Heroes of Time: Let’s Meet Enrico Freguia
by Simon LaroccaSeptember 7, 2025
Hello! We welcome you to the great family of The Games Market and thank you for agreeing to be interviewed. Every passion is born a long time ago, usually in that magnificent and evocative era between childhood and adolescence; it is there that the dreams of video game players are born, destined to grow together with us. Tell us about yourself! Who are you? Or rather, who is the person, the collector, the video game enthusiast we have in front of us?
Mi name is Freguia Enrico, born in 1981 and I live in a small town in the province of Rovigo.
My childhood was tied to video games thanks to the legendary Nintendo NES, mainly with Super Mario Bros, Duck Hunt and Super Mario Bros 3, which were practically the only games my parents could afford to buy me at the time. I remember like it was yesterday that they paid 110,000 lire for Super Mario Bros 3, and I was over the moon when I got it! I spent entire days on it trying to finish it, and it was, and still is, fantastic. Among my friends there were the classic two factions, the Nintendo one with Mario and the Sega one with Sonic, and I won’t deny that there was always a bit of healthy rivalry over choosing the best console.
Ognuna, of course, with its own strengths and weaknesses, but when you ended up playing at friends’ houses there was no Consolewar, only lots of pure, wholesome fun! The lucky thing about that era was that there were video rental stores where you could rent video games, and I used to spend hours among the shelves with my father deciding which game to take home for 3 days, whether it was Ghostbusters or Zelda!
The years went by, I grew up, but there was still no financial possibility to buy a Super Nintendo rather than a Nintendo 64, and even then you would ask the video rental store for help, since it also rented out consoles; you would ask your closest friends to pool together the few bucks needed to rent it for at least a week, because it was already known that the next time would be several months later.
When the Playstation came out (my older brother was already old enough to work, and we went together to buy it), I felt like I had been catapulted into the future like Jobe Smith from the film "The Lawnmower Man.” Since by then I no longer used the NES, my father had the brilliant idea of GIVING IT AWAY to the son of a coworker of his (to this day I still kick myself).
When I started doing odd jobs, I decided to buy the nicest, most original but used games, and from there I began collecting. It has now been 27 years, and I am proud of my collection, which consists of about 1,100 games, almost all complete (none loose, cartridge only, just to be clear), about 50 consoles (including handhelds) boxed and also some sealed, around a hundred accessories including joypads, guns, and various other accessories, plus a section dedicated to Super Mario with about 130 titles belonging to all the consoles on which he has appeared.
I am now almost 44 years old, married and with 2 children, one 11 years old and the youngest 4, I have my own company together with my brother and a fantastic wife with whom I share a passion for traveling around the world and next year that will take us to Japan, and no one is taking away a day in Akihabara from me!!
Free time to play is now a distant memory and at present I devote myself only to collecting, so much so that the games and consoles I buy now remain sealed unopened!
Collecting means maintaining a deep connection with our past and the games we have loved. What are your favorite titles of all time? In your own words, let us “see” your shelves and the collection, or collections, that represent you.
Da when I started collecting, I have always looked for games and consoles of all kinds because I feel like the type of collector who likes to have a lot of stuff of a slightly lower value rather than a little stuff of a lot of value!
I am, however, at the same time selective in my choices, preferring to buy only Pal or Pal-A games (in the specific case of NES) and not USA or Jap ones; I look for titles that are as complete as possible and not loose, and I also prefer to buy games in good condition and complete.
My favorite games? They depend on the era: in the NES era they were undoubtedly Super Mario Bros, Tetris, Ghostbusters, Bubble Bobble, Ducktales and Rainbow islands.
In the era of the PlayStation, I’d cite Resident Evil, Gran Turismo, Kula World, Crash Bandicoot, Mortal Kombat, and Broken Sword. In the PlayStation 2 era, God Of War burst forcefully into my life, for which I own a dedicated display cabinet with all the titles released from the first to the last, along with comics, books, controllers, and themed consoles!
In recent years, however, my goal has become to complete the collection of the 299 NES titles released as Pal-A: I see it as a daunting if not impossible undertaking, both because of the availability of certain titles and the expense I would have to face, but in any case I do not give up.
At the moment I have reached 185 titles and I am still proud of it!
By getting your title graded, you made an important choice and from now on it has become something more, not just in terms of collectible value. How did you get to know the world of grading? Have you already had similar experiences with other of your collections, even ones different from video games?
