Korea's hidden game market! │ RETRO GAME HUNTING in VIDEO GAME ALLEY │ Seoul, South Korea

[@lkskun]

It's very interesting to see Korean versions of retro games.

[@RetroMoments]

I agree. I should've filmed more of that stuff but I was kinda in hurry and didnt plan it as well as I wanted.

[@protoluigi2047]

Well like Japan, at least they do not have a GameStop.

[@thermochopps]

Good video. This area (Yongsan) was one of my favourite places to visit when I used to live in Seoul. So many semi-hidden markets in alleyways and basements to explore. Sadly, every year there seem to be fewer of them though.

[@RetroMoments]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! When did you live there? Yea I heard it was way different there a few years ago. Honestly, it wasnt as big as I thought it would be.

[@thermochopps]

I lived there from 2013 to 2017, and visited again in 2019. Korea is a comfortable place to live if you can take the bad with the good. I might move back there when my kids are older.

[@RetroMoments]

Oh cool! Yea it looked way more developed than I expected honestly. But I might say that coming from Japan. But its an interesting country. I definitely want to visit it again.

[@DarKKnightt07]

Damn that market was massively well stocked. Great video as always.

[@RetroMoments]

Yea, after watching the video I realized How much I actually missed while walking through it!

[@kevdogyt08ti]

Cool video RetroMoments. South Korea is cool, I like it. Especially the video games from South Korea, the food from South Korea, and the SNL from South Korea (the SNL Korea is just as good as the SNL in USA). Truly awesome.

[@RetroMoments]

Thanks Kevdog! South Korea is awesome. What a place! Yea, I regret not picking up korean versions of games actually. Oh thats cool, didnt know that!

[@SpinVarial]

im stationed here in korea just letting you guys know this place is now closed and is being relocated

[@Art_kore]

Flash news, that place is now slowly closing down. More than half of the sellers are gone. In the next months it will probably be a thing of the past.

[@RetroMoments]

Thanks for the update, and sad to hear the news. I knew there was a chance of this happening. The prices were way to high even when I was there. And I can imagine it didnt really go down. Too bad. It was a really cool place to walk around in and look at games.

[@AdamOelsner]

I just visited for the first time since 2014. It’s basically empty now, there are only a few stalls left 😢

[@DisasterEXE]

I'm going to Korea tomorrow for the third time, but I recently decided to start retro collecting again (I know, stupid idea in this economy) I'll definitely check out this mall!

[@RetroMoments]

Nice haha! Well, there are still a lot of great cheaper titles to get for a lot of consoles. I mean, its such a fun hobby so I totally get why you want to come back to it. This place actually moved to a building nearby! Let me know if you find it.

[@DisasterEXE]

@@RetroMoments I already went there and...Well there was a holiday and one day only one store opened. It looked very empty anyways. I'll have to check next time I visit.

[@RetroMoments]

@@DisasterEXE Thanks for the update. I did read it one day after you wrote the comment. Do you know what it looks like now?

[@JS-oi5jt]

I see a lot of Japanese games. But are there any Korean Comboy games/systems?

[@RetroMoments]

Oh yea, if you look closer I found a Super Comboy and some Super Comboy games.

[@Jeffplays-rr5ly]

It's funny seeing you at the beginning, you were almost shocked to be in Korea and wasn't too sure 😂

[@RetroMoments]

Haha totally! It was a dream come true 😃😂👌

[@thisshouldbeentertaining3386]

Odds are there are 2 Price's ...the ones for tourist which is high and one for locals which will be more lower.

[@RetroMoments]

True that, Mike! It definitely felt like that when I was talking to them.

[@nivektek2681]

Nice Video..There is Anbernic or Miyoo Gaming Handhelds please?

[@RetroMoments]

Thanks! If you're lucky, you can find it here! Anything gaming-related can be found :D

[@P3PPING]

Unfortunately now Retro game alley has closed. There were a lot of US army in Yongsan and they moved out and took a lot money with them. Now tbe building id going to be demolished and tbe area rebuilt.

[@RetroMoments]

Sad news. But thank you for the update. It was a really cool place and I enjoyed visiting it.

[@songokuu439]

where do you recommend to buy not over priced here in korea? because im living here and looking some retro handhelds to

[@RetroMoments]

Thats a tough question! Most Game Stores are overpriced, unfortunately. Try to look for some fleamarkets or check FB marketplace in your city.

[@freckledheart91]

Went there Saturday and picked up a game boy color. It’s really cool but make sure you know what you are looking for because they have a lot of bootlegs aswell so make sure it’s real before you buy.

