Multi Midwest Gaming Classic Highlights

[Lunar Kreskents]

As mentioned in the thread for People Who Won't Let Old Gaming Trends Die , I went to Midwest Gaming Classic and it was a great time! I've been going to this convention since it was only 100-200 people in a high school. It started as one guy with his complete Jaguar collection (Jagfest). Last year there were 24,000 attendees. It's a uniquely fun time and I'm amazed how they've managed to keep the classic feel strong even with how big the event has grown and the mix-in of some newer goodies.

Without further ado, highlights from the show:

- My game of the Year: Sound Voltex: Exceed Gear! Super fun rhythm game with… dials! lol Apparently 10 years old, but it was new to me, plus an established community means there are 3rd party controllers for home. Here we are addicted, we played this for hours (sorry fellow attendees).


- Runner up: Godzilla Kaiju Wars VR - Completely ridicuous and unnecessarily necessary. You put on a VR headset and sit in a tilting cart that blows wind in your face. It really feels like you're falling. Bonus: didn't get pink eye.


-I'm a big fan of Playstation 1 era games, yet somehow I didn't even realize there was a light gun for PS1. Elemental Gearbolt was quite fun, definitely one of my favorite finds of the year. Surprisingly it didn't feel super janky like a lot of lightgun games tend to.


- It wouldn't be an MGC with tracking down my favorite old console - Vectrex! This block rolling puzzle game was fun.


- Long time fav: Galactic Battleground! The guys at Slackerz Inc are super fun, and they have been amazingly good sports when I dominate their entire dev team at their own game year after year. I don't know what it is about this game, but it's apparently made just for me lol.


- Ice Cold Beer is a fun and unique one! You balance a pinball on a pole as you attempt to guide it into flashing exits on your way to the top.


- Tursiops Studios' Primrows booth! A little space of coziness among all the bright lights and sounds demanding your attention. I've been helping this trans-owned LGBTQ team develop their organization internally and it's fun to see how far they've come. Kitt and Susan did a great job running the booth and even scored an interview. The game is like Sudoku plus dice. Bonus: giant mushroom.


- The Yoshitaka Amano art gallery! Amano art is always a delight and seeing prints up close and personal extra so. The guy says he's been collecting them in rare ebay sales since 2017. Truly magnificent.


- Witnessing the latest in competitive Tetris: "Rolling", where you place one thumb on the D-pad, and strum the back with a glove for ultimate speed! And ultimate bizarreness.
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- Always a classic: Pepsiman! This time with a bunch of old figurines and merch. Super ridic. I love me some wacky marketing campaigns. Guys, Games, and Beer always have the coolest stuff in their room.


- My partner's game: Whisker Squadron Survivor! It's a roguelite on-rails shooter, like Starfox meets Vampire Survivors. There seemed to be fans both young and old. It's hard not to be drawn in by the neon aesthetics.


- Nidhogg was an unexpectedly fun new one I haven't seen before. It's like fencing + tug of war, fun for adults yet simple enough that was able to play together with a kid who could barely reach the controls lol. We came to sudden death and he won.


- The ancient pinball made in 1934: Fleet Jr! Oddly enough, it might be my new favorite pinball (second to Orbiter 1). There are no flashy lights or flippers or frills, just you, some balls, a plunger, and skillz.


- I really wanted to play this, but alas, there was someone in there every time I came by!


- After partying with my friend Gaby who is one of the co-founders of the show. I rarely get to make it out anywhere anymore, and the show is super big now, so I'm very grateful we still get the chance to catch up and play some games!


There's some other photos and vids attached below that I didn't caption.

Enjoy the good old days (and some new stuff too)!

 

[Smacktard]

Loved this thread! I adore classic consoles and old school gaming, so I got a kick out of all of these pictures and write-ups. And I loved seeing the Vectrex represented too -- I own one with a few games Any idea what the game in the pic was? I haven't seen it before, so I'm thinking maybe it's some new homebrew rather than an original game.

I've been in Japan for the past two weeks rummaging through used game stores, and while I haven't seen anything as cool as the Midwest Game Show, I got to see some really nice stuff. I'd love to go to MGS some day. I'd never heard of it before your other thread, but it looks awesome!