Dell’existence of Grading I have been aware of for years now, the main names such as Wata, Vga, Cgc or Pixelgrading have always attracted my curiosity but at the same time I have always seen them (for my type of collection) as a very high and pointless expense.
I’ll explain myself better: as I said before, I have never sought perfection in the games I buy because it is more important to own a piece and keep it for myself, rather than thinking about its value and then reselling it, perhaps after years.
Piccolo anecdote: about 4 years ago I happened to meet and get to know a guy with his retrogames stall in Padua; he had several NES games that I was missing, and at home I had several duplicates I wanted to get rid of, so I предложed him a trade.
While we were discussing the value of my games and his, he told me: “in recent years the value of Retrogames has increased a lot, let’s hope it’s not just a soap bubble and that the value doesn’t collapse in the coming years”. I replied, “look, for me if the value were to go down I would only be pleased, so I’d be able to get even more of them!”
Obviously, we were coming from two different points of view, mine as a collector and his purely business-oriented, as the owner of a stall and a VAT number.
What were the main reasons why you wanted to have the title you brought us graded? Beyond the nostalgic aspects tied to the game, are there other motivations behind your decision to entrust TGM’s grading procedure?
Vi ho fatto grade a title like Gumshoe for NES which is not one of the most sought-after games on the market, but I care little because it is a title that I paid the handsome sum of 5 euros at an antique market.
The fact that I paid a pittance for it greatly increases the value I assign to this game, and having invested money to appreciate it, with even the X-ray scanning, has given me a great deal of satisfaction!
When I first saw your TGM ad on Instagram, I was overjoyed and immediately started thinking about which titles I could send you, also thanks to the fact that the distance between us is short and I wouldn’t have had to bid farewell to my beloved games as they headed off to America, hoping I might be able to see them again after who knows how many weeks.
Deciding to have them graded for me means permanently stopping their deterioration over time, due to various movements around the home or accidental falls that may perhaps be caused by children around the house.
Ribadisco, at the moment I make games merely to keep them preserved, thinking that my collection is increasing in value and who knows, maybe one day my children will be able to get a nice sum out of them, or they will give them away like my father did with my Nintendo Nes!
We certainly hope not!
Every game has its own story, just as it has its own owner; the bond that is formed goes far beyond the simple owner-object relationship. When the title was finally returned to you graded, how did you feel?
After just one week of waiting, the titles were ready to be sent back to their rightful owner.
“What? Already?” I think to myself.
Well yes, with super-tracked and protected shipping as if the Mona Lisa were inside, they are delivered to my home and, impatient yet at the same time with extreme delicacy, I extract the relics from the box.
They were perfect! Shiny! Stylish!
And they had come back to me!
To conclude, we can only ask you the quintessential standard question: what aspects of our service did you like the most? Thank you not only for giving us your time, but also for choosing to place your trust in us!
Choosing which aspect I liked most about your service is a bit difficult for me, in a good way of course, since I have no basis for comparison with other companies.
I am still happy in many ways: clarity of the grading process, the availability of your team, the speed of the service, the patience with customers like me, who ask a thousand questions at any hour, and the attention to logistics.
I also highlight the quality of the materials used, the value for money, and the X-ray service, with HD cards!
We’ll be in touch soon… With the new items to grade!
Simon Larocca
Mi chiamo Simon Larocca, e sono un videogiocatore, collezionista e amante della cultura pop in tutte le sue forme. Vado al cinema ogni volta che posso, leggo da quando porto gli occhiali, quindi da sempre, e ho la passione per lo storytelling in tutte le sue forme, così dirompente da farla diventare una professione. Ma come direbbe Doc di Ritorno al Futuro, non ci sarebbe presente se non si guardasse al passato con rispetto e ammirazione, ed è il Simon bambino di più di trent’anni fa, anno più anno meno.
Simon Larocca
Mi chiamo Simon Larocca, e sono un videogiocatore, collezionista e amante della cultura pop in tutte le sue forme. Vado al cinema ogni volta che posso, leggo da quando porto gli occhiali, quindi da sempre, e ho la passione per lo storytelling in tutte le sue forme, così dirompente da farla diventare una professione. Ma come direbbe Doc di Ritorno al Futuro, non ci sarebbe presente se non si guardasse al passato con rispetto e ammirazione, ed è il Simon bambino di più di trent’anni fa, anno più anno meno.