GameCrazy *REALLY IS* the best videogame store chain

[GobopopRevisited]

For 1, they keep their games on the shelf, they don't store them away behind counters. Secondly, they don't stick stupid stickers on their games (New OR used). Third, They don't push you to buy a used game nor do they give you the used game anyways. And Finally, they aren't as well known as EB or Game Stop so their "harder-to-find" games are usually available.

1. The games are behind a counter, but they are all visible on the wall showing all coppies. EB keeps them all on a shelf, most of the stores keep only the newest of the new too. GameStop just has them scatered arround in their counter, usually in file cabinet like droors.

2. They do put the little trade it in stickers on, but not on used games. only on sealed new ones. EB puts stickers on everything, used and new. They also sell a lot of non sealed new games that have the stickers on the game itself.

3. They do ask if you want to save *insert ammount here* dollars by purchaseing the game you want used. EB AND GameStop try to sell you the kiosk / shelf coppies even when they have plenty of sealed games.

4. They just plain don't have as many stores, and they are more of a newcomer to the Game Specific stores. They have a lor of coppies of the harder to find games like Panzer Dragoon Orta, non-players choice / greatest hits version games, and even used SEGA Saturn games (something EB and GameStop don't sell)

My biggest problem, they don't get new releases on time. Mainly from Nintendo since they ship on day of release.
And that The Stores are too small, half of the store is usually behind the sale counter / game case. and the customer half is taken over by a kiosk and bagged games rack.

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This is all based on my experience with the stores in my area (Rockford, Illinois) but I'm sure they all share some similar practices.

[EnemyZero]

eeehhh, i guess i can agree on a few points..but after working for them...ehh...i had fun but ehh....lol.....it annoyed me how id come in and find out they trashed game cases...if someone trades in snes, genesis , nes, or n64 games complete, they toss the cases and manuals...like dumb asses.....recently they decided if they had like more than 2 of 1 used game they'd keep 1 case and toss the rest...and wouldnt let anyone have them...how ludacriss....>.<....and if you find rare stuff your lucky as hell..management at my local stores would take the games and the company would let them...and they'd just throw it on ebay or dump it in a corner....bastards.....

[max 330 mega]

lol my gamecrazy slaps stickers all over there used shit. like i bought a few ps2 games used, had a preowned sticker AND a trade it in sticker on them.

[Joelius]

I HATE the GameCrazy by my house. They push everything, everything is stickered, and worst off.....THEY LIE! They stopped taking GTA pre-orders 2 months before it's release because they had over "1,500" pre-ordered from there location. Turned out to be less than 100 and they were too damn lazy. EB shopper for life.

[Half Japanese]

I'll look into them, but probably only half-heartedly. I think I'm going to be sticking with my mom n' pop game store from now on, and maybe EB and Rhino Games. Gamestop screwed me, but did give me a coupon, so I'm using that coupon and burning my bridges there. One of your points makes no sense from pretty much any way you look at it:

EB AND GameStop try to sell you the kiosk / shelf coppies even when they have plenty of sealed games.

From what I'm aware of, when you get the shelf copy, you have gotten the last copy of that game that the store has (which may suck, but if it's a particularly hard to find game, you're lucky to even be getting that). What sense would it make for them to open up another copy to stick on the shelf? Save for having a manager with a shrink-wrap fetish, I can't think of any.

[DigitalSpace]

Gamecrazy's alright, but they have their flaws as well.

First off, their N64 and Playstation stuff is overpriced. More likely than not you can get the same game at EB and Gamestop cheaper. They're more up to par on current-gen stuff, though.

Second, they're as bad as Gamestop and EB when it comes to accepting trade-ins. I bought a used copy of Jak II there a couple months ago and the disc they gave me was scratched to hell. On the plus side, I asked if I could get a different disc and the guy bought out the other Jak II discs they had in the store. One of the discs looked worse than mine! Fortunately, I did wind up getting a better copy, though. Also, they accept GB/GBC/GBA games with horribly ripped labels, something EB and Gamestop won't do.

