Core Gaming — Attraction in Salem

I have visited Core Gaming a handful of times of over the past couple of months and this is my honest review.

The prices are Core Gaming are pretty high. There are deals to be had here and there, but not on the "core" retro games like NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, and etc. Expect to pay a 30% to 50% markup over Price Charting at minimum except on throwaway titles like sports games and other games that nobody really wants. The real kicker is that the games that they have for sale don't even look like they've been thoroughly cleaned and serviced. For that much of a markup, you'd expect the games to have each been opened, cleaned, and tested individually before being resold. To me it didn't appear that they had been. Either that, or they had been sitting around for so long that they acquired layers of dirt and dust. Minus one star.

Another problem that's becoming more and more common, not just at Core Gaming, but to Retro gaming stores in general, is that they don't have much of a selection for retro games anymore. NES was just a few shelves, SNES as well, Genesis wasn't very much different. Trade values are low while resale values are high. I can't blame locals for not wanting to sell their games here, I wouldn't either. Minus one star.

The setup at Core Gaming is very clean neat and organized. As others have mentioned, if you're familiar with their layout then you'll be able to find what you need if they have it in stock. Furthermore, their stock is also inventoried so you can ask the staff if you know what you're looking for and they'll be able to look it up and tell you right away.

At the end of the day if you're looking for a good deal you might want to take a pass on Core Gaming and look elsewhere. If you are bored and want to drop by to have a look around you'll definitely find lots of cool and interesting things, but odds are that they'll be priced much more than...

I’ve been visiting Core Gaming for many years now. I was with them at the old location, and with them at the new location. In recent years I’ve noticed a significant decline in the attitude of the staff, breath of selection, and quality of retro games.

Lately it’s been incredibly rare that I see the store owner when I visit. This has presented the perception that the staff has free reign to behave as they wish including behavior like: • Sitting in the middle of an isle blocking all traffic to do some level of organization while making no attempt to accommodate shoppers • Recording social media videos of whatever the latest trend, but in an incredibly loud, repetitive, and obnoxious way. • Being weird and awkward to customers. For example, there’s a right way and a wrong way to let someone know you’re closed or closing soon, “Hey sorry, we’re closing soon, is there anything I can quickly help you with?” Much better than “uhhhhhh KUH-LOSED.”

Beyond the staff behavior, store presentation, and inflated prices, there’s the real issue and why I felt the need to leave this review: if you shop here, be incredibly cautious of fakes and bootlegs. Core gaming knowingly and willingly sells fakes and bootlegs. Sometimes they will label these as “repros” (call them whatever you want, they’re still bootlegs), but other times they will not. Their bootlegs can range from fake GBA pokemon carts, to CD-Rs of unreleased dreamcast games (but we put a ink-jet printed label on it, so that makes it a repro right?!). Seeing fake games next to real games, with no clear labeling really makes me question the ethics of the store and the provenance of all the other games they’re selling.

It’s a real shame they’ve slipped so far. This store needs a jerk-manager to get them back on track. Don’t give the staff a free pass, don’t sell bootlegs, and price your stuff...

I want to like this place. I've bought a number of good games from here and it's awesome to have a video game store so close to where I live. There's a big selection and it's all clean and well organized. I wish there were more game stores in the area because this place just isn't it. Their prices are ridiculous. There is no reason for a physical store to charge more than their online counterparts. Stores that do this are doing nothing but putting themselves out of business.

Trade in prices are also equally horrible, as they offer 1/4 of the price that they'll sell your items for (this used to be on the website but I believe has since been removed). They may offer 1/3 in store credit though I'm not entirely sure. I went there once to see what they would give me for two of my old Five Nights at Freddy's collectibles that are pretty rare, and I believe they told me they would give me around $95. Needless to say I denied and just recently sold those two items for a total of $330 online. Selling online is a huge pain but there is no reason to sacrifice over $200 in profit to avoid the hassle. If you bring in a game worth $100, you'll get $25, if you bring in a game worth $200, you'll get $50, so on and so forth. The more expensive your item is the more profit they steal from under you. It just isn't worth it, and I think this store...