Retro Store Visit: 1Up Video Games - Greenville, SC

I've been going to the Greenville, SC area for work for close to a year now and I never knew of 1Up Video Games until recently. I thought I had searched "retro video games Greenville, SC" on Google before, but I guess not. I'm glad I checked again however because my trips to the store were worth it.

The store was small and in a small shopping center off of Anderson Rd. in Greenville, SC. I drove right by it the first time I was looking for it and had it not been for GPS I may not have found it. As you can see the store front is modest, but the large "VIDEO GAMES" sign hung in the window helped draw my attention that way.

Once inside the I found the store to be well stocked with games for several different systems. Immediately on the left there was a large glass case that housed several portable games such as Game Boy and GB Advance. I didn't see anything that caught my eye so I kept browsing. I started on the left side of the store and was greeted by a long wire wrack full of original Xbox games, along with a few Wii U, several Wii and GameCube games.

Opposite this long rack of games were some smaller displays that held the retro consoles that were for sale. Not sure why I didn't snap a pic. They had in stock a nice boxed Atari Jaguar, loose Sega Saturn and a Super Nintendo among other things.

Personally I was impressed by the sheer number of original Xbox games they had in stock. I haven't seen this many to choose in any of the other shops I've found while traveling for work. Prices ranged from $2.99 for some of the more common titles to $24.99 for Godzilla. I ended up grabbing a few games while I was there that I hadn't see elsewhere. My only complaint with the selection of games was that there wasn't any rhyme or reason to the way the games were organized. The OCD in me couldn't stand that they were alphabetized. Part of me wanted to stand there and put them in order myself!

The back left corner, opposite the original Xbox games, was probably an 8 foot section of Xbox 360 and Xbox One games. Usually the 360 section is chocked full of games so imagine my surprise when the original Xbox games out numbered the two more modern Microsoft libraries.

At the back of the store was a bin that housed random controllers. Most of them were official, but there were some 3rd party controllers. I was surprised to see not one, but two Stunner light guns for the Sega Saturn.

Wrapping around the back end of the first rack and I found a row of games for various Nintendo consoles. N64, SNES and NES.

Selection on these consoles were pretty average, though there were more N64 carts than for the other two systems. Like most retailers have found, it's hard to really display loose N64 carts with their shape and lack of end labels. There were a few complete, boxed NES and SNES games to choose from, but the majority of them were loose carts.

Opposite the retro Nintendo games were Sega games. This section put a smile on my face. There was a decent selection of Genesis games, several Sega CD and Saturn games in the original long jewel cases. A nice little selection of Dreamcast games as well. The top shelf had a few boxed Atari games, including two Jaguar games (Trevor McFur and Zool). Had I had more time and money I may have bought a few Genesis games, but I settled for a boxed copy of E-Swat while I was there.

The end of the Sega row is where the Dreamcast games were as well as the loose Genesis carts. I really didn't pay attention to those loose carts which is a shame. I generally don't buy loose Genesis games, but at times I've come across a gem if I keep looking.

The back side of the Sega section was all Playstation 1 and Playstation 2 games with a few PSP. There was a good selection of both, but I'm not the biggest Sony fan so I just quickly browsed this section. I did grab Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks for the PS2.

The back right corner of the store had two different displays that housed a nice selection of reproduction games. 

As you can see there were all sorts of fan made reproductions ranging from the Game Boy, NES and SNES. These games were a little on the pricey side, but really not much more than what your final price would have been if you purchased it online and had to pay for shipping. This was a nice touch as you don't usually find stuff like this out in the wild. After speaking with the shop owner for a little longer on my 2nd trip, I learned that he planned on setting up some TVs and consoles so customers could test out some of these games. I look forward to seeing if that idea is implemented in the near future.

The shop owner was very nice and easy to speak with. We struck up a short conversation during both of my visits. While talking about YouTube video game shows and such he had asked me if I had been to any shows. I commented that it seems that the east coast gets the shaft as most of the shows I hear about are out in the mid-west. It's then he told me about the Southeast Game Exchange coming to the Greenville area later this year. He only had one post card left so I just took a picture for future reference and left the card there in the store for others. It's still early for me to know if I'll be able to attend, but I'm glad to finally know of something like this on the east coast.

All in all I found the store to be pretty cool. Good selection of games for a wide array of consoles with decent prices overall. The owner was very cool and you could tell he was passionate about games. He told me that they have been open now for about 3 years and business must be good because each time I dropped in his counter was full of trade ins he was working on getting priced and out on the shelves. They have a Facebook page if you want to check them out. If you find yourself in the Greenville, SC area you owe it to yourself to check them out. Give yourself a good 30 minutes at least if you want to browse the entire store. It's not huge, but there is a lot to look at.