Meet the retro gamer making unique consoles at his home in Wolverhampton

And he’s not alone. In recent years, games from the 80s and 90s have been whole-heartedly embraced by both older gamers wishing to revisit their past and younger players discovering them for the first time.

Shaun started sharing his passion for 8-bit action with others by renting out classic consoles for all kinds of events from weddings to birthday parties, launching his business, Did Somebody Say Retro? in 2017.

Over the years, he has amassed a collection of around 300 games for his nine consoles, which span three decades and include the Super NES, N64, Nintendo GameCube, Sega Mega Drive, Sega Master System and XBOX, and Game Boys.

He has since taken his love for old-school games a step further by repairing old consoles as well as building his own unique retro gaming machines.

Since August 2021, Shaun has been responsible for the repair and management of game consoles for NQ64 Arcade Bars Ltd, which runs venues across the UK.

He also supports the company’s arcade machine tech team and has worked on a number of different projects for its bars.

These have included a four-player PS1 set up inside a flight case and a Simpsons-themed arcade machine.

“NQ64 is where I have learned a lot of my skills and they have given me the freedom to work on a wide range of projects,” says Shaun, who lives in Wolverhampton. During his spare time, he works on new creations for his own business, Did Somebody Say Retro?

Among the gaming machines he has made is the WoodBoy, which has been attracting a lot of attention from gamers.

It’s a solid, pine table top arcade machine that he designed and built by hand in his kitchen.

The WoodBoy plays GameBoy games using original cartridges and hardware.

“I’m a trained carpenter so I enjoyed the challenge of building it out of a soft wood and everything was done by hand,” says Shaun.

He posted pictures of his creation on Instagram and they have attracted hundreds of thousands of views.

“It’s had a lot of interest from people. It seems to have really inspired them. There is nothing out there like The WoodBoy,” says the 35-year-old.

He went to make The WoodBoy Colour XL for British sports brand Stepney Workers Club, which went on display in their art gallery showroom at Paris Fashion Week.

Shaun has also built a full-size arcade machine which offers thousands of games to choose from and features custom artwork.

Going forward, he is focussing on creating one-of-a-kind retro gaming machines.

“I prefer to build unique gaming machines that are a one-off, rather than build the same thing and keep replicating it.

“I want to build things that haven’t been seen or heard of before,” he adds.

For Shaun, the appeal of retro games isn’t just about nostalgia, it’s also about the enjoyment they offer players.

“Old games have a lot more playability. By that I mean the amount of fun and enjoyment you get from them.

“We never had any downloads or updates, it was just one cartridge so it had to be fun and not just look good.

“Today, you can spend a lot of money on buying things to add to the game to make the game better or help you to do better in the game.

“With older games, it was more about having fun,” says Shaun.

“It’s great that young people can go to an arcade and see how it all started with a CRT monitor.

“They can also see how games like Tetris and Pac-Man, which have had new releases for the Nintendo Switch, first started.”

Shaun is accepting commissions for unique retro gaming machines from businesses and individuals.

For more information, email Shaun at info@didsomebodysayretro.co.uk or visit www.didsomebodysayretro.co.uk