FORGET Fifa and Fortnite – retro video games are among the most valuable on the market as children of the 1980s and 90s try to relive their youth.

That's according to avid computer games collector Peter Holmes, who says old consoles and cartridges are as sought-after as coins and action figures from yesteryear.

Pete, 49, said: “You collect whatever you can within your budget, whatever you want to play.

“There are huge Sonic the Hedgehog collectors, people who just collect SEGA or Nintendo, it’s whatever you like.

“Your collection doesn’t have to be worth thousands and thousands of pounds, it’s just nostalgia. It’s what you enjoy and what you want to play.”

Pete also warned against collecting just for the sake of profit, suggesting that it’s not always the money-making business it might seem.

He said: “There’s never a guarantee that a game you buy will go up in price over the years but it’s very unlikely it will go down in price.

“With Super Nintendo games, unboxed cartridges have just dropped in price due to Nintendo releasing the SNES Mini. That’s come out and a lot of people have thought ‘I’ve got one of those in the loft’ and they dig it out and it comes up for sale. More copies are available, and the price comes down.”

Pete is owner of Retro Games HQ and operates out the back of Holmes Music on Faringdon Road. He sells a variety of games from the 80s, 90s and early 2000s.

While he sells the games, he sees his store as his own collection, and his original games were what launched his store in the early 90s.

He said: “People want to relive their childhoods, I see a lot of people come in and they’ll be looking at the music but then they’ll turn around and see all of this and walk out with a Super Nintendo because it’s what they had as a kid.

“You play a game and it takes you back. All the senses come back from when you were playing it as a kid."

He added: “My original collection became my start-up stock and that’s all pretty much gone. But I’ve got certain things here where people who know me come in and they know it’s not for sale.

“I’ve got a Vectrex out there which is a really sought-after system and I had that for my 12th birthday – and I’m 50 next year.”