The games of life

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This article was published 23/06/2019 (2478 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Cobra Collectibles is a place where a customer’s inner child comes out, often in rather expressive ways.

Kailyn Gregorash — manager of the two-storey Sargent Avenue store packed wall to wall with hard-to-find vintage video games — readily recounts one of the biggest reactions she can recall.

A woman and her boyfriend arrived in search of a certain PlayStation 3 game, Gregorash says, but got… shall we say… sidetracked when she saw Cobra’s massive collection.

“They were so excited, they ended up purchasing three different systems — a GameCube, a Super Nintendo (Entertainment System) and a Nintendo 64, all in one day,” Gregorash says, several systems of the same varieties — all polished and ready to play — on shelves behind her.

“I’ve never seen somebody that excited. They were jumping up and down, grabbing a whole bunch of games…”

“Physically jumping up and down,” she confirms, after being asked if she was just using a figure of speech.

“I imagine they must have been playing video games for weeks,” she says. It’s probable, as the couple snapped up more than a dozen titles, including Mario Party 5 and Super Smash Bros. Melee. “They spent hundreds of dollars just to relive their childhood. It was amazing.”

That’s often the scene at Cobra, which has a vast array of titles, consoles and accessories, making it well-equipped to handle the retro gaming renaissance.

Just as surely as Mario moves from left to right in the side-scrollers of the 1980s and ’90s, time keeps moving forward and video games keep becoming more advanced and graphically stunning. Despite that, demand for vintage video games hasn’t fallen at all; actually, it’s increased, Gregorash says.

“It sounded like an awesome way to give back to the Children’s Hospital that had helped me when I was a kid, while also being a great excuse to play games all weekend.”– Kevin Fierback, vice-president of the Winnipeg chapter of Extra Life

“We’ve definitely noticed the market has been jumping up…” she confirms. “We sell more of the vintage stuff than anything else.”

The store still carries plenty of toys and comics, but has expanded the space it dedicates to games, including titles for the Atari 2600, Sega Genesis and Dreamcast, PlayStations 1 through 4, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Gameboy Colour, and TurboGrafx, to name just a few. The near floor-to-ceiling shelves and display cases hold thousands of games, all in alphabetical order.

Nintendo 64 and Super NES games, however, are some of Cobra’s best-sellers, as are “the consoles themselves, of course, because no one else has them,” Gregorash says. “They’re always going to be valuable because you’re just not going to be able to find them forever.”

Most of Cobra’s customers are between 20- and 50-years-old; they’re folks who want to recapture fond memories by replaying the games of their youth.

“If you played a game when you were a kid and you play it again as an adult, it just reminds you of all the good things you had when you were a kid,” she says. “It’s a nice experience.”

However, memories of bygone days may not come cheap. While many common games only cost $10 or $20, there are many that command ten times as much or more.

These include hundreds of mint-condition games in their original boxes, such as Super Mario 64, Super Mario Kart, and Pokémon Gold, perfectly preserved by those with the foresight to know they’d be valuable decades later.

Many have come from owner Mike Paille’s personal collection, while others have been found through good old-fashioned legwork: Gregorash scours garage sales and swap meets for the most desirable titles, and has travelled as far as California in search of new treasures.

More people are realizing the value vintage games hold, Gregorash says, which has the potential to be both positive and negative.

“You want them to be accessible,” she says. “If they become too valuable, then they’re not as accessible for the general public. But there were a lot produced that are just sitting in someone’s garage. I think if more people are aware that they exist, and that these systems are still out there, it would be better for everyone.”

While Cobra Collectibles’ goal is to boost feelings of nostalgia, other Winnipeggers’ goals are to boost hospitals’ ability to help sick kids.

Extra Life — an initiative that’s been going strong for more than a decade now — brings thousands of gamers together every year to raise money for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. The funds raised go toward research and training, buying life-saving equipment, and paying for uncompensated care, according to its website.

Extra Lifers fundraise by pledging to button-mash and joystick smash for 24 hours straight and get folks to sponsor them just as though they were running a 10k. They’ve raised more than $50 million since 2008.

There is an official game day every year, and many guilds (in essence, Extra Life’s local chapters) host big public bashes, but gamers can do their marathon whenever they please.

Last year, 300 Manitobans conquered Extra Life’s test of thumb strength and mental mettle, raising more than $63,000. Many choose to play the classic titles, such as the ones Cobra carries.

“We usually see a huge variety of different games at our marathons,” Extra Life Winnipeg vice-president Kirk Fierback says. “Everything from NES and Super Nintendo, all the way up to the latest PC and console games. We also have a lot of people who play board games, card games, and table top RPGs as well.” (RPG refers to role-playing games, such as Dungeons and Dragons.)

Fierback’s personally done more than a half-dozen marathons; the Super NES was his first console, and he “can’t help but return to some of the classics” such as Kirby Super Star, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time, and Donkey Kong Country.

Fierback first heard of Extra Life in 2013 from a friend on Facebook. He, along with few other teams, united five years ago to form the Winnipeg Guild and work more closely with the national initiative.

“It sounded like an awesome way to give back to the Children’s Hospital that had helped me when I was a kid, while also being a great excuse to play games all weekend,” Fierback says.

When asked to expand on how the Children’s Hospital helped him, Fierback said he had his appendix removed while in junior high school and was a patient at Children’s.

“One of the things I actually remember most about my time there was just how much video games helped in my recovery process,” he explains. “Just being able to go to the hospital’s games room and play Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater with my brother helped take my mind off of things and made the whole experience just a bit easier. That’s become the main reason I participate in Extra Life — to help the kids and families that are facing similar situations.”

The Winnipeg Guild didn’t host a public event last year, but has in the past. Fierback fondly recalls 2016’s event, when 100 people came to game at the now-defunct After Dark Lounge in Osborne Village.

The VP has big things on the brain for this year, though. The Guild is working with local e-commerce innovation company Bold Commerce to host its biggest marathon ever. It’s slated for Sept. 7 and 8 at Bell MTS Place, and Fierback hopes to raise even more money that last year.

“For me, the most rewarding part of Extra Life has been meeting our hospital’s champion children and their families,” he says. “It really hits home once you can put a name and a face to the cause you are supporting and just inspires you to keep going and raise more money for our Children’s Hospital.”

For Gregorash, meanwhile, the most rewarding part of managing Cobra is connecting people with games of their youth and helping them recapture their carefree days.

“Our reason for being here is to bring that feeling of nostalgia,” she explains. “Whenever somebody comes in and they find something they had when they were a kid, they just get that glow, an excited glow. It’s amazing.”

“We’re not really in it for the money. We’re in it for that feeling.”