Old video games never go out of style (8 photos)

Vendors from Sudbury and the Sault set up shop outside of Vintage Games ‘N Junque for Saturday’s Last Minute Mini Expo event, bringing with them a wide assortment of comic books, toys and retro video games.

Michael Shanks, founder of the annual Northern Game Expo in Sudbury, brought dozens of video games from days gone by for the expo.

“A lot of people my age grew up playing this stuff, and they just want to collect [video games] from their childhood,” said Shanks while looking at his bins of video games. “It’s like nostalgia.”

As far vintage as video games are concerned, Shanks says that old 8-bit Nintendo classics, like Contra, Donkey Kong or Super Mario Bros., are always in high demand.

But he’s also noticed that games for old Playstation and Nintendo consoles are beginning to trend as well.

“I think right now it would be GameCube and Nintendo 64,” Shanks said. “Whenever we get those, they go pretty quick.”

“I feel like GameCube, PS1, PS2, that sort of stuff, that’s the way it’s trending.”

Vintage Games ‘N Junque owner Michael Turcotte says the event is quite literally a last minute expo, taking a week or so to organize.  

Turcotte says that roughly 500 people stopped by his business Saturday to come and see what the Last Minute Mini Expo had to offer.

“The Sault’s a very fickle mistress, and you don’t know how thing are going to work out in the Sault,” Turcotte told SooToday. “Now we’ll probably work with the Northern Game Expo, and we’ll do a bigger event at some point in the future, because I can probably bring 15, 20 vendors from all over Ontario and see if it works for the Sault.”

Adam Svantesson - also known as ‘Svenny McG’ to those familiar with his retro gaming  nights at the public library - brought a couple retro video game consoles to the event for those looking for a decidedly vintage gaming fix.  

“Playing games is timeless, from board games to our mobile phones now,” Svantesson said. “Everybody likes finding something fun to unwind with, and there’s a nostalgia to it.”