Write a commentRetro Game Con 5 kicked off the weekend of November 18th & 19th and came back to Syracuse On Center bigger and better than ever before!
Patrick Milligan is the Director of the convention. Milligan, who owns River City Retro, which is a company that sells all video game related material on eBay. Milligan's job is the layout and schedule for the expo, book the exhibitors & special guests, line up the panel presentations and gaming tournaments, and work with The Oncenter staff to set the venue up for the show.
Milligan has been part of Retro Game Con since the beginning of 2013. "The first RGC in 2013 was mainly just a swap meet with vendors. No special guests, only a few panels and gaming tournaments, and a turnout of around 300 people. This year we are expecting 5000 attendees, and have a huge variety of special guests from the gaming industry, YouTubers, and voice actors. We've got over 100 exhibitors, including video game stores, collectors, game developers, and artists, many from the CNY area. We've got musical guests, cosplay guests and a cosplay contest with $1000 in prizes, dozens of charity raffles benefiting the Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital, trading card game and board game tournaments, and much more. It's the largest gaming event in Upstate New York!" Stated Milligan. "We're really proud of what we've built with RetroGameCon, and it is extremely rewarding to see the gaming community in CNY come together at our show for a 2-day celebration of video games," said Milligan.
This year, Retro Game Con 5 had an abundance of celebrities of the video game industry from David Crane (creator of Pitfall for Atari), Pat "The NES Punk," Daniel Pesina and John Parrish who were original motion capture actors for Mortal Kombat arcade and console games, and other celebrities.
Master Daniel Pesina, the actor who played Johnny Cage, Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Reptile, Smoke, and Noob Saibot, as well as being one of the co-creators of the legendary fighting games Mortal Kombat & Mortal Kombat II. According to Pesina,"Myself, John Tobias, my brother Carlos Pesina, Rich Divizio (who portrayed Kano) got together and pitched the idea to Midway and Ed Boon."
The Mortal Kombat game had a reputation for high levels of bloody violence, including, most notably, its Fatalities (finishing moves, requiring a sequence of button inputs to perform). The Fatalities, in part, led to the creation of the ESRB video game rating system. As a result, the game rating was created so parents knew what type of games were appropriate for the children's age range. According to Pesina, "I think it was appropriate because as technology improved, games started to become more for adults, I think the rating system was good so people actually knew what they were buying." Mortal Kombat would receive the highest rating of M for Mature. This would mean that Mortal Kombat game should be played by those 17 years or older.
Also in attendance at Retro Game Con 5 was John Parrish. Parrish portrayed Major Jackson "Jax" Briggs in MKII, MK3, Ultimate MK3, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, MK4, and Mortal Kombat Advance. According to Parrish, "The game was a lot of fun to work on, we had no script and it was a great collaborative effort between Ed Boon, John Tobias, Dan Pesnia (who also did most of the choreography, we had a blast."
Since both Pesona and Parrish have worked on the game itself, the Mortal Kombat Series has since had two movies, serval video games from various Sega systems, Nintendo systems and into the newer generations from Sony PlayStation and Microsoft X-Box. "I think the graphics are much better, stories for the characters are going better, I'm a martial artist so the action they have room to grow in that particular area," stated Pesina. Parrish has been amazed at the success of The Mortal Kombat Series, "One word, WOW! We knew it was going to be a good game, twenty-five years later we're still here and if it wasn't for the fans it wouldn't have lasted as long as it has lasted and we just want to thank the fans."
Both Pesina and Parrish both admitted they had a blast while at Retro Game Con 5. For Pesina, he thought it was great to sign peoples video game cartridges and to meet new people. For Parrish, this was his first time in New York. Both will be appearing at Saratoga Comic-Con along with Phillip Ahn, who portrayed Shung Tsung in Mortal Kombat II.
Alongside the celebrities were many vendors during Retro Game Con 5's weekend. One vendor, in particular, Dan Unger was at the convention to sell from his personal collection. "A lot of these games are from my personal collection that I’m selling. I used to have lots of doubles that I’ve acquired at tag sales, flea markets etc. I just sell these and put them towards games I would like to own, or do the adult thing and pay bills, mostly bills though, haha. I’m always looking for things I don’t own though, that’s the thrill of our hobby," stated Unger.
Among the celebrities, vendors were those who are unique enough to dress up in cosplay. Among those in cosplay were Zach Hefner and former Bellator MMA fighter Michael Mucitelli who dressed up as the popular Ken and Ryu from Street Fighter. For Hefner, who dressed up as Ryu, this was his first time dressing up for cosplay. "This was my first time cosplaying. I actually wore the same gi and belt as Ryu and dyed them the night before," stated Hefner. For Mucitelli, this was his first time cosplaying as well. "I've gone to all five Retro Game Cons. I love it, its one of the highlights of my year every year," said Mucitelli.
