Sudden Impact

Sudden Impact is an amazing little retro gaming shop that has everything from retro games, Pokémon cards, stuffed animals, stickers, and even custom made items by the owner himself. Edit 2/27/23: Since my original review I've had the opportunity to visit Sudden Impact several more times over the past ten months or so, this is my updated review. When I started getting back into retro gaming this was the first place that I visited. I was awestruck at how much Dom, the owner, had packed into his little shop. It's most definitely sensory overload. However, after you've visited a few times you get a better idea of the layout and where to look for items that might have come in since your last visit. To be honest, my first few visits to Sudden Impact were very good. Dom seems to be a nice guy and includes little gifts when you buy things be it vintage stickers, branded shop merchandise, or other little trinkets. This is clearly a passion project for him and he puts a lot of time and effort into his store. As far as trading in items, I've had mixed results. We weren't able to agree on a price for some really amazing items that I brought in one time, so I left without buying or selling anything. I went to Replay'd in Allston with the exact same items and they paid much more than Sudden Impact was willing to pay even taking into account if it was just for store credit, it shocked even me. Minus .5 stars On another trip, I traded in items for some different things from the store. I felt pleased, but, when I arrived home, I discovered that one of the Animal Crossing plushies that I traded in for ended up being counterfeit. No big deal. Nobody will know unless they look at the tag. Minus .5 stars On another trip, a game I bought off the NES wall didn't work. I brought it back and Dom cleaned it and told me to try it at home. He didn't have an NES set up to test it, which seemed odd for a retro gaming store. It didn't work and I never bothered to bring it back in again since it was a $4 game. Games really should be tested before they're sold. Having to make multiple trips back and forth if a game doesn't work isn't convenient for the customer. Minus .5 stars As other reviewers have noted, the phones are NEVER answered. I've called multiple times on multiple different days and the phone has never been answered once. It doesn't matter if the shop is open, or if there are customers inside the store, he just doesn't answer the phone. Minus .25 stars The other issue that I have is that most of the time when I walk into the store the music is really quite loud. I'm not about to tell the owner of his shop to lower the music as it would be an awkward exchange. Minus .25 stars Another important thing to note is that Dom doesn't hold any items as he believes it to be unfair. He also post lots of old photos mixed in with the new photos on social media. Therefore, it's quite possible that something you saw posted may have been already sold long ago. Here's the thing. I want to like this place more than I do as the owner is genuinely nice and is really passionate about the business. I don't think that he's doing this purely for the money. I think he really does do it mostly for the fun of it. A great deal of the items in the store are from his personal collection, and when you come into Sudden Impact you're not just visiting a place to buy things, you're visiting somebody's gameroom and admiring their collection at the same time. I know that he reads these reviews, so I have tried to not be overly harsh, but these are my honest thoughts. An unbiased review that is honest and to the point. With that being said I would recommend Sudden Impact if you're visiting the Boston area as it really is a unique and interesting experience. The owner will give you a great deal if you buy anything he has in stock and will include little gifts as well. The phones are never answered, he doesn't do holds, the music is loud, and trade-ins are going to differ based on what you are willing to accept. Three stars. Definitely worth a visit.

Hoping Dom is able to re-open someday. He has always been good to me. I have shopped there for a few years as a collector of NES. Small businesses like his are few and far between these days due to sites like Amazon and eBay. Are his prices higher than what you can find on eBay? Maybe. But he has to make a living, pay the stores bills and you are paying for the ability to see what you are buying and have it immediately. I shop his store and eBay. There is enough to collect to go around.

The Corvette game for ps2 is awesome. I was excited to see this game there. C1-C5 corvettes on this game. It’s from 2003, the 50th anniversary C5 is on this game. Any corvette lover will love this game.

Jeez!! Sweet store !! It's a paradise for gamers. I love it. The little dress Pikachu's are so cute. You can talk to the owner and get good deals. Nice guy.

Very good place! It has good games for cheap prices which helped build my gameboy collection

I decided to sell some old video game equipment here today and had a great experience. I traded emails with Dom before I visited the store and negotiated a price. When I got there and he found out I drove a long distance to sell, he threw in extra cash to help offset the commute. I couldn’t believe it! He was very fair and easy to work with. The store was also full of amazing products. I definitely plan to visit again. If you’re looking to sell or buy, I highly recommend checking this place out or reaching out to Dom via email.

Today was my first visit to Sudden Impact. The store is relatively small in terms of space, but the density is immense! You have to go over every square inch of the place multiple times over not to miss anything. Once I got chatting with the owner it made the experience all the better. He’s such a friendly and outgoing guy. I only grabbed a couple things and it was a great experience. Well worth the 45 minute drive. And check them out on Twitter. The owner does all the drawings/animations himself!

Wow, wow, and WOW. My husband and I are video game collectors and have been to tons of little mom and pop stores across multiple states, and I think Sudden Impact is probably the best run one I've found thus far. The owner is super knowledgeable about even the most obscure consoles, and the store is just STUFFED to the brim with games in incredible shape. We prefer to collect everything complete in box, and this was probably the best selection of high-quality CiB games I've seen outside of a convention! We live in Los Angeles, but we will DEFINITELY be swinging by Sudden Impact the next time we're in Boston. It was worth hopping all those trains to get to! I only wish I'd taken more pictures!

Amazing Retro Game Store with a great selection and inventory of games with some pretty good prices. The store owner, Dom, was a very nice fellow and had a selection of consoles from the Atari 2600 to the Sega Dreamcast, all the way up to the PS5. Highly recommend it and I'm sure I'll be back soon.

Came in looking for a couple tough finds. Selection in here was great. Service was awesome. Tight store like many of its kind, but I found what I was looking for and more. Good tunes and the guy in the shop, Dominic, was super nice. Hadn’t been here yet and very glad I visited, I’ll be back when I’m on my next hunt! First, gotta beat the few games I just found!