by Vladimir Vega 👾
◆ In the summer of 2007, I bought a new PC and would often spend a few minutes playing casual games like Zuma, Moorhuhn, and Jewel Quest which were still a pretty popular pastime in Serbia back then. At some point, I got tired of frogs and balls and my wandering mind took me back to the late ’80s and early ’90s, when, as a kid, I would spend hours at the local arcades and the amusement park playing Shadow Dancer, Shinobi, Street Fighter II, Ghosts ‘n Goblins, Cabal, Star Force, Silkworm, Final Fight, Rolling Thunder, Kung-Fu Master, Operation Wolf, Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair, Altered Beast, Tecmo Knight, and many other games. Words can’t describe the amount of joy those arcade machines brought me, so a sudden wave of nostalgia hit me that summer evening, and all I wanted was to play Capcom classics like Street Fighter II, Final Fight, and Cadillacs and Dinosaurs.
Yeah, I would often skip classes in elementary school and head straight to the local arcade with my lunch money, buying a dozen tokens to play Cabal and Star Force until at least two classes were over. The place was usually empty in the early morning hours, leaving me as the only person among those wonderful, grimy cabinets packed like sardines in a space no bigger than 10 m². Video games and I lived together in our own world, a world that was beautiful, vivid, magical, and untouchable. Whenever I stepped into that arcade, I felt like Bastian in The Neverending Story opening the book for the very first time. Some of the earliest and most beautiful memories of my life are tied to video games, and I started playing when I was 5 years old, way back in 1987 which was also the first time I encountered a video game. In my case, it was a clone of the legendary Space Invaders called Space Raiders on a Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48k computer that my cousin got from his parents. The ZX also came with some other games from the Psion Software pack, like Chequered Flag and Chess.
I remember very clearly the moment I took the cassette in my hands, looked at the cover, and wondered, “What is this and how does it work? What are these alien creatures and what is this spaceship?” The magic happened when my cousin loaded the game. Pixels began to dance across the screen, and I was handed the joystick. With my cousin’s shout of “Shoot!”, my gaming adventure began and is still going strong today, nearly 40 years later. Unlike many kids of my generation, I was fortunate enough to grow up with two iconic machines: a Commodore C64 that my uncle bought me in 1991, and an Amiga A500 that my father bought me a year later. Anyway, let’s get back to the beginning of my summer story. I started searching the internet, hoping to find an emulator to play those old arcade titles, and the first thing that popped up was, of course, the iconic M.A.M.E. – a free, open-source project dating back to 1997 that still forms the backbone of arcade emulation today. Alongside MAME, I was also using WinUAE, the legendary Amiga emulator and VICE for the Commodore C64.
My nostalgia for retro video games was largely fueled by memories of my dear cousin, who tragically passed away two years earlier and with whom I first ventured into the world of gaming. Heartbroken, I was looking for a way to somehow recapture some of our wonderful moments together spent with the Commodore 128 my cousin had. As kids, we would play Skate Or Die, Shinobi, TMNT, California Games, Maniac Mansion, etc. for days. Two games held a special place in our hearts, and those were the arcade ports of Hunchback and Phoenix <Eagle Empire>. I was also very fond of the Advanced Basketball Simulator aka Slam Dunk, Treasure Island, and Track & Field titles that came with my Commodore 64.
With this long introduction, we come to the very beginning of the story of retro gaming in Serbia. If memory serves, in that same year, 2007, the first posts related to retro games appeared on the online forums of Svet Kompjutera <World Of Computers, Serbian magazine> and Benchmark, where individuals were trying to relive some of their memories and also start a general discussion. Some people also wanted to get their hands on old computers and consoles, so they would ask around about where they could get them. Usually, a couple of folks would agree that the local flea markets were the best option, and realistically they were, you could find all sorts of things there for next to nothing, because the retro collecting we know today didn’t exist back then. A small but notable push for the local retro scene came from Svet Kompjutera and its “Test Of Time” mini-feature, which offered brief nostalgic glimpses of classic games.
The real Serbian retro gaming scene, however, began to form a bit later, around 2009/2010, when people started getting more serious about acquiring games and hardware. At that time, the YouTube retro scene was also in full swing, so channels like Classic Game Room, Angry Video Game Nerd, Happy Console Gamer, Pat The NES Punk, Metal Jesus Rocks, Alpha Omega Sin, Gaming Historian, Gamester81, Pete Dorr, etc. were a great inspiration to many and also a great source of valuable information. Sometime later, channels like the extremely popular Game Chasers <RIP Billy>, as well as GameSack, My Life In Gaming, JohnRiggs, etc. appeared, while the PC scene saw the rise of the now-legendary Lazy Game Reviews, 8-Bit Guy, Nostalgia Nerd, Modern Vintage Gamer, Retro Man Cave, Dan Wood etc. In Serbia, the YouTube scene has hardly ever existed, except for a few people who made some videos and tried something, but it all quickly fizzled out. There was never the genuine drive and perseverance to push a serious project forward.