 

[Smacktard]

Also there was a lightgun series for the PS1 called Point Blank that was pretty famous. They had some unique, fun, and interesting minigames. I kinda remember it being like Wario Ware but with shoostin'

 

[Lunar Kreskents]

Loved this thread! I adore classic consoles and old school gaming, so I got a kick out of all of these pictures and write-ups. And I loved seeing the Vectrex represented too -- I own one with a few games Any idea what the game in the pic was? I haven't seen it before, so I'm thinking maybe it's some new homebrew rather than an original game.

So glad you enjoyed strolling through the past!

I have a Vectrex too It literally is one of my favorite systems. Something about the compactness of it and the smoothness of the vector graphics and the buzzing sound and even the smell of it.. it's just a delight to play! I have a multicart, Vector Pilot (a "new" game, vector remake of Time Pilot, we used to be obsessed with this game at a startup I used to work at and when people got sick of Time Pilot they would come to my office to try their hand at Vector Pilot lol), and an old Star Trek game (I forget which one now).

The game in the pic is called Bloxorz, it looks like it is a "new" game made in 2013 judging by this video

So glad I bought Vectrex years ago as now they go for 400, 500, 600+ $$$ I am very worried about being able to clean it now that I'm allergic to everything I own. Maybe I can find someone willing to trade me a Vectex that isn't contaminated..

I've been in Japan for the past two weeks rummaging through used game stores, and while I haven't seen anything as cool as the Midwest Game Show, I got to see some really nice stuff. I'd love to go to MGS some day. I'd never heard of it before your other thread, but it looks awesome!

Not gonna lie, I'm envious! I lived in Japan for about a year around 2010 and it's one of the only places I routinely miss being. In retrospect, I should have stocked up on cheap Famicon stuff when I was there lol I could have made a real profit judging by how much stuff goes for at shows.

Also there was a lightgun series for the PS1 called Point Blank that was pretty famous. They had some unique, fun, and interesting minigames. I kinda remember it being like Wario Ware but with shoostin'

Not sure how I missed this whole era of lightgun games! I guess I was just too engrossed in RPGs back then to care

 

[Smacktard]

I have a Vectrex too It literally is one of my favorite systems. Something about the compactness of it and the smoothness of the vector graphics and the buzzing sound and even the smell of it.. it's just a delight to play! I have a multicart, Vector Pilot (a "new" game, vector remake of Time Pilot, we used to be obsessed with this game at a startup I used to work at and when people got sick of Time Pilot they would come to my office to try their hand at Vector Pilot lol), and an old Star Trek game (I forget which one now

Nice! Vectrex genuinely has some great games. I played Cosmic Chasm with my dad a couple of years back and we both whooped when we beat the first level. It was intense. I just looked up Vector Pilot and it looks awesome too!

I got my Vectrex in 2020. I paid about $600 for it, but I also got a bunch of games in their boxes with screens. Pretty good deal IMO.

The game in the pic is called Bloxorz, it looks like it is a "new" game made in 2013 judging by this video

This game reminds me a lot of Steven's Sausage Roll. Looks great too. I love how simplistic games can still be so well designed and fun.

I lived in Japan for about a year around 2010 and it's one of the only places I routinely miss being. In retrospect, I should have stocked up on cheap Famicon stuff when I was there lol I could have made a real profit judging by how much stuff goes for at shows.

Dude I am jealous!! I would love to live there. I love that country so much. I traveled there twice before but was too much of a blockhead to buy games and systems. I wish I started collecting retro games earlier because prices have 10x'd over just a few years ago. I've seen pics of Pokemon Green
going for 300 yen, but now it routinely sells for almost 6k yen.

 

[Raine]

Very nice, and awesome picture gallery!

Looks like a grand ol' time, if maybe a bit exhausting with so much to see and do. I've never been to a proper gaming convention/gathering before, but back home I used to love exploring little strip malls every now and again in that relatively small neck of the woods looking for (retro) game shops. I ended up picking up a lot of stuff over those years, but there were so many other things that I either couldn't afford/justify or that I needed to save up for but then were already sold by the time I had enough and made it back.

...And now that I'm older, don't have a CRT (or room to set one up lol) and frankly still haven't even prettied up the displays for the newer generational stuff yet... yeah that's probably not something I should be investing in.

Not sure how I missed this whole era of lightgun games! I guess I was just too engrossed in RPGs back then to care

I too was generally unaware of PS1 lightgun games (first time seeing the actual lightgun here actually!), though I had heard of Elemental Gearbolt because it's Working Designs that published it. Eyes immediately locked onto that logo and knew what the game was.