Behind-The-Scenes Look At Retro Game Repair
A few months ago GameStop announced that it would begin taking in retro consoles and games as trade-ins once more. It’s been assumed by some that these ancient classics would be sold as-is, but as a new article and photo gallery on Mashable proves, they’re going the extra mile to make sure the games work.
Mashable took a tour of a plant in Grapevine, Texas full of NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis, Sony PlayStation and Sega Dreamcast consoles and the games that play on them. John Haes, senior director of pre-owned merchandise at GameStop, told the reporter that since consoles from twenty or thirty years ago were less complex than their contemporary cousins, they are easier for a well-trained technician to get to a state where they’re humming like new.
Each console is thoroughly cleaned inside and out, and any faulty bits are replaced. The article doesn’t mention if save batteries are replaced, but presumably they are, as it’s a simple process (for someone who knows how to solder metal). The most common repairs for busted units are case pieces and the laser readers inside the disc-based consoles. Says Haes, “Those cartridge-based consoles are hard to kill.”
Despite what you might feel about GameStop (and I get it), the fact that all these consoles are getting a professional repair job and polishing is terrific news. It means they’re going to last out there in the wild for a much longer time, which is good for collectors and all gamers.
Currently GameStop is accepting old-school game electronics in select locations: one outlet each in New York, Birmingham, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Orlando, Los Angeles, and areas of central Texas. According to Haes, the program is successful enough to expand further, though it’s not ready for a nationwide launch.