Some Bonus Levels!! More Game Stores in Spain and Europe
During my journey through Spain in Madrid and Barcelona I also came across a couple more stores I wanted to review and highlight. The first is GAME which was the last store I visited in Barcelona before heading back to the United States. It was basically Europe's version of GameStop. The layout, display of games, toys, and even pre-orders from employees lol was encouraged.. It was a solid layout but overall if you have a GameStop in your area then you aren't missing much. They have a great variety of modern games on PS5/Xbox Series X and what you would expect. As for retro and old school the only games I saw of noteworthy would be the PS3 and I believe some Wii games. The employees were nice but definitely felt more corporate like shopping in a GameStop not a terrible thing but nothing glowing and radiant to say.
Overall, I rate this store get some experience and when I say this rating it is likely a neutral review. In other words, give it a look but set your expectations accordingly.
The next store I will review and discuss is Seminous. It is a hole in the wall type of shop. I will warn in advance I recommend de-leveling on this store. It honestly was a disappointment in my eyes. They did have some retro in terms of imports on the PS1, PS2, Wii, and Super Famicom/Mega Drive. However, prices were hit or miss with exception to the PS2 PAL titles. The quantity and quality was lacking a bit. They did have as a silver lining a great selection of posters, memorabilia, and anime merch such as toys, figurines, etc. The owner was nice and gave me some discounts but I didn't have the same connection as I did with the owner in Chollo Games in Madrid. He was nice but it didn't have that same synergy as the owner at Chollo who I felt I could take to for hours for our love and passion of gaming.
Overall, I would only recommend this store to an anime lover which I love anime but I am more a game hunter then an anime collector and I only seldomly pick up items in this realm.
The last store in my Europe journey I will review comes back full circle to the beginning of my trip in Europe. CEX was a gem in Lisbon, Portugal. It was very wide open space and well designed with a layout that gave a solid cohesion between retro and modern games. The modern games were the first thing you see in the front of the store next to the counter. The first thing I noticed before I even entered the store was the glass case with electronics such as old iPhones, computers, and other misc. electronics.
It definitely had the feel of a GameXChange back in the States in Texas. It has DVD's, electronics, and games so a mesh mash of everything. However, it was much more spacious and less crammed then the former store I previously mentioned. The games were a mix of PS4/PS5 and Xbox Series X/S for the modern side sprinkled in with a set of new Switch releases as well.
The retro while not as wide going back to say Atari or the older 80's gaming consoles did have a solid set on the PSP, Vita, and the PS3. I found many imports and exclusives in Japan which was nice to see and pick up some cheap games at the same time. The staff were nice and polite and no issues with prices or haggling as they were priced pretty well I felt given the quality and titles themselves.
Overall, I rate this store as a level up. They have solid staff, great prices, clean store front, and very organized to find what they are looking for be it games or systems. Lastly, on that note I will say they also have systems such as the PS3 and more modern systems to the handhelds like the Vita and PSP. If I didn't already own many of those systems I likely would have brought them back with me.
Thanks as always for following, subscribing, and let me know what stores you visited in Europe. What stores did you love, hate, or kinda in the middle? Let me know in the comments below what stores you feel I should check out and level up my gaming!!
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