Hey everybody, I'm Matt from Growth Mode Content.
Welcome to Good News York. This is a very, very
special episode. We got some exclusive media
coverage of one of the biggest events happening
on the Northeast, not even in Syracuse, not even
in New York. No. But first, we should say hello
to my spiky -haired, orange -dressed frello.
Frello? Frello. I don't know if I want to call
you a fellow or friend. I like to propose a post.
Are you doing it? No, I got to ask you a question,
though. Hold on, hold on. This is Mike. Yes,
sir. Can you hold up your watch for a moment?
I got to know, all right? Your watch has a bright
orange face. Yeah. It's better than me having
a bright orange face. Do you always wear that
watch, or did you color code it with it? Oh,
no, color code. That's what I was afraid of.
Yeah, you didn't notice that? I have three watches.
I have a black watch, a blue watch, and an orange
watch, and I color coordinate to my outfit. Eventually,
I want to get yellow. I want to get all the colors
of the rainbow. But you know, I don't make that
kind of dough yet, so I'm sticking with three
watches for now. I can't believe you just noticed
that. In the ninth grade, my English teacher,
her name was Mrs. Cohenetti. And she had wooby
-wed whipstick. Wooby -wed? That's how she talked
when she was the English teacher. It was wild.
She was a nice old lady, and what was real interesting
about her is every day she would have her dress,
her shoes, a pearl necklace, and her nails color
coordinated. I like her. Identically. And now
you just make me think of that sweet old lady.
So should I start talking like this? I mean.
Sorry, I wore my watch. We might get more clicks
for that. We might get more clicks. Anyway, we
got. Anyway, yeah. So it is Good News York, sponsored
by Ads on the Go. Get ads on the go .com. Very
excited. Because this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday,
October 10th through the 12th, it is Retro Game
Con at the On Center right here in Syracuse,
New York. Sold out, dare I say. It's sold out.
On Saturday. On Saturday. And with us is the
event coordinator, Nathan Grant. Nathan, welcome
to the show, my man. Thanks for having me. We
are so excited to have you for many reasons.
One, we're all some more than others, but we're
all gaming nerds of sorts. Our great friend,
producer, coworker Danny Tripodi, who's behind
the board right now. He's kind of your second
-in -command, your right -hand man. Yeah, we're
all in the same... Yeah, so he's another event
coordinator for the event. So we've been very
involved and supportive of Danny along the way.
So we're just excited to have you and to talk
about this. Yeah, I'm very excited. I just want
to throw this out there before we even begin.
This is the exclusive media Tour. for Retro GameCon.
So you guys are not doing it with anybody else?
Yeah, we're just kind of, we always open the
door to any media people who want to attend,
but we wanted to give you guys a chance to really
get in there and cover all the great stuff we're
doing this year, because it gets bigger and better
every year, and there's only so much that we
can do on our own to talk about it. I love this
so much. Good opportunity for you guys to be
able to help show a lot of that stuff that we're
doing and highlight it. Dude, we've arrived.
We've arrived, Matthew. Now he's looking like
ET. I don't understand what's happening today.
So last year was the first year that I attended
GameCon. And I didn't even get to the second
floor. So I took it all in and was overwhelmed.
And I'm super, super excited. We're going to
talk a little bit about some of the things that
are happening. But I'd love you to just. Kind
of give your rundown of what you're excited about
and what folks are most looking forward to seeing
this weekend Yeah, so just baseline one thing
you can always look forward to at retro game
con is think of a comic con lots of vendors lots
of artists but it's all centered around gaming,
whether that's retro gaming, modern gaming, arcade,
computer, and even things like arcade and pinball
together. There's a lot of crossover. We also
have a huge tabletop gaming segment. And there's
so much crossover in a lot of the different nerddoms.
So we try to cover that. We try to make sure
that there's something for everybody there. But
on top of that... We're multifaceted. Mike. Yes,
very multi. I'm writing down nerddom. That's
a new word. It's one of those things I've had.
Not if you're a nerd. Because we have our own
little kingdom with how big it's grown. Right.
And it's all nerdy stuff like this. So but, you
know. not only are there going to be vendors
selling games there, there's tons of free play
games to play. Like we have a huge free play
area. And what's cool about our free play area
is we don't just have like the classic consoles,
we will have old PCs hooked up. So we have like
a computer LAN with multiple connected and people
playing the same game together, as well as just,
you know, the very retro stuff that, you know,
maybe some people have never even played before
the new generations get a chance to put their
hands on. And then of course, arcade units are
always fun to play and they're all set to free
play. So you just. to go up and there's no coins
needed, no tokens. You just go up and play. In
addition to the free play stuff, we will have
tournaments for various games going on, retro
and newer games. And then I mentioned the vendors
and artists. We have one of the biggest vendor
halls for an event like this. Just so many different
collectibles, actual games and consoles to play,
and then great artists there as well. So that's
kind of like baseline stuff we always have every
year, but just gets bigger and better. We also...
try to bring in a lot of great special guests
and talent. So that could be voice actors from
various games throughout the industry, old and
new, as well as musical artists who either do
video game cover music or, you know, variations
of stuff like that that are popular within the
communities or the nerddoms. The nerddoms. So,
yeah, just those are a lot of the baseline stuff.
There's obviously a lot of nitty gritty in each
of those categories, but that's that's a lot
of the stuff you can look forward to every year.
Yeah, Nathan, this is amazing. This is technically
the 12th, but you could argue the 15th. We don't
need to get in the weeds with that. Don't pay
attention to the actual how many conventions
we've had. Just know that for 12 years, we've
been bringing this event to Syracuse and it's
getting bigger and better every year. And it
is getting bigger and better. And you can monitor
it on social media. You can see over the years
how much it's grown. And again, you guys are
sold out, which is phenomenal, the On Center.
But I'm curious, and we're curious. Give us a
little bit about your background. I mean, how
does someone come from their own nerddom and
say, you know what? I'm going to put together
a retro game conference. Kind of give us the
origin story of how this began. Yeah, so when
you go to the event, you might think, wow, what
company is putting this on? Who's backing this?
