TooManyGames was back at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center June 26th-28th, and Zach and Chris were there all three days to take in everything the convention had to offer.  From free-play arcade machines, pinball, and consoles to a massive vendor hall full of gaming and pop culture treasures to tons of panels with the various special guests, there was so much to see and do.  Check out all the finds in the vendor hall, the panels we attended (and hosted), the indie games we checked out, and more.

Pre-Show

Unsure how traffic would be with a World Cup event in Philadelphia, we both arrived at the convention area on the Thursday before the convention started. We wanted to arrive early to beat the traffic, but not so early that we get roped into lifting the heaviest cargo at move-in time (Can’t trick us a third time, vendor friends!). The pre-show gave us quick access to the layout and a chance to catch up with some people, amping up anticipation for the many things to come over the next busy days.

After picking up our badges, we headed across the street to Arnold’s Family Fun Center, which looks like a nondescript industrial building from the outside but houses all kinds of amusement activities inside.  Arnold’s features an arcade, go-karts, laser tag, mini golf, bowling, and more.

We were there mainly because it was happy hour, so we got some cheap drinks and hung out with Len Stuart, the creative director of indie JRPG Pixel Noir, and John Riggs.  After sharing some beers, we headed to one of the hidden food gems in the convention area, The Perky.  Looking like someone’s house on the outside, The Perky is a local bar and also features some fantastic barbecue.  Loading up on some smoked meats and trying to compete in that night’s trivia contest was a great way to wrap up Day 0 before the convention officially opened.

You can catch us in a small appearance in John Rigg’s quick vlog at TMG:

Show Start

Crowds arrived promptly before the event, where they were queued up to get them right at the doors when they opened to the public. Each day, the Neko and Gato Panels served as a temp holding area, where attendees lined up and waited to make their way to their target locations. Some went for the gaming sections, got lost in the marketplace, or wanted to be first in line to meet their favorite content creator or performer in the guest hall.

Marketplace

One of the main draws for many attendees at TooManyGames is the massive vendor hall and marketplace.  There are massive rows of booths selling original art, clothing, vintage toys, and, of course, tons of retro video games.  If you’re looking to fill holes in your gaming collection, this is where you want to come to find harder-to-find and rarer titles, although it seemed like several booths were also doing deals to buy several cheaper games at a time.  Sometimes the ratios between artists, game sellers, and other vendors are off or lean too far into one type, but TooManyGames always seems to have the perfect blend of everything.  It also has a great “nerdy flea market” feel as you dig in and find some of the odder, more obscure items for sale.

Mighty Mike Video Games

One booth that was impossible to miss was Mighty Mike Video Games.  Coming all the way from Pineallas Park, FL, Mighty Mike had a large tower of video game standees that dominated the TooManyGames skyline, with several extremely rare (and extremely expensive) items on display.  There were some helmets that were screen-used in the Call of Duty Black Ops 3 launch trailer, a basketball from the Foot Locker “Slam Fest” event hosted by Sega Sports covered in athlete signatures, an F-Zero board game from Japan, a prototype cartridge of Ninja Gaiden for NES, and more.  While most of the items are well beyond the price range of most TMG attendees, it was kind of like a mini video game museum in the middle of the show floor, and it was cool to hang out and look at what they had found.

While there was tons of cool stuff on display, we didn’t actually buy all that much this year.  Zach found a cool shirt from Midnight Monster Society that makes Freddy Krueger the mascot for a pizzeria, inspired by the pizza scene from A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. 

Our friend (and sometimes commentary special guest) Chris Ali, who was helping us out by taking some photos, found some music albums.

Jukebox Imports

Chris Ali picked up an import CD soundtrack of the NieR Automata Piano Collections, from Jukebox Imports (www.jukeboximports.com), who sells a bunch of anime, video game, J-Pop, and J-Rock OSTs/albums. Japanese video games, especially JRPGs, are renowned for having wonderful soundtracks, borrowing elements from diverse genres, including classical, jazz, pop, metal, and electronic, to form something arguably a genre of its own. 2017’s NieR Automata is certainly no exception. Its soundtrack has received near-unanimous acclaim for compositions that ebb and flow with the dynamics of exploration and combat, leading to some of the most riveting moments in the game, with the music and environment flowing perfectly. There are subtle details on the NieR Automata Piano Collections album cover, with a nod to the stool used in the fishing minigame with the Pods. The booklet includes writings by each of the pianists who performed on this album. Ali’s Japanese reading ability is limited, but he pieces together the text, which likely describes how the original song made them feel and how they approached arranging it into a solo piano piece.

