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2023 Long Island Retro Gaming Expo recap: conclusion and pickups September 1, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Aviation, Baseball, Books, Education, Football, Game Shows, Golf, History, Hockey, Internet, Japanese, Language, Media, Personal, Photography, Sports, Technology, Travel, Video, Video Games.
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If you haven’t seen them yet, read the first post here and second post here.

Sunday, August 13

After my last Long Island Retro Gaming Expo panel of the weekend, I made my way to the vendor marketplace and searched for games I didn’t have that were $20 or less. I bargained with each vendor, only spending close to $200. That’s the least I’ve spent since my first year (2017). The bulk of my purchases were for the Nintendo Entertainment System, my first video game console.

Satisfied, I exited the Cradle of Aviation Museum and waited for my mom to pick me up.

  • Exiting
  • The opposite view from the establishing shot in post 1
  • Cumulus clouds against the clear blue, sunny sky
  • The American flag (I captioned the other two, so why not this?)
  • My bag of combined pickups, led by the infamous Deadly Towers; I finally got it

Monday, August 14 and beyond

My attempt to make up for Saturday night’s severe storm-shortened sleep was unsuccessful. I woke up early Monday morning after five or six hours of sleep. Then, I went outside to look at the stars.

Back inside, as the sun rose, I unpacked the pickups from my paper bag and photographed them.

We’ll start with merchandise (and my badges):

The front of the badges:

12 games for Nintendo Entertainment System:

Now, I have an NES Yoshi to go with the Game Boy version I’ve had since childhood. The Power Pad games and Star Voyager were the subjects of early Pat the NES Punk episodes (including one with Alison).

“Power Pad Fun!”, Part 1:

Part 2:

Deadly Towers got the Angry Video Game Nerd treatment (via fans’ script submissions):

Two for Super Nintendo:

The TV ads at launch tempted me into getting SimCity, but I never did. I haven’t even seen Judge Dredd the film.

Two Nintendo 64 games:

Another game show game for my collection – Jeopardy! for Nintendo DS:

One self-explanatory 3DS title – Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS:

Wrongly assuming the 3DS and Wii U Super Smash Bros. games were the same, I only bought for Wii U when I started collecting for the two consoles in 2017 (there’s that year again). Prior to LI Retro, I saw a Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Video Games video that set me straight (Japanese with English subtitles):

Good thing I found a copy from a vendor, eliminating the need to buy from Amazon.

And lastly, my first Sega CD game – Joe Montana’s NFL Football:

To quote the infamous TV ad (parodied here), I “still don’t have a Sega CD,” but after buying my first game Sunday afternoon, I bought 12 more games on eBay between Monday morning and Wednesday night. This included eight from four-game lots, and two Sonic CD variants. The complete list (in order of appearance):

  • All the games on the shelf

Thank you for taking this photographic journey through the 2023 Long Island Retro Gaming Expo. Until next year.

2023 Long Island Retro Gaming expo recap: touring the expo September 1, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Aviation, Computer, Education, History, Personal, Photography, Technology, Travel, TV, Video, Video Games, Weather.
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If you haven’t viewed the first recap post yet, click here. Skip ahead to the third recap here.

Now that you’ve seen the panels, why not tour the rest of this year’s Long Island Retro Gaming Expo at the Cradle of Aviation Museum?

Before we do that, while editing on the Monday after (August 14), I noticed a familiar face in the bottom right of this Saturday (August 12) photo in the vendor marketplace:

What?! Clint Basinger (LGR) was there?! According to his Twitter activity, yes.

I was kicking myself for not knowing he’d be there, but John Riggs and LI Retro staff member Ryan Shapiro told me on Facebook that Clint was there as a paid attendee, not a guest. In their words:

He visited the show but did not host a panel. I was very excited to see him there.

Ryan Shapiro

I didn’t know he was gonna be there, either. There were quite a few YouTube people that weren’t on the list but showed up to hang out. Tells you how awesome the show is.

John Riggs

Hear hear, John. While I missed Clint in the moment, I did notice Justin Silverman walking along a separate row of vendors. I’d have said hello if we crossed paths.

Here is the latest LGR video:

The walking photo tour begins in earnest with a “good retro morning” greeting:

Most photos were taken on Saturday, but a small amount are from Sunday (August 13). (You’ll know by the filename.)

Vendor Marketplace:

I thought of Japanese Ammo with Misa as I passed this vendor’s Pokémon figurines.
Consoles and PCs were available from vendors

EON Gaming:

The rest of the first floor:

This TV cycled through WS4000 simulator flavors to show weather conditions in several video game locations.
The music was from actual Weather Channel local forecast recordings on the tribute site TWC Classics…
…but Dan Chandler’s recreated narration was enabled.
Speaking of Pokémon, here’s the Pokélab.
The next four photos were actual museum exhibits, unrelated to LI Retro.
After taking this, I sat down in the right window seat. It was as close as I’ve been to air travel since March 2019.
Back to LI Retro exhibits.

Second floor:

The second floor had its own Game Boy Selfie Station.
Once again, I present the not-rare Black Tiger.