But when it started, it was just one man, Ed
Forth. He was the founder. He came up with this
idea of, hey, we got a lot of like -minded people
interested in this hobby in the area. 2013 we
just had more video game stores than ever voltage
video games had recently opened downtown and
they're like a staple of the community now, but
they were relatively new back then and then a
lot of the Organizations that were here already
that wanted to be involved were kind of around
and he basically brought people together who
he knew liked the hobby and wanted might want
to be a part of this and so I was Technically,
I was an attendee the first year, but he reached
out to me personally because he knew I had some
graphic design background and wanted me to design
the flyer for it. So back then, it was only $5
to attend. And so I made the flyer. And then
from that year on, I was on the planning committee.
And that's kind of how I got my foot in the door
just by being, again, one of the local nerds
who had this interest and wanted to come together.
What was really interesting is the first year
was probably about, you know, A little over 500
people probably came out to that one. And it
was held at Driver's Village in one of the conference
centers that you can reserve. So starting with
very humble beginnings. And now here we are selling
out days at the On Center. And we've mostly stuck
to the On Center as we've grown and gone from
one hall of the On Center to both halls. So now
we have two floors and the stages and all this
stuff like that. So it's very interesting to
see the humble beginnings to where we are now.
I can personally tell you, you have because I
went to a independent wrestling show at Driver's
Village. Those conference rooms, they're not
huge. So for you to go from there to the On Center,
man, congratulations. That's wild. You guys are
doing something right. Honestly, it's pretty
impressive that you had that many folks at your
first event to begin with. I think that was kind
of like the sign of, okay, there's something
here. And it definitely, we all came away from
that first year feeling like that was amazing.
This is something special. I didn't know then
how special it would be for the community. And
now it's like one of those things where we're
like, well, what have we created? We can't stop
this now. We just got to keep going. And that's
the blessing and the curse of social media. And
it sounds like, if I'm doing the math right,
when you guys kind of started this is right when
the social media explosion happened and then
TikTok came along. And the one positive thing,
and I guess you could say negative two, is that
with social media, you can find like -minded
individuals easier and create these sort of events.
Yeah, and like, you know, that's a good point
because I don't think any of us who work for
Retro Game Con really like Facebook and Meta
and stuff, but through our social media, we've
been able to grow our community so much and just,
you know, create events. We do so many things
throughout the year. It's not just about the
one weekend. We do little promotional events
throughout the year. We started doing, for the
past few years, our smaller event, the Spring
Edition, which was called Retro Game Con Junior,
but we changed it this year to Retro Game Con
Spring Edition just because... A lot of people
assumed with Junior it was for kids, when really
we were just doing a Donkey Kong Junior or Pac
-Man Junior pun. But people took that as like
it's a kids event. We're like, no, no, it's just
a smaller scale. So we call it spring edition.
And yeah, it's obviously... aren't doing it at
the on center and it's a smaller we did that
at the elite gaming arena downtown this year
and before that we were doing it at the museum
of science and technology which was a really
cool venue for it so it's always been like its
own little special thing but yeah it's it's because
of social media that we were able to grow this
community and you know last year we started a
discord and you know that was great to just make
sure we get the message out there and like you
mentioned so we sold out for saturday we still
have friday Sunday passes and we have weekend
passes still so people can still get on Saturday
if they get the weekend pass because we kept
an allotment of those But you know even with
selling out. It's just you know being able to
reach the people and let them know so okay Saturday
looks like Saturday is gonna be selling out if
that happened five years ago there wouldn't be
as many ways to get that message out there. Now
it's like with the Discord, the website, the
social media, we're still going to probably have
some people that are like, I didn't know what,
I came out here. But that just happens with any
popular event. And what we try to do is just
accommodate as best we can. We still have Sunday
tickets available. And Sunday, by the way, is
the cheaper ticket. So if you're really like,
money's tight this year and we all know it is,
you still can attend. And it's not like Sunday
is the bad day or the slow day. No. One of the
things I can take pride in for our event is that
we go to so many events like this, whether it's
Comic Cons, gaming events, and Sundays are usually
the slower day. Comparatively, it is slower compared
to our other two days, but we still are pretty
much as packed. When you see the crowds in the
vendor hall and stuff, it feels the same as it
did all weekend. It's like you're not missing
out on anything. There's not like people go away.
There might be some programming that like, you
know, there's an event on Saturday only. OK,
that might be something you'd miss out on, but
you really get the full experience no matter
what day you decide to go. Do you do you guys?
Are you able to field any sort of customer service
issues during like you just mentioned? You know,
I showed up and I didn't. Is there a way for
people to get in contact with any of the organizers
if there are any issues throughout the event?
So. On RetroGameCon .com, there's an email address
there, info at RetroGameCon .com, that goes to
myself and Pat, the director of the con. So we're
running around, we're doing a million things,
but we can at least get your messages and try
to answer them as soon as possible. But the Discord
that I mentioned has been a huge thing because
if Pat and I are busy helping a guest get their
panel started or whatever, we're not looking
at our phones, there are people who... are very
familiar with the programming we got going on.
They're able to quickly answer. So the community
kind of steps in and helps. And then at the event
itself. the registration desk is full of a bunch
of people who've been working with the con for
years. So if they need to find one of us to answer
questions, or if they just know the answers because
they know it themselves, we can usually get those
things taken care of right away. And that's just
growing pains over the years. You learn what
worked and what didn't the year before. So we've
really refined, like, how can we help people
the best? How can we get them the answers? How
can we set up the event? You know, traffic flow
is good. How can we communicate the messaging?
There's all that stuff you got to think about.
And you don't think about when you first set
out to do these things. But year over year, there's
always a, OK, what can we do better next year?
We never are like, cool, we got it. Let's continue
it like we did. Book it. Because unfortunately,
we've been to events that feel that way, where
it's like, I wouldn't say it's a bad event, but
it's the same thing. You know exactly what you're
going to get. It might be a fun time, but you're
not coming and going, wow. And we always try
to. plus it up, not just in terms of the amount
of things we do, but customer service and how
much fun people are having, you know. It's such
an incredible event that you guys have put together.