Super Sox Shop

If you need something soft and geeky, you can’t go wrong with an item from our friend Gina, owner and creator of Super Sox Shop. She offers handcrafted, pillowy items such as swords, shields, and space weaponry. These items are great for kids, adults and adults who act like kids. These go great as decorations or play toys, and make fun cosplay accessories for many occasions.

Freeplay

If you were looking to play some games while attending a gaming convention, TooManyGames had you covered with a wide assortment of console and arcade games to play.  Everything from the Atari to the modern consoles was represented, and there were several more obscure and rare consoles, like the 3DO, that many attendees may never have had the chance to experience before.  Wedoca Retro was also in attendance, as in previous years, bringing even more obscure and rare consoles, such as the MSX2 and various variations of the TurboGrafx/PC Engine that never left Japan.  If you’ve got some friends (or are looking to make some new ones), this is a great area to take a break from the show floor and hang out with classic games.

Arcade

Along with the classic consoles, there was also an arcade freeplay area featuring a mix of retro arcade cabinets, Japanese candy cabs, and more modern rhythm games.  Classics like TMNT, X-Men, Centipede, Mr. Do, and Arkanoid were available, but we gravitated to the more obscure Mach Breakers.  This is a futuristic sports title similar to games like Track & Field, where each event is a mini-game that usually involves pounding the buttons.  The events in Mach Breakers are much wilder than normal track and field events, as here you’ll be trying to stop a speeding train, launching a missile like a shot put, or using energy blasts to shoot targets.  It’s a fun party game with a group and can also be a bit of a workout, as pounding the buttons as fast as you can might tire out your hands.

There were also a few pinball tables available to play, and this year they were all Stern machines that were connected to the internet.  If you have an account on Stern Insiders, you could scan your app and compete in the ongoing high score list that was going on all weekend and was constantly displayed on monitors in the pinball area.  There was also a special badge you could earn for checking in at TooManyGames.  Lines were pretty long all weekend, but we did get to play Transformers pinball, which features clips from the classic 80s cartoon series and several toys and gimmicks on the board, including figures of Optimus Prime and Grimlock, and large Megatron and Soundwave figures that launch balls from their cannons and tape decks, respectively.  It’s a really cool machine that we haven’t really seen before.

Tabletop

TooManyGames also features plenty of cardboard and tabletop gaming alongside the digital kind.  There’s a sizable collection of new and retro board games that you can check out from the convention’s library that you can play with friends.  The McDonald’s Game has become a staple of the con and there’s something for every skill level and gaming style.  There were also several tournaments if you wanted to put your board game skills to the test against other con goers.  There were also more elaborate tabletop setups for players of games like Marvel Crisis Protocol, Warhammer 40K, and Star Wars: Legion, with tournaments and demonstrations throughout the weekend.  One new area was the “Beyblade Zone,” where congoers could bring their best Beyblades to compete against other congoers.  Beyblades seem like they might be making a comeback, as between the “Beyblade Zone” and some of our convention friends being super into it, there’s also an upcoming roguelike indie game inspired by the concept, Slayblade.

Indie Games

TooManyGames showcases several indie games on the show floor every year and has recently expanded into a much larger digital showcase on Steam.  They’ve also started hosting an award show, the Indie Game Showcase Awards, where they present awards in categories such as Best Brawler/Fighter, Best Action Roguelike, Best Puzzle Game, and more.  We checked out a few of the in-person games while exploring the show floor.

Dukkido: Coming from MariSuCho LLC, Dukkido is a Pikmin-inspired action-RTS game where you control an army of minions on the bizarre planet of Dukkido.  There are different minions that you can find and recruit that have different abilities, from basic grunts who can push things around to more advanced units with more specialized uses.  You have direct control of your character, the Captain, and you can send your units to certain spots, have them attack enemies, move objects, or regroup.  The game is heavily physics-based, and there can be some wild and crazy occurrences, like your guys getting scattered by an explosion.  You gather your minions, and then you solve environmental puzzles and even take on bosses as you progress through the missions.  You get multiple missions you can take on, and you can even play with up to five players via online co-op, which seems like it would be pure chaos in a fun way.  The game doesn’t have a release date yet, but you can sign up on the Steam page to be in an upcoming playtest if you’re interested.

