Vintage video games are a booming hobby after being pandemic pass-time

SUPERIOR, WI. (Northern News Now) - The boing boing boing sound of Super Mario Brothers reverberated through thousands of Northland homes 30 years ago when the Nintendo Entertainment System was a big hit. That sound is bouncing back because collecting vintage video games is becoming a big hobby.

Games Then And Now in Superior has many games for old game players — Games Then And Now in Superior has many games for old game players(kbjr)

“Mario, Mario, Mario, he’ll always be the big guy!” said Diane Matic.

Diane Matic and her husband Jason run Games Then and Now in Superior. Business is booming after homebound people during the pandemic began dusting off Mario games and old machines from Pong to Playstation 2.

“Business did increase with people just sitting around the house and our business picked up and we gained new customers and everything.” said Jason Matic.

NES, Super Nintendo, N64 and PS2 are the most popular right now but the Matics say their customers are interested in every type of game for every type of console.

“We have collectors who collect Super Nintendo and Nintendo, we have collectors that collect PS2, we have the collectors that collect everything and WII is getting popular again because of the pandemic.” said Diane.

Jason was a control software engineer before starting Games Then and Now. He can fix most game units coming out of decades of storage for a new life today. He says all of the old machines are worth fixing.

“I would say any of them because if they are important to you, they’re worth fixing,” said Jason.

That makes sense because these days an old Sega Genesis is about the only place you’ll be able to see the Minnesota North Stars playing a new game.

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