Retro video games get second chance of life at Houston store

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- When you hear the term retro video games, some of the greats come to mind like Pac Man or Super Mario Brothers. Those of course have been replaced by today's high definition game consoles.

But there's a place in Houston where they continue to live on, and if you were smart enough to hold onto them, you'd be surprised how much you could cash in.

From Pong, to the Xbox One, video games have definitely evolved over the years. But if you're a fan of the retro hits from the 80's or 90's, the Game Over store and museum is the place to be to take a step back in time.

Matt Sajdak with Game Over says the value of vintage games has gone up over the years.

"So you have Nintendo games, you have Super Nintendo games, and stuff like Sega Genesis, and you go even further back you have stuff from the 70's and 80's you have Atari, you have both ColecoVision and stuff," Sajdak told us.

For example, a Nintendo system could get you $20-$40. The Battletoads game alone is worth $35. The Mega Man 3 cartridge is worth about $75. And if you're lucky enough to have the game Little Samson for the NES, well that could score you a cool grand or more.

"And they'll bring them in, may not know what they are. We'll wipe off the dust. We'll do what we can to give them the best deal possible," Sajdak explained. "One of the coolest things we'll have is we'll have folks our age come in with their kids and your kids will be used to PS4 and PS3 will see these old games and be like, 'Woah, what's that mom?' And the parents are like, 'You don't know what you're talking about. We'll go home and I'll show you how I used to play games.'"

Beside the games, the controllers have evolved over the years as well.

Sajdak said, "It's getting a little more complicated, you've got all the shoulder buttons and everything. Something to be said for the simpler days."

And when it comes to care and cleaning of the older cartridges, we've been doing it wrong for years.

"The right way to do it, especially if you want to play your NES games now is take your cartridge and rubbing alcohol and cotton swab and wipe it down," Sajdak told us.