Wow what a little hidden gem. This place combines old school arcade games and hard to find Japanese…read morearcade games. We had a blast as a family, but this place would be great for a date night. $10 dollars gets you unlimited arcade play, From what I understand the upstairs provides tables for other multiplayer games like Dungeons and Dragons and etc. The location is central to multiple restaurants and bars making walking to and from easy. Parking is street only but we did not find issue with finding a close spot.

DawnStar is an awesome video game place, whether you want to play them in person or take them home…read moreto play on your own time. Ever since Circuit Arcade Bar closed, you have to carefully weigh your options: if you want drinks/food with your games, you have to do either Dave & Busters or Richmond Draftcade. If you want kids/ticket games, only Dave & Busters. If you want retro games, only Draftcade and DawnStar. And if you love rhythm games and old school light gun shooters... well, DawnStar is the only spot around! DawnStar is a video game shop up front, a card-game event venue upstairs, and an eclectic arcade in back. Their video game shop has a great selection, though like most game shops you aren't going to find better prices here than you would online. The arcade on the other hand is always worth a visit: two DDR cabinets, several rare light gun games, advanced racing sims, a ton of Japanese imports, and other hard-to-find rarities await you here. I have been a huge DDR fan since 2003 and relish any chance I get to keep my dancing muscles strong. Pricing for the arcade is one price for all-day: $15 Saturdays, $10 every other day. Thankfully those prices don't go up on holidays, so this is a great spot to hit on a weekday holiday! The staff here are very nice and very involved with the business: they regularly host video game and card game tournaments, post on social media daily, and have their own Discord if you want to keep up with their happenings on a more intimate level. I am very grateful that DawnStar exists and hope it sticks around for the long term! Overall: 5.0 stars --- Pros: - Fantastic arcade with hard to find games (especially rhythm games). - Well-stocked game shop with plenty of games and accessories, plus more. - Cool event venue with a strong community. - Fantastic staff who strive to make this a welcoming place for all. Cons: - $15 is understandable for Saturdays to keep volume a bit lower, though I generally stick to weekdays whenever I can to get the $10 pricing.

My favorite game store in the area. Staff is nice and they have a great selection. Games are priced…read morefairly

Don't let the small size of the store. Keep you from stopping in. The tech exchange is a really…read morecool place to get old and vintage games and gaming systems. the staff here is friendly, knowledgeable, and willing to help with any questions you may have. They also sell DVDs at a really good price.

I come here quite often when I'm in the area. Over the past three years I have been coming here the…read moreplace has gone through some significant changes. The place was extremely clean. And their selection is generally better than most other vintage game stores I have been too. The people here are generally friendly (there is a small exception to one gentleman who is always grumpy). And in most cases they will treat you right. There trade-in values tend to be some of the better that I have received. But the one drawback that I have seen increase over the past year and just cannot get my head around is their pricing. Generally I'm not going to be too picky if something is a little more pricey than a competitor (local or online) because they need to make their money too. But I went to Halycon (new game store) bought two games for the GameCube. One for $60 and one for $20. Went to Rocktown and they had the exact same ones marked at $120 and $50. Double the price of their direct competitor. I went in this weekend and saw Pokemon Gale of Darkness marked at $350. I did not see anything on it that said it was sealed. But absolutely blew my mind they were asking that price. I have seen the exact same copy (some with poster and CIB) for $180-$220. I get prices fluctuate but holy smokes. This store brought my love of collecting my old video games back to me. And I love everything that they do. I am not sure why they have jacked up the prices so substantially on their GameCube games. Maybe they can't keep them in stock otherwise? Maybe people are actually buying them at this price? I don't know but am a little bit saddened by this development. They have priced me out as a customer which means I can no longer give them a five star rating. I hope to one day be able to come back but not sure if that will be anytime soon.

Awesome place! Fair prices on trade-ins and great prices on the games they have there. There's also…read morea great selection of stuff both retro and new. The culture and vibe of the place is fun; it feels exactly like a game store should. Staff is super friendly and fun. I really hope they keep what they've got going, I see myself coming back super often!

Amazing retro video game store, owner was super friendly and very knowledgeable. Will definitely be…read moreback when I come back to town.

Lee is awesome. Great selection of old games and consoles and all of the workers and friendly and…read moreknow their stuff.

