Everything Action at TooManyGames 2024
This past June, TooManyGames rang in its 20th anniversary with a massive celebration of everything that gamers could come to want. Even with the undead theme they had going this year, there was a ton of lively energy in the air. Held at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center from June 28-30th, this year’s event attracted thousands of attendees, featuring a diverse lineup of indie developers, gaming tournaments, cosplay contests, and vendor booths. Our review dives into a few unique experiences where we explored the show floor, sat in on a few talks, and even hosted our panels, plus got hours of gaming between events.
Show floor
The show floor layout has grown to be the biggest yet this year. Every hall of the Greater Philadelphia Convention was used, allowing for more extensive queue lines, new placement of gaming setups, and panel rooms to be spread out. The former spaces holding free play and smaller panel rooms now housed the Nekko and Gato stages, respectively. The tournaments, free play, and arcade were now contained in one hall, making it easy for people to wander and game whenever they wanted. The vendor hall was packed as usual, with many tables and booths you could lose hours exploring. Rows of booths showcased a wide array of merchandise, from rare retro games and consoles to the latest gaming accessories and custom artwork. You never knew what kind of stuff you could find shifting through collections of hidden gems.
Did you need a giant promotion of Rambo 3? You probably don’t, but you might when it’s neatly displayed, and the light hits it just right. The show had much more of that “gaming flea market” feel this year compared to the last few years, where it was almost all games and not much of the other fun junk that many collectors like to find. From one-of-a-kind promo items to giant standees, action figures, gaming magazines, and more, the variety of things to see and purchase in the vendor area was fantastic this year.
Indie Showcase
The indie showcase was filled with indie developers and their game titles waiting for anyone to try. A few demos were in the final phases of development or had recently been released. The nice thing about a convention like TMG is that the crowds aren’t too crazy to play a demo and casually talk to the creative team. You get great insight into the people behind the game and can easily hear stories of past experiences. Another cool thing this year is that if you weren’t able to get to the convention or want to replay something you played at the con, there’s a TMG Steam showcase where you can see most of the games on display, wishlist them and check out the demos: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44973690/sale/TooManyGames2024
Arcade
Tucked away and darkened for effect, the arcade selection was given a nice layout that felt like a proper arcade. Machines were ready for people to jump on or browse around if it was too busy. Even if a game had a long queue, the crowd would die down in an hour, and you could squeeze in around or two unbothered. There was a great mix of classic cabs, like Pengo, Playchoice-10, and Killer Instinct, and Japanese imports, primarily available on a selection of candy cabs. There was also a small but decent pinball collection that would get those flipper needs going. We spent a lot of time playing rhyme and fighting games, getting all that aggression through songs and violence.
Freeplay
Equipped with a wide array of consoles, the console freeplay area was a nostalgic trip to the past, present, and possible future. Nintendo, Sega, and PlayStation had their selections divided into their distinct areas, but the options were limited. If you wanted to play, you had to wait and watch for an open seat. If you are open to anything, you could find a free console to hop on. But as the convention went on, some machines had some wear and tear, and a few games we were looking to play had to be shut down. There were some rare systems, like the Neo Geo AES and 3DO. It was cool to check out those oddities if the system was up and running.
Special Guests
TooManyGames has brought popular streamers, voice actors, and performers. This year’s lineup had talent from games like Baulder’s Gate 3, Resident Evil 2 Remake, Resident Evil 7, and Resident Evil Village. Many people lined up to meet these icons with autograph sessions and photo ops throughout the three days, so this area was always busy. These guests also had panels and Q&A sessions, providing a rare opportunity to delve into the creative processes behind favorite games and gain insider knowledge about the industry. One of our favorite voice actors attending was Steve Blum, who led his voice in some must-watch anime staples, so it was a real big fan moment to get a chance to see him in person. That was even more amplified when we got to hang out with him when we moderated his QA panels during this event.