And I know we talked about it a little bit in
terms of selling out, but can you just take one
second and talk about just kind of how this compares
to other events and things like that that are
around the country, even? Yeah, so being in Syracuse,
you know, we're limited in where we can host
in. Luckily, we have the on -center here. But
I think one thing that is a huge benefit of being
in Syracuse is that it's not going to cost as
much as some of the other events. Now, this weekend,
we happen to time out the same weekend as New
York Comic Con. And you're going to be spending
so much more at an event like New York Comic
Con. Not to say that New York Comic Con is not
a great event, but it's such a bigger scale that
the lines are going to be so much longer. The
stuff is going to cost so much more. Even the
autographs, you know, if you're paying, let's
say, 60 to 70 bucks for an autograph or a photo
at our event to meet one of our guests. maybe
there's a guest you want to see more here in
Comic -Con, but you're probably going to be sending
like 200 bucks plus for somebody who's been in
a Marvel movie or something like that. So you
really got to think about like the value you're
getting for the ticket price. And I think one
thing that we can say is that for our ticket
prices, you're getting really good value. And
like I said, no matter what day you're going,
you're getting everything that we offer. So and
you know, the only time that changes is like
maybe there's a. voice actor who's like I'm only
gonna be there Saturday and Sunday so we communicate
that stuff when there are little one -offs like
that but for the most part and I think this year
we actually have all the guests there all weekend
long so that's not even a concern and everything
else is is planted there there's no vendors that
take off you know after the first day or anything
like that so you're getting it all. Let's talk
a little bit about some of those guests because
one of the things that you have going on one
of the things that we're gonna kind of help you
with is is recording some of these things with
some live panels with I don't want to say some,
honestly, you have a full schedule Friday, Saturday
and Sunday of these events in multiple rooms.
Can you talk a little bit about what people see?
So special guests are always like a big draw
at the con because people want to meet the voices
of the characters that they've played as in these
games and stuff. And we have a good mix this
year where it's not just the old retro vintage
game voices that people remember, but some of
the Up -and -coming artists or actors and stuff.
So this year probably one of our big highlights
is Ben Starr He was in the game Expedition 33
that is Sweeping all like a potential game of
the year. What are awards this year? I'm in fact,
he was just nominated for his performance or
supporting actor in a game or the golden joystick
awards that happens every year, so he's Already
like nominated for that and we have him, but
he's also done He was the main character Clive
in the last Final Fantasy Final Fantasy 16 So
he's like the main lead in that he's been in
a bunch of other games Hades 2 which just came
out and is getting great Awards and reviews everywhere
that he's one of the characters in that so it's
cool to have somebody like that Who's like the
new hotness he's also he's kind of like just
a cool dude And he's been on like podcasts and
stuff before and just people like him as a person
not just because of his role, but who? he is
and he's a gamer he loves he's like such a nerd
himself he's like oh my god I love this game
in this game so people are so happy to have somebody
like that here because he's like somebody right
now that people are like oh my gosh I want to
meet him so he's gonna have his own panel and
he's gonna obviously you have his tables out
there so people can meet him and we have the
professional photo ops we mentioned too so people
can get a nice picture with them if they want
to pay a little extra but That's, like I said,
the modern examples. We also have a huge retro
element this year, and not just retro, like old
consoles, in the PC gaming space. One of the
most popular gaming companies of all time is
Valve. They've done the Half -Life games, Portal,
Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead. They've done all
these great games over the years that really
were legendary for PC gaming. This year, we have
a Valve reunion, basically. So probably the biggest
highlight of the guests in that group is Ellen
MacLean. She's the voice of GLaDOS, the AI that
tortures you in the Portal games. So a very iconic
voice. You're hearing that the whole time you
play the game. is goading you on and everything
like that. So to have that person be here at
our event, and she's older, she's not like, she
did voice acting for years and the fact that
she's coming out to our city and gonna do panels
and meet. fans at our event is just so exciting.
So she's like probably the highlight of that
group. But we also have Mike Shapiro, who's the
voice of the G -Men, the mysterious men in a
suit from the Half -Life games. And then we have
multiple voice actors from the Team Fortress
games. And those games are multiplayer games
where the classes that you pick to play as are
very iconic because of their voice work, their
lines, their quips. They're funny. And these
characters are so memorable. And the actors who
are coming that voice them They're just, they
turn on their character right away. So so many
fans are gonna be excited to just be able to
see them jump right into that. And you know,
so beyond those, those are like the, I'd say
the highlights, but there's so many guests in
that category that we could be here all day just
going over each one. So I'm not gonna highlight
every single actor that we have, but it just
goes to show you the variety. It's not just the
new stuff. It's, you know, also a lot of the
stuff that people maybe haven't played in a long
time. And so to... go along with that. We have
the Voices of Valve panel we're going to do with
everybody there. We have one of the returning
voice actors. First time that we're getting a
returning voice actor is John St. John. So he's
most popular for his voice as Duke Nukem. Oh
yeah. I love that game. First in the shooter
game. And he is such an amazing guest. That's
why we wanted to bring him back. He also was
in one of the Half -Life Side games that came
out Opposing force or blue shift one of those
like side games outside in the main series So
we were like perfect. He fits in with the Valver
Union as well, but he's a returning guest He's
also also the voice of big the cat from the Sonic
the Hedgehog game So people who are into that
again totally the also cool just cool or Duke
nukem especially so he's gonna be there and he's
he's just a great guest we had him there before
he came to our after party and hung out with
people like so just the fact that Fans might
have a surprise like that where they're actually
rubbing shoulders not just like meeting the guests
But maybe they're gonna have a drink with them
at the after party, you know stuff like that
sometimes happens That's really fun surprise
at the event as well So Nathan Grant of retro
game con this weekend 10th 11th and 12th of October
at the on -center In addition to these panels,
though, there's way more than that. There's cosplay,
there's some free play. Talk about some of the
other events. Yeah, so cosplay is one of those
huge parts of the convention that some people
just come specifically because they love cosplay.
