Last Minute Gifts For Gamers

With just one week left until the Christmas holiday, it can be a daunting time for procrastinators. Amazon Prime’s 2-day shipping will soon be too late, and brandishing your wallet and stepping into the retail world a week before Christmas could be a death wish. Luckily for you, there are a few quick and simple, yet cost effective and delightful, gift ideas for any and all gamers left on your Christmas list. And I’m not talking about video games and gift cards, I’m talking the gifts they’ll remember and love for months and years to come!

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Capcom 30th Anniversary Character Encyclopedia A perfect buy for any Capcom fan, fighting game fanatic, or Mega Man lover, and really just a game historian in general. The 30th Anniversary Character Encyclopedia features over 200 Capcom personalities, including familiar faces like Ryu from Street Fighter and completely forgotten characters throughout Capcom’s history. Buy it from Amazon for only $9

Gaming Plushies When you know your friend’s/child’s/whomever’s favorite game, but don’t know much else about what they like, why not get supplement their already beloved franchises? There are dozens of stuffed animal/plush versions of big-name video game characters, including just about every Nintendo face, as well as lots of Japanese RPG characters, and even the zombies from Left 4 Dead! These are a cool way to spruce up any game room. Yes, even adults love their plush Bowser. A variety of plushies start around $10

Framed Gaming Artwork Posters, original artwork, and even home-made artwork of games are cool. Any game room would look way cooler though if those glorious pictures were in frames. You might not know the dimensions of a poster already hanging up, but why not grab a gift card to a hobby store and get the ball rolling on getting that artwork framed? Trust me, it’ll look great when it’s done. Along the same lines, you can also put a frame or shadow box around a vintage video game box to add some unique flair to any game room!

Gaming Comics There are tons of great comics out there, but there are a handful of decent graphic novels featuring some excellent video game franchises. Sonic the Hedgehog has his own series, as well as Mega Man, many a Street Fighter, and even Link from the Legend of Zelda has his own manga series! While these are only recommended if the recipient enjoys comics and the franchises they’re featuring, they can be a wonderful gift for gamers!

A Portable Game System Many Xbox and PlayStation owners have only one console: The Xbox or PlayStation… perhaps the Wii, but I digress. Perhaps these gamers would enjoy a fantastic gaming-on-the-go experience in a brand new portable system. Nintendo’s 3DS gets my vote as one of the best portable consoles to buy (and one of the best consoles ever made, period), and Sony’s PS Vita is a powerhouse of mobile gaming. Both are on sale this season, and won’t set you back near as much as a new Xbox One or PS4.

Gaming Candies The complete opposite end of buying a new console for your gamer is buying them small tins filled with cheap candy! Really more of a collector’s item than sustinance, these candies are neat ways to display your devotion to your favorite game series’. And if you’re into some odd tasting treats, you can get some food out of it too! And best of all, they’re readily available at damn near every retailer that features games/kids toys!

Board Games Why not change up the medium and play a physical board game than a video game? Many popular game franchises have been reworked into stunningly complex and interesting board game, with some of them even being made by the industry’s top manufacturers. Even non-gaming related board games would be a solid venture. I would guess any gamer would enjoy a copy of Settlers of Catan instead of some boring ol’ FPS.

Video Game Cartoon Series’ Though most of them are… mediocre… there are quite a few game series’ that have made the way to TV and now DVD for all of our viewing pleasure. The Legend of Zelda, Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario Bros., and even Mortal Kombat have all had animated series under their belt, and you can add them to your collection for just a few bucks these days!

Happy Holidays,
Jsick