The third floor was Tetris-themed:

I’ve been a fan of Tetris ever since playing the Game Boy version as a kid. I have that and 21 other variations of Tetris in my collection. This includes Tetris & Dr. Mario and Puyo Puyo Tetris. I also have the three ports of Tetris 2. The sequel gets a bad rap, but I enjoy it.

Anyway, that’s the end of the photo tour. Click here for my third recap post with a conclusion and pickups photos.

2023 Long Island Retro Gaming Expo recap: introduction, guests, panels September 1, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Audio, Aviation, Books, Computer, Education, Game Shows, History, Internet, Media, Personal, Photography, Podcast, Radio, Technology, Travel, TV, Video, Video Games.
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Feel free to skip ahead to the second post (touring the expo) or third post (conclusion and pickups).

Introduction

The weekend of August 12 and 13 marked my fifth year at Long Island Retro Gaming Expo, held in the Cradle of Aviation Museum, situated along Museum Row in East Garden City. This is LI Retro’s second year as a three-day event, running from 4PM Friday through 5PM Sunday. Again, I opted to skip Friday and just go Saturday and Sunday. I had to last year since I used my ticket for the postponed 2020 expo, but I saved money this year by purchasing a three-day ticket. I would have gone Friday if I lived within walking distance or had a car of my own.

When LI Retro’s schedule was published a few weeks before the event, I planned my days around panels, three per day. I also hoped to catch musical performances, but time would not allow that. I did not allow myself to buy games from vendors until after the last panel on Sunday.

I brought my Canon EOS R7 (and compatible speedlite, which didn’t cooperate) along with a TASCAM DR-05 audio recorder. While panels would be posted online, I wanted personal recordings to hold me over in the meantime. As of this writing, I have yet to listen, let alone edit out the beginnings and ends.

I hoped not to go overboard with photography, which means I did. A whopping 831 photos (466 Saturday, 366 Sunday) were taken with the R7 at LI Retro, plus four on my iPhone 13 Pro. I spent a week and a half editing them all, spreading out 563 of them in three blog posts. (I couldn’t possibly cram them all in one.)

This first post contains the introduction you’re reading now, photos with guests, photos from the six panels I saw, and relevant links and media embeds.

We start with an establishing exterior shot taken Sunday morning:

Waiting in line before doors opened on Saturday morning
Entering…

Guest table photos

It was fun catching up with guests and staff that I’ve seen before, and meeting new guests for the first time.

Leonard Herman (right) and Mark W. Baer (left), middle child of videogame pioneer Ralph H. Baer:

Mark gifted me with copies of his father Ralph’s patent and of the Magnavox Odyssey licensing agreement between Magnavox, Atari and Sanders Associates. From Leonard, I bought his book ABC to the VCS: A Director of Software for the Atari 2600 and Bill Kunkel‘s Confessions of the Game Doctor. Each book was published by Leonard’s Rolenta Press company.

Leonard and Mark with Patrick Wong:

Me and Jeff:

I didn’t compete with him on the Brown Box prototype this year.

LI Retro staff member Ryan Shapiro posed with Mark Baer prior to Sunday’s panel:

Me and John Riggs:

I bought another Genesis ROM hack cartridge from John’s table this year, but not one he made.

Adam Koralik:

Pat Contri (a.k.a. Pat the NES Punk) and Ian Ferguson:

I congratulated Pat for 15 years on YouTube, and he and Ian on a decade of the CU Podcast. We talked about cameras, the upcoming N64 entry in Pat’s Ultimate Nintendo book series, and my merch purchases. (I also apologized for how my podcast panel question trailed off at the end. [SPOILER])

Sunday morning, Pat was interviewed by Margaret Sykes of WRHU, radio station for nearby Hofstra University:

She then spoke to Leonard and Mark:

Adam’s table had prototype consoles and a signed copy of Shenmue II:

Frank Cifaldi spoke to Lenny and Mark before his panel, my first of the weekend:

John Riggs talking to attendees:

John’s LI Retro vlog:

Travis McGeehan (TIKevin83) and the TASBot:

On to panel photos and relevant links, including video and/or audio.

Saturday Panel 1, 11AM-12PM:
Frank Cifaldi
Adventures in Saving Video Game History

I winced at all this misinformation.
Q&A

After the panel, I ended up part of a conversation with Frank and fellow archivist Jason Scott. (I had no idea I was in the presence of greatness until a Google search Sunday morning.)

A selfie with Jason (sans top hat) and Frank:

I resorted to AI enhancing to compensate for lens blur.