They love making their own costumes based off
characters they like or some original characters.
And so we want to give them a platform and a
stage literally to walk on. So there's a lot
of cosplay events. We have a whole cosplay department
that helps come up with fun programming for the
cosplay fan. So I think it sounds like a great
to party I want to work in the cosplay department.
Hell yes. Hell yes. Well, so that could be technical,
where they are helping. We have a cosplay repair
station. And then we have events. We have a cosplay
speed run on Sunday, where people are given a
short amount of time to try and come up with
craft supplies and stuff on the spot. But the
biggest thing, when it comes down to it, is the
cosplay contest. People love doing the stage
walk, showing off. So even if they don't win,
they get to go on the stage, show their costume
they made. That's awesome. Probably one of my
favorite things about the con is the kids stage
walk because it's just the cutest thing ever
to see these kids that are so excited. Yeah.
And so small sometimes dressed up as these characters
going out on stage. So, you know, we have prizes
and stuff for the top winners for different categories
in both the kids and adults cosplay contest.
But that's just such a huge element of it as
well, because for every game and comic and, you
know, other nerddom out there, it's like there's
so many different options for what people could
press up as. And sometimes they're really creative
and really technical. Sometimes you're really
impressed with what people come up with. And
so a lot of stuff to see. And even when you're
just going around the vendor hall, seeing some
of these cosplays walking around is just impressive.
You're like, look at that. And people are taking
pictures on the fly and asking, oh, can I get
a shot? And so it's just really exciting to see
that element grow over the years for Retro Game
Con as well. I feel like this is one of the only
type of events where the audience, the participants,
also become part of the event, you know? It's
so neat how that... Yeah, whether it's the panels
that they get to take part in, and some of them
are interactive and stuff, too, a lot of the
fun panels. The things that we put together,
like the cosplay speedrun I mentioned, but then
even just free play. It's like, if you want to
come and just play a bunch of games, you have
access to that. And it's the cost of the ticket,
and then you're free to do that. You're going
to fire me, because that's what I'm going to
be doing the whole time. Listen, I'm not going
to lie. That was my original draw. Playing Police
Quest from 1996. No, listen, you gotta see, if
you haven't been there, and you described it
a little bit, but I just gotta tell you, man,
it's like a museum. but you can play with everything.
That's the best part, literally. So I went last
year, and I brought my kids, and everything was
like, oh yeah, that was the first computer I
used here, and here's one that we did this, and
by the way, this is this awesome game, and here,
sit down and play it, I'll show you how it works.
I was just gonna say, that reminds me of our
talk about the generational aspect. Something
we've seen every year, and it's probably one
of my favorite parts, is how... you'll see families
with their kids showing them the games they grew
up with. And it's not like, oh, I don't want
to play that old crap, Dad. No, they're sitting
down, and they're getting into it. And then they're,
OK, well, what's this? Oh, I've never even seen
this thing. What's an Atari? And it gives them
a chance. The captive audience is there to see
all this stuff that we put out there for them.
And seeing that generational impact where it's
like, kids playing with their parents who played
this with their parents and like It's all there
under the same roof is so exciting, dude I tell
you what and people might roll their eyes at
this but for people who game like ourselves They'll
understand, you know There there was a time when
this happened with my daughter and it recently
just happened with my son Where I'm playing a
game and they came down and there and they picked
up a control and they're like dad Can I play
and you have that moment where you're playing
a game? Not even a modern game That's cool, too,
but like I'll be playing a game. That's you know
an older one from my childhood And they're just
as into it as I was and it's just like such a
special moment man. It really is crazy Yeah,
and and so being able to host something like
that where it's like it can happen multiple times
over the weekend For all the attendees it's so
exciting It's just it's one of those things that
you know there's always the fun and the nostalgia
is great But like seeing stuff like that is just
one of those things that really makes the event
feel special And you know what? I'll say that
you guys do an incredible job with that too,
because when we talk about this, we're not talking
about like three or four things, you know, you've
got a significantly large section. And I remember
last year going incredibly busy con. There's
people all over the place, but there was no problem
getting to, you know, some, if you really want
to one particular somebody, you might have to
wait for them to finish their turn. But there
was more than enough other things to put your
hands on and see. And it's, it's really impressive.
One of the things I want to ask you, let's just
peel the curtain back. What do you do with this
stuff when it's not con time? So we have a retro
game con office now. I got that for a couple
years now. And it used to be a storage unit,
but now we have our own office. So after the
convention, it's a lot of... dumping everything
in the office and organizing it for next year.
And it takes a long time. It's not something
that like, oh, everything's put away nice and
neatly. But we have great volunteers for this
convention. And it's not just the people who
are putting on the event that come together and
volunteer their time to do it. But there's some
people that maybe throughout the year we don't.
hear from them, but they show up for the event.
And they help bring, I mean, these retro TVs
are so, compared to the modern TVs. And we do
have a lot of the modern ones, too. But to bring
old tube TVs at the scale we're bringing, that
takes a lot of effort. And so those volunteers
that I mentioned are so helpful. And some of
them do offer to store some stuff, too, throughout
the year. So it's just, it's another example,
even behind the curtain, of the coming together
at this event. creates its and you know friendships
are made to like there's a lot of a lot of my
friendships were formed around 2013 when retro
game gone started because of the coming together
of like mines and we have some volunteers that
even They just started last year and they were
telling Patrick and I that this is I Met somebody
who's one of my best friends just last year and
it's like feels like I've known them my whole
life They met them just for volunteering. Yeah,
so it's just really cool to hear stuff like that
Aside from the event itself and the attendee
perspective, hearing that from within just warms
our hearts. And it makes it worth doing, because
there's times where we're like, this is worth
doing. Because it's such hard work, especially
for Patrick, the director. He's constantly 24
-7 just on for this. I'm like, all right, I got
to go to work now, Pat. Good luck. But during
work, I'm getting those emails I mentioned that
come to the website. And I'm like, oh, Pat's
doing all right. So the effort that goes into
putting this on is just well spent. It's a lot,
and it's really exciting to see. There's videos
that are circulating more and more on social
media now of just that in a different form, where
you're seeing gamers that have become friends
by playing online, and then they meet for the...
