Retro Orange game shop targets millennials and more

(Peter Casolino — New Haven Register) Kris Krohn, owner of the newly opened Retro Games Plus store in Orange that specializes in vintage video games and systems. They also sell new and used new items. 09/23/13 less (Peter Casolino — New Haven Register) Kris Krohn, owner of the newly opened Retro Games Plus store in Orange that specializes in vintage video games and systems. They also sell new and used new items. ... more Photo: Journal Register Co. Photo: Journal Register Co. Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Retro Orange game shop targets millennials and more 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

ORANGE >> If you know who Crash Bandicoot is, how to wield the Triforce or the correct way to perform a “babality” move on your enemy, then there’s a new business in town for you.

On Saturday, Retro Games Plus opened in a small shopping plaza along the Boston Post Road. The store specializes in selling and buying retro video games, especially for systems from the early 1990s and late 1980s — an era in which the millennial generation came of age.

Owner Kris Krohn, 32, should know — he grew up in the early era of video games, when you couldn’t play online with your friends, graphics were measured in “bits,” and you could beat a game in a couple of hours.

Video game technology and the market for users have exploded since then. Last week, the controversial new game “Grand Theft Auto: 5” grossed nearly $1 billion in a couple of days. But Krohn has found that there’s a huge demand for retro games, especially among millennials.

He stumbled upon the niche retro video game market in 2005, after buying a copy of the Nintendo game “Bubble Bobble 2” for $4 at a flea market, later reselling it on eBay for $150. That transaction led him to begin buying and selling these games full time. He opened the first Retro Games Plus store in Westport in 2011.

“It really is about bringing you back to your childhood,” said Krohn, who lives in Milford. “It’s not all about ‘Grand Theft Auto;’ there’s also ‘Super Mario Bros.’”

Store manager Russell Lyman — who drives a Super Mario Bros.-themed Mini car — fondly recalled when he was a kid and visited the local video rental store with his father on weekend nights to rent games, having to choose games based on how cool the box looked.

“The nostalgia really plays into it,” he said.

Younger generations are learning about older games through YouTube, where there are thousands of video reviews of older games. And many franchises developed in the 1980s – like Super Mario Bros. – are still around today.

The grand opening on Saturday, Krohn said, attracted scores of gamers, of all ages, and from as far away as the Bronx.

The Orange store is slightly different from Westport. Krohn is testing selling action figures and Legos of the millennial era — from series like X-Men and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. But the main attraction remains the same. Walking the aisles, you’ll find stacks of Atari games and never-before-seen Japanese Super Nintendo games.

There are rarities and video game outcasts, like the Atari-built Jaguar system, 3DO, and the Sega CD format, which spawned the game “Night Trap” that was labeled “shameful” and “ultra-violent” by a Senate committee co-chaired by Joseph Lieberman.

The store is arranged chronologically, starting with Atari in the back and winding up through Nintendo, Sega, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, on up to today’s Wii and PlayStation 3. In between, you’ll find free arcade games to play, rare video games behind glass, used iPods and other Apple products, and action figures.

Competitors in the area include the corporate Game X Change and GameStop. But Krohn said his shop differs by offering better prices on trades, and community events like convention-style game exchanges and video game tournaments.

Another difference, he says, pointing to a sign hanging above a rack of games, is the store’s devotion to celebrating fun digital memories — and inspiring new ones.

“A retro game is a time capsule of thoughts and warm, fond memories that can be rekindled with a touch,” the sign reads.

Call Neal McNamara at (203) 836-7883.