Category: Entertainment

By Samuel Talero

Situated in Pinellas Park lies Unlimited Video Games Superstore and Arcade, a locally owned video game business and part retro arcade. The moment customers step through the door they’re greeted with the sights and sounds of video games, most of which have long been off other stores’ shelves.  

The store’s owners pride themselves on reconnecting people with games played in their youth or perhaps even letting them discover something new.  

The advancement of technology means that older pieces of hardware tend to get left behind, such is the case with video games and their consoles. In the future, it may become difficult for people to play classic titles legally, if large video game companies do not provide proper access for a legal way to play them. 

Unlimited Video Games not only attempts to preserve these older game titles but also preserve the hardware they’re played on to provide the proper experience people had on the original releases of those video games, their consoles and classic arcade cabinets. 

“They don’t make them anymore, they don’t come back,” said Gregg Lonkey, one of the owners of Unlimited Video Games. “It’s something that can be prevented in a lot of cases or at least delayed. It’s just like anything, old cars, old records [and] old buildings.” 

The business sells games, consoles and gaming peripherals that range from the days of the classic Atari to today’s modern PlayStation 5. Their arcade also houses lots of classic titles that all run on their original arcade software, their sounds overlapping with one another as they draw players in to play a few rounds. 

Gregory Bush, a front sales associate at Unlimited Video Games, described the things on display as “a mystical treasure trove of pretty much anything you can think of if you’re interested in video games.” 

While other large-scale retailers are also capable of putting older titles on display, Unlimited Video Games places a lot of emphasis on preservation.  

Before consoles and games go out on display, they perform tests to make sure that the item in question isn’t damaged and if it is then it undergoes repairs before it hits the shelf. This ensures that customers can buy a console or game that is in working condition. 

“It’s hard to do game stores right and not just have them be a spreadsheet simulator,” Lonkey said. “If your store is just a spreadsheet simulator, it loses its heart, and when it loses its heart people buy their games on Amazon.” 

However, this method of business is not without its risks. There is always the risk of consoles or games being beyond the ability to repair. The older video game consoles also may require parts that are no longer being produced, and the business wishes to avoid replacing all of the older parts with newer modern parts. 

Richard Casimer Dombrowski III, the front house manager of Unlimited Video Games, described how everything that is taken in cannot be tested immediately and that it was ultimately a gamble on whether or not it could be repaired. 

The store’s focus on retro titles ultimately gives a newer audience a window to see what games were like in the past. Many modern titles in today’s market focus a lot on making the consumer spend as much money as possible on it, something unheard of in older games unless you were an arcade cabinet. 

“It’s different way of companies making games back in the day, in comparison to now,” Dombrowski said. “Back in the day, they really had to show themselves off. The competitiveness of being this game that people will talk about and want to show off.” 

In addition to preserving older physical media, the store opens the door for people who played these games when they were younger. Unlimited Video Games provides everything a person would need to experience games the same way as they were introduced back when they were released. 

“Sometimes [people] play a game and recall that Sunday morning of them opening that game and playing it all day and having to keep it on in order to keep playing cause there was no save,” Dombrowski said. “It’s history. History in the sense of memories.”

By Samuel Talero

Located in Largo, Neon Dreams Arcade hosts a variety of different arcade-style video games imported from Japan. Rather than serve as just a showcase for overseas games, Neon Dreams specializes in attracting fans to the same spot in St. Petersburg, fostering a community where people with similar taste can meet new friends and play together. 

While the modern video game world allows people to play with their friends online, the experience can be considered isolating or impersonal. Online gaming requires people to stay at home, and not once do players get a glimpse of the person they are gaming with.  

Neon Dreams aims to address this isolation by bringing people together to play games in a shared physical space, replicating the online experience in real life. 

“We just wanted to make a place where everyone could hang out all the time,” said Dallas Huete, one of the owners of Neon Dreams. “We love the people that we have, and we love the current state of it.” 

Neon Dreams features a variety of games from different eras and genres, most notably fighting and rhythm-based games which have a large online following. The arcade hosts monthly tournaments for these games, allowing fans to gather and socialize.  

Cody McIntyre, co-owner of Neon Dreams, described the arcade as a space where people can learn to play fighting and rhythm games directly from others, rather than relying on the internet or online resources. 
 
According to McIntyre, finding a local community for a game can be difficult, as traditional meeting spaces rarely draw in that kind of audience. This may result in people seeking their gaming communities online, but that can leave an unfulfilled need to socialize. 

“A lot of people, like gamers, are not trying to go to a bar or a club,” arcade regular Joshua Fisher said. “Some people want to not be inside all day. They want to go out. They want to communicate with people, they want to make new friends, and there’s not a lot of areas to do that.” 

While larger-scale arcade businesses are more common, they tend to focus on a general audience rather than the specific niche that Neon Dreams hits. 

“You’re really not a part of the community, and I don’t feel like I make friends there,” said Katie Lynn Locasto, another regular at Neon Dreams, reflecting on her times at other chain arcades. 

Arcades that operate under the specific niche of imported Japanese fighting and rhythm games, such as Neon Dreams, aren’t very common in the St. Petersburg area. This can be attributed to several challenges in establishing an arcade, including securing a lease, finding suitable real estate or sourcing the machines themselves 

“Maintaining [machines] is the hardest part,” Huete said. “Once you replace the parts, you have a good machine, but you have to have the knowledge, the patience and the skill to troubleshoot.” 

According to its owners, community lies at the heart of what Neon Dreams sets out to accomplish. It’s a place where someone with a specialized interest can meet others and have the opportunity to make unlikely friends while playing unique games. 

“An arcade without a community isn’t an arcade,” Huete said.