Dojo Masters: Developed by Pixeled Vision, Dojo Masters is a two-button, retro-style fighting game that released last year and has a new Expansion Pack releasing this fall.  The game features several martial arts and fighting styles, with each fighter feeling distinct from the others.  We tried Muay Thai and Capoeira, and it was a completely different experience between each fighter.  Along with using the two buttons for basic attacks, you can use the buttons and controller directions to do more advanced moves.  There isn’t a traditional life meter; instead, you need to wear down your opponents’ stamina and then knock them down to score points.  It’s extremely impressive how fluid and smooth the fighting is and how complex and interesting it is given the simplicity of the art style and controls.  You can play local and online VS, and it’s well worth checking out for fighting game fans, especially if you have a love and knowledge of the differences in various fighting styles.

EchoBlade: If you’ve wanted to feel like a medieval Daredevil, EchoBlade might be the game for you.  Developed by Sunset Arctic Games, you play as an imprisoned, blind warrior who is trying to escape from the maze-like dungeon you’re being held in.  You can use echolocation, so noises give you a slight glimpse at the environment, and you can “see” things like enemies as they walk around.  You can generate noise at any time to see things in your immediate area, but the patrolling guards can hear that as well, so you could lure them to where you are.  The game plays from a first-person perspective, and you have a sword and a crossbow that you can use to fight the guards.  One nice feature is that you can see your footprints on the ground, so you can easily know if you’ve already been in an area before.  You need to find keys and unlock hidden switches throughout the levels to progress, and given that you are going through with extremely limited visual input, the complexity is ramped up more than in a regular dungeon crawler FPS.  It’s a pretty unique concept, executed really well, and you can check the game out now.

Hank Shaw: Animal Investigator: Developed by Exit73 Games, is a gorgeously animated upcoming adventure game.  We talked to Chris Burns, owner of Exit 73 Studios, an animation studio that has worked with clients such as General Mills, Disney XD, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network.  The studio developed #BLUD, which came out last year, and Hank Shaw is their upcoming project.  Taking a “UPA Animation” style for the graphics, you play as Hank Shaw, a private eye who is investigating a missing pet when a massive breakout at the zoo complicates matters.  You travel around the city, looking for clues and questioning people and gathering items to solve puzzles in classic adventure game fashion.  The art style really is the thing that jumps out at you, as it’s got a distinctive blue palette and incredibly smooth animations.  The game doesn’t have a release date yet.

Mystery House 3D: From Guillotine Games, Mystery House 3D is a remake of the 1980 classic by Roberta Williams that invented the graphical adventure game.  We talked to Marcus Mera, the designer of the game, who also worked with Ken and Roberta Williams for the Colossal Cave: Collector’s Edition, which features physical editions that have replicas of the game’s in-game treasures, which also led to getting the rights and starting to develop a remake of Mystery House.  In Mystery House 3D, you are exploring a Victorian mansion where you and some friends are trying to have a game night.  Things are going terrifyingly wrong, and you need to explore the house, uncover its secrets, and figure out how to survive the night.  You can play the game in either first- or third-person, and it’s coming to VR as well as PC.  Lloyd Kaufman actually provides the game’s narration.  The game is still very early in development, and a release date will be announced later.

Monster Tavern: Developed by Toki Games, Monster Tavern is a Roguelite deckbuilder set in a medieval fantasy tavern.  You play as the bartender, who is trying to serve drinks to the various fantastical customers before they wreck the bar.  Your weapons are various drinks you serve, each with an attack and defense rating.  If you can take down the customer’s health, they’ll leave, and you need to try to survive three weeks behind the bar.  You start with a hand of cards, and you can collect new cards between shifts that add new, more powerful drinks with different effects.  You can also equip trinkets that can add an ongoing ability or skill boost.  The bartending aspect really lends itself well to the roguelite deckbuilding genre, as serving drinks and managing customers fits perfectly into the card-playing gameplay.  The game won “Best Deckbuilder” during the Indie Showcase Awards at the convention.  Monster Tavern is in early access, and there’s also a demo you can check out on Steam.