[@RetroMoments]

Thanks. I could see that too. Also a lot of Korean versions of games and consoles. Thats what I will look at the next time if I go back.

[@ShadowPuppet3001]

great video, how was your trip to South Korea 🇰🇷, what video games did you like the most...

[@RetroMoments]

Thanks man! It was amazing. Very different from Japan! It was cool to see the Korean versions of SNES etc.

[@PJ-sv4iw]

I know this is an older video, but I'm more interested in obscure handhelds/systems. Did you see Zodiac Tapwave, Gizmondo, or Gamepark32 stuff there? (or anyone that frequents this mall and/or lives in S. Korea) Thanks!

[@vgplayersandhaters518]

pretty cool wish i would have Filmed more on my trip to Singapore. i found a good shop when i was there. but very expensive.

[@RetroMoments]

Right, its a cool place at least. Ah thats too bad. Would've been awesome to see a retro game shop in Singapore.

[@gimmybhullar574]

Can I ask why are they so pricey just because they are shipped from Japan when those two countries are like only a few hundred miles from one another which is very close by compare to North America and Europe.

[@RetroMoments]

I was thinking the same. It doesnt really make a whole of sense to me. I guess theres less Retro games around in the country than we think. Cant think of anything else.

[@kursed1771]

@@RetroMoments That's correct. There was a trade embargo in the 1990s that prevented Nintendo from selling games directly in Korea. Clones were still somewhat popular, but the entire NES/SNES scene was kinda dead due to the embargo. Nintendo was just absent during that time. The Wii was the first Nintendo console formally sold directly by Nintendo in Korea.

[@markg155]

Only just found this video. The Mario 1 cartridge was around 7 euro's. Not bad from a EU standpoint, but I reckon the KR price is high compared to JP standards.

[@RetroMoments]

Cool, can I ask you, how did you find it? Thats true actually, that price works for sure. But as you said, cant compare any of the prices to the Japanese standards. I actually came from Japan to Korea so I was bummed out about the prices haha.

[@markg155]

@@RetroMoments it popped up in my KZbin recommended videos. Have a sub on your channel, so magical KZbin algorithm I reckon. Keep up the good work though :)

[@RetroMoments]

@@markg155 Glad to hear that it's still working for older videos! Thanks man, welcome to the channel! :) A lot of good stuff for you to watch here if you enjoyed this video :D

[@FelipeYamaki]

Hello... Could you tell me if you still remember the address of this place? Im going to South Korea soon and I would check it out there, thank you.

[@RetroMoments]

Hey Felipe! Sadly I have to tell you that this place no longer exists. You can read more about it here in the comments. I got the news from someone here. Hope you have a great trip to South Korea anyway. And let me know if you find any other cool retro game places :)

[@FelipeYamaki]

@@RetroMoments I forgot to tell you, it was opened, but they were working secretly, I dont know why. But I found there opened, and I bought some games and it was good price, not bad. In Japan is way cheaper, but they also need profit, so it was more expensive in South Korea.

[@sibghatullahasad4870]

really liked your video,I was wondering what the prices they were asking bcs i only saw that disounted bucket with price tag reduced from 10000krw to 5000,Do u know any warehouse or place where we could find used consoles,3d cards ,computer related components or console related components for business purpose?.Anyways really liked ur video.

[@Art_kore]

Btw, subscribed! :)

[@RetroMoments]

Thanks! Welcome to the channel man :)

[@casillasjerry9192]

I didn’t see an address or point. Are you able to put one on?

[@RetroMoments]

Search ”Video Game Alley” on Google Maps and you will find it :)

[@btread8875]

That looks like my kind of place! Wall to wall games.....I could spend quite a bit of time there. My guess is that haggling is possible for games with no price...but maybe not for those that are. This is just a guess. How close is this area in Incheon International Airport....within a reasonable walking distance? One question that I have been meaning to ask you and keep forgetting.....How do they feel about you doing videos in Hard-Offs and Book-Offs? You mentioned that the vendors in Korea weren't too fond of the idea so I felt that I should ask.

[@RetroMoments]

Yea its a really cool atmosphere in there :D I’d say you can haggle just about anything in there. When I turned off the cameras and started talking to them the prices where definitely all over the place. Usually way overpriced so I gave up after a while. Im sure I couldve haggled the price down more but I didnt want to bother since I was going back to Japan later again. I went from that airport, theres a bus about 2 hours in to the city. From there, its pretty close to the Game Alley. Yea great question! It happened in Japan once too, but mostly people just look at me a little weird then they dont care. So its usually no big deal.

