8 Bit And Up

Shop was dusty and hot, shop owner was very rude, and it was an overall unwelcoming and unpleasant experience.

This is a convenient little shop with all of the bare necessities. I came in for a Gameboy-​specific trading link cable to trade some Pokemon. He also replaced the batteries in my gameboy cartridges… And now I’m back on my feet!

A Great Place For Video Game Lovers New & Old. The Store Is A Few Minutes Away From The 2^nd Avenue Subway Stop on the «F» train. The store owner is named Joe and the repairmen is named Marcus Richardson. From Playstation 2s to The Original Xbox and the Nintendo 64, they got em all. From my experience, the staff are never rude and are very polite. Unlike GameStop, the store owners can work with your budget when it comes to buying new or used games. They also fix specific broken consoles which is a major plus since you can’t find any game store that provides this great service. One thing to keep in mind about the console repairs is that they do require a $ 10 down payment and also make sure you remember the confirmed price that they said in order to do the repairs because I remember one time I went to this store to fix my cracked PSP screen and after I gave the repairmen the required $ 10, he specifically said i owe him $ 20 because it costed $ 30 which was fine. Weeks later I called to get an update and he said he needed an extra 2 days and so I was like Ok. Fast forward to September 10, the repairmen said its fixed. Now he said I owe him $ 35 and I started to question him asking why do I owe u $ 35 and he’s like oh sorry for the delay and to make it up to you, I’ll do $ 30. So the next day I went to pick up my PSP and the store owner asked $ 30 since that’s what the repairmen said, but after I explained to him about the situation he said gimme $ 20 in which I did. So pretty much my point is to make sure on the day you give the repairmen the $ 10 down payment for the repair, make sure to remember what the asking price is so that he can’t overcharge you more than what’s asked for.

To all those entitled whiners writing 1-​star reviews below, get over yourselves. If you want good service and fair prices, you need to bring a positive attitude. The infamous «dreadlock guy» (his name is Marcus!) has never been anything less than polite and accommodating to me, either with answering questions, having a little bit of conversation about games, or giving deals on multiple purchases. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever paid sticker price on any of the SNES games I’ve bought; whether I asked him to consider a lower price or he simply offered it to me, I’ve always, always been happy with my purchases. Mind you, these aren’t thrift store prices I’m paying — lord knows thrift store gaming finds are rarer than diamonds in this city — but I’ve always paid a little bit less than I would’ve on eBay, which is good enough as far as I’m concerned.
Yes, the staff will largely leave you alone, and the store is extremely dark and a bit dingy, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say I preferred the St. Mark’s Place location more (which I’ve only been to once, as I moved to NYC in 2013.) But you know what? None of that matters when you’re browsing their impressive collection of carts and you come across that one uncommon game you’ve been wanting to add to your collection for years. That’s happened to me multiple times this year. That’s why I’m gonna keep coming back here as long as I live in NYC, and why I will always recommend this place over any other shop in the city.

Incredibly rude staff. The dude working the counter didn’t say anything when I walked in (I didn’t even notice him). He asked me five minutes later if I needed any help (I didn’t). I asked him what the guys in the back were playing and he told me, «Street Fighter,» with that grudging tone that told me he did not want to be working or at least did not want to bother with talking to me. I browsed around the store, walking down one of the aisles, and he insisted repeatedly that I «not put weight on the train set.» Fans were blaring so I asked him to repeat himself, and he sighed and glared at me as he did so. I didn’t even know what the fuck a «train set» was but after asking him five times what he was talking about he gruffly demonstrated that I shouldn’t touch a piece of plywood where there was apparently a train set at one time. I had no idea why he was accosting me when I didn’t touch the damn thing. I was fed up (for this and other reasons) and walked out right then.
There’s little else to recommend the place. Prices are decent and selection is too.
Among the other downsides, the place is extremely poorly lit. Darker than an intimate romantic restaurant, to the point that I considered whipping out my phone’s LED flashlight. This obscures the merchandise and surely lowers their sales. Idiotic.
A giant column (apparently, the «train set») takes up a good 20% of the floor space, narrowing the space available for browsing and cramping the visitor. Meanwhile there was plenty of space for three people to play a game and block the other aisle. When it’s easier to play a game for free than to buy one you know they have no business skills and can’t be making much money. They’re incompetent at running a store. Another example is how they stock Atari 2600 games (which very few people buy and cost little, thus bringing in little profit) at the very front and Xbox One /​PS4 (the current generation, which sell at a high volume and a high price) in the back.
They have extension cables littering the back aisle, which is a public safety hazard and thus probably illegal.
They’ve got reams of consoles in boxes but they’re sloppily labelled (pen marks crossing out words), usually not priced, housed in cardboard so you can’t see what they look like, and arranged haphazardly.
They need an attitude adjustment, customer service training, a business school education, new management, or to shut down.
Even a high school graduate could employ more common sense than the owner of this business. The people of 8-​Bit show no respect for their items, treating them like household trash, and they openly mock their customers.
I have no respect for their business.

I recently dusted off the Nintendo 64 didn’t seem to be working so i bought new cords its awesome that they have old games and accessories store looks cool for not to bad prices but there attitude when a customer enters the store is very unwelcoming like a lot of others have mentioned why go out of your way to be douches.

A little dingy but very charming in an old school sort of way. The selection is pretty limited for NES (what I was seeking) but they were gracious enough to float me a military discount which always is appreciated. Games were quite dirty as they were corralled in a dirty shelf but still picked up some titles from my «need it» list for a price that wasn’t too over the top. Could be better but then again, could be worse.