Project Neon: Originally developed for the Neo Geo, Project Neon is coming to 12 different consoles, Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox, Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, tvOS and N64 (?!).  Developed by FULLSET, Project Neon is an old-school Japanese-style vertical shooter that has you blasting through five different stages, powering up your weapons to insane levels, and taking on swarms of enemies.  The game has some fantastic pixel art, especially the bosses, one of which is a giant mechanical owl, and an awesome soundtrack.  You can play two-player co-op, and the game allows you to use pretty much any controller or control scheme you want, from touchscreen on mobile devices to arcade sticks on PC and console.  The game was actually running in a Neo Geo arcade cabinet and a candy cab on the show floor.  Physical and digital versions of the game are coming, and it will be out later this year.

Panels

As if all the shopping and gaming wasn’t enough, TooManyGames was also loaded with panels featuring many of their special guests.  These are a great way to hear behind-the-scenes stories about your favorite characters and games, and potentially ask a question you’ve been dying to get an answer to.  We checked out a bunch of panels while at the convention, and even hosted one ourselves.

Nothing Can Stop Metal Gear Now: A Conversation with David Hayter & Cam Clarke

Solid Snake and Liquid Snake reunited for the Nothing Can Stop Metal Gear Now panel.  David Hayter and Cam Clarke were on stage to talk about what it was like to voice such iconic characters and the impact they still have so many years later.  They talked about how they got the roles initially and answered fan questions about Metal Gear and some of their other iconic roles.

Q & A with the Retro Rick Team

Retro Rick and his team traveled up from Arkansas to attend TooManyGames for the first time.  Rick’s big feature on his YouTube channel was “The $10 Game Collection,” in which he started with $10 and bought and sold items from thrift stores and flea markets, eventually building a collection worth thousands of dollars.  He also owns the game store Retro Rick’s Game Point and runs the Retrofest Arkansas convention.  The panel was a laid-back and casual one where Rick and his team, Michael and Kayleigh, were there to chat with fans and answer any questions they may have.

Nobunaga’s Ambition: The Life and Media of the “Demon King”

Our friend Phil hosted the panel Nobunaga’s Ambition: The Life and Media of the “Demon King”.  Phil first went through the actual history of Oda Nobunaga, from his rise to power to his death by seppuku in 1582, and how he earned the title of the Demon King, before transitioning to the many games and media inspired by or featuring Nobunaga.  From Nobunaga’s Ambition to Samurai Warriors to Nioh and Nioh 2, there’s no shortage of games, movies, and anime that feature some version of Nobunaga.

Turtle Power: The History of TMNT Video Games

We hosted our Turtle Power: The History of TMNT Video Games panel that we did earlier this year at PAX East on Friday night of TooManyGames.  We kicked things off with a brief look at the origin of the characters and the other merchandise before diving into the history of the games.  From the NES Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to the upcoming The Last Ronin, we discussed dozens of games from different eras that featured different iterations of the Turtles.  We also discussed how the Turtles adapted to a large variety of different types of games, from platformers to roguelites to fighting games and almost anything in between and how they are adapted and changed throughout the gaming generations.

Gotta Go Fast: A Sonic VA Panel with Jason Griffith, Kirk Thornton, and Erica Schroeder

For Sonic fans, the Gotta Go Fast: A Sonic VA Panel was a must-see as Sonic voice actors Jason Griffith, Erica Schroeder, and Kirk Thornton were on hand to discuss playing such memorable and iconic characters, what their favorite games and lines in the series are, and answer fan questions, like who would win in a multiversal Shadow battle.  Jason voiced Sonic from 2005 to 2010, Erika voiced Blaze the Cat from 2005 to 2009, and Kirk started voicing Shadow in 2010.  One of the highlights of the panel was Jason and Erica running through the entire script of 2005’s Sonic Rush, which was a generally well-received entry but didn’t have the deepest or most complicated script and consisted of about a dozen generic lines for both of them.

Saving the World Never Gets Old: A Marvel Rivals Panel with Nolan North and Suzie Yeung

Marvel Rivals fans had three voice actors on stage during the Saving the World Never Gets Old: A Marvel Rivals Panel.  Nolan North, who voices Rocket Raccoon, Suzie Yeung, who voices Sue Storm, and Ian James Corlett, who voices Reed Richards, were on stage to talk about what it’s like putting their own spin on such iconic characters.  They talked about some of the behind-the-scenes process and did some lines in character for fans.  There were also lots of fan questions about not just Marvel Rivals but games like Uncharted for Nolan.