[@btread8875]

@@RetroMoments Yeah....If you can get the games cheaper in Japan, what is the point of getting into a long, drawn-out haggle session. I understand your point completely. You probably didn't have an unlimited amount of time anyway. How long were you in Seoul? As for the bus trip....Wow! 2 hours!!! I don't even want to think how long it would take to walk that. LOL Originally my return flight was scheduled to have a 5 hour layover in Seoul. I am not sure it would have been enough time to go to Game Alley even if my trip hadn't gotten cancelled. Thanks for letting me know about your Hard-Off and Book-Off video recording experience. I was strongly considering the idea of recording all of my video gaming exploits (if I can make it to Japan next year).

[@RetroMoments]

Exactly my point :D Yea I was just there for like 5 days so I had every day planned out. Haha no its not walking distance unfortuntely and I dont think you couldve made it anyway in 5 hours. Hope you can get there one day though. Definitely a country worth visiting overall. Oh do it! I would definitely watch it! :)

[@btread8875]

@@RetroMoments I am not sure how long you will be staying in Japan or how often you go to Hard-Offs and Book-Offs but if everything falls into place, you could actually be in the video. LOL If all goes as planned, I will probably have to do some heavy editing (not sure if everyone would want to see hour-long Hard-Off videos) but I would make sure to leave that in if we had a meet-up (if that is okay with you).

[@RetroMoments]

Haha sure, sounds fun lol :D Well, theres actually a girl from Australia here on KZbin making unedited Hard Off videos for an hour haha. And people seem to like them. Some of her subscribers jumped on to my videos and told me they're too short haha !

[@Mjkoreanongpandak]

Exact location bro?

[@RetroMoments]

Here you go: goo.gl/maps/brWEvevpnbHcttG79 They moved to a place nearby, however. Not sure exactly where but it should still be close to this building.

[@protoluigi2047]

Compared to Japan, how well do the Koreans treat their possessions, video games in particular?

[@RetroMoments]

Nothing beats Japan but still good I would say. I could definitely spot a lot of things in great condition.

Damn... been on seoul two years ago, was imposible to find any retro stuff, the only one found was not for sale...

[@RetroMoments]

Oh, this place was still there 2 years ago. Probably with even better prices too. I heard that there was a retro game store close to this place somewhere up a bit. I never saw that one unfortunately.

@@RetroMoments will come back this summer, gonna try to find that other place you said :D I just want so hard a Super Comboy ;_;

[@georgelolas2434]

Extremely cool store!

[@RetroMoments]

Yea its a unique place, thats for sure.

[@karpuz2896]

Hello RetroMoments thanks for this great video with informations. İ will be going japan or korea next year and i want to buy gameboy color if its not problem may i ask for the what is the normal price for the gameboy color? thanks

[@RetroMoments]

Hi! Thanks for watching. Didnt see your comment until today. Nice! Hope you will have a good time. I am in Japan now and usually a GBC goes for around 5-6000 yen, depending on condition and color.

[@protoluigi2047]

Fun fact: South Korea have some Book-Offs!!!

[@RetroMoments]

No way! I checked Google Maps but didnt find any. How do I find them?

[@protoluigi2047]

@@RetroMoments Well I got that info from Wikipedia, and according to the article, there are only 2 locations in Seoul.

[@RetroMoments]

Oh I see. I am going back to Seoul in near future so I will definitely try find them.

[@spawnandbatman6975]

Where can I buy a gpu in South Korea

[@RetroMoments]

Probably this place!

[@duttetutte]

Bra video! 😃

[@RetroMoments]

Härligt! Kul att det gillas :D

[@Retrokaiser]

Still better than the Australian video game shops.

[@RetroMoments]

But probably not price-wise xD I'd like to see what Australia has to offer one day. I have a friend who found alot of cool stuff when he went there.

[@thelegendtl]

@@RetroMoments I know one in robina town centre called super retro. I know their pretty good, I’ve bought a lot from their. Should check out if you try out Aussie retro shops in Gold Coast!

[@protoluigi2047]

Probably because you guys have EB Games!!!

[@thelegendtl]

@@protoluigi2047 I’ve been to be games a lot too even yesterday I was there but they don’t sell retro games like 2004 and less

[@protoluigi2047]

@@thelegendtl What's the store called again and where is it?

