Game Champ

Extremely nice and friendly counter guy, who’s knowledgeable about what’s on the market. Wide range of new and used games. Not far from the subway station.

I needed a headset for my XBOX 360 so I could:
1. Verbally abuse the 12-​year-​olds that I compete with to feel better about myself.
2. Hear those same 12-​year-​olds tell me surprisingly intimate details about their relationship with my mother.
Since I try and support local businesses as much as possible, so I decided to hit up Game Champ instead of Game Stop. (As a general rule, Champ always trumps Stop.)
This place rocks. The selection is great (even a decent amount of old Nintendo games… no Contra though, sadly), probably because they buy and sell used games in addition to new. Also, the guys are completely awesome. The dude I spoke with didn’t try and upsell me at all, and he even had jokes. When I was deciding between two different modes and clumsily dropped one, he said, «All right, I guess you’re getting that one.»
And I did, because it sounded like a veiled threat. But I’m happy with my new headset, and happy with the price (better than I’ve seen elsewhere).
When I’m done lowering the self-​esteem of children around the world, I’ll probably head back in to Game Champ; apparently they also fix systems, and my Nintendo could use a tune-​up. I can’t get Punch Out to work, and Super Macho Man was getting mouthy last time we went at it.

I like independent game shops. It seems Game Stop has spread all over this country and has made itself one of the only options for a pure game store. Luckily, in Downtown Brooklyn we have Game Champ. They carry games for pretty much every console past and present (saw them all, but didn’t see Jaguar and other super obscure ones) and have a great selection of new games and systems. Their prices are as good or better than Game Stop in everything I looked at. Often they have 3 for 2 sales on used games, which is nice. The people in the store are very helpful as well.
In terms of problem solving, they do what they can to make the customer happy. I bought a used copy of Dead Rising 2 and came home to find the disk didn’t work. I took it back to them and after they tried extensively to clean it, it still wouldn’t work. They said I could pick out whatever used games that added up to the price of the game. I specifically came to the store originally for that game, so I asked if I could pay the difference and get the new one. That was fine with them and I got to still keep the free game from the 3 for 2 deal, which overall seemed fair.
I like to support locally owned stores when I can. This is a great example of a local store with a more interesting selection, better prices, and friendlier environment than the chain stores. I’ve been a customer of theirs for a while and plan to continue to give them my business.