- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Thousands march for Palestinians ahead of Oct 7 anniversary
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Toddler crushed to death in migrant Channel crossing
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
Japan is next level for retro game collectors
US tourist David Madrigal is over the moon after paying $200 for a "vintage" console at a busy Tokyo store that is tapping into booming global demand for retro gaming kit.
"When I came into this store, I was like a kid walking into a candy shop," Madrigal, 23, told AFP at Super Potato in the Akihabara district famous for its Japanese pop culture shops.
"This stuff is my passion. I love older consoles," he said. The PS Vita, a console released in 2011, that he bought "would usually cost me about $600 in the US."
Super Potato has three floors packed with Game Boy cartridges, Sega Dreamcast consoles wrapped in plastic and antiquated arcade machines where nostalgic customers can play "Street Fighter II" again.
Prices can be eye-watering. A handheld Nintendo Game & Watch electronic game from the 1980s -- featuring "Zelda" -- was priced at 250,800 yen ($1,750).
Around 70-80 percent of customers are foreign tourists, who have flocked to Japan in record numbers this year, store manager Komura, who only gave his surname, told AFP.
- Soul gaming -
Part of the appeal, Madrigal said, is that many modern games are a bit "more of the same" compared to ones when he was growing up.
"There was a different kind of innovation," he said. "Companies weren't afraid to think outside the box. They were willing to take risks."
Video game historian Hiroyuki Maeda said that additional demand from collectors comes from the fact that some consoles were marketed differently outside Japan.
Nintendo's Famicom and Super Famicom consoles for example were released abroad under alternative names, and with different and more colourful designs, he said.
"If you come to Japan and see a machine you've never seen before, you want to buy it. It stimulates the collector's soul," said Maeda, who has written dozens of books on gaming history.
"The definition of retro gaming varies, depending on the era that the people who engage in it are nostalgic for," Maeda told AFP.
- 'Super collector' -
Amid rice fields and lotus fields two hours north of Tokyo, Proudro (his online persona) has amassed a vast treasure trove of video game relics.
The "super collector" has stuffed an old building opposite his family home with several thousand vintage games and consoles, as well as arcade machines in full working order.
"The appeal of collecting retro games is really the nostalgia of childhood memories in games shops or spending time playing at friends' houses," the 50-year-old collector said.
"To be honest, I don't really play games," he added.
"Being surrounded by games, their sounds, their atmosphere, looking at them and dreaming, that's enough to keep me happy."
- Stuffed into bins -
Proudro has spent lavishly to build his collection.
Retro games can reach sky-high prices: a still-wrapped version of the game "Super Mario Bros.", released in 1985, sold in 2021 for $2 million.
Until the late 1990s, however, old games were virtually worthless, according to historian Maeda.
"They were crammed into bins in shops" and sold for as little as 10 yen (seven US cents today), he said.
Proudro says he travelled around Japan 20 years ago looking for collectables in toy shops and bookstores.
"There were often stocks of Super Famicom or Game & Watch in a corner, covered in dust. The elderly people who ran these shops would tell me to take them away to clear them out," Proudro said.
"As I work in vegetable wholesale, I would give them a crate of onions or potatoes, and everyone was happy.
"Today that would no longer be possible. These shops have disappeared, and with the internet, everyone has started to resell," he added.
Wanting to share his passion with others, Proudro founded an association of retro gaming enthusiasts and is delighted at the interest shown by people from around the world.
"But to be honest, I also think that Japanese products should stay in Japan. It's a bit like Japanese woodblock prints in the past, which were taken abroad where they were more appreciated, before being bought back by Japan," he said.
His country, he laments, "is slow to realise the value" of its works.
T.Ward--AMWN