Console Repair Simulator

Console Repair Simulator puts you in charge of your uncle Tetsu’s console shop on a quiet Tokyo back street. With little cash, a toolbox and a broken handheld to start, you sell consoles and games, buy used hardware, repair faults and restore the shop’s three cramped floors into a retro hangout.

Run the shop

Stock shelves from delivery boxes, set prices with a price gun that shows cost, market price and margin, then ring up customers by card or count out their change yourself. Customers also bring in used consoles and games to sell. You can inspect each device by rotating it, checking its screws and testing its power, input and media, as well as checking its weight and completeness.

You haggle with sellers who have different personalities, hidden bottom lines and limited patience. They include an attic cleaner, a broke student and a flipper who knows what an item is worth; some sellers leave out faults they already know about. Counter tests reveal only part of a device’s condition, since some problems become apparent only after you open the case. You can display restored machines in the refurbished showcase or street window, with a condition grade on each card.

Repair the hardware

At the bench, the view shifts to a top-down cutting mat where you can rotate and zoom in on a device, lay removed parts around it and place screws in a magnetic tray. Every part and screw is an object, and you must remove the fasteners before taking a part off. If something blocks your work, the game shows what is in the way.

Four machines are available to take apart: a handheld with a warranty seal, a CD home console with a laser and power board, a 16-bit cartridge console with security screws, and a brick handheld with corroded battery contacts. Each has 13 to 23 parts and 14 to 19 screws. You can diagnose faults with visual inspection, power, input, media and audio tests, plus a multimeter. The catalogue contains 27 faults, and repair hints can be set from Off to Full.

Your tools include Phillips, game bit and tri-wing screwdriver bits, a spudger, tweezers, magnifier, swab and isopropyl, brush, multimeter and soldering iron. You can unlock an electric screwdriver that drives a whole tray of screws at once. Repairs include cleaning a dirty lens, brushing oxidised cartridge pins, scrubbing battery corrosion, reflowing a lifted solder joint and restoring yellowed plastic with retrobright in the UV box.

After reassembly, test the machine on the bench and hear its boot jingle. A before-and-after card shows its final grade and value. Forgetting a screw costs points, while testing a loose board produces a harmless ZAP; neither mistake blocks progress.

Open the Game Saloon

The shop’s taped-off top floor can be reopened as a late-90s game cafe. Add sofa booths with a TV and console, along with arcade cabinets. Customers play and pay by the hour at the token kiosk. In the Try and Buy booth, a customer who likes a restored machine may take it home.

Earn XP, level up and unlock tools and repair skills as you fill the shelves and bring the whole building to life.

Retro shop details

The shop stocks fictional Kuroda, Hoshi and Vectra consoles, as well as 16 invented game titles, each with its own box, cartridge or disc case. Its 90s look uses bold primary colours, chrome and CD sparkle, with lo-fi workshop beats, jazz-hop in the shop and chiptune in the Saloon. A retro-style shop PC lets you order stock and spare parts, check your price book and read Uncle’s mails.

Console Repair Simulator is a single-player game. Its consoles, games, accessories and characters are fictional parodies and are not affiliated with real console makers, publishers or brands.