Third, some of the stores throw out the manuals and inserts to older games. I've noticed this varies by store. I've heard they do this to save space, but I don't see how much space they're saving by throwing out Playstation/Dreamcast inserts and manuals. I never see any boxed/complete SNES or N64 games, and I hardly see boxed/complete Genesis stuff, either. Come to think of it, I don't even remember if I've seen any boxed/complete Game Boy stuff. Geez, Gamecrazy, even Gamestop quit doing that shit a long time ago.

Also, you have to return stuff to the same Gamecrazy store you got it at. This isn't really that bad, but if you got something at a Gamecrazy while you were out of town, you couldn't return the game to the Gamecrazy near your home if something was wrong with it.

On the plus side:

-Their price stickers are a lot easier to remove than EB and Gamestop's
-They sell NES, Genesis and SNES stuff.
-Their current-gen prices are better than EB or Gamestop. At EB and Gamestop, a game that sells for $20 new is usually $17.99 used, but at Gamecrazy, it's $14.99 used. A game that sells for $50 new is usually $44.99 used at EB/Gamestop, but at Gamecrazy it's $42 bucks or so (can't remember the exact price, but it's around there) used.
-They don't open up new games for shelf copies like EB/Gamestop.
-They're open 365 days a year, just in case you need to pick up a game on Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Don't take from this that Gamecrazy is an awful place, because it isn't, and it's still worth it to shop there. But, imo, while they are better than Gamestop and EB, the difference isn't really that big.

On another note, I'm in Portland, Oregon, and there are a lot of Gamecrazy stores out here. But then again, this is where the franchise started out (Hollywood Video used to be based in Oregon, and I heard they did their test run of stores in Portland and Salem, and started going nationwide after that went well).

[-hellvin-]

good store

There's tons of them out here in AZ and I've been to em all and gotten some great deals like a loose chavez ii for free and guardian hereoes complete for saturn for 9.99. I VERY often see complete genesis/snes/nes stuff there. Their price labels are easy to remove and they still carry a wide variety of older stuff. Although when it comes to the current gen games I STRONGLY disagree on the price sticker thing, they have HUGE stickers at my stores which cover like one whole corner of the game case stating the VIP and non VIP price. Really annoying.

[shai hulud]

at any of these stores if you find a "rare" game for cheap its just because the people in charge of pricing havent figured it out yet not because they are trying to keep prices low for the customer.

[Oobgarm]

Only reason I ever shop there is to take advantage of the BOGO or BTGO sales they run. Not much reason beyond that. Prices aren't that much different, and most of the fellows that work at the local ones are either:

1. Totally unknowledgable and or stupid (one guy goes by the name 'Creepy Chris', answers the phone like that too)
2. Totally ghetto ('sup dawg' or something equally devoid of intellect)
3. Totally 'OMFG I love whatever game is popular right now but I really don't play games'
4. Totally assholish (no greeting, don't care until you're buying something)

The one thing they do that I like is they have lists of the titles in stock. I don't know about all stores, but the local GC's keep all the 'coppies' of their games behind glass, 'droor', or counter, with the exception of N64 and PSX. Makes it tough to see what the have, so the list is helpful. Especially when you want to look for one specific game in the PSX rack.

Game Crazy is the new venture by the former president of Funcoland, so it adopts a similar pricing structure to what Funco used long ago. That's why rare games are cheap.

[max 330 mega]

Only reason I ever shop there is to take advantage of the BOGO or BTGO sales they run. Not much reason beyond that. Prices aren't that much different, and most of the fellows that work at the local ones are either:

1. Totally unknowledgable and or stupid (one guy goes by the name 'Creepy Chris', answers the phone like that too)
2. Totally ghetto ('sup dawg' or something equally devoid of intellect)
3. Totally 'OMFG I love whatever game is popular right now but I really don't play games'
4. Totally assholish (no greeting, don't care until you're buying something)

The one thing they do that I like is they have lists of the titles in stock. I don't know about all stores, but the local GC's keep all the 'coppies' of their games behind glass, 'droor', or counter, with the exception of N64 and PSX. Makes it tough to see what the have, so the list is helpful. Especially when you want to look for one specific game in the PSX rack.

Game Crazy is the new venture by the former president of Funcoland, so it adopts a similar pricing structure to what Funco used long ago. That's why rare games are cheap.