I have now been to this location quite a few times. And been to numerous video game stores…read morethroughout Virginia. The store itself it's incredible. The selection will waver (as all vintage game stores do). But what they do have is extreme quality. They may be picky on what they will take on trade in but I value that as someone who likes to see some of the rarer items for sale. I truly don't know how they make the business work. You can go in here and look at there prices and a vast majority of the time it's cheaper than eBay. No need to price check/match. Plus you get there honesty that the games have been tested. The owners are some of the friendliest I have met in all of my reviews. Down to earth, nice, and willing to hold a conversation with you on about anything. A true gem of a business and a place I greatly admire. Would definitely recommend.

A used game shop that's clean, organized, well lit, and staffed by people that aren't snobs? Count…read moreme in.

These fellas got it right! Not only do they have some of the coolest items that any anime fan would…read moredrool over, they have the absolute best and most awesome array of retro gaming system AND retro games! As retro as you could get! An such a large inventory to choose from! You couldn't be disappointed in this cool shop! And now they are in a bigger space with more room to display the coolest retro and nostalgic treasures! And they don't just sell, they also buy! Icing on the cake are their prices. No crooks here! To the fellas, thank you for always making our visits awesome. You truly are great!

Wow! The Link To The Past is an amazing retro game shop located in Chester, it is filled to the…read morebrim with retro games, dvds, consoles, figurines and more! My partner and I popped in to get some Gameboy games. We were pleasantly surprised by their expansive collection of gameboy advance and gameboy color games. The prices were fairly set at loose game value and the workers there were very kind answering all of our questions. We had a great conversation about modding gameboys and they even helped us remove some magic marker off the games we were hoping to purchase. They not only have gameboy games but also NES, Playstation, Xbox and many more. They also purchase games/gaming items as well so this may be a great one stop shop if you're hoping to unload or update your collection. All of their games are tested and authenticated so you can rest easy knowing you're making a good purchase. They also will replace batteries on dead cartridges! Check this place out! You won't be disappointed!

There's two doors when you walk in here, my experience was with the door to the left. I haven't…read morebeen in the door to the right, but I think it's owned by the same family, and has a lot of Kawaii/Cute things for sale. My wife found this awesome little hobby shop last night while hanging out with a couple of friends, and when she came home and told me about it, we ended up going back together the next day. I'm into all things nerdy, especially anime and GUNPLA, so I grabbed an SD model kit and a Thousand Sunny Bandai kit from One Piece. They've also got individual actual Pokémon, One Piece, Magic decks, and individual cards in binders for sale (at least for Pokémon, I'm unsure of the other cards games.) They had some Anime models, Manga, a bunch of stickers, different types of dice (for tabletop gaming), plushies, some older video game stuff, and I think there were Warhammer model kits. It's a small local shop, so prices are a little bit higher than what you'd see at big box stores. BUT you're supporting a local business, and that's always really worth it. There are some game rooms in the back where people can play tabletop stuff like board games or Dungeons & Dragons. They've got a bathroom (I didn't check it out), plus a little section with snacks and sodas to indulge if you get hungry while you're there playing. Big shoutout to the guy behind the counter. He was super cool to my wife and her friends last night, and even more so when we came back today. I watched him today helping other customers too. Super patient, very friendly, and just seems like a genuinely good guy. Definitely the kind of shop and person I love to support. He also said that if we have We will absolutely be back here.

i bought 2 cute sanrio stickers. very reasonable too. lots of cute kawaii things in here1 you need…read moretime to look around. the cashier was super nice too!

Very friendly and helpful staff. Well organized and clean. The selection of games in the game…read morelibrary was extensive. Cool spot.

Friendly staff easy to work with and they always have a great selection. This is my bread and…read morebutter store for all things comics.

The employees are always happy to help, the owners are super friendly. They have a large variety of…read morevintage games and are super reasonable with pricing. Also a decent variety of funko pops that are cheap

Prices are great the staff will work with you. They answer every question I've had. Staff is always…read morefriendly. They will always get my business. I have nothing against GameStop but to the people who say GameStop's better look at the reviews for GameStop especially when it comes to returns.

Waited about 30 minutes with barely anyone in the store, while the employees sat and chatted, then…read moreafter I was "helped" whoever helped me needed up walking away and proceeded to ignore me for another 10 minutes plus. I ended up just leaving

Walked in the door and was greeted quickly by CJ at the door. He was very friendly. I had arranged…read moreto pick up new phones and drop off phones to be traded in online. He explained the online hasn't worked out the kinks & the trade in will be handled by a mail kit that I will receive soon but if I have problems to return to the store and kindly had Charles continue helping with the new phones. Charles was just as friendly. We handled the new phones and it was such a smooth transaction! These two men were great! Helpful, made sure my account info was up to date, offered other account assistance. I was just really appreciative.