Everything Action at RetroGameCon 2024
Everything Action was back in Syracuse, NY, for RetroGameCon’s biggest event ever. Now three days long, the convention brought retro games, arcades, music, vendors, a panel, special guests, and more to Upstate NY, and Zach and Chris were there for all three days. Check out everything we experienced.
History of RGC
From simple beginnings to large-scale events, RetroGameCon has been about delivering great gaming experiences in Syracuse and other local communities in Upstate New York. We’ve been attending since the 2014 era, shopping for deals and making great connections. This banner showed just a highlight of the convention’s growth, reach, and mission to keep things entertaining to gamers of all ages.
Showflow Finds
The show floor was as big as past RetroGameCons, filled with dozens of vendors and artists offering various items. Along with games from consoles ranging from Atari to PS5 and Xbox Series X, we found a bunch of hidden treasures and oddities. There were outdated media formats, including something called MovieCD, which was apparently the full 90s Mortal Kombat movie on a CD, and a foreign version of National Treasure 2 on UMD. Several vendors also sold VHS tapes, including Pawn Pro, which had tons of rare and unusual genre films in a rack that felt like looking through an old video store. There were also vintage gaming magazines, action figures, books, and anything else you might want. If you couldn’t find at least one item that piqued your interest on the vendor floor of RetroGameCon, you didn’t look hard enough.
Free Play Areas
Console Gaming
Like past years, RetroGameCon featured a large free play area where congoers could experience gaming history, including returning to where it began and playing Tennis for Two on an old oscilloscope. All eras and consoles were represented, including some rare or less common consoles, like the Gemini, which was a Coleco-manufactured Atari clone, or the Super Famicom Box, which was made for Japanese hotels and other businesses and allowed switching games without constantly removing a cartridge from the console. It’s always awesome to see gaming history laid out and available to play to see how we got to the present day.
PC Gaming
RetroGameCon has many old vintage PCs available to check out and play. There were various Atari-manufactured machines, along with ones like the Yamaha CX5M, the Sega SC-3000, and the Nabu personal computer. It’s always fascinating to see how games were different on vintage PCs compared to consoles and how things like mice and multiple colors were not always available. It’s not easy to keep these machines going, and it’s excellent that RetroGameCon can keep bringing this section of the convention year after year.
Arcade
Skill Shot Arcade provided one of the arcade sections of RetroGameCon this year, bringing a selection of classic machines and pinball. Pinball is always something that we need to play a bit because it’s sometimes hard to find somewhere that has them outside of specific places like barcades. We checked out the Scooby-Doo machine, which features animation from Scooby-Doo: Where Are You? and new dialogue from Frank Welker, Matthew Lillard, Kate Micucci, and Grey Griffin. You choose one of the Scooby-Gang at the start of the game, with each member giving a different perk. You must hit specific targets to unlock clues and eventually solve the case. There was also Wizard of Oz pinball, which featured movie clips on the screen, ruby slipper flippers, figures of the main characters on the playfield, and different sections where you could complete challenges to earn high scores. There were also plenty of older machines, Blitz, multicades, and a few Arcade 1UP cocktails. The arcade area was pretty busy the entire time of RetroGameCon but if you got the chance, it was a great way to spend a few minutes.
Retroware Arcade
The other arcade at RetroGameCon was sponsored by Retroware, who brought several imported candy cabs, a DDR machine, and a few cabinets playing their recent release, Iron Meat. It was set off from the main floor and a bit less busy than some of the other areas of the con, so it was a fantastic place to come and chill out for a bit. There was the arcade cabinet for Monkey Ball, which features a banana joystick, a few fighting games based on Gundam, Sailor Moon, and Dragonball, and a cool Metal Slug-style shooter called Dolphin Blue that was unfortunately plagued by horrific slowdown. It was a good contrast to the other arcade, with its cool mood lighting and different selection of games. Hopefully, this area will return and become even bigger next time.
Special Guests
Gaming Anniversaries
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Country turned 30 this year, and RetroGameCon celebrated in a few ways. An extremely elaborate cake created by Sugar Blossom in Syracuse and a con-specific cocktail called the “Donkey Kong Banana Slamma”, which was banana liqueur, rum, and coke. A selection of Donkey Kong titles was also available to play.
Need for Speed
Need for Speed was also celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, with the original release The Need for Speed initially releasing for the 3DO in 1994. Several games in the series were available, including the original 3Do title featuring some hilariously terrible FMV.