Cosplay Pro Wrestling
Cosplay Pro Wrestling is everything you love about the sportsmanship of wrestling and the colorful personalities of your favorite characters. The costumes and storylines in every match are a visual spectacle, with action that will keep people on the edge of their seats. At least they would be on the edges if there were enough seats. CPW is very popular and the area becomes standing room only once a match begins. We caught a few matches, cheering with the crowd and booing at the cheap shots.
Music Acts
Saturday was a big day for the musical acts at TooManyGames. After so many panels and gaming, you need a boost of electrifying live performance to get the blood pumping. From rock covers of beloved video game soundtracks to music inspired by the 90s and 2000s to original compositions, the music has been a nice feature to see, even if it bled into the other panel room at times, making it a little hard to hear some of the Q&A from the non-musical panel.
Panels
Scheduled from the afternoon to the evening, the panel rooms held talks about in-depth topics. Attendees can hear directly from game developers, industry veterans, and popular influencers, gaining insights into the latest trends and behind-the-scenes stories. These sessions often feature exclusive previews, live demos, and Q&A segments, allowing fans to engage directly with the creators of their favorite games.
We caught bits of the Resident Evil panel with the cast of actors hosted by Pass the Control. Nick Apostolides, Maggie Robertson, Nicole Tompkins, and Stephanie Panisello discussed the elements that make great horror stories and Resident Evil’s placement within the genre.
We stopped in to laugh with the crowd as the contestants did their best impressions to sound epic or silly in Retro Roulette‘s 5th annual “Tournament of Voices” panel, where they crowned a Grand Champion from the winners of the past five tournaments.
We were excited to have one panel at TMG last year and after, we were hungry for more. We didn’t just double down on the panels but went for an overkill medal for hosting four panels. On Friday, we tried our hands on an informative topic about zombies and pop culture, a subject that we are big fans of and have a wealth of knowledge about. We got the chance to host a QA session with Steve Blum on Friday and Saturday. Our game show-type panel about creating games with Chat GPT was popular enough for a breezy Sunday panel.
Zombies Ate My Pop Culture
Our first Everything Action panel on Friday was “Zombies Ate My Pop Culture,” where we explored the history of zombies across movies, TV, video games, books, and more, inspired by the Zombies Ate My Neighbors theme of this year’s con. We talked about the famous and obscure examples of zombies and rated them based on how close they were to the ideal “Romero” style zombies and how much of a threat they posed to humanity. You can check out the early parts of the panel in the video below.
Steve Blum QA
Chris moderated Steven Blum’s panels on the Nekko and Gato stages, where Blum gave out tips and career advice, shared a few behind-the-scenes stories from some of his favorite projects, and performed character voices. Chris had to hold back a lot of excitement as Blum roared out Wolverine, spoke cool responses as Spike, and even villainous threats as Starscream. Both panels were packed with tons of fans Cowboy Bebop, X-Men, Toonami, Star Wars, Transformers, and other projects Blum has been an industry voice-over legend. You can check out most of the panel below.
Friday QA Session:
Saturday QA Session:
Would You Play It?
Our “Would You Play It? A Human and AI Game Generator” panel, which debuted last year, drew in a nice Sunday afternoon crowd. We took suggestions from the audience for a movie and a video game and had an A. I smash them together to see what kind of game it created. There were interesting and wacky combos like Ferris Bueller and Doom or Finding Nemo and League of Legends. Helping us with a few narrations of these premises was Phil from ProGentShow, who gave great performances that mimic epic space dramas or slapstick comedies. It was fun to see what combinations the audience would suggest, and it was all a gamble to see if the A.I had some frame of reference to create a premise. We said we would give our prizes to the top ideas, we had such an amazing crowd that we pretty much handed out awards to everyone who participated.
Last Thoughts
TooManyGames 2024 was an unforgettable experience. In three days, we explored the expansive hall filled with rare collectibles and indie games, engaged in great panels, and met tons of other geeks. The highlight was undoubtedly the chance to connect with some voice actors and share silly stories. Even after three long days, TooManyGames leaves people buzzed with excitement, with many attendees who somehow have energy by the end, eagerly anticipating more. We look forward to next year’s show and continue to celebrate all things gaming and geeky again.
