I took a trip down memory lane by taking a (more literal) trip to Birmingham Gaming Market this weekend. It’s always interesting to check out retro games and this event by Replay Events has plenty of them, both common and obscure.
There was plenty of focus on Japanese titles too. Don’t want to wait for an event? You can also use ZenMarket, who have kindly sponsored this article, to order Japanese games. They’re an import service that focuses on helping to order items from Japan, consolidating packages to keep the delivery costs down, and sending items worldwide. We’ve given an overview of our experience with their service and how to use it in a previous article.
Open Your Wallet
Birmingham Gaming Market is a trader-led event, with the vast majority of stores selling retro games from the Amiga to the PlayStation 3, as well as a handful of traders with newer titles. There were absolutely huge collections of older titles, mostly focused on games released during the ‘90s. A lot of the sellers were fairly knowledgeable about them too, with several chiming in with tidbits about the history of the games or why they’re worth it in their sales spiels.
Quite a few traders had a smattering of Japanese import titles, with one having at least a dozen containers full of them for all sorts of systems. It’s certainly a good event if you want to go pick up some imports without waiting for delivery. However, the value varied quite a bit. To give a couple of examples, buying Sister Princess Premium Edition (Dreamcast) would cost almost twice as much at Birmingham Gaming Market as ordering the cheapest current copy of it via ZenMarket, including fees and delivery. But Fantasy Life (3DS) was about 30% cheaper at Birmingham Gaming Market.
As always with these types of events, it’s best to be as informed as possible. There are certainly deals to be had! I found a SEGA Mega Drive Mini for about half the price it goes for in second-hand stores which quickly disappeared off the shelf. There were also titles that eBay would’ve been a better option for. And of course, like most of these events, there were slightly dubious items such as the 3DS card with “23 Pokémon games” on it.
Modified retro consoles were on sale too. Older Playstations with HDMI and Game Boy Advances with sharp and bright screens were on display, among other types. There was even a modified Sega Nomad, which is a rarity. They cost a ton, but they look great.
Not Just Retro Games
While most of the stores were retro-game focused, there was a good amount of anime too. There was even a guy walking around in one of those infamous ahegao hoodies, like at any anime convention!
As well as the anime-related games, there were a small number of anime figures from popular series, replica swords, and other merchandise. In particular, there were a lot of Pokémon-related items, including some unusual ones. I did like the figure of a Squirtle dressed as Kakashi from Naruto.
3D-printed items were surprisingly common at the Birmingham Gaming Market too. One store was selling some particularly nice signs for consoles and franchises, stands for handheld consoles, and storage racks for games. They were surprisingly cheap, so I bought a couple. Beyond that, there were some 3D-printed figures and other assorted items.
There were a few creatives there too. One was Mojo Trio Games, an indie developer who had a stall set up for people to try and buy his two games. Both of his games Jaguar Suns and Grave Space are retro-style, so they do fit in with the event. Another was selling a trio of books that he wrote on the history of the Game Boy and its successors.
Location, Location.
The Birmingham Gaming Market was held at New Bingley Hall in the Soho & Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham. It’s quite conveniently located if you drive as it’s near the motorway, though just by chance a number of roads were closed for another event at the time I went. It’s not far from a train station either.
The venue itself was far better than the last gaming market I attended, being larger with more room to move around, better lit, and clean. The event is certainly popular though, with it sometimes being difficult to get close enough to the stalls to see. It offers a tiered ticket system, so early entry may be worth it for this.
Verdict
Birmingham Gaming Market had a wide selection of retro games and quite a lot of Japanese imports on offer. Between those and a mix of merchandise both official and unofficial, it was an interesting set of stores to browse through, with some deals to be found as long as you’re careful.
Thanks again to ZenMarket for sponsoring this article. If you’d like to purchase some Japanese retro games, please consider checking out their service and don’t forget to use code NOOKGAMING when signing up for 800 Yen worth of ZenPoints toward delivery.
Many thanks go to Birmingham Gaming Market for providing a press ticket for this event.
Want to read more? Please check out more of our event coverage. Or want to check out some of the latest games? Maybe some of our game reviews will be of interest.
A gamer since the days of Amstrad and DOS and someone who has dabbled in a variety of professions. He enjoys a wide variety of genres, but has been focusing on visual novels and virtual reality in recent years. Head Editor of NookGaming. Follow him and the website on @NookSite.