I totally agree with you on the personnell, they are pretty bad..
also, while yes they do have the lists, I can never see them because it takes the stupid 400 pound chick 45 minutes to get around to ever printing one of the lists out for me, by then im long gone. My gamecrazy is filled with nothing but loose disc playstation games, outrageous N64 games, and genesis games that look like they have been left in the rain for a week .

[s1lence]

I have a pretty good relationship with my local gamecrazy, but I would agree that the genesis games look like they have been left in the rain. And I dont have any idea why they toss the cases for the games, when that is what people want. I will say that I'm glad that the one near me has a large supply of NES games.

[Icarus Moonsight]

My local GameCrazy completely ruined our trade relationship. When I finally acquired a GameGear and Nomad the manager decided to send all their Sega games to other stores. The only classic games they have now is all Nintendo and Playstation... I mean WTF?! Yes, I did finally manage to find out WHERE they sent the Sega games but, instead of 2 blocks from my house I have to drive 30 miles to the other store. I really liked the store... I liked them so much infact I actually purchased the MVP card (something I swore to myself I would never do) because I was planning on getting all the b2g1 Sega goodness I could muster. I've never seen a GameCrazy that sells Saturn games... now that WOULD impress me. The only better scenario I can think of is finding one that sells Master System & TG-16 games. Though I still would rather spend my money at GameCrazy over EB/Gamestop, I can't help but feel betrayed by them. I got the damn MVP... I was going to be loyal to them. Why in hell could they not be loyal to me?

[s1lence]

The one by me has Saturn games, but I do have to ask. I would like to see a store that carried SMS and tg16 games too.

[Icarus Moonsight]

I'd like to find a store (not online) that sells everything... I'm sure that I would have to open it first though.

[s1lence]

The only one I know is 5 hours away from me in wisconsin. He has all sorts of old stuff, but they only have Keith Courage for the Tg16.

[slip81]

I don't mind GameCrazy, since they are the only place in my area that still carries 8 and 16 bit games, and most of the prices on those games are reasonable, but like most places their SNES RPG's are overpriced. I mean c'mon $44.95 for Breath of Fire II?

I do like how they will order a game you want from another store if the one your in doesn't have it, and how you can put your name on a waiting list for a game. It's also nice that they still sell Saturn and Sega CD games.

Anyway I'll continue to go there for classic games untill I find someplace better, but for next gen stuff I'll stick with EB because that's the place closest to me.

[kaustik]

The GameCrazy's in St. Louis are just clones of one another in varying sizes. NES, Genesis, SNES, PS1, Dreamcast and N64. All are horribly overpriced and of questionable condition. Two of them have placed all of their older games in glass cases. It is now impossible to browse through the PS1 section since you can only see the one game in front and the spine label is not facing up. is kind of reminds me of the days when all the B&N and Borders moved into town. All the small, specialty game shops are fading away.

Slackers is an option, but their pricing structure makes no sense. It is an easier place to find older games and systems. But selling an NES for 80 bucks just seems wrong.

I'm not sure if anyone else has them but GameXchange is a fairly decent place to get consoles. I still see ColecoVisions and Intellivisions come through regularly. I did get in a fight with management over their policy of not giving the cases with the games. Bought Herzog Zwei for 15 bucks and demanded the case. I offered another 10 for the case and they still wouldn't take it. All their manuals have been reduced to a one page photocopy of what the buttons do. Slackers too is guilty of not supplying the cases with a few exceptions.

That is it of the stores that sell classic games. All the Game Stops here have stopped carrying anything pre N64. Even the PS1 stuff is gone now.

I am now left to scavenge flea markets and thrift stores. I have been putting off using ebay but am being left little choice.

I have been corrected. Slackers sells NES consoles for $60.

[Icarus Moonsight]

The only one I know is 5 hours away from me in wisconsin. He has all sorts of old stuff, but they only have Keith Courage for the Tg16.

That wouldn't happen to be Raven Games near the twin cities in Minnesota would it? God I miss that place...

[Chainsaw_Charlie]

The only one near me is far away

[kainemaxwell]

Never found a Gamecrazy near me either.