Oh, it's like, their family members... Yeah,
their family members arrange it so that they
get to finally... Like, they're across the country,
and they finally, like, surprise them by meeting
each other. Does that, anything like that happen
at the... Yeah, because one thing that... you
forget about, too, is there's events like this
going on around the country. So sometimes this
is the opportunity for people who are, oh, you
know, I live in Texas, but I kind of want to
come up with this event. And oh, my god, that's
where my friend online works. So we see that.
And even the people like when we. do like table
swaps with other events and we'll go to let's
say Long Island Retro Gaming Expo or something
we're seeing familiar faces that we haven't seen
in a while and it's like so the the convention
is often a time and I'll even say that extends
to like some of our great vendors and stuff and
artists that we've had year after year it's like
oh so good to see you again it's like you don't
Think about that part of the community aspect
of it. It's like, we're always focused on making
sure the attendees are enjoying themselves and
everything. But it's like, even the people who
are helping put it on or are there to sell stuff,
it's like, there's this feeling of family. It's
really interesting to see. And that's the stuff
you can never predict with events like this.
It just kind of comes natural. Something that
you guys do that needs to be talked about and...
It's important is that you guys actually do stuff
for you do a lot for charity with this talk about
that Yeah, this might this might be the most
important thing at the convention because all
the fun I mean nostalgia cells we know everybody
wants to go back to the net so that's why an
event like this can thrive but We you know for
all the complaints we might have about Syracuse
here and there the weather and all that stuff
We do love our community and being able to help
our community is important. And we always wanted
to do a charity element for the con. And so for
years, we've been very lucky because we work
with a charity called Extra Life, which is a
gaming focused charity. But what's really special
is that their money helps Children's Miracle
Network hospitals throughout the country and
the upstate Golisano Children's Hospital happens
to be in their network. So it's not like we're
just going to this great Network that helps hospitals
and then it's going off sure nearby. It's like
right here in Syracuse and You know every year
we've raised for at least the last five years.
We've raised over $10 ,000 through the charity
efforts and some of those are at the con we do
we have charity raffles so like there's raffle
baskets that people can enter to win and Usually
great donations from like vendors and sponsors
and stuff to help create those different sponsorship
packet or sponsor I'm saying sponsorships, but
I mean uh charity efforts and so You know, it's
exciting to have stuff like that to help raise
money locally, but we also started doing a charity
auction So if we get like really hard to find
things or maybe stuff that was signed from Guests
like every year when we have the guests we'll
be like, oh if you want to sign your banner That
was hanging up behind you sure those banners
can be auctioned off for charity So they often
will be like, oh, i'm not even going to charge
you for this autograph. Let me do this for the
charity auction and that culminated last year
with The biggest item to every auction was we
had all the, or not all, but most of the voice
actors from the big Baldur's Gate 3 game that
was popular last year, won Game of the Year awards
and stuff. We had all the actors that were here
for that sign their big, giant 10 -foot banner.
Oh, wow. And we were shocked. That thing sold
for $10 ,000 at the auction. Wow. And this is
another thing, talking about community. I'm not
going to out who it was, but it was a local business
owner here in Syracuse who loves the con, loves
the game. And he knew he wanted to donate a big
amount for the charity. And then he saw that.
He was like, perfect. This is the thing I want.
And so it was less about I want this item. It
was like, I want to donate. And so we had a record
-breaking $23 ,000 raised last year. Not going
to say we'll match that again. Maybe we will.
But that just goes to show, just like the event
growing and the attendance going up. Stuff like
this the charity elements. It's so important
to us seeing it grow to that level is just amazing
So and there's lots of other charity things throughout
the event Like if you want to just directly donate
we make sure there's like QR codes and stuff
to do that but the the charity raffle baskets
like I mentioned are such a fun way because it's
like we try to You know take the donations and
stuff and spread them into like different categories
So there's a lot of people who do come I mentioned
the tabletop gaming. We're really gotten too
much into that but you know stuff like trading
card games, D &D, and even just board games,
we have a huge free play area for that as well.
And so some of our charity baskets, there might
be something that has all the dice, the starter
kits for D &D, and then a couple board games.
And we have some sponsors that donate stuff.
So not only can you play the board games there,
just like you can for the video games, but there's
an opportunity to win some, and it's all going
to charity. So really huge, important element.
I'm glad you wanted to touch on that, too, because.
It's easy to forget in the excitement of the
nerdiness of like, oh my god, the games are so
fun to play. But it's like, wow, we're actually
impacting our community. And that is huge. It's
amazing. That's really cool. And just being able
to, we could be like, oh, we sold out on Saturday
this year and last year. We're so proud of that.
But really what that is telling us is, we're
bringing that many people to our city and that's
a huge important element too. What we did last
year and this year too is we offered it up for
any local businesses that wanted to do a retro
game con discount. at their business, let us
know, we'll advertise it. And so what happened
was last year, a lot of the local downtown restaurants
and stuff said they had their busiest day ever
in sales. And just through an easy thing that
we could be like, again, thinking of the community
first. We have all these great businesses here.
They know about us. We're bringing the people
here. And even for our guests, we try to give
little baskets and care packages for all the
special guests at their tables. And we try to
throw in local stuff, barbecue sauces and stuff
we've done in the past for Dino. That's awesome.
Things like that that are signature for Syracuse.
Why don't we throw that in there? So they're
not just like, oh, I got extra markers and hand
sanitizer in my bag. But they're like, oh, little
touches. And it's stuff like that. And we've
worked with Visit Syracuse. They're a partner
of ours, to really help plus that up, because
they know, hey, this would be a good thing to
do. They have the connects. And we just try to
implement that. And that's what this show is
about, is all the good news around New York.