I was considering giving this place two stars just for the impressive collection, but as it is supposed to be a store and not just a hangout spot, one star it is.
As other people have said, employees are at best aloof; not just the younger guys, but even including the older gentleman who seems to be the owner. They seem downright annoyed to be asked questions or god forbid, be pulled from the arcade cabinet so you could buy something. Every single thing in the store is overpriced — cheap and commonplace controllers and games that are easily picked up at craigslist, ebay, pawns shops etc are all set at artificially inflated collector prices. I picked up one of these overpriced controllers, got home, analog stick didn’t work, fine. I came back to return it, no refunds under no circumstances. Fine. I exchanged it for another controller that I had to test out myself, but not before seeing him chuck the broken controller back into the pile of controllers for sale. Well, I guess screw the next person who comes in to buy a controller, right? As long as they can make some money off of it. I suppose there’s a slim chance that it was playtested after I left, but somehow. I really doubt it.
Anyway, if you’re just a bored teenager/​manchild that missed out on a fighting game tournaments in dingy basements that smell of dust, electricity and B.O., this is the place for you. If you’re looking to spend money, I’d advise you go to just about anywhere else. Even Videogames New York, though similarly overpriced, at least have comparatively wonderful employees who are pleasant to deal with.
Avoid.

Walked in… Dread Lock guy could could not have cared less. Asked him if he worked there and got a sarcastic response. Asked about wii AC cords and he stared at the ceiling and blurted out $ 20.
I don’t think I’ve ever gotten so furious, so quickly. The other times I’ve been here are about the same experience. Watching the guy at the cash register make out with his girlfriend for over a minute while he’s holding my change made me want to vomit on the counter.
This place should not exist.

As a customer whose been coming here since day 1, I can honestly say that this is the one store that has treated me better than most establishments. Most of these reviews come from crybabies who had immediate entitlement issues. Also, some of these customers asks the most idiotic questions (I.e. is this really the price of, is this a video game store?) Really people? Then complain about prices and go on EBay and wind up paying the same amount for a game with the shipping tax included. VGNY sells you used games that are shrink wrapped and try to sell it to you at outrageous prices. The guy with dreads works with you according to what’s in your wallet. The more you buy, the less you’ll spend. It sounds crazy but at the end of the day, it saves you a good amount of money. Yeah, he can be a asshole but so can other customers. I urge those who enjoy video games, to come here and look around and will see that this store isn’t as bad as what these asshats are making it to be.

As nearly everyone else has said, the staff here need a serious attitude adjustment, as the saddest thing in life is wasted potential. Good selection but prices are questionable. Great to browse with headphones on if you have no questions.

Let me just say the staff was OKAY despite such bad reviews… Now the store itself was pretty run down looking. I didn’t know if I was in a game store or the basement room of a man-​child still living wiith his parents. The pricing wasn’t too bad and the selection was decent but something about the setup just irked me.

Bad service and very overpriced. Most of the cheapest games are 14.99. Regardless if its a $ 2 game or not. Don’t waste your time. Its not worth the trip or your time.

This place has so much potential but the guys working there are not up to par seems as if they hate there job.

I go here all the time great selection of games old and new! They have it all from Atari to PS4. I always find something cool to buy here. The owner Joe is a nice guy, to talk to and learn something from. I really love coming to the store the crew Joe has working there is great, good guys! I live on the UES and I trek down there when ever I can to get my game ON!

The worst Customer service ever!!! Walked in and not even a hello because playing street fighter 2 was more important than a sale. after the round was over asked me what I was looking for and showed me. after waiting again for the round of their game to be over another employee checked me out. I asked if they had another game and the Employee said «I don’t know you just seen me look» which he didn’t because he was rushing back to play his game. So I got my damn money back. these guys are really rude and unprofessional. there is another game shop on Bowery & 6^th st. Better service and games. If I could put No stars I would cause that’s what they are worth.

This place is terrible! One day I brought in my backwards compatible ps3 to get fixed. I thought why not have these guys fix it and support a local establishment. When I went to pick up my ps3 and brought it back home I found out that the insides of it were gutted and replaced. My backwards compatibility was gone when in no way should it have been. I called sony to help me figure out if this was true and they confirmed it to me, even stating that some people take it out to use it in other systems. Basically 8 bit stole my old ps3 to sell it for a higher price since the backwards feature is highly sought after. When I called 8 bit about this the owner was rude as hell but said he could put the backwards feature in for another $ 80! I thought he was joking but the guy is delusional. You can easily find their games for cheaper online as well. This place screams a dying establishment that wont stay around for much longer. Go to the other retro game store just below st marks called video games new york or use ebay if you want to search for older games. Anywhere but this place.

Came in to look for some retro games and got a nasty response when I asked if their ridiculous prices were «firm». Its a pretty simple question and does not require a heaping pile of sarcasm and attitude to answer.
The attendant (dreadlock guy) was too busy talking about selling Call of Duty early to offer any assistance. I will never go back, and urge those reading this not to make the trip and give these guys your money. You can find the same and even better just about anywhere else. Avoid like the plague.

My friend who used to live on the Lower East Side swears by this store for all his gaming needs. They used to be on St. Mark’s, but have since relocated to 3^rd Street near First Avenue (the M15 bus goes nearby).
I like the store. They have a killer collection of vintage video games (NES, SNES, Genesis… the list goes on and on) and a halfway decent selection of current games. They’re slightly cheaper than Game Stop and the store’s not crawling with children.
The best part about the store is the fact that they have some old consoles set up, and you can give ‘em a whirl if you’re in the mood for some nostalgia.
The workers here are sometimes hiding, but call out and they’ll appear, I swear.