Tekken
RetroGameCon celebrated the 30th anniversary of Tekken earlier this year at RetroGameCon Jr., and the celebration continued at the main convention. There were several iterations of the game to play, along with some magazine ads and promos to check out. The exhibit was put on by Syracuse Sucker Punch, who hosts fighting game events in the area.
Main Stage Events
Super Thrash Bros:
The Super Thrash Bros. rocked the main stage Friday afternoon with their instrumental takes on classic video game songs from games like Kirby, Metroid, and Zelda. The Super Thrash Bros. shows are always super high energy, with “Crazy Hand” running around the entire ballroom and engaging the audience to participate in mini-games.
Mega Ran
Nerdcore rap superstar Mega Ran appeared in the main ballroom following Super Thrash Bros. on Friday night of the convention. He performed several songs, including “Splash Woman” and “Tractor Beam.” Chris was actually brought on stage to help show the crowd how to two-step to “Tractor Beam.”
DANIMAL CANNON
Danimal Cannon kicked off the main stage events on Saturday of the convention with his guitar-based music featured in games like Retromania and Proton Pulse.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Cast
The big draw of RetroGameCon this year was featuring the cast of Baldur’s Gate 3. Along with photo ops and autograph sessions, the cast had a massive panel on Saturday afternoon of the convention. They discussed their characters, favorite lines, the process of voice acting, and more. You can check out the entire panel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YKOa0o5jt8
Panels
Primates in Play: Beyond Donkey Kong
Zach and Chris hosted the first panel of the day on Saturday, along with their friend Phil, talking about the history of monkeys, chimps, and other apes in pop culture. The crew was inspired by the 30th anniversary of Donkey Kong Country and some of the badges and promotional material for the convention. We discussed King Kong, Lancelot Link, Planet of the Apes, Ape Escape, Rampage, and more. We speed-ran through basically 100 years of primate-based pop culture and tried not to go bananas ourselves.
YouTuber Q&A w/John Riggs, Russ Lyman, and Mystic.
Youtuber guests John Riggs, Russ Lyman, and Mystic hosted a panel where fans could ask questions about the process of making YouTube videos, what was the most challenging video to make, how to try a new idea, and when to tell it’s not working, and more. It was a great panel if you were looking for advice on starting or growing your own channel or if you were just a fan of any or all of the three panelists.
Table Top
There was a large area for Tabletop and TCG at RetroGameCon, with a large library of games to borrow and play with friends and special events throughout the weekend. TCGPlayer hosted D&D campaigns and tournaments for specific games, and you could even paint and take gaming miniatures.
21XX
Friday afternoon, Zach and Chris participated in a round of 21XX, the Mega Man/X RPG. We learned how to create our robotic characters and then participated in a scenario inspired by the opening stage of Mega Man X. There is a ton of customization available for how you want to build your character. The game has an electronic character sheet that makes it easy to develop and keep track of your character’s attributes and stats. It’s a fun way to experience the world of Mega Man differently. We managed to defeat the evil robots, save some innocent humans, and meet a particularly angry robot ally who was basically a killer toaster. You can check out the game here: https://www.21xxrpg.com/
LARP – Tales of Aloria
If you wanted to do something a bit more physical than rolling dice, then Tales of Aloria had LARPing sessions where participants could engage in battles. It was pretty chaotic to see a few dozen or so LARPers fight each other in a small space, and some were really going for it. It’s definitely something you don’t see at every convention.
After hours
Three Lives
If you’re in Syracuse for RetroGameCon, you must get to Three Lives at least once. A video game-themed bar, Three Lives offers up food and drink inspired by games and pop culture, with their coolest gimmick being “Roll for a Shot,” where you roll a D12 and then get whatever shot corresponds to your roll. There are also a bunch of classic arcade cabinets to play, including Street Fighter II and Joust. Three Lives is the place to be if you want to keep the gaming vibes going after the convention is closed.
After Party
Saturday night was the official Afterparty night for RetroGameCon, held at the con’s official hotel, the Collegian. Super Thrash Bros. and Mega Ran did another set during the party, and there was also the Artist Drink & Draw, where you could get custom art from some of the artists in attendance. The party also had NeoPets-themed drinks for the game’s 25th anniversary, and it was just an overall fun time to chill out, celebrate the first two days of the convention, and hopefully not overdo it so you miss out on Sunday.
Last thoughts
RetroGameCon 2024 was bigger and better than ever. Expanding to three days helped spread out the crowd, and everything seemed to be going incredibly smoothly all three days. There were tons of things to see and do, cool events to check out, and great people to meet. We will definitely keep coming back and we’re looking forward to it getting even bigger and better every year.