[@servetcakir]

Thanks for this video dude. Can u share to exact location on a map for the people who will visit seoul like me please 🙏

[@RetroMoments]

Glad you like it. Absolutely, hope you find something nice there. Here it is: tinyurl.com/vzcnbnx

[@servetcakir]

@@RetroMoments Thank you so much. I will remember you when I visit there. Peace from turkey ✌

[@Art_kore]

A really fun place to look at stuff but probably the worst place to buy games in Korea. Sellers are unfriendly and these days they are the main scalpers of PS5 (selling between 900 and 1800$). Sad place.

[@RetroMoments]

Right on. Thats my opinion too sadly. Its so weird going to a place like this and they barely want to sell their items. Oh really? Have you been there recently?

[@Art_kore]

@@RetroMoments Yes, I live near Seoul. The idea with that place now is I think those sellers don't care cause they sell most of their stuff online, so that spot is pretty much just their little office. Next time you go to Seoul, I recommend you to go to Kukje Electronic Market instead, it's in Nambu bus Terminal. Prices and choice is great, probably the best place in South Korea to buy games imo.

[@RetroMoments]

Oh cool! I see. Then it all makes sense after going there. Oh thank you. I was trying to find something more while being there without a result. Definitely saving that into my notes. Thanks :)

[@rubenrobosajr.7503]

Retro moments .where is this location in seoul?

[@RetroMoments]

In Yongsan-gu! Search ”Video Game Alley” on Google maps and you will find it!

[@rubenrobosajr.7503]

@@RetroMoments thank you sir

[@karlmach6304]

KOREAN ARE GOOD BUSINESSMAN!!!!!

[@RetroMoments]

Haha no doubt! I got to experience that myself after this!

[@MartyYwow]

GOOD VIDEO!

[@RetroMoments]

Wonderful comment haha. Thanks :D

[@bobi966]

This must be the coolest place in South Korea. Tourist destination. They should import more games in North Korea.

[@RetroMoments]

Definitely my favorite place after walking around in Soul! I hope it will expand in the future!

[@noble_wine]

Retro ftw.

[@RetroMoments]

Forever and ever!

[@paredesufrir6669]

This is awesome

[@RetroMoments]

Glad to hear that! Im sure you will like more of my videos then!

[@alejandrogarcianobuhnaga1442]

its me wako gat not waldo gatchama mina

[@CousinHubertRetrogaming]

My god those stores in korea are so sad.... There is basically no interest in retro there. When i went to Taipei in 2019, i also went to some game shops areas, but alas retro there often means ps3 😅 I just found 1 minuscule store, selling less than 20 loose famicom and sfc carts and the prices were indecent, like 120$ for a loose dirty grimy horse racing game cart 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@RetroMoments]

I know, right. And now half of the sellers are gone from this place apparently. Haha yea, thats nuts. I can’t imagine anyone into retrogames wanting to buy that.

[@ChristoPh-p6y]

용던 가셨네 ㅎㄷㄷ

[@famikko]

GOOD

[@RetroMoments]

Thank you my friend! :D

[@rominn2184]

Your criticism and negativity is really annoying. Come into the game shop to show us around the shop, no one wants to hear your criticizing every little detail. If you don't like the shop, don't go. Is it in your culture to be an insufferable debbie downer? Be thankful that there ARE shops like this where you can still GET older games. There's more diversity of stuff in this shop than anything I've seen in my local retro game shop. OF COURSE prices are going to be higher, because it's coveted merchandise and these kinds of shops make a point of only accepting and reselling authentic merchandise. No fakes or copies. And it's Seoul, a capital and expensive city. Rents will be high.

[@RetroMoments]

Well you are the first one to say this, so Im not sure how what to make out of it. I think you took it in the wrong way. I got to hear a lot about this place from other people and it was sad to see that it changed for the worst, unfortunately. A lot of people used to buy stuff in there just 4-5 years ago because they had great prices and friendly people. But I didnt see any of the that when walking through before filming. They even seemed annoyed that I asked them for a price and some things wasnt even for sale anymore. However, I enjoyed the actual place. I had a great time just walking around and seeing all the games in there.

[@rominn2184]

@@RetroMoments ^ You could just be more happy that such stores exist. It could be that Nintendo or anywhere discontinues a certain game or console, the unsold consoles/games are unaccounted for, and all you can get are knockoff inauthentic copies of said games and consoles. Maybe you didn't mean to, but your whole walkthrough just comes off as very negative. Give a tour first, your opinion second.

[@thisshouldbeentertaining3386]

Coveted merchandise? Yeah looks like they are getting swarmed with people wanting those mountains of 360/PS3/N64 stuff....if you have that much inventory tells me either there's little demand or their prices are insane... probably both.

[@dominikakotaskova9917]

First!

[@RetroMoments]

You're the winner! Prize will be sent to you!