Things really started rolling around 2012/2013 thanks to the “Once Upon A Byte” crew from Novi Sad, who organized retro meetups, as well as various retro-themed exhibitions and panels. The “Arcade Serbia” solo project <now Gajbotron> from Belgrade was also briefly active, featuring arcade builds, reviews of old games, and the occasional exhibitions. In 2013, the first Facebook groups also appeared, such as “Retrogaming” and “Balkan Retro Computing” <they still exist>. A few years later, in early 2016, Retrovania16 <now Retrovania-X> Facebook group also appeared on the scene. It was accompanied by a blog of the same name, <now Retrovania-X Webzine> where you could find articles and tutorials related to console modding, arcade builds, repairs, etc. Some reviews of retro games could also be read on sites like EmuGlx, which has its own retro section, while in 2023 the Russians opened Yandex Retro Gaming Museum in Belgrade, the first of its kind here.
My collecting journey began in February of 2012 when I came out of a long-term relationship, and I was looking for something to occupy my mind and help me get over the breakup. In the end, it turned out that this breakup was the best thing that ever happened to me, as retro gaming brought a great deal of joy and peace into my life, while also helping me meet some great people. The transition to collecting came naturally to me, as I was already interested in old games and hardware, and wanted to recreate a 100% authentic gaming experience. My first big retro purchase <Mega Drive games > came via Kupujem-Prodajem website, which quickly established itself as the go-to place for retro stuff. Plenty of local sellers were importing second-hand tech or e-waste, mostly straight from Germany, turning the platform into a goldmine where you could land great stuff at bargain prices.
That lasted until it all went downhill sometime around 2015, when retro gaming globally reached its first peak in popularity, and of course, prices skyrocketed <cough, cough…Covid>. Despite that, Kupujem-Prodajem is still one of the main places to hunt down retro stuff. Another place for buying and selling is the Limundo website, but it has always had a bad reputation among collectors for allowing shill bidding in auctions and tolerating scammy sellers. At the end of the day, it seems like everyone wants to cheat each other in some way to make a quick buck. The individuals who sell things at realistic prices are rare, there has always been a bunch of delusional sellers. Back in the day, the biggest and best finds happened at flea markets, so some people bought Amiga A500 computers as “keyboards” for $2.00 USD, Amiga A1200T Tower systems for the price of a box of ice cream, while some were lucky enough to snag Sony PVM monitors for $10.00 USD.
Casual fans of retro gaming in Serbia usually go after games for the Sega Mega Drive console, such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Comix Zone, Earthworm Jim, Aladdin, The Lion King, Boogerman, FIFA, NBA Jam, Mortal Kombat 1, 2, 3, etc. or rather, there’s a lot of interest in titles that were extremely popular here back in 1994/1995. Actually, 1994 was the year the Mega Drive made its overly delayed debut in Serbia, finally showing up at local retailers like DigiTech and Beosoft, who, among other things, liked to rip people off by selling them Chinese bootlegs at the price of original games. Yep, we even had TV shows like the famous “Sega Klinci/Sega Kids,” which also contributed to Sega’s popularity <RIP Neša Nenadović>. It’s also worth noting that there’s always been a demand for titles that people used to play on Nintendo NES clones <e.g., Terminator, MT-999DX>, such as Super Mario Bros, Contra, Duck Hunt, Battle City, Zelda, etc. and there is also continued interest in Sony PlayStation PS1 games such as Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, Crash Bandicoot, Gran Turismo etc.
When it comes to hardware, the most sought-after systems besides consoles are Commodore C64, Amiga, Super Nintendo, Nintendo GameBoy and Sinclair ZX Spectrum, which makes sense because they were the most popular here in their time, while, for example, old MS-Dos PC’s, Sega Master System, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, Atari 2600, Atari ST, PC-Engine and Amstrad CPC systems are still trying to win over collectors’ hearts. Today, in 2026, retro gaming in our country is unfortunately in decline, even though it has held up quite well in the world for over 15 years. People’s interest is at its lowest point, and the supply of retro stuff is very limited. Facebook groups and forums are dead, while local magazines like Svet Kompjutera <World Of Computers> practically ignore the retro scene, even though it has a fairly large share of the video game industry.
The global homebrew and modern retro scenes <homebrews – new games made for old systems ; modern retro – games for new systems made in a retro style> are stronger than ever, with Commodore C64 and Sega Genesis developers standing out in particular. There are more and more new games made in a retro style <platformers, beat ’em ups, boomer shooters, etc.>. Big retro gaming expos and conventions are regular occurrences, especially in US, where thousands of people gather from all over the world to socialize and celebrate their youth through old games and hardware. Here in Serbia, such retro events haven’t happened yet, which doesn’t mean they never will. What we are missing is unity, understanding of the subject, as well as perseverance.
Retrovania-X webzine aims to keep the Serbian retro scene alive and well, to attract those who find joy and happiness in classic games, and to evoke nostalgic memories of better times.
One response to “Run, Jump, Shoot! : | Retro Gaming In Serbia”
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Welcome!
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