Saturday Panel 2, 2PM-3PM
Pat Contri and Ian Ferguson
CU Podcast Special 2

Podcast audio out of the way, including my question:

The not-rare Black Tiger cabinet (in reference to this):

And the podcast videos:

Topic 1: Nintendo is expected to release the Switch 2 next year.
Audience member: “If it’s not backward compatible, I will riot.”
Topic 2: a scummy eBay seller.
Topic 3: Ten years of the CU Podcast
Demonstrating Steph Curry’s uninspired percussion…
…and Klay Thompson’s inspired percussion
Q&A…
Waiting to ask my question
Asking my question: Do friends and family that appeared in videos get recognized (Alison, in particular)? (Plus, I saw a Black Tiger arcade cabinet on the second floor, alluding to Pat’s Flea Market Madness encounter.)
Back at my seat
This was a question or two after mine
The last questioner asked if Pat and Ian had seen Grandma’s Boy because “it’s fire,” slang for “great.”
Looking it up on IMDB
6.9/10
A final thank you

While waiting to ask a question, I noticed my friend Daniel Greenberg of Winterion Game Studios in the audience with his wife Alex. I whispered hello and we spoke more after the panel. It turns out Daniel and Alex had visited LIU Post earlier in the day. As you’ll see in the photo Alex took, I was wearing a Post polo on Saturday:

Saturday Panel 3, 3:30-4:30 PM:
G Gracin
Growing Up Genesis with G to the Next Level (streamed live on Twitch)

Watch the Twitch stream VOD here.

In addition to streaming on Twitch, G recorded the panel for a future YouTube video.
G’s Sonic collection
Twitch montage…
To mark the occasion, G displayed three items with a New York area theme (two, at least). First, El Viento, partially set in 1920s NYC.
Next, the New York Pokémon Center Game Boy Advance.
Third (not directly NY-themed), issue 0 of the Sonic the Hedgehog Archie Comics series.
G turned their webcam toward the audience so we could say hello.
“Hello, Twitch chat!”
Q&A began with the same audience member who joked to Pat and Ian that he would riot if the Switch 2 isn’t backward compatible.
A clip of G rating the dubious Genesis game Slaughter Sport (a.k.a. Tongue of the Fatman).
One question from Twitch chat
A parting shot of the TV screen

G and me:

I tried to go to sleep early Saturday night, but I was wired from the long and exciting day I had. I figure I got four hours of sleep before being jolted awake by a severe thunderstorm just before 3AM. The peak came at 3:13 with two close (and loud) lightning strikes. Thankfully, conditions mellowed after that, though sleep was impossible. I got some editing done and prepped for a return to Cradle of Aviation at 10AM. Somehow, Lenny, Mark, Patrick, Pat, and my parents all slept through the storm.

Sunday morning was when Margaret Sykes conducted her interviews, and where I spoke to her about WRHU general manager John Mullen’s recent induction to the WCWP Hall of Fame.

Sunday Panel 1, 11AM-12PM:
Adam Koralik, Evil Rob Thanos, Sunshine (from Adam’s Discord)
Talking Console Prototypes: Sega Pluto (and hard drives), Atari Jaguar “Hot Rod” Dental Unit, Sony PlayStation Debugging Station, Nintendo GameCube NR Reader

Relevant videos:

Finally, panel photos:

The first and last of the above videos looped throughout the panel. Adam joked that they were 70mm IMAX editions, like for Oppenheimer.
Adam with the Nintendo PlayStation prototype
RIP Terry Diebold (right)
Adam and Rob introduced themselves.
Sunshine wondered why he was there.
Sunshine showed off the Sony PlayStation Debugging Station and GameCube NR Reader.
An audience member guessed what prototype Adam was holding.
Answer: the Atari Jaguar “Hot Rod” Dental Unit.
Adam at the National Videogame Museum
Who’s that with him outside the museum? (It’s Rob, of course.)
Lastly, the Sega Pluto…
…and its hard drives.
Q&A…
Squishchin’s question
Afterward, a fan named Rob (left) gifted Adam with Shenmue promotional material he acquired while working at an electronics store. (source)

While working on this post, I joined Adam’s aforementioned Discord. I was welcomed with open arms and given the nickname Mike Camera. I like it!

It’s where I found Squishchin’s LI Retro vlog:

10/11 UPDATE: Watch Adam’s travelogue on his second channel, Flying & Eating with Adam Koralik:

Look for me at the 22:43 mark.

Sunday Panel 2, 12:30 PM-1:30 PM:
Frank Cifaldi and Rachel Simone Weil
Unraveling Nintendo’s Most Elusive Lost Hardware: The Nintendo Knitting Machine

I mistook this Royal for a different Royal and was corrected by Frank. (I apologized for that.)
A GIF of Rachel at the controls
Rachel’s creation
My Columbo impression (a la Pat Contri’s friend Frank [last name withheld]) from the day before continued to haunt me.
Rachel’s original AI advertising
More AI ads
Q&A…

Sunday Panel 3, 2PM-3PM:
Leonard Herman and Mark W. Baer
The Life, Time and Influence of Ralph H. Baer, The Father of Videogames

As noted in last year’s recap, Lenny grew to be like a surrogate son to Ralph. You can see the brotherly love between Lenny and Mark in many of the photos below.

Mark showing the patent and licensing agreement…
…and Ralph’s book Videogames in the Beginning (published by Lenny)
Mark reenacted the What’s My Line? panelists’ amazement during their questioning
Q&A…
Answering my question: What did Ralph think of videogames (one word) becoming publicly known as video games (two words)?

This concludes post one. Click here for post two or here for post three.