Bart vs The World: World Record High Score Run

Speedrunner HighScorsese was attempting to complete his 5th world record by setting the all-time high score on Bart vs The World at TooManyGames.  The game is infamously janky, using the same control scheme and engine as Bart vs The Space Mutants, and HighScorsese had only a limited number of deaths he could take before the record attempt was over.  Throughout the run, HighScoresese pointed out sections that were especially difficult or odd gameplay-wise and showed off strategies for finding all the hidden Krusty treasures in the game, which are key to getting the highest score.  Throughout the run, there was also a Simpsons trivia contest, which culminated in the winner receiving the very cartridge that he was playing on.  Zach used his deep well of useless Simpsons knowledge to win the contest and now has the cartridge that set the new world record.  It was a really fun event and a nice change of pace from the other Q&A panels at the con.

Scott The Woz: Q&A

One of two panels that featured Scott the Woz, the one we checked out on Saturday featured Scott solo alongside John Riggs to talk about creating his YouTube series, some behind-the-scenes stories and secrets, and answer plenty of fan questions.  This was one of the most jam-packed panels we attended, with every seat taken at one of the two biggest stages and people standing or sitting around the edges.  Scott did a second panel on Sunday that featured the rest of his friends who play the various characters in the universe of his YouTube series.

Steve Blum Q&A

The legendary Steve Blum had two Q&A panels at TooManyGames, and we checked out the Sunday one.  Voicing characters like Wolverine, Spike Spiegel, Starscream, Zeb Orrelios, Green Goblin, Toonami Tom, and so many more, he’s pretty much seen and done it all.  Along with sharing lots of behind-the-scenes stories, he answered tons of fan questions about the various projects he’s been involved with and did many of his signature voices.

Voice Acting in Video Games: A Panel with Industry Legends: David Hayter and Nolan North

Drake and Snake were together on stage for the Voice Acting in Video Games: A Panel with Industry Legends.  Nolan North and David Hayter were on stage to discuss many of their iconic roles, especially Uncharted and Metal Gear Solid; they played a game of “Fowl Words” with host Claire Lim, which involved picking a Scottish word and then guessing its meaning; and they answered fan questions.  There was actually a lot of discussion about the cult classic Spec Ops: The Line, in which Nolan voices the main character, and he also showed off some of the physicality he used to get into character like The Penguin in the Arkham games.  They also, of course, talked about what a team-up between Nathan Drake and Solid Snake would be like.

Cosplay Pro Wrestling

Always drawing a massive crowd, Cosplay Pro Wrestling was back with multiple shows during the convention.  If you ever wanted to see some of your favorite pop culture and video game characters fight it out in the ring in real life, you definitely wanted to be ringside.  One of the highlights was a big Casket Match between Team Rocket and Grove Street, and other matches featured characters like Pikachu taking on PaRappa the Rapper.  Cosplay Pro Wrestling is always doing something crazy and exciting, and the crowd watching is always incredibly hyped, chanting and booing like it’s the main event of a WWE show.

Interviews

In between everything to do and see at TooManyGames, Chris worked with TMG to sit down with multiple guests to hear their stories about their journey in content creation, cosplay, or how they celebrate fandom in their own unique way. A few interviewees were Brian Drummond, WULFF DEN, HauntedCosplay, and Justin Whang. Between rounds of coffee and water, Chris conducted quick interviews to get a picture of how geeks and gamers have created their identities and brands, which are now treasured by people online and in person. The film editing team probably deserves an award for editing out all the parts where Chris tries not to go off on a tangent.

Final Thoughts

This year’s TooManyGames was another fantastic event, jam-packed with activities.  Between shopping for obscure gaming treasures, playing some games with friends, meeting the special guests, and attending panels, there was something for everyone every day of the convention. We missed out on the after-party for a much-needed break for dinner and rest; we’re not in our 20s anymore, and our feet remind us whenever we don’t wear the right shoes. However, our friends at Super Thrash Bros threw on a rocking performance, as they always do. We did miss the daily concerts that gave us a mental break to be quiet and just listen to beats, but we get why the sound could be an issue. We remember prior years of the whole sound bleed over, and whoever had a panel going on (Like us!), the audience was not going to be happy. This is an event we look forward to every summer, rain or shine, and we’ll definitely be back next year to do this all again. It’ll be only a year, but TooManyGames 2027 is June 25–27, so see you gamers then.