Retro Game Store Visit: Game Xcape - Asheville, NC

My job allows me to travel around the state of North Carolina and during my travels I like to search out stores that match up with my hobbies. So far I've been able to find a few retro game stores in Greensboro, NC where I have a few work locations I visit, but this week's trip to the mountains of NC yielded a visit to a game store I had previously only seen on Facebook.

Game Xcape is located off of Patton Ave. in Asheville, NC and hosts a wide selection of both retro video games as well as games for more modern systems. In addition to games, they also stocked some older strategy guides and a few DVD movies. They also had a long wall of HDTVs with comfy chairs that you can rent and play games. They also host gaming contests from time to time.

I walked out of the store initially with 3 games, a loose copy of Mazin Saga: Mutant Fighter for the Sega Genesis and loose copies of Burai Fighter and Dynowarz for the NES. While I don't usually buy loose Genesis games, I felt the asking price of $10 for Mazin Saga was a fair price. Once I get home it'll be dropping in on The Cover Project to print a cover for the game so it can be shelved like a Genesis game ought to be!

Burai Fighter has that annoying VOID sticker residue on the bottom and I'm hoping some Goof Off or Goo-Gone will help clean up the game. It's a fun directional shmup that I used to own and I regret selling it so this was an easy pick up...even with it's blemishes. Dynowarz...I have faint memories of the game from the pages of Nintendo Power...and that's about it. The good thing was the game was really cheap so I'll give it try.

   

As I was checking out I asked the guy working there if they ever had TurboGrafx-16 come through the shop and he said not often, but he thought he had a few things. In the small stack of games were a few sports titles, the obligatory complete copy of Keith Courage and surprisingly complete copies of the awesome pinball titles, Alien Crush and Devil's Crush. Both were priced in the $40+ range. On the bottom of the stack were a few boxed titles including Valis II and Valis III and Final Zone II. The Valis games were really pricey, however Final Zone was marked $34. After a quick completed auction search on eBay I realized just how good of a deal $34 was. The worker even sweetened the deal by giving me another $2 of the price of the game. What is so impressive about the game is its condition. The box still had the plastic wrapping and the jewel case, instruction manual and the disc were flawless. I'm not even sure if the previous owner even played this game. I for one can't wait to get it home and pop it in my PC Engine Super-CD 2 unit.

I enjoyed my brief time spent in the shop today and I look forward to putting this store on my places to visit on subsequent visits to the area. Game Xcape can also be found on Facebook.