I mean, you're injecting money into the local
economy. It's huge. So speaking of the local
economy, the one other thing that we should touch
on that is incredibly wild is the shopping opportunities,
right? We've touched on a little bit the vendors.
Talk just a little bit more about them, but also
let's jump into retro game con itself has some
of the coolest. Custom and I guess you'd say
sort of limited edition merch, right? It's just
a run for this year So yes, we have our vendor
hall. I mentioned there's great artists selling
wonderful themed art various mediums, too It's
not just like all painting and sure there's all
sorts of stuff And then of course the cut for
the collectors out there you're gonna if there's
a game you're looking for is a really good chance
You're gonna find it I can't guarantee that the
vendor's prices are going to be under retail.
But you go in with that expectation. You might
still find, I don't care. I know how much it
costs. I want to get it. So there's that element.
But every year, we've plus up our merchandise.
So we have a whole retro game con merch booth
in the front, right in the main lobby near where
registration is. We have a huge multi -table
set up. And we always have like a annual shirt
and there's the VIP special edition shirt for
the VIP ticket holders, which is another element.
They're sold out for this year, but we always
do that every year too. That has like a little
VIP package that comes with it in addition to
early access to the con every day. So like half
hour early. Our merch this year is incredible.
I'm wearing one of our favorite. I love it. It's
called Retro Boy's Awakening. So Retro Boy is
our mascot. He started off as a humble PNG of
a Game Boy with a smiley face on him. Sorry,
Nintendo, we didn't mean to steal your intellectual
property. So a few years back, maybe 2016 or
so, I sat down. I was like, let me see if I can
draw him and anthropomorphize him a little bit
to like a character. So. If you notice, see,
I don't know, this one doesn't really show up,
but if you look at our logos and stuff, he has,
like, the Mickey Mouse gloves, Sonic the Hedgehog
looking shoes, something that's a little more,
like, iconic, and then makes him our own, rather
than just, like, it's a... Because you see that
a lot. You see a video game console with a smiley
face is, like, kind of a character people have
just done. So we made Retro Boy our character.
So not only does he usually show up on our graphics
and on our shirts, so this one, like I said,
Retro Boy's Awakening is a really nice one done
by one of our local artists and volunteers, Desi.
She's amazing. She's done more than just this
two. We have stickers and art pieces from her
as well, but I won't spoil the surprise here.
So we'll have all that there. We have, you know,
limited edition art stickers. multiple shirts.
And this year we got actually a really fancy
kind of retro looking button down shirt that's
going to be limited quantities. It has kind of
like that unique pattern, almost like fresh prints
of belly. That's you. Yeah, I got to get me one
of those too. I may have heard about that shirt.
I think I might have already put in my order
with you. But I got to make sure I get one of
those. I was going to say, it's one of those
things that's limited supply. So we wanted to
make sure we advertised that. Another limited
thing that we did this year, and why I wanted
to touch on Retro Boy, we actually have a plush
Retro Boy that we're having this year. So really
fun and exciting. He's a real boy. Yeah, he's
a real boy now. It's just like Pinocchio. So
it's really cool to just have fun stuff like
that. And again, there's a limited supply of
that. But just being able to offer more. Because
people always, we always sell out of different
shirt designs every year. And, you know, we have
some of the coolest shirt designs that I've seen
of events like this. And we're always trying
to come up with new stuff, but we have custom
pins. And a lot of times we think like, who are
our guests? What can we theme some of the shirts
and stuff around? So there's just a lot of variety.
There's a lot there. It's not like, oh, the one
shirt. I don't really like it. I'm not going
to get it. We try to make sure there's a lot
of options there. And our merch, there's lots
of surprises. One thing that's really interesting
this year. So I can't remember which year it
was. Maybe 2015 or 2016, around there. 2017 maybe.
There was a limited edition game called Haunted
Halloween 85. And that's a whole scene in video
games where it's like repro carts and custom
made games. modern games for old consoles being
made. So this game had a limited allotment made
for Retro Game Con. And that now is a limited,
you know, we only had a limited supply back then.
It had like Retro Game Con logo on the box. And
in the game, there was even Retro Game Con mentioned.
That sold out. And so that you'll find copies
of those on eBay for a lot of money and stuff.
Well, they made a sequel to that haunted Halloween
86 now, and they did a collaboration with Spirit
Halloween stores. So that was something they
did on their own. And they actually made a...
they call it chiller blue cartridge version of
this old NES game, or new, I guess, NES game.
And gave us a limited allotment. So at our merch
booth, we're going to have a limited supply of
the sequel to the game that we had at our convention
years ago. And yes, and it's going to have the
box and everything. And we got little decals
so that you know what number you have and stuff.
So it's right there. So yeah, it's really cool
to have stuff like that. So it's not just like
a shirt and a hat and that's it. We love having
those things. It's great. And, you know, I'm
wearing proudly the shirt I have on right now.
But it's just cool to... You have a new NES game.
Yeah, dude. That's wild. That's custom for your
event. Yeah. Think of what you just said. New
NES game. 2025. This is the coolest... Everybody,
every... Jemoke can make t -shirts. I'm not...
You know, it's cool. This is mind -blowing. Yeah,
it's awesome, man. That's going to go quick.
There's limited to 100 copies. I think they're,
and they're gone. But I bet you don't have a
ceramic Mario that possibly smuggled methamphetamine
across the border that Danny bought. One thing
I want to make sure we hit, and this is for you,
Danny. I thought of this as we were talking.
I've heard you may have had a problem with people
not realizing there's a downstairs at the On
Center. Can we just do a quick PSA of go downstairs?
Explore. I'll highlight some of the stuff that's
down there. Our panel room, our individual panel
room, is down there. There are also our bigger
panels. They take place on the main stage. And
now that we mentioned the main stage, I talked
about the voice actor guests we've had, but we
also have musical guests. We have a returning
orchestra from Utica, the Half Moon Orchestra.
