches of road to certain songs.

I went everywhere with my "Walkman" (I mostly had Aiwa, but also some "no brand" stuff).

I eventually got a portable CD player, so I would bring BOTH tapes+CD everywhere (backpack + bike = transportation).

Anyway, the Walkman was the beast that handled the worst abuse.

[Otaking]

Pic of Video Game Centre in Bournemouth from 2002


From here
http://www.nekofever.com/archives/2008/05/rip-video-game-centre/

[Necromancer]

Digi.K - sweet tape art!