China is a strange place when it comes to gaming. Despite the proximity, Japanese consoles have rarely had much presence, as most of China wasn’t developed enough during the age of their rise. You do find the odd arcade, and like everywhere else, terrible ‘free to play’ mobile games have taken over in the last couple of years.
Nintendo and their characters are as present as any pop-culture icons. They exist in the copyright wild west of China’s major cities primarily as pirated merchandise (with a few examples of legit merch). But there was no sign in any stores I saw of the actual main Nintendo products – the games themselves.
Here’s a photo journal of some of the gaming stuff I came across on a trip through mainland China.
Beijing
Xian
Xiamen
Shanghai
Ironically retro gaming would be easy in Shanghai – great supply of working CRTs available cheap at antique markets.
Nintendo Sega Japan! 