They did an amazing set last year of orchestrations
of video game music on our main stage. They're
returning to do more, so we're super excited
about that. We have a couple... bands that we've
had in the past coming back. Super Thrash Bros,
they've come to Retro Game Con before. They do
metal covers of Retro Game Con, I mean Retro
Gaming music. So that's really cool to have them
back. And our main stage is downstairs, so you'll
miss that, all that stuff. Also the food, there
are concessions. At the on Center and you're
hungry. We basically took the second ballroom
We're like make that the the food area So all
that good stuff and there's full bars and stuff
like that down there, too So, you know your food
and drink on while you're at the con and then
Speaking to the music we're unfortunately sold
out, but we have an after party on Saturday That's
taking place at the song and dance and we have
a nationally known video game cover band Power
Glove Yeah headlining it so super excited to
have them there for the first time we saw them
Patrick and I were at mag fest down in Maryland
this year and they performed we were like and
they were then they had their table next to us
there where we had our table so we were like
talking I'm or like we got to get them to retro
game console Super excited to have them there
and our after party after party is always a lot
of fun like I might have said earlier we had
some of our special guests show up there and
stuff too so who knows what surprises will be
there but you know it's not just limited to this
private event you know there is music at the
con too and that's a huge part of it is and giving
them that stage at our event we want to make
sure people know that that's where it is and
they can find it and and there are some big panels
like the the voices of valve reunion one that
has all those Half -Life and Team Fortress and
Portal actors all in one. That's a big event.
So they're going to be sharing the stage to do
that downstairs. If I could recommend a band,
there's a band out there that strictly does...
the Tony Hawk skater soundtrack. I mean, iconic.
They sell out wherever they go. I forget what
their name is. Look them up. Just at least consider
them for me. I will say we've we've thought about
trying to get Tony Hawk here. You know, obviously
hitting guest guarantees and stuff is tough,
but he has he did. We're friends with a lot of
the other con runners throughout the country.
You know, they're friends with us and we always
share ideas back and forth. And one of our close
friends did have Tony Hawk at his show last year
in Arizona, and it was awesome. So, you know,
not. promising anything, but it's just so you
know how the gears are working. We're always
thinking of stuff like that. And that would be
perfect if we had him there. Yeah, for sure.
I mean, if we had him there, we'd get a half
pipe. I was going to say we'd make room for it.
You're going to have to build a half pipe. But
you know, it's ideas like that. Even you just
saying, oh, there's this band that does this.
When we hear about stuff like that, we jot it
down. We take a note. Or even if it's a mental
note, we've got to remember that for next year.
Because that's how Retro GameCon has grown to
what it is. It's always learning from the last
year. What can we do to make this bigger and
better? And so it's a great mindset. So thank
you. Thank you for reminding to highlight that
there's more than just the vendor hall. There's
little side rooms next to the vendor hall that
have, we have a. Downstairs. Yeah, we have like
a side quest room we're calling it this year
and a lot of those fun things like the cosplay
speed run that I mentioned will take place in
there. So there's a ton of programming. And speaking
of programming, one thing I wanna highlight is
the best way to know what's going on is our convention
program. We're one of the few that still make
a physical printed program. Love that. And you
know. It always sucks when we throw out leftovers
at the end of the year, because it's a cool piece
of memorabilia to have. Great collective. As
well. But all that info is in there. So a lot
of the questions we get could be answered if
more people know. And what we started doing too
is have. available digitally on the website.
Oh, yeah. Danny pulled it up right here. That's
great. When you open the website, there's a splash
screen first thing that helps you go right to
the program. And so you can look at it now to
figure out what's taking place. It flips. Plan
your event. What a time to be alive. And just
scanning through it right now, you can see it
shows our map of the vendor hall and the downstairs.
There's a lot of great sponsors and ads from
vendors that are going to be there. whatever
your reason for coming to Retro Game Con is,
you're going to be able to find something that
appeals to you. And our programming, we try to
make sure it's varied and detailed in the program
so people know what's going on, where, and when.
And like I said, even if, oh, I wanted to go
Saturday, but it sold out, well, I'll grab a
Sunday ticket. You're going to pay less for that
ticket, and you're not going to be missing out
on anything because we make sure the full convention
experience is there. I think you guys are going
to have to make this a week long. This is the
second year we did three days. We went from one
day the first year, and then I remember the first
time we did a two day was a couple years later,
and then now it's... up to a three -day, you
never know. I mean, we're not near a Comic -Con
level, but they are, you know, Thursday through
the weekend immensely. Reality is, at this point,
you could use a bigger place, but we ain't got
no bigger place. So all you can do is more days.
We get a lot of questions about that as like,
what are you going to do? The dome. And that's
kind of, yeah, it would have to be something
totally different. We tried to do the fairgrounds
a few years back, but there's a lot of red tape
with state property. And, you know, I mentioned
that charity element was a huge part of it. And
anything that could infringe on being able to
do our charity efforts, we're like, Sorry, we're
not going to do it. We'd rather sell out on a
Saturday than not be able to do the stuff we
sell out. You'd rather sell out than actually
sell out. Yes, exactly. Very good. I'm going
to remember that one. I love that. See, I taught
you the nerd -dom thing, and I remember that
one. There you go. Two -way street. Any time,
Mikey can learn something. That's important.
Retro Game Con this weekend, come check it out.
Sounds like even though Saturday is sold out
for just Saturday tickets, you could still get
in for the whole weekend. Yep, we do. We made
sure there was an allotment. We have the number.
We work with the fire marshal and stuff, and
how many people will be there to figure out what
our cutoff is. So we have that as a start. And
that's what we go by. But yes, Friday and Sunday
are still available. Weekend passes are still
available. And that's what we always tell people.
We get emails and stuff. The best way to secure
your spot is to just get your ticket out of time.
