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

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

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

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.

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 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*.

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*.)

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.