There's obviously online fees when you order
online, but it's also a little cheaper ticket
than at the door. So it evens out. We try to
make it so people aren't like, we've all dealt
with concerts through Ticketmaster and Live Nation
and stuff. So it's like, we don't want to be
that. We want people to just, you want to get
in, you get in. And like I mentioned in the beginning,
compared to other events, let's take advantage
of the fact that here we are in Syracuse where
we can afford to. Have a cheaper ticket for yeah
like this. So and we have family passes, too
So, you know a family four -pack might be oh,
I'm going to bring my family. Anyway, this is
perfect Well, it makes sense to save a little
bit and get in and guaranteed. It's just stuff
like that You want to consider as well? Yeah,
I like I said I would just just buy the weekend
pass because here's the thing This is one of
those it's literally so big that I don't know
that you can necessarily even see it in one day.
So You might as well just go multiple days anyway
and take advantage. I also love that you guys
are in this beautiful sweet spot of like, you're
big enough where there's this wow factor and
you're going to get a big draw and sell out,
but it's still small enough to where it's an
intimate experience and it's very locally focused
as far as charity and the community and just
the experience itself. And not to compare to
Comic -Con again, but that's kind of why you
touched on something that I mentioned in the
beginning too, is that the experience you're
going to get. I think you're going to be able
to do more with your time and money at Russia
GameCon than if you did go to, you know, probably
have a great time at an event like New York or
San Diego Comic Con. Those are awesome. But you
really are going to like be selling yourself
short in terms of the amount of things you can
do in a weekend. And I mentioned in the beginning,
we're all trying to save money right now. So
it's understandable. But if you can like spend
a little less. Then you're like, hey, I have
time to buy some stuff at the vendor hall play
some free play games We and in our free play
area. We also are gonna have some tournaments
and stuff, too So we have you know, it could
be some new games like Mario Kart World on the
switch, too But then there's some retro ones
like Tetris and stuff. So people maybe they got
that competitive spirit in them They want to
play something like that. They have that too.
So it's just bang for your buck. That's what
we try to make sure retro game kind is, is that
whatever. And maybe that money is, like I said,
going to charity efforts. We've had so many people,
and this really warms our hearts, when we have
somebody come up and say, like, oh, my god, my
son had to stay at Golisano for a while, and
they were so helpful. And it's always hard when
somebody says that, because you don't want to
say, that's great. But it's like, no, you're
like, I'm sorry to hear that you had to go through
that, but I'm so glad they were there for you.
And what Extra Life does is, for the kids that
are staying at Places like Golisano it provides
games for them and stuff. So there were I remember
a few years ago They told us like these there
was like pictures of kids and there was like
these ps3 consoles were Provided by extra life.
So the kids are actually hands -on Seeing the
fruits of that. Yeah charity efforts. So it's
it's really really heartwarming and like I said
probably my favorite thing about That's so cool.
You're a good man, Nathan Grant. Nathan Grant,
the event coordinator, Retro Game Con, this weekend
at the On Center here in Syracuse, October 10th,
11th, and 12th. RetroGameCon .com, is that right?
Yep. Easy peasy. And we will be there all weekend.
We will. We are the exclusive media partner.
There will be excessive amounts of content. coming
from Good News York on all of our stuff. So follow
that. We'll be showing you the show. We'll be
also helping to, it's not necessarily gonna be
live stream, but we're gonna be recording a lot
of the panels and events and making them available
for folks after the fact. I'm glad you mentioned
that, because looking at Saturday being sold
out, well, if you guys are recording some of
those panels that are happening, and you get
to attend Friday or Sunday, and then you get
to see the panelists on Saturday, it's like,
that's why we really were thankful to be able
to partner with you guys with this, because it's
like, another one of those things year after
year. How can we make it so people who missed
out on X, Y, and Z can enjoy it? So thank you
guys for partnering with us. We're honored. Talk
about stepping it up. We're even already talking
about ways how we can do it even better for you
next year. Yeah. That's how it goes year over
year. Love it. Creating partnerships and growing
on them, that's what's made Retro Game Ton a
success. And I'm sure you guys as well. So very
happy to get the ball rolling. Thank you. That's
it. Retro Game Ton. Big, big just tip of the
hat. Before it even happens this weekend. Thank
you. I've seen the caliber of this event before.
You guys absolutely kill it. And I mean that
to Danny. Danny's been quiet behind the board
back there. But I know how hard all you guys
work to put on this. Incredible event. And I'm
sure you're so proud and incredibly exhausted
next week. Yes, I made sure to take Monday off.
I'm not going back to work after this weekend,
because I've made that mistake in the past. And
let me just quickly mention, one thing to remember
is if you're in Syracuse and you love this event,
we're always looking for volunteers every year.
Usually around the summertime is when we put
out the feelers for that. So if you volunteer
for the con, you work. Usually like two, four
hour shifts. Whenever you want throughout the
weekend or where you're assigned you get full
access to the convention otherwise So cool like
I can I want to volunteer Saturday Well come
on Friday and hang out and check out the con
early and stuff So it's a good thing for people
locally who want to really get it out. We need
to help So it's and and some of like I said those
great friendships and stuff that are born. What
a great mention From people volunteering so I
wanted to highlight that as well. That's so cool
Nathan Grant Thank you for coming on the show
retro game con retro game con comm this weekend
But it's all we're going to be talking about.
So strap in, folks. We're going to have a lot
of fun. And go downstairs when you're there.
Check out every room. The side rooms, the downstairs,
the main level. So much going on. Listen, I'm
going to give you my last bit of advice, and
then we'll be on our way. Go check out that program
that's online. Make your plan. Include a little
walking around and food time, because you're
going to need that. You're going to need to take
a break halfway through. You know, power up.
Power up. I love it. I love it. I like that Mike
just discovered that I'm a nerd today. It's really
fun. But make that plan so you can, you know,
in these events, especially when you get having
fun, you're wandering around the floor, you're
looking at things, you're playing games, you
don't realize, oh shoot, the panel that I wanted
to see is about to start. Set those alarms on
your phone, man. Like, do it right. And you will
have the time of your life. Absolutely. And that's
all I got to say about that. That's all I got
to say about that. Thank you, folks. This has
been Good News York. Like, follow, subscribe,
do all that fun stuff. And also check out our
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sponsor of this shindig. We love it. Thank you,
Zach, for sponsoring Good News York. And we will
see you tomorrow. Peace out.